As I’ve posted before, the main reason I was curious to buy the just released Loving The Alien box set by David Bowie was  to listen to the new mix of Never Let Me Down.

Considered by many, including Bowie himself, as his “worst” album, I was very curious following the release of a remixed version of Time Will Crawl a few years back whether the album could be salvaged. My curiosity increased when this boxed set was announced along with the fact that it would feature a complete remix of that much maligned work. While Mr. Bowie sadly passed before the album was remixed (and therefore he personally could not approve of the overall work), when early releases of Zeroes and Bang Bang were available, I found them intriguing and my curiosity piqued.

Now that I’ve heard the whole thing, I have to say I’m incredibly impressed.

I too didn’t care for Never Let Me Down in its original version. It felt like too much was going on at once. It was too busy, too scattershot. Well, the new mix of the album fixes that. The album feels far more cohesive and some songs I really didn’t like, such as ‘87 and Cry, are truly transformed into something great. Listening to this new mix of Never Let Me Down is like finding a “new” great David Bowie album. It’s that good, IMHO.

The rest of the compilation is quite good as well. You have Let’s Dance, the crown jewel of this set, along with Serious Moonlight (a live concert), Tonight (a so-so album with some great highs and some equally low lows), the original Never Let Me Down (which one can use as a comparison to the remix, if you’re not terribly familiar with it), Glass Spider (another live concert), and a bunch of odds and ends and some great singles (This is Not America is a particular standout, IMHO).

If you’re a Bowie fan, very much worth getting!