"Heroes" (David Bowie album)

"Heroes"
The album cover features a black and white photograph of Bowie's face with his hands held up
Studio album by David Bowie
Released 14 October 1977 (1977-10-14)
Recorded July–August 1977
Studio Hansa Studio by the Wall
(West Berlin, Germany)
Genre
Length 40:19
Label RCA Records
Producer
David Bowie chronology
Low
(1977)		 "Heroes"
(1977)		 Stage
(1978)
Singles from "Heroes"
  1. ""Heroes"" / "V-2 Schneider"
    Released: 23 September 1977
  2. "Beauty and the Beast" / "Sense of Doubt"
    Released: 6 January 1978

"Heroes"[4] is the twelfth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on RCA Records on 14 October 1977. The second instalment of his "Berlin Trilogy" recorded with Brian Eno and Tony Visconti, "Heroes" continued the ambient experiments of Bowie's previous album Low (released earlier that year) and featured the contributions of guitarist Robert Fripp.[5] Of the three albums, it was the only one wholly recorded in Berlin. Upon its release, it was met with positive critical reception and was named NME Album of the Year. The title track remains one of Bowie's best known and acclaimed songs.[6]

Production and style

Recorded at Hansa Tonstudio in what was then West Berlin, "Heroes" reflected the zeitgeist of the Cold War, symbolised by the divided city. Co-producer Tony Visconti considered it "one of my last great adventures in making albums. The studio was about 500 yards [460 metres] from the Berlin Wall. Red Guards would look into our control-room window with powerful binoculars."[7] Earlier in 1977, Kraftwerk had name-checked Bowie on the title track of Trans-Europe Express, and he again paid tribute to his Krautrock influences: the title is a nod to the track "Hero" on the album Neu! '75 by the German band Neu! – whose guitarist Michael Rother had originally been approached to play on the album[8] – while "V-2 Schneider" is inspired by and named after Kraftwerk's Florian Schneider.[9] The cover photo by Masayoshi Sukita was inspired by German artist Erich Heckel's Roquairol.[10]

Brian Eno instigated Robert Fripp's involvement by telephoning him in New York and inviting him to play guitar on the album. Fripp had considered himself retired from music but said, "Well, I don’t know because I haven’t played for three years, but if you’re prepared to take a risk, then so am I."[11] Upon arriving at the studio from New York, and suffering from jet lag, Fripp recorded a guitar part for the track "Beauty and the Beast": this first take was used in the song's final mix.[11]

Although "Heroes" continued Bowie's work in electronic[3] and ambient music styles[12] and included a number of dark and atmospheric instrumentals such as "Sense of Doubt" and "Neuköln", it was regarded as a highly passionate and positive artistic statement,[7][9] particularly after the often melancholy Low.[13] The lyrics for "Joe the Lion", written and recorded at the microphone "in less than an hour" according to Visconti, typified the improvisational nature of the recording.[14]

Release and impact

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[15]
Blender[16]
Chicago Tribune[17]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[18]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[19]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[20]
NME8/10[21]
Pitchfork Media10/10[22]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[23]
Select5/5[24]

RCA Records marketed "Heroes" with the slogan "There's Old Wave. There's New Wave. And there's David Bowie ..."[9] It enjoyed a positive critical reception on release in late 1977,[6] Melody Maker and NME both naming it "Album of the Year".[25][26] It reached No. 3 in the UK and stayed in the charts for 26 weeks, but was less successful in the US where it peaked at No. 35. The album was released in Germany with the title track renamed ""Heroes"/"Helden"" and partly in German. An early instance of the album's enduring influence is John Lennon's comment in 1980 that, when making his album Double Fantasy, his ambition was to "do something as good as "Heroes"."[6][25] Rolling Stone highlighted Eno's contribution, contending that after Bowie's "auteurist exploitation" of the former on Low, "Heroes" "prompts a much more enthusiastic reading of the collaboration, which here takes the form of a union of Bowie's dramatic instincts and Eno's unshakable sonic serenity".[27]

Several songs from the album were played live on Bowie's Low and Heroes World Tour of 1978, and released on the live album Stage in the same year. Philip Glass adapted a classical suite, "Heroes" Symphony, from this album as a companion to his earlier Low Symphony. The title track has been covered by numerous artists, for example as an encore by subsequent incarnations of King Crimson, and Billy Mackenzie sang "The Secret Life of Arabia" in 1982 for the British Electric Foundation LP Music of Quality and Distinction. Several tracks were used in the film Christiane F. Bowie performed as himself in the film.

The cover of Bowie's 2013 album, The Next Day, is an altered and obscured version of the "Heroes" cover. This version has "Heroes" crossed out and Bowie's face obscured by an opaque white box reading "The Next Day".

Track listing

All lyrics written by David Bowie; all music composed by Bowie, except where noted.

Side one
No. Title Length
1. "Beauty and the Beast"   3:32
2. "Joe the Lion"   3:05
3. ""Heroes"" (Bowie, Brian Eno) 6:07
4. "Sons of the Silent Age"   3:15
5. "Blackout"   3:50
Total length:
 19:49
Side two
No. Title Length
6. "V-2 Schneider"   3:10
7. "Sense of Doubt"   3:57
8. "Moss Garden" (Bowie, Eno) 5:03
9. "Neuköln" (Bowie, Eno) 4:34
10. "The Secret Life of Arabia" (Bowie, Eno, Carlos Alomar) 3:46
Total length:
 20:30 (40:19)

Reissues

"Heroes" has been rereleased on CD four times to date. The first CD issue was by RCA in 1984. It was reissued in 1991 by Rykodisc with two bonus tracks. In the late 1990s Ryko released it on a numbered 20-bit SBM Gold edition. A further release in 1999 by EMI/Virgin featured 24-bit digitally remastered sound and no bonus tracks.

1991 reissue bonus tracks
No. Title Length
11. "Abdulmajid" (Previously unreleased track, recorded 1976–79; composed by Bowie and Eno) 3:40
12. "Joe the Lion" (Remixed version, 1991) 3:08

Personnel

Technical personnel

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (1977) Peak
position
Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart[29] 6
Austrian Albums Chart[30] 19
Canadian RPM Albums Chart[31] 44
Dutch Mega Albums Chart[32] 3
French SNEP Albums Chart[33] 19
Japanese Oricon LP Chart[34] 57
New Zealand Albums Chart[35] 15
Norwegian Albums Chart[36] 13
Swedish Albums Chart[37] 13
UK Albums Chart[38] 3
US Billboard 200[39] 35

Year-end charts

Chart (1977) Position
Dutch Albums Chart[40] 20
French Albums Chart[41] 94
Chart (1978) Position
Australian Albums Chart[29] 87

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/Sales
Canada (Music Canada)[42] Gold 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[43] Gold 100,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone

Notes

  1. ↑ "Ranking: Every David Bowie Album From Worst to Best". Consequence of Sound. January 8, 2016.
  2. ↑ BLACKARD, CAP, WREN GRAVES AND ERIN MANNING. "A Beginner's Guide to David Bowie". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  3. 1 2 Bloechl, Olivia et. al. Rethinking Difference in Music Scholarship. Cambridge University Press, 2015. p. 307
  4. ↑ Shaar Murray, Charles (1977). "NME interview". Bowie Golden Years. Archived from the original on 5 October 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2007. I'd felt that the use of quotes indicate a dimension of irony about the word 'heroes' or about the whole concept of heroism.
  5. ↑ Pegg, Nicholas (2006). The Complete David Bowie (4th ed.). London: Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. p. 312. ISBN 1-905287-15-1.
  6. 1 2 3 Pegg, Nicholas (2000). The Complete David Bowie. pp. 307–309.
  7. 1 2 Buckley, David (1999). Strange Fascination – David Bowie: The Definitive Story. pp. 320–325.
  8. ↑ Snow, Mat (2007). MOJO 60 Years of Bowie, "Making Heroes". p. 69.
  9. 1 2 3 Carr, Roy; Murray, Charles Shaar (1981). Bowie: An Illustrated Record. pp. 91–92.
  10. ↑ "UNCUT interview". Bowie Golden Years. 1999. Archived from the original on 5 October 2009. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  11. 1 2 Preston, Andrew. "David Bowie's biggest fans reveal all". Daily Mail. London. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  12. ↑ Mastropolo, Frank. "The History of David Bowie's Berlin Trilogy: 'Low,' 'Heroes,' and 'Lodger'". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  13. ↑ Visconti stated that the title of Low was partly inspired by Bowie's depression during the album's recording.BowieGoldenYears. Retrieved 12 June 2007.
  14. ↑ Pegg, Nicholas (2000). The Complete David Bowie. p. 112.
  15. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Heroes – David Bowie". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
  16. ↑ "David Bowie Part 1: The 1960s and '70s". Blender (47). May 2006.
  17. ↑ Kot, Greg (10 June 1990). "Bowie's Many Faces Are Profiled On Compact Disc". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  18. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "David Bowie: "Heroes"". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
  19. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-857-12595-8.
  20. ↑ Robbins, Ira (1 November 1991). "Heroes". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  21. ↑ Fadele, Dele (11 September 1998). "David Bowie – Station To Station/Low/Heroes/Stage". NME. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  22. ↑ Dombal, Ryan (22 January 2015). "David Bowie: "Heroes"". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  23. ↑ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. pp. 97–99. ISBN 0-743-20169-8.
  24. ↑ Griffiths, Nick (September 1991). "David Bowie: Low / Heroes / Lodger". Select (15): 80.
  25. 1 2 Sandford, Christopher (1997). Bowie: Loving the Alien. Time Warner. pp. 182–193. ISBN 0-306-80854-4.
  26. ↑ Gittens, Ian (2007). "Art Decade", MOJO 60 Years of Bowie. pp. 70–73.
  27. ↑ Testa, Bart (12 January 1978). "Heroes". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 9 January 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  28. 1 2 "Breaking down David Bowie's 'Heroes' - Track-by-track". BBC Arts. BBC. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  29. 1 2 Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  30. ↑ "David Bowie – "Heroes" – austriancharts.at" (ASP). Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  31. ↑ "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 28, No. 14" (PHP). RPM. 31 December 1977. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  32. ↑ "dutchcharts.nl David Bowie – "Heroes"" (ASP). dutchcharts.nl. MegaCharts. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  33. ↑ "InfoDisc : Tous les Albums classés par Artiste > Choisir Un Artiste Dans la Liste" (PHP). infodisc.fr. Retrieved 31 January 2014. Note: user must select 'David BOWIE' from drop-down.
  34. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  35. ↑ "charts.org.nz David Bowie – "Heroes"" (ASP). Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  36. ↑ "norwegiancharts.com David Bowie – "Heroes"" (ASP). Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  37. ↑ "swedishcharts.com David Bowie – "Heroes"" (ASP). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  38. ↑ "David Bowie > Artists > Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  39. ↑ "allmusic ((( "Heroes" > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  40. ↑ "Dutch charts jaaroverzichten 1977" (ASP) (in Dutch). Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  41. ↑ "Les Albums (CD) de 1977 par InfoDisc" (PHP) (in French). infodisc.fr. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  42. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – David Bowie – Heroes". Music Canada. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  43. ↑ "British album certifications – David Bowie – Heroes". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 31 January 2014. Enter Heroes in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Gold in the field By Award. Click Search
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