(Disclaimer: Those looking for a brief description of the album will find what their 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 David Bowie fan.)

Overall Score: 14/15
Best song: “Absolute Beginners”
Worst song: "Absolute Beginners (refrain)"

Review Body:

The 1986 rock and jazz musical Absolute Beginners, directed by Julien Temple, was a commercial bomb, and it never even received a proper cult following. It's been awhile since I've seen it myself (I rented it on a VHS tape), but I remember that it was an enjoyable, energetic, and offbeat film that blows the pants off of most other rock musicals I've seen. I found the plot to be a bit confusing, but compared to the film adaptation of Tommy, it's as straightforward as a Lifetime Original Movie. Plus, it starred David Bowie in a prominent supporting role, which is precisely why I'm talking about this in the context of his discography. However, he hadn't much to do with this soundtrack other than penning and performing a few songs. Also in the cast, amazingly enough, was Sade and Ray Davies (!!!), each of whom contributed one song each.

Bowie, on the other hand, contributed three songs, which was why he was way more awesome than those two. However, I shouldn't get too excited about Bowie's presence on this album, because one of these songs, “Volare,” he didn't actually write, and the other song , “That's Motivation,” isn't terribly interesting without the imagery of the scene to look at. That leaves only one original Bowie composition on here that's worth its weight in gold, and that's the title track.

Bowie had released “Absolute Beginners” as a single at the time, and it bombed commercially just as the movie did. However, I've always thought that song should be just as widely loved as Bowie's other classics from the era, right alongside “China Girl” and “Ashes to Ashes.” It is such a sweet and sincere song with such romantically heartfelt lyrics and a catchy tune that I can't understand what was preventing those hairspray ridden teenagers from going out and buying it. I mean, these were the same people who had recently bought “Sussudio,” weren't they? Most importantly, the song has that distinctly alien David Bowie vibe, so you can bet it makes a pretty freaking awesome listen. I suppose its one turn-off was that it wasn't really a dance tune. It's paced similarly to “Heroes,” and it also happens that the strange romantic vibe I get from the lyrical matter is quite similar to “Heroes.” Naturally, the instrumentation is entirely streamlined for an '80s pop audience, but that was never a turn-off for me since I eat '80s pop music for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I know it's hard to believe, but there are a lot of other songs on this disc, and I should probably start talking about them before I die. Some of you might be wondering about the Ray Davies song, and to my delight, it actually sounds like a classic Kinks song. That is strange considering that the actual Kinks sounded nothing like that in the '80s. It's not quite as classic as The Village Green Preservation Society, but it's right out of Everybody's in Showbiz. Even the lyrical matter, about a middle class family man who likes to keep his nose down and ignore the insane problems his family is having, seems just like old times.

Sade's song, “Killer Blow,” manages to sound exactly like a Sade song, and this film was released right at that band's peak. I'm not aware of any other place to find that song other than this soundtrack, so perhaps this has more of a market for diehard Sade fans than diehard Bowie fans. This album also contains what I understand to be a fairly well-known song by The Style Council called “Have You Ever Had it Blue.” It's a bright and colorful song, and it keeps the jazzy nature of the rest of this album fully intact. The Eighth Wonder, whose front woman Patsy Kensit played the main female love interest in the film, is credited to performing the jazzy and wildly entertaining “Having it All,” which sounds miles away from the (mostly bland) electro-pop that the band was best known for producing at the time.

There's so much to talk about that I'm at the end of the review and I hadn't even yet mentioned that jazz legend Gil Evans was in charge of the general soundtrack of the film. His stuff is terribly good. While his jazz instruments might have an entirely mainstream feeling them, nothing about them seems fake or plastic. I mean, the horns BLARE, the saxophones swing, and the shuffly rhythms are crunchy and danceable, and the tunes are catchy and well-sung. The eight-minute instrumental “Riot City” is works of art within itself. If you took a listen to it, you would understand why they called it “Riot City.”

In short, this is a damn fun soundtrack album. I know I concentrated mainly on that David Bowie song, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if there were people who liked that Bowie tune the least out of everything. That's not me, of course! This review doesn't really belong on my David Bowie page since he was only a tiny reason this soundtrack album is awesome. However, I do actually own this album and I'd might as well talk about it. The Absolute Beginners soundtrack is a lot of fun, and you're missing out if you haven't listened to it.

Track Reviews:

Absolute Beginners A
Really cool song, and you should hear it if you haven't already. This isn't exactly an album that you'll find in your nearest CD store (unless you're really, really, really, really lucky), but thankfully this song is available on the double-disc compilation albums and it's been included as a bonus track in some versions of Tonight. So you don't have to order this album online just to have a copy of this song. (I happened to order this from Holland, and it took about a month to finally make it to me. Fortunately, it seems the availability has improved since then!) The main difference between this and the single version of this song is it has about three extra minutes added onto it, which isn't too groundbreaking. But it contains a cool jazzy percussion rhythm and a chuggy saxophone solo, so maybe it'd be worth your while to take a listen?

Killer Blow A
You mean there are other songs on here that have nothing to do with David Bowie? Yes, and it's all about as entertaining as it could possibly be. This track happens to be Sade's song, and lo and behold, it sounds exactly like a Sade song! This was done in the mid-'80s, which was at her peak too. This is a cool, breezy, with loungy bongos in the rhythm section. Sade's whispery vocals are of course the main attraction. It's not a real shocker why she's such a well-loved singer, and this is certainly a worthwhile song to scout out if you're a fan. (What's more, I'm not aware of any place to find this other than this soundtrack album.)

Have You Ever Had It Blue? A
I believe this song by The Style Council is fairly well-known although I could be wrong about that. It doesn't sound very much like other Style Council song, although that's mostly a good thing. (Other than this, I've found it difficult to get into Paul Weller's music, which is strange, because I think I probably should.) Nonetheless, this is bright, bold and wonderful, jazzy pop tune with an amazingly catchy melody. I also really like those blaring horns at the beginning of this, which almost sound dissonant like cars honking on a highway, but they never overpower that shuffley beat and those cute sounding female back-up singers.

Quiet Life A
Ray Davies even found the occasion to return to writing sarcastic music the way he used to. This song is about an ordinary, middle class person, and its bouncy jazz melody (and slightly plasticy instrumentation) is right out of Everybody's in Show-Biz. That is amazing, because when I was reviewing the Kinks discography, I figured Ray Davies had morphed into an entirely different person in the mid '80s. I guess I don't know what was up about that guy! Well, it's an excellent tune anyway, and his fans might find the time sometime to go scout it out on YouTube. (The version you get from the soundtrack doesn't contain all the spoken dialogue you hear from the film version, which is definitely cool.)

Va Va Voom A
Well, even the jazzy instrumental interludes are terribly entertaining and laden with hooks. This was done entirely by Gil Evans who was the man in charge of the whole soundtrack. I don't know jazz very well, but this thing sounds brilliant to me. It starts out with a really hooky horn melody that's played casually. Midway though, it gets much more violent and exciting, and listening to that texture he creates is quite a thing to behold. I mean, this is nothing less than a work of art. And I'm sure the scene from the film this went to was also a work of art! It's been awhile since I've seen the film, but I remember the set decoration and dance choreography was amazing. (I relooked at a few clips on YouTube to confirm this!)

That's Motivation A-
I did review this album once before, and I remember rather disliking this song. I'm still somewhat torn by it. This of course is the only other Bowie original composition, and it's quite a bit different than the usual sort of thing he composes. It seems like a rather confusing mishmash of jazz and rock 'n' roll, and it's difficult making heads or tails of it. On the other hand, the horns sound excellent, and it's head-over-heels better than that lounge jazz junk from Tonight. Bowie's vocal performance is quite strong and perfectly suited for such a grandiose Broadway style production. This might not be a coherent pop song, but it's more of a performance piece. The best way to listen to this is along with the images. And those were some crazy images. (I just rewatched it on YouTube. The giant typewriter is the thing I remember most from it, but that song goes all over the place.)

Having it All A
Patsy Kensit was the star of the film, and she also happened to be the lead singer for The Eighth Wonder. (These days, nobody ever talks about The Eighth Wonder and I'm sure Kensit is way more famous for being an actress.) Unless Wikipedia is lying to me, that band actually played this song, and fortunately it's a far cry away from the electronic Madonna-esque stuff that band usually plays. It could have been a Sade composition for all we knew. It's quiet, it's snappy, it's jazzy. Kensit was not only suited to sing such a song, but her voice was amazingly just as cute as her face. And if you don't know what Kensit looks like, you've never seen a cute face before.

Rodrigo Bay A-
This is salsa music. Do you know how I know? Because I'm having flashbacks right now to that one time I made that unlikely decision to review Marc Anthony's discography. God, I really wish Marc Anthony wrote cool salsa like this. It's 1000 percent generic, but it has such a cool catchy melody. The salsa rhythms are smooth but crunchy. The swinging horn section actually swings and makes a few exclamations here and there, and there's quite an awesome piano solo that pops up briefly. The vocal performance is excellent and boisterous. Why am I not giving this an A or an A ? I'm not sure.

Selling Out A
I mean, it's not like this soundtrack is terribly original. We've heard songs like this before. But just because they're writing mainstream dancey jazz music, they go ALL OUT and make it about as fun as humanly possible. The horn riff is catchy, the speak-sung lead vocals are playful and endearing, and those back-and-forth exclamations between members of the chorus an added bonus. There's quite a lot going on here at the same time, and it's a total blast.

Riot City A
This instrumental is eight and a half minutes long, it sounds exactly like the title, and it's a total blast to sit through. It starts out ominous and slowly with a slow bongo beat, but it gradually builds up to a full scale riot. And I mean, it's total mayhem. What gets me about this is the instrumental theme is amazingly catchy and memorable, and they keep that going consistently though this whole song even though it changes its dynamics quite a lot through its course. This might have been designed to go along with a scene in a movie (which truth be told I'm only vaguely remembering right now), but this is one example of a piece of film soundtrack that doesn't need visuals to go along with it. I'm not even exaggerating. This is a work of art and it's not even difficult to find entertaining. (I can't believe it, but I gave this song a 7/10 in my original review. I was being really stupid. Perhaps I get smarter as I get balder.)

Ted Ain't Dead A
Even the relatively corny glam pop stuff is catchy and fun. That warbly lead singing is weird, but he's really fun, and this song is so fast-paced and silly that it's impossible to not to find it amusing.

Volare (Nel Blu Dipinito Di Blu) A-
That's David Bowie singing there in a foreign language. It sounds Italian, but I'm not George Starostin, so I can't tell for sure. Bowie didn't write this breezy jazz tune, but he delivers the vocals quite well, and I quite like it. Once again, the lounge-jazz vibe that emanates from this album is quite similar to the feeling he was going for throughout Tonight, except here the songwriting is actually inspired and the instrumentation isn't all watered down and stupid. This is what Tonight should have been dammit! RIGHT HERE IN THIS ALBUM I ORDERED FROM HOLLAND! (And no, they didn't lace it with marijuana. I'm quite sober right now, thank you.)

Napoli A
For crap's sake, they just keep on piling on these great jazz tunes. At first, it sounds like it's continuing that light jazz vibe leftover from the previous track with the light bossa nova style rhythm (featuring an awesome steel drum!) and a breezy vocal performance, but this thing gets almost demented by the end. The chord progression is mystifying. I should also mention that the horn arrangements are so amazing that I'm not even qualified to talk about how amazing they are. I just don't know what terminology I should be using. (Not that I'm particularly good at using terminology to describe pop-rock!) All I can tell you is that the way those horns are layered dazzle my ears.

Little Cat (Never Had it So Good) A
Ah yes, here's a cutesy pop-rock tune that's right up my alley! I said this before, but what I really admire about this album is how unapologetic it is. Of course they weren't breaking new ground by creating such a cute pop song... but when they set out to create a cute pop song THEY MADE IT AS CUTE AS IT COULD EVER BE. The Monkees wouldn't even dare to make their drums sound so stiff and plastic like that, and that high-pitched twinkly keyboard loop is even more beneath them. And yet, this song is brilliant. That whooshy sound they bring in those little stops were a great touch. And of course the main attraction is that they found a 10 or 11 year old kid to do quite an amazingly immaculate Elvis Presley style performance. It's fascinating to me that somebody was able to pull something like this off.

Better Git in Your Soul (The Hot and the Cool) A-
This instrumental is less than two minutes long. While it might not be quite as amazing to listen to as “Riot City,” that song spoiled me. And they don't get lazy just because this is a two minute song. There's quite a lot going on in here. You get to listen to a quite entertaining back-and-forth exchange between blaring car-honks and more of a casual dance rhythm. This sort of thing goes on in my head all the time.

So What? A
Oh man, I can't believe that we're almost at the end of this soundtrack album, and it hasn't hit a snag at all. It's been wildly entertaining, terribly well arranged, and the hooks run rampant. Musically, this is another fast-paced jazzy thing, but it's rhythm quite fast-paced and driving. The lead vocals are taken on by a speak-singer who sounds to me like a seasoned Calypso singer.

Absolute Beginners (Refrain) B
I suppose this is technically the fourth track on this album that David Bowie had something to do with, but that still didn't give me the right to include it on his page! (I suppose at some point I should start an entirely new page devoted to musical soundtracks. These sorts of things used to be all I ever listened to.) This is unquestionably the dullest moment of the album, and musically I don't see much connection to the “Absolute Beginners” song. It consists predominantly of a two-chord keyboard groove while some saxophones and pianos noodle around in the background. It goes for about a minute and a half until a fade-out, so thankfully it's not really a big deal.

Concluding Remarks:

Surely one of the finest movie musical soundtracks that you could ever buy. I reviewed this mostly in the context of Bowie's discography (since I'm reviewing his discography!), but Bowie only contributed a handful of tracks here. Everything else, particularly the jazz instrumentals from Gil Evans, are more than worth your while.

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)

Recommended: Yes