Heathen (2002)

The Bowie Project #28  - Heathen (2002) 

Heathen is David Bowie’s 23rd studio album and after years of critics prematurely announcing a return to commercial and creative success this time it was actually proved to be true. The record was the most well-received album he had released in years and was lauded by critics as his best work since Scary Monsters in 1980. Boosted by a vast marketing campaign and numerous promotional appearances it was his most widely anticipated record in years and it features an art rock and art pop sound that is reminiscent of a lot of the music he made in the 1970s, the sounds of the album all come together to make a record that recalls classic David Bowie albums while remaining sounding contemporary and exciting.

The success of this record can be attributed to many different things, but one of the most important is the return of producer Tony Visconti. Visconti acted as Bowie’s producer for much of his career, producing nine albums with him between 1969 and 1980, including much of his most acclaimed work. The two’s creative partnership was incredibly fruitful, however their relationship soured in 1983 when Bowie hired Chic frontman Nile Rodgers to produce Let’s Dance instead of Visconti. The story goes that Visconti was slated to produce that record and had even cleared up his schedule only to find out secondhand that Bowie had already been in the studio for a number of weeks recording that record. There was some animosity and Visconti was critical of Bowie’s parenting of his son Duncan in some interviews around this time (in particular his decision to send Duncan to boarding school). This led to a complete blackout between the two that would not be resolved until the Hours tour in 1999. Visconti played a small role in the recording of the unreleased Toy album in 2000 and then they decided to finally reunite for this record. Visconti’s production style always meshed incredibly well with Bowie’s aesthetic and led to an album that for the first time in a long while felt like it could truly stand the test of time, it wasn’t off putting to a general listener the way Outside was, it didn’t feel like it was trying to shoehorn in any new trendy genre the way Earthling did, and the songwriting felt powerful and exciting in a way that was missing from Hours.

The spiritual lyricism of this record encapsulates feelings of dread, fears about ageing, and a desire for a better future brought forward by the birth of Bowie’s daughter Alexandria in 2000. The album went into production in August 2001 in New York just before the 9/11 attacks, the feeling of loss and confusion of that time feel like they found their way onto this record and for this reason it resonated with a lot of listeners.

Bowie reunited with Tony Visconti

Bowie based a lot of the songs on Heathen off Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs and said the overarching theme was “of a world that had dispensed with its Gods”. This particularly shines through in the atmospheric opening track, “Sunday”, in the aftermath of 9/11 and the death of his mother the year before we’re witnessing an album based around ideas of death and lost time. The track starts with light musicality and choral style backup, the way Bowie sings make it feel almost like a hymn as he dispenses world weary advice to the listener “look for drifters” or “look for the shafts of light on the road where the heat goes”. The message we’re given here is both hopeful and apocalyptic, and he tells us in your fear seek only peace, seek only love, rise together through these clouds. Everything has changed but we still remain.

The first of three cover songs on this album features Bowie on vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, synth, saxophone and for the only time on an official recording the drums. It’s “Cactus” from the Pixies 1988 debut album Surfer Rosa. The original recording has a retain of “P-I-X-I-E-S” in the middle which was a nod to Bowie’s old friend Marc Bolan and the T-Rex track “The Groover”, Bowie took this allusion and changed it to “D-A-V-I-D” something quite cute and wholesome about chanting your own first name in song. Bowie’s version has got a great glam rock edge to it and although I’m normally quite critical of his cover songs on his studio albums I think this is definitely one of the better ones.

Originally written as part of the Toy sessions under the title “Uncle Floyd” this next song was re-recorded from scratch for Heathen. To me, “Slip Away” really is one of the greatest lesser-known Bowie tracks with a sense of epic grandiosity. I'd compare it to the likes of “Space Oddity” and “Life on Mars”. The song burrows into a feeling of lost happiness and yearning through the views of two puppets from an obscure low-budget children’s television series named The Uncle Floyd Show. Bowie was a fan of the strange series that ran from 1974 to 1998, having been introduced to it by John Lennon who used to watch with his son Sean, and even appeared in an episode in 1981 and Bowie wanted to use this track to point to a happier time in the world, a time when things were better “even if that’s not necessarily true”. Bowie said of the track: “Saying “Uncle Floyd where are you now?” is really like Ray Davies saying, “Where Have All The Good Times Gone?”… That’s my yearning song, as far as looking backwards. But most of it is about looking rather anxiously into the future.” The song on its own is really incredible but another reason that it strikes a chord so strongly with me is because it points towards the future and has a direct link to the very end of Bowie’s career. The chorus of this song bears a striking resemblance to song “Lazarus” from Bowie’s final studio album Blackstar. The song would be the last track he released in his lifetime and the music video was released just three days before his death in 2016. That video features Bowie bandaged and lying on his deathbed. Reportedly it was the week during the filming that Bowie was told his cancer was terminal and that he did not have long to live. The way that “Slip Away” and “Lazarus” seem to effortless blend together and recall one another gives this track from Heathen extra significance to me as it foreshadows the end of his life and career, and we see Bowie looking back on his life and all history with a sense of yearning and nostalgia. 

“Slow Burn” was the lead single in both Japan and Europe and features a powerful vocal performance from Bowie. It features The Who’s Pete Townshend on guitar who had previously played on “Because You’re Young” way back on Scary Monsters in 1980. Back to familiar territory for Bowie it’s a dystopian track set in a terrible town beset with fear and spies. The song is filled with biblical allusions and even features a line he’d reuse “at the centre of it all” in the song “Blackstar” demonstrating further the connections between the themes of this record and his final swansong.

Another song originally written for the Toy album “Afraid” is a track that deals with insecurity and self-doubt. Bowie sings I wish I was smarter, I wish I was taller, things really matter to me, sounding a little like a lost incel on some Reddit form, maybe if he was born a little later, who knows? But even though we feel so afraid that doesn’t mean we’re on our own. Bowie says “I believe in the Beatles” paraphrasing John Lennon’s “I don’t believe in the Beatles/I only believe in me” from his song “God” from 1970. I guess that’s the power we can put into things to get us through in this world, we can relate to music like the Beatles, we can create false idols for a sense of security, we use meditation and television to walk us through the empty wastelands of life and maybe using art to relate to one another we won’t feel so alone and we don’t be afraid anymore.

The second cover song is from Neil Young’s debut album in 1968, “I’ve Been Waiting For You” is a track that lyrically does what I respond to the most out of Young’s songwriting, a sense of yearning and longing and overly romantic idolisation of true love that he does so well in songs like “Lookin’ for a Love” or “Only Love Can Break Your Heart”. This was a song Bowie had played live as far back as 1991 with Tin Machine and Neil Young being an influence on his sound as far back as Hunky Dory in 1971. It's a decent cover and a nice tribute to an artist he’s respected his entire career and whose tendency to experiment to the detriment of his critical standing, and tendency to also return to greatness reminds me of someone else.

This next song, like “Word on a Wing” from Station to Station to addressed to God with the protagonist offering themselves to the mercy of the deity, but unlike that song “I Would Be Your Slave” accuses this God of mockery and vengeance saying, “I bet you laugh at me, a chance to strike me down”. If Heathen is supposed to present a world that has dispensed with its Gods, we have one last believer here convinced that God is laughing at him. The songs string quartet gives everything a much grander feel, it’s neither a typical ballad or fast-moving single, it’s a man pouring out all that questioning and angry and confusion that comes with trying to pin down meaning and the universe and if there’s a God surely he’s messing with us, and is there anyone there at all. No footprints in the sand, do we walk alone or does he carry us along.

“I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spacecraft” is the third and final cover and was originally written and recorded by Legendary Stardust Cowboy, an outside musician active since the late-60s known for pioneering psychobilly music, a genre that mixes rockabilly and punk rock. Bowie was a huge fan of the Stardust Cowboy and even named Ziggy Stardust in his honour. Later in life Bowie was scrolling the internet and found a quote from the Cowboy saying it sure would be nice if he would pay me something for using the name Stardust. Bowie felt guilty and decided to record this track to make amends and make him some royalties while he was at it.

“5:15 The Angels Have Gone” finishes an angelic trilogy of songs that began with “Look Back In Anger” from Lodger which saw Bowie meet with the angel of death who tries to claim his soul, and “New Angels of Promise” from Hours which highlighted overtly religious themes. This sombre song features a man who’s lost all hope packing up and moving on. Bowie explained: "A man who could once see his angels – hopes and aspirations, maybe – can't see them anymore and he blames the crushing dumbness of life for it." Lost and leaving the “5:15” of the title alludes to a song from The Who’s Quadrophenia where similarly the young mod Jimmy boards the train to search for meaning in Brighton, hyped up on amphetamines and facing an impasse in life, it’s similar to Bowie’s own years of searching for meaning through a drug addicted 1970s, I think he could relate.

The second single released from the album “Everyone Says “Hi”” was written for Bowie’s late father Haywood Stenton “John” Jones who died in 1969 just two months after the release of his first major hit single “Space Oddity”. Bowie said when he died it took a long time for it to sink in, that it felt like he had just gone on a trip and that he would be back in a few weeks, but then the years passed and that’s it. This song has its character going away on a ship with Bowie stating that somehow makes it more poignant stating “And there’s something sad about ships as well. That’s why this person in this song doesn’t go on a plane. A ship took them away – I guess that’s the boat that took people over the river Styx, isn’t it?” While some have criticised this song as being a sappy, sentimental rumination on death I think it’s got something important to say about the way we grieve and how small and unextraordinary the feeling can be. We don’t know what the right things to say are, we’d love to get a letter and hear from all who are lost, we’d love to be able to just hi one last time.

This album does see Bowie quite melancholic and pessimistic at times but in “A Better Future” there is still hope for this world. This track was autobiographical in a way Bowie seldom was and was borne out of concerns for his daughter Alexandria “Lexi” Zahra Jones who was born in August 2000. This along with the shock that spread across the Western world in the wake of 9/11 meant there was a need for an anthem demanding a better future. Bowie said: “I had rosy expectations for the 21st century, I really did. The whole idea was lifting my spirits quite a lot during 1998 and 1999. But it has become something other than what I expected it to be. And it’s obviously a pretty typical parental concern to wonder what type of a world you have brought your child into.” He said he wanted a world where his daughter can grow up safely, walking open-eyed into her ambitions, and not have to dodge bullets. It’s a plea to the planet, a plea to humanity, to give my child sunny smiles, give them warm and cloudless skies.

The title track “Heathen (The Rays)” is a track about knowing you are dying and brings together all of the themes of this record. That desperate search for purpose and meaning in this world, that urgent call into an unanswering void. Bowie’s been searching for meaning his entire life, whether that’s through Tibetan Buddhism, satanic occultists, Nazi imagery, or organised religion. He’s burrowed into all these things in his songs and now in a later part of life it feels like some answers might be coming to the forefront and they are about self-acceptance and the people that we love, it’s that old phrase “all things must pass” and in a world that has dispensed with its Gods what’s left with us still: Looking for someone, is there no reason? I can see it now; I can feel it die.

Bowie Iman and Alexandria

Heathen was Bowie’s most well-received album in years and was considered a major return to form. While many say it may not have reached the highs of records like Station to Station, Low, or Scary Monsters but it demonstrated Bowie as a relevant and confident older artist who was proving he still had something to say. Retrospectively, it's considered the album where Bowie had finally found his voice in the late part of his career after spending the 90s searching for a new sound and genre hopping from style to style. 

Personally, I feel that the album is Bowie’s best in a very long time, while previous records had exciting stand out moments this feels like a complete project in the way nothing since maybe Outside has. The songwriting is grand and exciting and it feels like Bowie really has something to say about the modern world, he is no longer trying to be something he is not, it seems like he has come to accept and even embrace his legacy in a way that doesn’t feel like he’s rehashing former glories, after a lifetime of playing different personas it feels like this is the closest we ever get to the real man, there is no wall of irony or cryptic symbolism behind this record, this is a man who has gone through life and sees the continual problems that the world still has not managed to solve, a person who wants to fight for a better world for his new born daughter, a human who sees that despite all progress that has been made in technology things seem to be getting worse, but that still doesn’t mean we lose hope in the power of tomorrow.

Heathen ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ [8/10]