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The Buddha of Suburbia
Recorded: circa September 1993; Mountain,
Montreux, Switzerland.
Released: Universal, December 1993.
Chart Peak: 87 (UK); – (US).
Key Personnel: Erdal Kizilcay (gts, bs, kbds, tpt
etc.); David Richards (programming etc.); Mike
Garson (pno); Lenny Kravitz (gtr).
Producer: David Bowie and David Richards.
A rushed recording, assembled as an expanded
version of the themes Bowie and multiinstrumentalist
Erdal Kizilcay had conjured up for
Hanif Kureishi’s BBC film, The Buddha of Suburbia
featured much the same collection of dance beats
and melodies as Black Tie White Noise. It
demonstrated what could be achieved by lack of
time and lack of expectations, for it is throughout a
far more gripping album than its predecessor. The
title song is conventional – shimmering guitars and
mid-paced drum machine – but displays a beguiling
simplicity long absent from Bowie’s work; it’s shot
through with the loneliness of suburbia and kicks into
action with a vintage, impassioned middle eight.
Other songs – notably ‘Strangers When We Meet’ –
are his catchiest material in years, but never
overblown, while there is experimentation aplenty in
the form of grandiose or disturbing tracks like ‘Sex
and the Church’ and ‘South Horizon’, as well as the
welcome return of pianist Mike Garson. Undoubtedly
Bowie’s best album in nearly a decade, it was given