Tin Machine I	Tin Machine I and II	Tin Machine II

As the world tumbled into the 90's, Bowie turned to a group exercise called Tin Machine, which included Hunt and Tony Sales from Iggy Pop's band, and Reeves Gabrels, who has been Bowie's guitarist of choice for the better part of the past decade. Tin Machine was one part heavy metal, one part grunge and a twist of blues, true to the legacy of the Stooges. TM will appeal most to those who digest these food groups on a regular basis.

Forgive me for this roundabout interpretation of Tin Machine, I'll get to the point soon enough. I first heard Tin Machine when the music director of the radio station I worked for tossed a promotional CD single of Prisoner Of Love into the "free discards to the staff" piles. These were items that didn't fit the format of the station

and weren't likely to fit the format should the station do a sudden about face and start playing country music or disco or whatever.

I thought, "Cool! Bowie!" and snagged it for my home collection. One listen revealed a 180 degree turn for The Man. I was grateful that Bowie had abandoned that goofy magic spider kaopectate from his mid-eighties output. I was also grateful that this didn't turn out to be the old Perry Como operatic belch that James Brown had later covered.

Still, I was not enamored of the one track dirge and didn't make an effort to check out the rest of the album. With the release of TM2 came another promo CD donated to the staff giveaway pile, and a four

Not the guy from Hellraiser

track CD single of Baby Universal entered my collection. A better song and another addition to my Bowie collection. Still I didn't check out Tin Machine II.

Years later I found both Tin Machine I and Tin Machine II in the used CD bins, along with the live Tin Machine CD, oy vey, baby. Having relished Bowie's renewed vigor with Black Tie White Noise, The Buddha of Suburbia and Outside, I gave Tin Machine another listen. Skeptics had accused Tin Machine of being a bunch of old farts trying to cash in on youth culture, but one headphones session with these beasts convinced me that these four dudes could clean anybody's clock.

Try on Under The God for size. Heaven's In Here. I Can't Read. Leaves you stumbling out of the alley with places on your body that will be blue and tender for weeks. The covers you find Bowie under are....well, David sinks his teeth into John Lennon's Working Class Hero and Roxy Music's If There Is Something. Doesn't get much better than that.

Sure, these two albums can be faulted, especially in light of Bowie's entire legacy. Frankly, I could combine the two albums into one good CD without a lot of grief. (Just a moment, I think I hear the label calling me for my "expertise".)

A quick rule of thumb is that the first Tin Machine album is rougher, the second more polished; the first is more consistent, the second has more peaks and valleys. Given a choice I'd take Baby Universal, Betty Wrong, If There Is Something and Goodbye Mr. Ed from the second album to replace the weakest tracks from the first. Still, once I finally got these two albums I was pleasantly surprised. Some of the numbers here belong with Bowie's best.

	oy vey, baby

Tin Machine's live repertoire is close enough to the setlist I would have chosen, it's just not particularly compelling. Heaven's In Here is four hours long. Stateside is only two hours long, but it's textbook blues so it just seems longer.

David does speak on this live album, one phrase saying something like, "Latin America does not sound like.....this" to a brief "latin" rhythm. I'll bet Mr. Bowie listens to Shakira in the car on his way home from the office. Somebody should turn him on to some jumpin' Perez Prado.

I saved oy vey, baby for last, finally completing my Bowie collection when I found it in the $1.99 remainders bin. With this CD rounding out my collection I could still comfortably fit all the Tin Machine my appetite desires onto one CD. And it's probably the same CD I would've made before I bought this one. If you pay two bucks for it, make sure the jewel case is in good condition.

oy vey, baby

If There Is Something
Amazing
I Can't Read
Stateside
Under The God
Goodbye Mr. Ed
Heaven's In Here
You Belong In Rock & Roll

 
 

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