Lodger (album)

Did You Know?

• The cover photo was inspired by the self-portraits of Egon Schiele.
• Bowie's bandaged hand in the cover photo was genuine; he had burned it with coffee that morning and decided to incorporate it.
• The front cover features a postcard with the album title in four different languages.

Recording and production

The sessions for Lodger kicked off in September 1978, during a four-month pause in the Isolar II tour. Though it marks the end of the Berlin Trilogy, most of the album was cut at Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland, with finishing touches added at the Record Plant in New York. The Montreux vibe was a far cry from Berlin’s; the studio sat on the ashes of a burned-down predecessor, and its acoustics were considered weaker than those of Hansa Tonstudio. Carlos Alomar found the Alpine setting dull compared to the excitement near the Berlin Wall. The core band—Brian Eno, Tony Visconti, Alomar, Dennis Davis, and George Murray—returned. New guitarist Adrian Belew joined after Bowie plucked him from a tour with Frank Zappa. Belew recorded without hearing the backing tracks beforehand, not even knowing the key; his parts were stitched together from multiple takes. He compared the final guitar solo on “D.J.” to flipping through radio stations, each offering a different solo.

Musical style

The music on Lodger is described as art rock and experimental rock, but it abandons the electronic and ambient styles and the song/instrumental split of Low and "Heroes" in favor of more conventional song structures. Visconti explained, "We dropped the ambient-side-two concept and just recorded songs!" The album is considered the most accessible of the Berlin Trilogy, with songs characterized as "twisted avant-pop" and "avant-garde pop music." Its musical textures, particularly on "African Night Flight," have been cited as presaging the popularity of world music. Bowie himself considered the album a forerunner of sounds developed by Eno and David Byrne for My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. The album combines world and new wave music into a pop format, and elements of Middle Eastern music, reggae, and krautrock appear within the songs. The opening track "Fantastic Voyage" is described as "surprisingly delicate" and "serene," sharing the same chord sequence as "Boys Keep Swinging" and featuring nine mandolin parts. "Move On" was composed after Bowie accidentally played his earlier composition "All the Young Dudes" backwards. "Yassassin" combines funk and reggae with a violin part reminiscent of Middle Eastern folk music. "Red Sails" was inspired by the German band Neu! and their distinctive motorik drum beat.

Lyrics and themes

Lodger is interpreted as covering two major themes: travel on side one and critiques of Western civilization on side two. Some consider it a concept album. Songs feature heavily politicized lyrics, including "Fantastic Voyage," which deals with the depression brought on by Cold War leaders and the possibility of nuclear war, and "Repetition," which deals with domestic violence. A general theme of political oppression and insanity has been noted. Eno was unhappy with the direction Bowie took for the lyrics. Side one's travel theme revives a motif from the Berlin Trilogy, with the journey being both metaphorical and geographical. Bowie traveled to Kenya with his son Duncan Jones between the Montreux and New York sessions, inspiring the lyrics for "African Night Flight." Trips to Japan and Australia inspired "Move On," which reflects wanderlust. "Red Sails" was described by Bowie as taking a new German music feel and putting it against the idea of a contemporary English mercenary-cum-swashbuckling Errol Flynn in the China Sea. "Yassassin" is Turkish for 'long live' and, like the instrumental "Heroes" track "Neuköln," addresses discrimination faced by Turkish immigrants in Berlin.

Influence and legacy

At the time of its release, the consensus among critics was that Lodger was the weakest of the Berlin Trilogy. Biographer Paul Trynka stated it lacked the sense of risk and excitement that pervaded its predecessors, partly attributed to the studio. However, NME editors Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray predicted it would grow in potency over time and be accepted as one of Bowie's most complex and rewarding projects. Lodger has come to be considered one of Bowie's most underrated works. While some critics have called it a slick, calculatedly disposable record, others contend its stature grows with each passing year. The album is viewed as a forerunner to the sound of Talking Heads and Spandau Ballet, and is considered one of Bowie's most influential works. Its use of world music has been cited as influential on Talking Heads' Remain in Light and Paul Simon's Graceland. The promotional videos directed by David Mallet have been described as innovative. Bowie and Visconti were dissatisfied with the original mix, and in 2015 Visconti remixed the album with Bowie's approval for inclusion on the 2017 box set A New Career in a New Town.