The album’s title track is one of the most successful singles Bowie ever released, reaching No. 1 in the UK and USA. It is a song that achieved exactly what Bowie had set out to do when he released it in 1983 on this album. It was a song that the entire world would soon be dancing to, as well as providing the blueprint for the rest of the record. Bowie’s voice played a pivotal role in the song’s success and with that the whole album too, even though all 8 tracks don’t really sizzle like the Let’s Dance’. The catchy chorus line as Bowie sings “If you should fall into my arms/And tremble like a flower” moving to a cacophony of ‘aah’s’ that build a crescendo to the song.  To this day, it is one of Bowie’s best known and most instantly recognisable songs.

The album filled with other songs turned the fortunes for Bowie, an album that would become the most commercially successful album of his career – selling some 7 million copies worldwide as its title track went to No. 1 in more than half a dozen countries, followed by two more global top 10 hits with Modern Love and the Bowie version of China Girl, co-composed with Iggy Pop, whose version was originally released on 1977's ‘The Idiot’.

China Girl was originally recorded for Iggy Pop’s debut solo album, The Idiot. Co-written by Bowie and Pop, the song tells the tale of Iggy’s infatuation with a Vietnamese woman called Kuelan Nguyen. The oriental-sounding guitar hook adds a new layer of funk to the introduction, with a swinging beat as the song progresses.

Criminal World is a cover version, originally released by the English band, Metro. Their version had been banned by the BBC due to its sexual content, a fate that didn’t stop Bowie putting his own stamp on the track. The others songs inlcude Without You. Cat People (Putting Out Fire). 

The album earned a Grammy nomination for Album of The Year in 1984 but lost to Michael Jackson's "Thriller."

While Bowie still has a huge fan base, all over the world, this particular album is special as it also has the legendary guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan’s guitar work on a few songs

So today, put on this fine record, “put on your red shoes, and dance the blues….”.  

Rating: *****

Reviewed by Verus Ferreira