“And you’ll believe you’re loving the alien...”
David Bowie’s Tonight album was released on 24th September 1984, 40 years ago today.
Though there were only three tracks on the album that David Bowie had no hand in the writing of at all, there were just two solo Bowie compositions and two new co-writes out of the nine tracks.
Some would argue the two solo Bowie compositions are the two best tracks on the album. Would you agree?
1. Loving The Alien (Bowie)
2. Don't Look Down (Pop/Williamson) (Originally recorded by Iggy Pop for New Values, 1979)
3. God Only Knows (Wilson/Asher) (Originally recorded by The Beach Boys for Pet Sounds, 1966)
4. Tonight (featuring Tina Turner) (Bowie/Pop) (Originally recorded by Iggy Pop for Lust for Life, 1977)
5. Neighborhood Threat (Bowie/Pop/Gardiner) (Originally recorded by Iggy Pop for Lust for Life, 1977)
6. Blue Jean (Bowie)
7. Tumble And Twirl (Bowie/Pop)
8. I Keep Forgettin' (Leiber/Stoller/Garfield) (Originally recorded by Chuck Jackson for Any Day Now, 1962)
9. Dancing With The Big Boys (featuring Iggy Pop) (Bowie/Pop/Alomar)
As ever, those Dig! chaps have dug a bit deeper, and you can read this in-depth piece by Alan York now...
Tonight: A New Dawn For David Bowie’s Overlooked 80s Album:
We’ll leave you with the intro to Alan’s piece...
“At least in the commercial sense, the success of David Bowie’s 16th studio album, Tonight, was pretty much a fait accompli. Arriving in the autumn of 1984, just nine months after the completion of his enormous Serious Moonlight world tour, the record shot to No.1 and basked in Bowie’s reputation as a global superstar – and yet history often finds it sitting in the shadow of its illustrious predecessor, 1983’s Let’s Dance.”
#BowieTonight40 #BowieDIG