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Oy Vey, Baby (1992): Tin Machine's Last StandOct 22 '10 (Updated Dec 31 '10) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Tin Machine's one and only live album has been nearly forgotten. But it's still out there... somewhere... for the true diehard fans of David Bowie's ill-fated side project.
(Disclaimer: Those looking for a brief description of the album will find what they're looking for in the "Review Body" section. The section titled "Track Reviews" is meant only for those who want to read detailed descriptions of the songs, and they do not constitute the essence of this review. Lastly and most importantly, this review might not be written in the point of view of a Tin Machine fan.) Overall Score: 9/15 Best song: “If There is Something” Worst song: “I Can't Read” Review Body: What?! Tin Machine released a live album? ...Oy vey! Well, as long as this thing exists, I had might as well review it. So here it goes. This is one jammy record. There are jams all up and down this thing. If you look at the track listing, you'll notice that there are only eight songs on here. That's because some of them are extended to gargantuan lengths for the purpose of *JAMS*. Lead guitarist Reeves Gabrels is an odd guitarist. Sometimes he lets his guitar flail up and down anarchically, seemingly without regard to the actual song he's playing. Other times, he just kind of sinks into the background, piddling away like someone who is losing his train of thought. He's intermittently intriguing and obnoxious. Sometimes he's fun, but other times I wish the dude would get out of my face. For example, in the album opener “If There is Something,” Gabrels is doing precisely the sort of thing that Marty McFly did at the end of “Johnny B. Goode” in Back to the Future. Obnoxious as hell? Yes. Fun? ...Yeah. Now, Gabrels isn't the only one who slopped it up for this album. Bowie also takes the opportunity to sing sloppily. Fortunately, at least I can report that his sloppy singing is more appropriate here than it was throughout Pin-Ups. This album is more rockin', you see. I might have hoped that the rest of the album would have been similarly as crass and exciting as “If There is Something” was, but their song selection kind of ruined it. Instead of following it up with one of their fast songs, they choose the lumberingly paced “Amazing.” It's a well-written song, and Gabrels comes up with some strange textures that helps keep the experience from growing too dull. But still. Don't you think it would have been better off just continue rocking everyone's socks off? I didn't even like the studio version of that song so much. But all the same, it's passable. Where they absolutely kill it is the third track, “I Can't Read.” It was a decent pop song in its original incarnation, but this very loose six-and-a-half minute interpretation is dull. The principle blame for that can be put on the drummer, Hunt Sales, who for some reason thought he had litter it with all those strange, out of place, fills. A drummer's primary responsibility is keeping a steady beat, but there, he's just showing off and sinking the song in the process. Yuck. But at least the album picks up again with the bluesy “Stateside.” “Under the God” is good, too, and the crass sloppiness ends up working in its favor. I can hear the bile on Bowie's tongue as he's spitting out these lyrics. Gabrels gives his guitar a funny “wah-wah” noise, which might not be terribly inspired, but it's entertaining. I also enjoy their treatment of “Heaven's in Here” even though they dragged it out for a whopping 12 minutes. That gave Gabrels more space to show off, and he's not terrible with his noodles... just excessive at times. I'm amused by that moment he's trying to sound like a European police siren, but most of the time, he doing more of that Marty McFly stuff. In the middle of that track, Bowie for whatever reason starts to sing the '60s R&B classic “I'm a King Bee.” (???) It's not bad, I guess. Take it or leave it. Of all David Bowie albums ever released on the planet, this is the one the general public has the least interest in. I include myself in that demographic. Even though I've been a dribbling Bowie fan for quite a long time now, it wasn't until about a month ago that I even bothered listening to it. (“How is that even possible?” you ask yourselves.) I suppose there wasn't a great reason for me to delay listening to it; this is an OK release. If for nothing else, it proves that Bowie was actually quite decent during one of the least celebrated moments of his career. Naturally, this is a heavily flawed disc, and I wouldn't recommend it at all to anyone who isn't already interested in the Tin Machine albums. So that limits this album's appeal to the smallest of audiences. They were planning on releasing another live album at some point and maybe even more studio albums. However, after Oy Vey, Baby commercially flopped and was universally panned by the press, Bowie decided to dissolve the group in 1992 to resume being a pop star. So farewell, Tin Machine, forever. ...Hello, Black Tie, White Noise. Track Reviews: If There Is Something A- Man these guys SUCK, but they're all IN YOUR FACE about it. What's more, I think they even realize they suck, but they're having fun with it anyway. David Bowie sings this Roxy Music cover very sloppily but his confidence-level is so elevated that I can't ignore it. Reeves Gabrels shreds a super-fuzzy guitar, scaling up and down in such an obnoxious way that … Well, you can't ignore it, can you? This is so crass that it's actually kind of awesome. Amazing B They seriously should have just stuck with the crass slop-rock... or at least have buried this ballad down at Track #7 or something. While this is a pretty good ballad with a good melody, it's not as fun to listen to. Not quite *boring*, because Gabrels seems to continuously find some strange patterns to play on his guitar... and some of those drum fills are kind of odd. Thus, this is a perfectly listenable song. But does it blow my mind away? NOOOOOOPE. I Can't Read C+ You can't read? Then when I say you look like a donkey, that doesn't mean anything to you? … (OK, I'd better be careful or I might get punched in the face over the Internet.) ...I reiterate that TIN MACHINE JUST SHOULD HAVE STUCK WITH THE CRASS HARD ROCK. They had plenty of those types of songs in their brief back catalog, so it should have been easy. But instead of that, they give this rather bizarre interpretation of “I Can't Read.” It starts out sounding a bit like they were trying to do an art-jazz interpretation of it with the bongos and oddly textured lead guitar. But as it starts building up to the chorus, Gabrels really distorts his guitar. The reason he does that, I have no clue. The chorus is a little more exciting even though I'm already getting tired of Whoever Sales' uncouth drum fills. What is he thinking? After that point the pace gets even more sluggish and Gabrels starts making squealing noises with his guitar. This is extremely sloppy. Sometimes sloppiness is awesome. Here it's listenable, but it's also … mildly uncomfortable. Stateside B Who the hell is that singing? ...Oh right, I keep forgetting this is a band. I guess other group members have a right to take on lead singing too! I didn't care much for this song on Tin Machine II partly because it's based on a very simple (and boring) R&B riff. But after bearing through the sluggishness of the previous song, I'm kind of relieved to hear a normalish song for a change! This singer isn't terrible, but he isn't particularly good. He sounds a bit like a passable Bob Seger imitator. ...Anyway, after the main melody is through playing, Gabrels takes a chance to give a very elaborate guitar solo. It's like he kicked the singer in the head and declared “I PLAY MY OWN SONG!!” because his solos sound nothing like you would think they should sound. At one point it sounds like he's electrocuting a cat. They drag this on for more than eight minutes, which is rather excessive. ...But I'm just glad they didn't play “I Can't Read” for that long. Under the God B+ Woof! Woof, woof!! Can't I just bark at this song and not tell you what I think of it? I don't have a dog and I never will, but if I did, I have a feeling that this unapologetically crass and sloppy rocker would inspire it to start howling at it. The raucous garage drum beat and sloppy riffage combined with Bowie's scream-singing vocal performance almost has me barking at it. As I said earlier, there isn't nearly enough rock 'n' rollin' songs on this live album, and here they finally delivered one. It's quite fun, especially hearing Bowie spit out the lyrics. (“Toxic jungle of Uzi trails / Tribesmen just wouldn't live here / Fascist flare is fashion cool / Well, you're dead – you just ain't buried (yet)”) Goodbye Mr. Ed B- Is anyone other than me questioning the song choice? (...Well maybe that's not a good question to ask since I have a feeling that my generally unenthusiastic but receptive stance toward this album is way nicer than how most people have taken this album!) I mean, it was OK on Tin Machine II, but not one of the highlights. Why not do “Shopping for Girls” instead? ...Ah, my words are completely lost on these guys. Anyway, this is OK. The song is well-written. The performance is sloppy, but doesn't really manage to inject extra life into the proceedings. I'll politely just shrug my shoulders at it. Heaven's in Here B (???!) Well, they're doing one of their all-time best songs, a fact that doesn't go unappreciated by me. Except they treat it like a jam tune and extend it past 12 minutes. ….........WHY?!!! I don't even like it that much when Cream goes off on these tangents in their live albums, but Tin Machine? Who do you think you are?! The main appeal of the original was its tightness and verve. This is just loose. After doing the obligatory rendition of the groove and melody, the drums start to pitter away, and Gabrels takes his guitar off on some wild tangents. ...I'm really trying to enjoy this, and he comes up with some weird alien vibes in a few spots that I find sort of appealing. Especially for a time in the middle when he's sort of trailing off and playing minimally. That's more preferred than how he normally plays—all wild and all over the place. In the middle, Bowie starts to sing “King Bee” for whatever reason, and the band seems to have adapted to it. ...Is that something they just decided to do randomly? Gabrels even starts to make stinging noises with his guitar (like the Rolling Stones did once... remember). He starts to give the bee rabies after awhile, but that's just how his mind wandered. About eight and a half minutes into it, they suddenly remembered that they were playing “Heaven's in Here.” So, anyway, this song is so spaced out that it's awesome. I give it a B, because that's what “King Bee” would have wanted. You Belong in Rock & Roll B+ Once again, they're playing one of their finest songs, but they EXTEND the CRAP out of it. At least it's just seven minutes long this time. The main appeal of the original for me was its texture, which they don't really preserve for this live version. Bowie can't even give the same sort of deep, deep, deep rumbly vocals that did for the studio. He tries, but I can't really hear him sometimes, and sometimes it just sounds like he's hiccuping. Nonetheless, this remains a good song, and technically the best song they covered for this live album! The jamming bits aren't terribly exciting listens for me, but at least they don't get all weird and spacey like the previous song did. Gabrels also keeps his flailing guitar at bay. So there. This is pretty good then! ...And now, it's over. Concluding Remarks Tin Machine's live album is a little hard to come by in this day and age, and it's really only worth hearing for die hard fans. They are a decent live band, but not a terribly inspired one. I'm also not always so thrilled about their tendency to jam. They're not Cream, after all. Read More David Bowie Reviews By Starcollector! Early On (1964-1966) | The Deram Anthology (1966-1968) | Space Oddity (1969) | The Man Who Sold the World (1971) | Hunky Dory (1971) | The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1972) | Aladdin Sane (1973) | Pin-Ups (1973) | Diamond Dogs (1974) | David Live (1974) | Young Americans (1975) | Station to Station (1976) | Low (1977) | "Heroes" (1977) | Stage (1978) | Lodger (1979) | Scary Monsters (1980) | Let's Dance (1983) | Tonight (1984) | Absolute Beginners (1986) | Labyrinth (1986) | Never Let Me Down (1987) | Tin Machine (1989) | Tin Machine II (1991) | Oy Vey Baby (1992) | Black Tie White Noise (1993) | The Buddha of Suburbia (1993) | Outside (1995) | Earthling (1997) | 'hours...' (1999) | Heathen (2002)  |
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