★★★

1. Beauty and the Beast: 👍🏻
2. Joe the Lion: 🤷‍♂️
3. “Heroes”: 👍🏻
4. Sons of the Silent Age: 👍🏻
5. Blackout: 👍🏻
6. V-2 Schneider: 👍🏻
7. Sense of Doubt: 🤷‍♂️
8. Moss Garden: 🤷‍♂️
9. Neuköln: 👎🏻
10. The Secret Like of Arabia: 🤷‍♂️

Woof. I was expecting big things from this album. I’ve always really liked the title track, and I was pleasantly surprised with Low yesterday. Like Low, it started out pretty strong, but fell apart at the end. Only this time I liked the second half of the album even less. The Secret Life of Arabia is almost my favorite track on this album just because it means Neuköln is over.

I’m glad to have listened to this album all the way through the once, but I won’t be returning to it. individual songs, yes. The album as a whole, definitely not (unless I stop after V-2 Schneider).

I will say that I definitely learned something listening to this. I knew “Heroes” well, but I always thought it didn’t sound like other Bowie. It turns out that it does sound like other Bowie, just not like any Bowie I’d ever heard before. It was the only track I knew before listening to the album today. Now that I’ve heard the whole thing, and Low before it, “Heroes” suddenly seems a lot more in-line, for lack of a better word. Once again, I’m finding value in this project, even if I’m not extending my library in the process.