- Art Decade
Infobox Song
Name = Art Decade
Artist =David Bowie
Album = Low
Released =January 14 1977
track_no = 9
Recorded = 1976
Genre = Art Rock
Length = 3:46
Label = RCA
Writer = David Bowie
Producer = David Bowie andTony Visconti
prev = Warszawa
prev_no = 8
next = Weeping Wall
next_no = 10"Art Decade" is an instrumental song by
David Bowie for his album "Low" from 1977.The song is named for a street Bowie had encountered in
West Berlin , whose name was a pun on theart deco style. In fact, the song itself is, like the rest of the songs on the b-side of "Low", a portrait piece of a certain location, in this case, West Berlin. Recounting his impressions, Bowie later called West Berlin "a city cut off from its world, art and culture, dying with no hope of retribution." As a result, the song is intentionally droll and slow, attempting a melancholy, depressing sound.The song features a quick introduction on percussion and vibraphone, using a caravan-like drum sound to continue throughout the piece. Bowie's melodic portion of the composition is layered over the synthetic soundscapes of
Brian Eno , whosesynthesizer effects are reminiscent to those of the "No Pussyfooting " album from1974 . The song is intentionally repetitive, half the song does not stray from an E major chord while a two note melody repeats over the sound of continuous effects.Live versions
* A live version recorded on the "Heroes tour" at the Philadelphia Spectrum, April 28-29, 1978, was released on the live album "Stage".
Other releases
* The live versions from "Stage" was released as the B-side of the single "
Breaking Glass " in 1978.
* It was released as a picture disc in theRCA "Life Time" picture disc set.ources
*Greatorex, Johnathan. "Just a Mortal With Potential." Teenage Wildlife. Nov. 1996. 06 Mar. 2006 [http://www.teenagewildlife.com/Interact/fc/misc/JG/index.html] .
*Griffin, R. "Low." Bowie Golden Years. Jan. 2005. 06 Mar. 2006 [http://members.ol.com.au/rgriffin/GoldenYears/Low.html] .
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