heathen

David Bowie ushered in a new millennium with a new record label and the lush electronic experimentation of this matured and assured return to form.  After parting ways with Reeves Gabrels, Bowie reconnected with Tony Visconti to co-produce 'Heathen' at Allaire Studios in Shokan, New York and Looking Glass Studios in New York City.  Visconti had produced several of Bowie's classic albums during his heyday in the seventies and the sound on 'Heathen' draws from the many styles that they had explored during that time.  'Heathen' also borrows two new songs from the 'Toy' project of reworked versions of old songs that Bowie's label refused to release. 



Bowie remembers:  "Sometime in spring of 2001, I had been told by guitarist David Torn of a new studio that was in near completion state called Allaire...It's just outside of Woodstock, remote, silent and inspirational. We couldn't believe what a find it was. The place had been originally built in the twenties as a summer home for an industrialist and his family. He had been under the spell of a certain kind of building style, all wood with nautical overtones. Being in the building felt at times like being on one of those Eisenhower era yachts or something like that. He even had that seafaring blue down. Must have ordered it especially, I imagine. The main room, which would have been the dining room in its day, was so high, oh, at least thirty, forty feet high with twenty five-foot windows. Just enormous. And the view. Well, this whole complex was situated on the top of a mountain giving fifty mile views through one hundred and eighty degrees over the Ashokan reservoir. North through the West ending at the South. Unbelievable. I just knew exactly what lyrics I was to write as I stepped into the room although I didn't yet know what the words themselves were."

The sessions included Bowie on vocals, keyboards, guitars, saxophone, stylophone, backing vocals, and drums; Visconti on bass, guitars, recorders, string arrangements, and backing vocals; Matt Chamberlain on drums, drum loop programming, and percussion; David Torn on guitars, guitar loops, and omnichord; Tony Levin on bass; Pete Townshend, Dave Grohl, and Carlos Alomar on guitar; Sterling Campbell on drums and percussion; Kristeen Young on vocals and piano; Lisa Germano on violin; Gerry Leonard on guitar;  Mark Plati on guitar and bass; Jordan Rudess on keyboards; the Borneo Horns: Lenny Pickett, Stan Harrison, and Steve Elson; and the Scorchio Quartet:  1st violin Greg Kitzis, 2nd violin Meg Okura, Martha Mooke on viola, and Mary Wooten on cello.  Mark Plati, Brian Rawling, and Gary Miller assisted with production on a couple of tracks.  'Heathen' also features three great covers:  the Pixies' 'Cactus', Neil Young's 'I've Been Waiting for You' and the Legendary Stardust Cowboy's 'I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship'.  Bowie admits:  "We didn't know where we were going but it was a joy when we got there. I had a sense of the sonic weight that I was after, a sort of non-professional approach, a kind of British amateur-ness about it. And I mean amateur in that dedicated fashion you find in a man who, only on Sundays, will build a cathedral out of matchsticks, beautiful but only to please himself and his family and friends. I went in very much like that. I wanted to prove the sustaining power of music. I wanted to bring about a personal cultural restoration, using everything I knew without returning to the past. I wanted to feel the weight and depth of the years. All my experiences, all the questions, all the fear, all the spiritual isolation. Something that had little sense of time, neither past nor present. This is the way that the old men ride."

'Heathen' was the first album on his ISO subsidiary of Columbia Records and marked his fifth decade of recording.  It went to number twenty-two in New Zealand, nineteen in the Netherlands, fourteen in the US, nine in Australia, seven in Switzerland,  six in Sweden, five in the UK, four in Austria and Germany, three in France, two in Norway, and number one in Denmark.   Bowie says, "Heathenism is a state of mind. You can take it that I'm referring to one who does not see his world. He has no mental light. He destroys almost unwittingly. He cannot feel any Gods presence in his life. He is the 21st century man. However, there's no theme or concept behind 'Heathen', just a number of songs but somehow there is a thread that runs through it that is quite as strong as any of my thematic type albums." 

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'Heathen' 
full album:

All tracks written by David Bowie, and produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, except where noted.


1. "Sunday" 4:45
2. "Cactus" (Black Francis) 2:54
3. "Slip Away" 6:05
4. "Slow Burn" 4:41
5. "Afraid"  Bowie, Mark Plati 3:28
6. "I've Been Waiting for You" (Neil Young) 3:00
7. "I Would Be Your Slave" 5:14
8. "I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship" (Norman Carl Odam) 4:04
9. "5:15 The Angels Have Gone" 5:00
10. "Everyone Says 'Hi'" Brian Rawling, Gary Miller  3:59
11. "A Better Future" 4:11
12. "Heathen (The Rays)" 4:16