If you ever ever ever manage to put your hands onto this, don't let it go. To put it simply, this is the best record Bowie has ever done, miles ahead of Ziggy Stardust or Low, and if you miss this you'll regret the rest of your life.

The disc was released in 1993, following the sort-of-commercially-successful Black Tie White Noise, and was a total flop when it came to the sales (#87 in all-Bowie loving UK!). Moreover, Buddha was released in the US in 1995 to coincide with 1.Outide with the artwork of Bowie sitting on a metal couch. In about ten years, the US version will be priceless.

The title track contains Bowie's most compelling vocals of the decade, plus (surprise!) an actual melody, so absent in most of the Dame's work in the 90's. Sex And The Church is a complete opposite with deadpan chanting vocals, showing how minimal and still brilliant Bowie track could be. The two great instrumentals, The Mysteries and Ian Fish UK Heir, Bowie's and Kizilcay's experiment with slowed down fragments of the title track are thankfully reissued on the All Saints compilation. They are moody, ambient and sound as fresh ten years after as they did in 1993. Bleed Like A Craze, Dad is one-of-a-kind funk with crazy lyrics ("shine, shine, shine - bleed like craze dad!) fortunately enough not yet discovered by omniremixing DJs. Finally, Strangers When We Meet is the only song so far Bowie has officially issued in two studio albums (second time on 1.Outside), getting a much more plastic and electronic treatment compared to the 1995 version.

These brief descriptions of the tracks no way do justice to this album. It must be seen as a whole, and the whole is very compelling. Bowie uses at least 5 genres (classic rock, techno, soft-pop, ambient and funk), uses samples, slows tapes, plays his vocals back, does most of the instruments on the album, recycles fragments of his classics (All The Madmen, Space Oddity, Look Back in and Under Pressure most notably), writes lyrics worth William Burroughs (a deciphered version of the lyrics simply does not exist in any form), and at the same time has fun, shall we say, with no strings of high expectations attached.

This is simply a timeless record, superseding millions of better sellers. It is essential to anyone who has a basic appreciation of post-ABBA music.

The other reviewers here really have it right. This album, incredibly not released in the US, has been delighting UK fans for many years.

Written and recorded in just ten days (according to reports I've read), and mixed in just a few more, Bowie sounds like he's having fun for a change - and the music is the fresher for it. Almost all the instruments are played by Bowie himself and by Erdal Kizilcay, his Turkish multi-instrumentalist sidekick. (Lenny Kravitz obliges with a guitar contribution on the title track). The songs are obviously the results of spontaneous jam sessions. Many tracks are instrumental; only a couple are recognisable as traditional songs - notably Buddha and Strangers When we Meet (later reworked on Outside).

Fans will love the many references to the old hits. Best of all is the repeat of the five-chord Space Oddity riff, closely followed by Mike Garson's piano playing.

To set the record straight for US afficionados: the album is ostensibly the soundtrack to the eponymous BBC TV series, itself an adaptation of the acclaimed novel about London life in the 1970s by author Haneif Kureishi (all available on Amazon). In fact the series uses Bowie's work of the period (Rebel Rebel etc) as incidental music; this album is "inspired" by the movie.

The music is intriguing for Bowie scholars, giving a hint of what might have been had he carried on the Eno trajectory - which ironically he did try to do on Outside.

In any case, a strong buy. I just save my five stars for Heroes and Hunky Dory...

For a guy who favors David Bowie's glam-rock period the most, it's kinda funny that THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA turns out to be one of my favorite Bowie albums. The music never gets too heavy; still, it's very adventurous without being self-conscious. Most songs are loaded with subtle electronic atmosphere and jazzy textures, yet there's a wide range of styles on this album.

Bowie once again proves himself to be more than just a great singer as he skillfully navigates keyboard, sax and guitar passages. His main music partner and coproducer on BUDDHA Erdal Kizilcay deserves much props as well.

This is certainly one of Bowie's best albums of the 90's, but perhaps it's not too surprizing that it wasn't released in America - it's not terribly commercial for one thing. It does seem to be aimed more toward British sensibilities and I suppose it's quentessentially Brittish in some ways as well. Even so, this American (me) has found a lot to love about it.

The Breakdown:

"The Buddha of Suburbia" - a great "state of my mind" song in which the singer perseveres with an optimistic outlook in the face of a modern world mired in insanity. The music conveys a tentative sort of hope and then swells with anguish courtesy of Bowie's sax. ****1/2

"Sex and the Church" - an odd, quirky rumination on the title subject which Bowie delivers through heavily distorted vocals. It moves along steadily with a roaming but grounded bass line, electronic percussion and various sounds including great jazzy sax from Bowie. *****

"South Horizon" - My favorite track, this one is essentially free-form jazz with hip-hop and techno elements mixed in. For me, it's a revelation and I'd love to hear a whole album like this. Guest pianist Mike Garson tickles the keys to thrilling effect. *****

"The Mysteries" - A deep, murky ambient track, like staring out across the ocean on a foggy morning. On the cusp of something intangibly brilliant. *****

"Bleed Like a Craze, Dad" - A bad-a** bass line, ripping electric guitars, unnerving background noises and more jazz inflections all make for an ominous, infectious and dancable cut. The title is kinda disturbing, yet fitting. Listen carefully and you can hear a dog barking to the beat! *****

"Strangers When We Meet" - Has a dreamy, Roxy Music quality. The song was stuck on the end of OUTSIDE, rather uncomfortably I might add despite its lyrical relevance to that album. It's much more at home here. ***1/2

"Dead Against It" - sounds like a bubbling, runaway electronic excursion through modern life. In contrast, Bowie's singing is subdued and the subject matter (a woman who is dead again, dead against . . . something) remains intriguing yet inscrutable to me. ****

"Untitled No. 1" - is another Roxy Music influenced tune (Roxy Music in turn were no doubt influenced by early Bowie). This track is an extremely sensuous wonderland, perfect for dancing cheek to cheek or a romantic candlelit evening. The lack of a proper title is unfortunate but inconsequential. ****1/2

"Ian Fish, U.K. Heir" - another ambient piece with echos seemingly from a Buddhist Monestary on a distant mountaintop. Features gentle acoustic guitar, among other elements. White noise from a needle on vinyl fills out the background to interesting effect. ****1/2

"Buddha of Suburbia" - one could say this almost identical take on the opening track is pointless and lazy, but I like the way the song provides bookends for the album and brings its theme full circle. This second version also ups the ante with a passionate guitar courtesy of Lenny Kravitz. ****1/2

Bowie's last three albums have been criminally underrated. 1997's Earthling was given modest critical fanfare, but no one bought the album. Two years earlier, Outside, over-hyped by a highly publicized tour with Nine Inch Nails and a single that was gobbled up due in huge part to Trent Reznor's remix, ultimately baffled and turned off listeners. It seems as if the music press and the general public have set in stone by now the belief that David Bowie is a dinosaur; that he isn't allowed to express himself in more progressive or experimental forms of music without sounding pretentious or even desperate. Those who know Bowie only through the pomp and circumstance of his Ziggy era and his glitzy, empty '80s efforts, may cast him off as nothing more than a good showman with a throaty baritone. Unfortunately, by the end of the '80s, this was exactly what Bowie the songwriter and musician was stripped down to. It's a shame, then, that in 1993, once no one was paying attention to him anymore, David Bowie dropped this outstanding piece of work that sounds nearly on par with his late '70s Eno trilogy. Mostly instrumental and ambient pieces, Buddha of Suburbia was written to accompany a BBC miniseries of the same name. At last Bowie found inspiration again in something. The songs are rythmic, pounding, soaring, and electrifying; abstract but accessible. The hooks, where there are hooks, are frighteningly catchy. The shifting jazz pieces, prominently featuring avant-pianist Mike Garson, are simply other-worldly. The zooming electropop of "Dead Against It" and the ethereal, floating-down-a-warm-river-on-heroin bliss of "Untitled no. 1" are highlights. This is where Bowie would have gone had he not put on his red shoes and boogied down with Stevie Ray Vauhan in 1983. This is Bowie enthralling as he hadn't done in years. Check this out and see what all the fuss isn't about. Then pay a moment of silent respect to an old-school artist who still kicks ass.

--Christian Huey

Written and recorded in a matter of weeks, this little known album revisits the ambience of Bowie's Berlin trilogy, and captures the man in an unexpected creative high. The rousing title track excepted, every song is based on expansions of Bowie's incidental music from Hanif kureshi's The Buddha of suburbia, a BBC drama set in 70's south London which is from where Bowie draws his musical inspiration. Strangers when we meet makes its first appearance here and shines like a diamond liberated of the drama from its reincarnation on 1.Outside that detracted from it's slinky kookiness. In a similar mood, Untitled no 1 glides across on a wave of keyboards and jazzy bass notes whilst David sings in a new colour from his vocal pallette. One of the three instrumental tracks, South horizon gives legendary pianist Mike Garson space for juxtaposing his trademark sonic chaos against percussive order. The upbeat Dead against it boasts some of Bowie's best ever nonsense lyrics buried underneath layers of electronic momentum and advant garde harmonies. Unfortunately Sex and the church doesnt make the transition from the small screen as well and at 6 minutes plus the continually repeated riff eventually outstays its welcome. Like red money off Lodger, Bleed like a craze dad suceeds in recycling the bass from Iggy Pop's Sister midnight again and boldly gets away with it. The whole album is flanked by two versions of the same track, in this case the Bowie by numbers title, which wouldnt of sounded out of place on any of his 70's albums which isn't surprising as it borrows chord sequences from the Bewlay brothers with lyrics off All the mad men and a riff recycled from Space oddity. Colectively these tracks are experimental and atmospheric, retro yet stylishly modern, and a timely reminder of Bowie's talent.