Twisted Vista
David Bowie
Live. Inside
1995 marked one of David Bowie’s peak
creative periods, both in the studio
and in concert. 1.Outside evinced an
artistic rebirth, with Bowie reaching
into darker and deeper waters in his writing, inspired by a contemporaneous
art world which celebrated exhibitions
of cross-sections of cow carcasses.
1.Outside was a loosely-knit “hyper-
narrative” about murder perpretrated as
art. The CD was enhanced by the
return of Brian Eno, with whom Bowie
recorded three albums in Berlin in
the late ‘70s. The Outside tour,
documented here on Live.Inside,
carried Bowie's renewed experimental		Music Review Index
drive to new heights. Various songs
from Bowie’s past receive infusions
of the dangerous, shamanic energy
Bowie tapped into in this work.
The first disc opens with a track
nominally titled “Outside,” which
combines part of the lyrics from
“Scary Monsters” with brain-numbing synth
chords from 1977's “Subterraneans.”
The slowly intoned, “she could
have been a killer…” takes on
disquieting implications in this context.
Similarly, “Joe the Lion” (about
performance artist Chris Burdon, who
had himself crucified to a Volkswagen)
and an electronic take of “Andy Warhol”
connect with motifs from 1.Outside.
On “Scary Monsters,” “Reptile,” and
“Hurt,” Bowie is backed by Trent Reznor
and Nine Inch Nails, who served as the
opening act on the US leg of the
tour. Bowie brings a conviction to the
sexual “Reptile” and the self-mutilating
“Hurt” to which the songs’ author could
only aspire. The versions of "We Prick
You" and "I Have Not Been to Oxford
Town" on 1.Outside dragged;  here,
the repetitive verses are invested with
an incantatory, hypnotic momentum.
The decision to invite Trent
Reznor to sing (scream, actually) the
chorus to “Scary Monsters” is the only
discernible misstep on this performance.
Bowie's pitch-modulated spoken
word passages on 1.Outside are wisely
dropped. While Brian Eno (a creature
of the studio) isn’t present, the
entire performance bears the imprint of
Eno's affinity for the ethereal, the
seductive, and the sinister, typified
the rearrangement of “The Man Who Sold
The World.” Unlike Adrian Belew, who
played on the 1978 Stage live album
and the Sound and Vision tour, guitarist
Reeves Gabrels doesn’t mistake obnoxious
squeals for guitar solos. At the time of this
recording, Bowie had not yet succumbed
to the short-lived "drums 'n' bass" trend
which shaped the Earthling album
and subsequent tour. This double CD
captures a enthralling performance
with pristine sound quality.
CD1: Outside/Scary Monsters/Reptile/
Hallo Spaceboy/Hurt/Look Back In Anger/
I’m Deranged/The Heart’s Filthy Lesson/
The Voyeur Of Utter Destruction/I Have
Not Been To Oxford Town. Time: 53m. 13s.
CD2: Outside/Andy Warhol/Breaking Glass/
The Man Who Sold The World/We Prick You/
Joe the Lion/A Small Plot of Land/Nite
Flights/Band introduction/Under
Pressure/Teenage Wildlife/Strangers
When We Meet. Time: 53m. 49s
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