I guess like a lot of people I bought the Heroes LP on the strength of the stunning single of the same name. Despite the album winning several album of the year awards I remember being underwhelmed with the rest of the material on the LP. Looking at the track listing, I thought the first three songs were strong, and the only other one I can recall is the Kraftwerk tribute "V-2 Schneider".
We now know Heroes to be the second part of the the so called Berlin trilogy although when it was released it was simply referred to as the follow-up to the experimental Low album, and there was plenty of reference to the involvement of Brian Eno and Robert Fripp in the making of the LP. With the release of the title track as a single, which despite its subsequent global recognition as a masterpiece only reached number 24 in the UK charts, there was much comment about the record being recorded within sight of the Berlin Wall and being able to see the East German soliders on the other side from the studio, leading to the inspiration for the song.
"Beauty And The Beast" is the opening song. There is a jerky piano intro, a pounding bass, and the start of the vocal sounds like the start of the chorus from "Wild Is The Wind" on Station To Station. Bowie's vocal is deep, the synthezied strings disjointed and the funk could be from the Young Americans LP. However, I like the line "my my, someone fetch a priest. You can't say no to the beauty and the beast".
"Joe The Lion" has a distinct guitar intro, but the vocal is strained, the verse is a bit of a mess and the beat is similar to that on "Boys Keep Swinging" from the subsequent Lodger LP. The mess briefly disappears with the introduction of a TVC15 like piano refrain before the mess starts again. Strangely, its all quiet likeable !
"Heroes" is still the stand out track by some distance. With a memorable synthizer over a plodding beat, the power and grace of the music does indeed conjour up heroic imagery. The song gradually builds to a crescendo over a tale of intense romance and perhaps the futility of cold war.
"Sons Of The Silent Age" sounds like something from the pre Man Who Sold The World era but with Saxophone. This isn't a great recommendation ! "Blackout" also hints of "Boys Keep Swinging" but the vocal is virtually unlistenable which is a shame as the music is promising, especially the guitar part.
Side two is patchy, mostly instrumental and difficult to get into. The title "V-2 Schneider" is the most obvious acknowledgement of the impact of "Krautrock" on Heroes with the tribute to Kraftwerk's Florian Schneider. It starts with a synthized imitation a WWII V bomb and is mostly great saxophone. It is an instrumental apart from the distorted signing of the title near the end. Ironically though there isn't any sax on the Kraftwerk album I have nor does it sound like Kraftwerk. However, I quite like this.
In contrast "Sense of Doubt" could actually be a Kraftwerk instrumental. It has an icy horror movie piano motif mixed with science fiction B-movie style synths. It's interesting.
"Moss Garden" features Bowie played a Koto, which is a Japanese instrument. The track could be from Jon Anderson's "Olias of Sunhillow", which also isn't necessarily a great recommendation.....
"Neukoln" is this album's "Warszawa". Despite the very occasional possible Turkish influence the sad, wailing saxophone doesn't conjure any images I know of the Neukoln suburb of Berlin. To me it sounds like Tangerine Dream. I hate it.
The album closes with the filler "The Secret Life Of Arabia" which could be a song from "Station To Station". It's poor.
Overall, Heroes is not at good as I thought it was. This was a case of job done, and I don't think I will be playing this again.
Track Listing :
1. Beauty And The Beast
2. Joe The Lion
3. Heroes
4. Sons Of The Silent Age
5. Blackout
6. V-2 Scheider
7. Sense Of Doubt
8. Moss Garden
9. Neukoln
10.The Secret Life Of Arabia
Released 1977
UK Chart Position : 3
Singles :
Heroes ( No 24 - 1977 )
Beauty And The Beast ( No 39 - 1978 )
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