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David Bowie
Strange, dense and mysterious, Heroes is the album that solidified Bowie’s image as a post-modern master of minimalism and complexity. Like its predecessor, the stunningly original Low, Heroes combines mystifying wordplay with layers and layers of sound, only to shift gears for the album’s second half by utilizing tonal ideas as brilliant mood pieces. The influence of Brian Eno is apparent mostly on the album’s second half, while the first half is indebted to the roaring guitar work of Robert Fripp, whose lead guitar work provides that foundation upon which most of the songs are built.
The album’s title track is a masterpiece by any definition of the word, built on a repetitive base that chugs along and drones endlessly while Bowie’s vocal builds and builds to an astounding climax. Although nothing else here comes close to the power of that track, there is never a dull moment on Heroes". "Beauty and the Beast," "Joe the Lion" and "Blackout" are as lyrically engaging as Bowie has ever been, thick with an attitude that conveys difficult, strangely complex moods that do not reveal themselves until you allow yourself to be immersed in their murky imagery.
As dense and complex as the ‘song’ side is, the instrumental side is equally adept at conveying the exact opposite. With the exception of the exotically structured "The Secret Life of Arabia," which closes the album, side two presents an ascetic style of music that is at once rare and refreshing from a pop star of Bowie’s status. Just as ascetic is the packaging, with its black and white cover photo and back with nothing other than basic information regarding song titles and musicians. Heroes is an album that communicates well beyond its release date, reverberating into the 21st century with a vision that shuns formula and embraces individuality in a contradictory manner that perhaps only David Bowie was (or is) capable.
Grade: 
 
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