Unlimited Streaming
Listen to this album in high quality now on our apps
Start my trial period and start listening to this albumEnjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription
SubscribeEnjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription
Digital Download
Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs.
Black Tie White Noise was the beginning of David Bowie's return from the wilderness of post-Let's Dance, the first indication that he was regaining his creative spark. To say as much suggests that it's a bit of a lost classic, when it's rather a sporadically intriguing transitional album, finding Bowie balancing the commercial dance-rock of Let's Dance with artier inclinations from his Berlin period, all the while trying to draw on the past by working with former Spider from Mars guitarist Mick Ronson, collaborating with Let's Dance producer Nile Rodgers, and even covering inspiration Scott Walker's "Nite Flights." On top of that, the record was inspired by his recent marriage to supermodel Iman -- the record is bookended with "The Wedding" and "The Wedding Song" -- and then tied up and presented as a sophisticated modern urban soul record, one that draws from uptown soul (including, rather bafflingly, a duet with Al B. Sure!) and state-of-the-art dance-club techno, while adding splashy touches like solos from avant jazz trumpeter Lester Bowie and a nod to modern alt-rock via a nifty cover of Morrissey's "I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday." That's a lot of stuff for one record to handle, so it shouldn't come as a great surprise that the album doesn't always work, but its stylish restlessness comes as a great relief, particularly when compared to the hermetically sealed previous solo Bowie record, 1987's Never Let Me Down. Black Tie White Noise displays greater musical ambition than any record he'd made since Scary Monsters, and while much of the record feels like unrealized ideas, there are songs where it all gels, like on the paranoid jumble of "Jump They Say," the aforementioned covers, the impassioned "You've Been Around," and the self-consciously smooth title track. Moments like these are the first in a long time to feel classically Bowie, and they point ahead toward the more interesting records he made in the second half of the '90s, but they are encased in a production that not only sounds dated years later, but sounded dated upon its release in the spring of 1993, two years into the thick of alternative rock. At that point, the club-centric, mainstream-courting Black Tie White Noise seemed as an anachronism during the guitar-heavy grunge-n-industrial glory days -- something Bowie tacitly acknowledged with its 1995 successor, Outside, which was every bit as gloomy as a Nine Inch Nails record -- but separated from the vagaries of fashion, it's an interesting first step in Bowie's creative revival.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
You are currently listening to samples.
Listen to over 100 million songs with an unlimited streaming plan.
Listen to this playlist and more than 100 million songs with our unlimited streaming plans.
From $10.83/month
John Regan, Bass Guitar - Sterling Campbell, Drums - Michael Reisman, String Arranger, Harp, Tubular Bells - Fonzi Thornton, Background Vocals - Curtis King Jr., Background Vocals - Richard Tee, Keyboards - Dennis Collins, Background Vocals - Dave Richards, Keyboards - NILE RODGERS, Producer, Guitar - Richard Hilton, Keyboards - Tawatha Agee, Background Vocals - Brenda White-King, Background Vocals - Gerardo Velez, Percussion - PHILIPPE SAISSE, Keyboards - David Bowie, Producer, Guitar, Alto Saxophone, Vocals, Writer, MainArtist - Andy Smith, Engineer, AssistantEngineer - Neal Perry, AssistantEngineer - Andrew Grassi, Engineer, AssistantEngineer - Lee Anthony, Engineer, AssistantEngineer - Barry Campbell, Bass Guitar - GARY TOLE, Engineer, AssistantEngineer - Louis Alfred III, Engineer, AssistantEngineer - Jon Goldberger, Engineer - Maryl Epps, Background Vocals - Pugi Bell, Drums
© 2004 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC This label copy information is the subject of copyright protection. All rights reserved. (C) 2004 Parlophone Records Ltd ℗ 2003 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC under exclusive licence to Parlophone Records Ltd, a Warner Music Group Company
John Regan, Bass Guitar - Sterling Campbell, Drums - Michael Reisman, Bells, Harp - Reeves Gabrels, Guitar, Writer - Fonzi Thornton, Background Vocals - Curtis King Jr., Background Vocals - Richard Tee, Keyboards - Dennis Collins, Background Vocals - NILE RODGERS, Producer, Guitar - Richard Hilton, Keyboards - Tawatha Agee, Background Vocals - Brenda White-King, Background Vocals - Gerardo Velez, Percussion - PHILIPPE SAISSE, Keyboards - David Bowie, Producer, Guitar, Saxophone, Vocals, Writer, MainArtist, Miscellaneous - David Richards, Keyboards - Lester Bowie, Trumpet - Andy Smith, AssistantEngineer - Neal Perry, AssistantEngineer - Andrew Grassi, AdditionalEngineer - Lee Anthony, AssistantEngineer - Barry Campbell, Bass Guitar - GARY TOLE, AdditionalEngineer - Budd Tunick, Co-ordinator Production - Louis Alfred III, AssistantEngineer - Jon Goldberger, Engineer - Maryl Epps, Background Vocals - Pugi Bell, Drums
© 2004 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC This label copy information is the subject of copyright protection. All rights reserved. (C) 2004 Parlophone Records Ltd ℗ 2004 Digital Remaster (P) 2004 The copyright in this sound recording is owned by Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC under exclusive licence to Parlophone Records Ltd
John Regan, Bass Guitar - Sterling Campbell, Drums - Michael Reisman, String Arranger, Bells, Harp - Fonzi Thornton, Background Vocals - Curtis King Jr., Background Vocals - Richard Tee, Keyboards - Dennis Collins, Background Vocals - Dave Richards, Keyboards - NILE RODGERS, Producer, Guitar - Richard Hilton, Keyboards - Tawatha Agee, Background Vocals - Brenda White-King, Background Vocals - Pete Brown, Writer - Gerardo Velez, Percussion - Jack Bruce, Writer - PHILIPPE SAISSE, Keyboards - David Bowie, Producer, Guitar, Alto Saxophone, Vocals, MainArtist - Andy Smith, Engineer - Neal Perry, AssistantEngineer - Andrew Grassi, Engineer - Lee Anthony, Engineer - Barry Campbell, Bass Guitar - GARY TOLE, Engineer - Budd Tunick, Co-ordinator Production - Louis Alfred III, Engineer - Jon Goldberger, Engineer - Maryl Epps, Background Vocals - Pugi Bell, Drums
© 2004 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC This label copy information is the subject of copyright protection. All rights reserved. (C) 2004 Parlophone Records Ltd ℗ 2003 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC under exclusive licence to Parlophone Records Ltd, a Warner Music Group Company
John Regan, Bass Guitar - Sterling Campbell, Drums - Michael Reisman, String Arranger, Bells, Harp - Fonzi Thornton, Background Vocals - Curtis King Jr., Background Vocals - Richard Tee, Keyboards - Dennis Collins, Background Vocals - Dave Richards, Keyboards - NILE RODGERS, Producer, Guitar - Richard Hilton, Keyboards - Tawatha Agee, Background Vocals - Brenda White-King, Background Vocals - Gerardo Velez, Percussion - PHILIPPE SAISSE, Keyboards - David Bowie, Producer, Guitar, Alto Saxophone, Vocals, Writer, MainArtist - Andy Smith, Engineer - Al B. Sure!, Duet Vocals - Neal Perry, AssistantEngineer - Andrew Grassi, Engineer - Lee Anthony, Engineer - Barry Campbell, Bass Guitar - GARY TOLE, Engineer - Budd Tunick, Co-ordinator Production - Louis Alfred III, Engineer - Jon Goldberger, Engineer - Maryl Epps, Background Vocals - Pugi Bell, Drums
© 2004 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC This label copy information is the subject of copyright protection. All rights reserved. (C) 2004 Parlophone Records Ltd ℗ 2004 Digital Remaster (P) 2004 The copyright in this sound recording is owned by Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC under exclusive licence to Parlophone Records Ltd
John Regan, Bass Guitar - Sterling Campbell, Drums - Michael Reisman, Bells, Harp - Fonzi Thornton, Background Vocals - Curtis King Jr., Background Vocals - Richard Tee, Keyboards - Dennis Collins, Background Vocals - NILE RODGERS, Producer, Guitar - Richard Hilton, Keyboards - Tawatha Agee, Background Vocals - Brenda White-King, Background Vocals - Gerardo Velez, Percussion - PHILIPPE SAISSE, Keyboards - David Bowie, Producer, Guitar, Saxophone, Vocals, Writer, MainArtist, Miscellaneous - David Richards, Keyboards - Lester Bowie, Trumpet - Andy Smith, AssistantEngineer - Neal Perry, AssistantEngineer - Andrew Grassi, AdditionalEngineer - Lee Anthony, AssistantEngineer - Barry Campbell, Bass Guitar - GARY TOLE, AdditionalEngineer - Budd Tunick, Co-ordinator Production - Louis Alfred III, AssistantEngineer - Jon Goldberger, Engineer - Maryl Epps, Background Vocals - Pugi Bell, Drums
© 2004 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC This label copy information is the subject of copyright protection. All rights reserved. (C) 2004 Parlophone Records Ltd ℗ 2004 Digital Remaster (P) 2004 The copyright in this sound recording is owned by Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC under exclusive licence to Parlophone Records Ltd
John Regan, Bass Guitar - Sterling Campbell, Drums - Michael Reisman, String Arranger, Bells, Harp - Reeves Gabrels, Lead Guitar - Fonzi Thornton, Background Vocals - Curtis King Jr., Background Vocals - Richard Tee, Keyboards - Dennis Collins, Background Vocals - Dave Richards, Keyboards - NILE RODGERS, Producer, Guitar - Richard Hilton, Keyboards - Tawatha Agee, Background Vocals - Brenda White-King, Background Vocals - Gerardo Velez, Percussion - PHILIPPE SAISSE, Keyboards - David Bowie, Producer, Guitar, Alto Saxophone, Vocals, MainArtist - Andy Smith, Engineer - Neal Perry, AssistantEngineer - Andrew Grassi, Engineer - Lee Anthony, Engineer - Barry Campbell, Bass Guitar - GARY TOLE, Engineer - Budd Tunick, Co-ordinator Production - Louis Alfred III, Engineer - Jon Goldberger, Engineer - Scott Engel, Writer - Maryl Epps, Background Vocals - Pugi Bell, Drums
© 2004 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC This label copy information is the subject of copyright protection. All rights reserved. (C) 2004 Parlophone Records Ltd ℗ 2003 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC under exclusive licence to Parlophone Records Ltd, a Warner Music Group Company
John Regan, Bass Guitar - Sterling Campbell, Drums - Michael Reisman, String Arranger, Bells, Harp - Fonzi Thornton, Background Vocals - Curtis King Jr., Background Vocals - Richard Tee, Keyboards - Dennis Collins, Background Vocals - Dave Richards, Keyboards - NILE RODGERS, Producer, Guitar - Richard Hilton, Keyboards - Tawatha Agee, Background Vocals - Brenda White-King, Background Vocals - Gerardo Velez, Percussion - PHILIPPE SAISSE, Keyboards - David Bowie, Producer, Guitar, Alto Saxophone, Vocals, Writer, MainArtist - Lester Bowie, Trumpet - Andy Smith, Engineer - Neal Perry, AssistantEngineer - Andrew Grassi, Engineer - Lee Anthony, Engineer - Barry Campbell, Bass Guitar - GARY TOLE, Engineer - Budd Tunick, Co-ordinator Production - Louis Alfred III, Engineer - Jon Goldberger, Engineer - Maryl Epps, Background Vocals - Pugi Bell, Drums
© 2004 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC This label copy information is the subject of copyright protection. All rights reserved. (C) 2004 Parlophone Records Ltd ℗ 2004 Digital Remaster (P) 2004 The copyright in this sound recording is owned by Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC under exclusive licence to Parlophone Records Ltd
John Regan, Bass Guitar - Sterling Campbell, Drums - Michael Reisman, String Arranger, Bells, Harp - Fonzi Thornton, Background Vocals - Curtis King Jr., Background Vocals - Richard Tee, Keyboards - Dennis Collins, Background Vocals - Dave Richards, Keyboards - NILE RODGERS, Producer, Guitar - Richard Hilton, Keyboards - Tawatha Agee, Background Vocals - Brenda White-King, Background Vocals - Gerardo Velez, Percussion - PHILIPPE SAISSE, Keyboards - David Bowie, Producer, Guitar, Alto Saxophone, Vocals, Writer, MainArtist - Andy Smith, Engineer - Neal Perry, AssistantEngineer - Andrew Grassi, Engineer - Lee Anthony, Engineer - Barry Campbell, Bass Guitar - GARY TOLE, Engineer - Budd Tunick, Co-ordinator Production - Louis Alfred III, Engineer - Jon Goldberger, Engineer - Maryl Epps, Background Vocals - Pugi Bell, Drums
© 2004 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC This label copy information is the subject of copyright protection. All rights reserved. (C) 2004 Parlophone Records Ltd ℗ 2004 Digital Remaster (P) 2004 The copyright in this sound recording is owned by Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC under exclusive licence to Parlophone Records Ltd
NILE RODGERS, Producer - David Bowie, Producer, Vocals, MainArtist - Andy Smith, Engineer - Neal Perry, Engineer - Andrew Grassi, Engineer - Lee Anthony, Engineer - GARY TOLE, Engineer - Louis Alfred III, Engineer - Jon Goldberger, Engineer - Martine Valmont, Writer - Tahra Mint Hembara, Writer
© 2004 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC This label copy information is the subject of copyright protection. All rights reserved. (C) 2004 Parlophone Records Ltd ℗ 2003 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC under exclusive licence to Parlophone Records Ltd, a Warner Music Group Company
John Regan, Bass Guitar - Sterling Campbell, Drums - Michael Reisman, String Arranger, Bells, Harp - Fonzi Thornton, Background Vocals - Curtis King Jr., Background Vocals - Richard Tee, Keyboards - Dennis Collins, Background Vocals - Dave Richards, Keyboards - NILE RODGERS, Producer, Guitar, Writer - Richard Hilton, Keyboards - Tawatha Agee, Background Vocals - Brenda White-King, Background Vocals - Gerardo Velez, Percussion - PHILIPPE SAISSE, Keyboards - David Bowie, Producer, Guitar, Alto Saxophone, Vocals, Writer, MainArtist - Mike Garson, Piano - Lester Bowie, Trumpet - Andy Smith, Engineer - Neal Perry, AssistantEngineer - Andrew Grassi, Engineer - Lee Anthony, Engineer - Barry Campbell, Bass Guitar - GARY TOLE, Engineer - Budd Tunick, Co-ordinator Production - Louis Alfred III, Engineer - Jon Goldberger, Engineer - Maryl Epps, Background Vocals - Pugi Bell, Drums
© 2004 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC This label copy information is the subject of copyright protection. All rights reserved. (C) 2004 Parlophone Records Ltd ℗ 2003 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC under exclusive licence to Parlophone Records Ltd, a Warner Music Group Company
John Regan, Bass Guitar - Sterling Campbell, Drums - Michael Reisman, String Arranger, Bells, Harp - Fonzi Thornton, Background Vocals - Curtis King Jr., Background Vocals - Mark Nevin, Writer - Richard Tee, Keyboards - Dennis Collins, Background Vocals - Dave Richards, Keyboards - NILE RODGERS, Producer, Guitar, Background Vocals - Richard Hilton, Keyboards - Tawatha Agee, Background Vocals - David Spinner, Background Vocals - Frank Simms, Background Vocals - MORRISSEY, Writer - Steve Rooke, Remastering Engineer - Brenda White-King, Background Vocals - Gerardo Velez, Percussion - PHILIPPE SAISSE, Keyboards - David Bowie, Producer, Guitar, Alto Saxophone, Vocals, Background Vocals, MainArtist - Andy Smith, Engineer - Neal Perry, AssistantEngineer - Andrew Grassi, Engineer - Lee Anthony, Engineer - Barry Campbell, Bass Guitar - GARY TOLE, Engineer - Louis Alfred III, Engineer, AssistantEngineer - Jon Goldberger, Engineer - George Simms, Background Vocals - Maryl Epps, Background Vocals - Connie Petruk, Background Vocals - Pugi Bell, Drums - Wild T. Springer, Guitar - Lamya Al-Mugheiry, Background Vocals
© 2004 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC This label copy information is the subject of copyright protection. All rights reserved. (C) 2004 Parlophone Records Ltd ℗ 2004 Digital Remaster (P) 2004 The copyright in this sound recording is owned by Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC under exclusive licence to Parlophone Records Ltd
NILE RODGERS, Producer - David Bowie, Producer, Vocals, Writer, MainArtist - Andy Smith, Engineer - Neal Perry, AssistantEngineer - Andrew Grassi, Engineer - Lee Anthony, Engineer - GARY TOLE, Engineer - Louis Alfred III, Engineer - Jon Goldberger, Engineer
© 2004 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC This label copy information is the subject of copyright protection. All rights reserved. (C) 2004 Parlophone Records Ltd ℗ 2004 Digital Remaster (P) 2004 The copyright in this sound recording is owned by Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC under exclusive licence to Parlophone Records Ltd
Album review
Black Tie White Noise was the beginning of David Bowie's return from the wilderness of post-Let's Dance, the first indication that he was regaining his creative spark. To say as much suggests that it's a bit of a lost classic, when it's rather a sporadically intriguing transitional album, finding Bowie balancing the commercial dance-rock of Let's Dance with artier inclinations from his Berlin period, all the while trying to draw on the past by working with former Spider from Mars guitarist Mick Ronson, collaborating with Let's Dance producer Nile Rodgers, and even covering inspiration Scott Walker's "Nite Flights." On top of that, the record was inspired by his recent marriage to supermodel Iman -- the record is bookended with "The Wedding" and "The Wedding Song" -- and then tied up and presented as a sophisticated modern urban soul record, one that draws from uptown soul (including, rather bafflingly, a duet with Al B. Sure!) and state-of-the-art dance-club techno, while adding splashy touches like solos from avant jazz trumpeter Lester Bowie and a nod to modern alt-rock via a nifty cover of Morrissey's "I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday." That's a lot of stuff for one record to handle, so it shouldn't come as a great surprise that the album doesn't always work, but its stylish restlessness comes as a great relief, particularly when compared to the hermetically sealed previous solo Bowie record, 1987's Never Let Me Down. Black Tie White Noise displays greater musical ambition than any record he'd made since Scary Monsters, and while much of the record feels like unrealized ideas, there are songs where it all gels, like on the paranoid jumble of "Jump They Say," the aforementioned covers, the impassioned "You've Been Around," and the self-consciously smooth title track. Moments like these are the first in a long time to feel classically Bowie, and they point ahead toward the more interesting records he made in the second half of the '90s, but they are encased in a production that not only sounds dated years later, but sounded dated upon its release in the spring of 1993, two years into the thick of alternative rock. At that point, the club-centric, mainstream-courting Black Tie White Noise seemed as an anachronism during the guitar-heavy grunge-n-industrial glory days -- something Bowie tacitly acknowledged with its 1995 successor, Outside, which was every bit as gloomy as a Nine Inch Nails record -- but separated from the vagaries of fashion, it's an interesting first step in Bowie's creative revival.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 12 track(s)
- Total length: 00:56:26
- Main artists: David Bowie
- Label: Parlophone UK
- Genre: Pop/Rock Rock
© 2004 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC This label copy information is the subject of copyright protection. All rights reserved. (C) 2004 Parlophone Records Ltd ℗ 2004 Digital Remaster (P) 2004 The copyright in this sound recording is owned by Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC under exclusive licence to Parlophone Records Ltd
Improve album informationWhy buy on Qobuz?
-
Stream or download your music
Buy an album or an individual track. Or listen to our entire catalog with our high-quality unlimited streaming subscriptions.
-
Zero DRM
The downloaded files belong to you, without any usage limit. You can download them as many times as you like.
-
Choose the format best suited for you
Download your purchases in a wide variety of formats (FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF...) depending on your needs.
-
Listen to your purchases on our apps
Download the Qobuz apps for smartphones, tablets, and computers, and listen to your purchases wherever you go.