It sits in an awkward position. David Bowie had just come off his three-year, Berlin-located, Eno-produced Low / "Heroes" / Lodger trilogy. He was ready to exit RCA for EMI. Let's Dance and American pop superstardom were just an album away. And here comes this screaming inbetweenie album, Scary Monsters.
Scary Monsters is an odd album. It sounds like so much Bowie had recently recorded, and yet sounds so unique. Tony Visconti is back to co-produce (he had produced on Bowie's first two albums a decade - seemingly a life time - before). Frippertronic guitars swirl throughout. Who guitarist Pete Townshend even makes an appearance.
The highlights almost all come on side one of the original LP (the first five tracks). The song "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)" could well be the most aurally satisfying recording Bowie ever made. The cover of Tom Verlaine's "Scream Like A Baby" is the standout track of side two.
One gets the feeling, in retrospect, that Bowie was intentionally closing a chapter in his musical career. The song "Ashes-To-Ashes" (which, along with "Fashion", the fine "Up The Hill Backwards" and the title track were all UK hit singles) harkens back to Bowie's first hit, "Space Oddity", showing us Major Tom was less an astronaut, more a druggy - the guy mother warned you to avoid. "It's No Game" opens and closes the album with feelings of a cold splash of reality for an artist who had always cloaked himself in characters (Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust, The Thin White Duke).
If you can, grab the 1992 Rykodisc reissue. The stripped-down versions of "Space Oddity" (appropriately the UK flip side of "Ashes-To-Ashes") and "Panic in Detroit" are worthy bonus tracks (although the other two bonuses, "Crystal Japan" and a cover of Brecht's "Alabama Song" aren't nearly as good).
All told, the highlights outweigh the lows. Even if only four or five of the album's songs tickle your ears, this CD is well worth buying.
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