April 2026 – Page 2 – The Light Appears

After the mammoth success of the Let’s Dance album just one year earlier, David Bowie and record company rush released Tonight. Instead of trying to duplicate that success with producer Nile Rodgers, Bowie decided to work with Derek Bramble and Hugh Padgham as engineer. At nine tracks, five of them covers, Tonight is a hodgepodge release.

The album starts off promisingly with the crisp drumbeat of “Loving The Alien”. The track has a great build-up to the chorus on the song name that would later serve as the title of the box set for the years 1983-1988. That promise is also seen on punchy first single “Blue Jean”. The lyrically simple song about girls is amped up on the high end with horns and on the low subtle end with the marimba. The upbeat pop track went top 10 around the world.

The rest of the album does not live up to those two moments. Three of the songs were originally done by Iggy Pop including the reggae influenced title track that sees Bowie singing with Tina Turner. Bowie also turns his attention to The Beach Boys with an atrocious version of “God Only Knows” that does much damage to one of rock and roll’s greatest love songs. Instead of working as a cohesive whole, much of Tonight feels like it’s slapped together, throwing songs at the wall to see what sticks. On this release, much of it doesn’t stick at all.

5/10

1975 was a high praise year for Bob Dylan, coming off the critical success of both Blood On The Tracks and The Basement Tapes recorded with The Band. In 1976, Desire was the next Dylan release and was also successful. Critically acclaimed, the album eventually made it to #1 in the US. Two additions to the sound make Desire a warm record to revisit 50 years later. Emmylou Harris sings back-up throughout the album and the violin playing of Scarlet Rivera really stands out especially on tracks like the quest for riches saga of “Isis”.

Many of the tracks were co-written with Jacques Levy including the playful rhyming of “Mozambique” and the flamenco sound of “Romance In Durango”. “Black Diamond Bay” about a volcano erupting on a tiny island is high quality pop songwriting, “she sheds a tear and then begins to pray/as the fire burns on and the smoke drifts away”. The album closes with the personal “Sara” about Dylan’s then wife.

The standout track is the first single, “Hurricane”. The song tells the true story of boxer Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter who was wrongfully convicted of murder before eventually having the charges overturned years later. A powerful storytelling song where the outstanding musicianship behind Dylan matches his passion for the tragedy of the charges. Desire is a really terrific mid 70s period Dylan album.

9/10

Month: April 2026

David Bowie – Tonight (1984)

Bob Dylan – Desire (1976)