| Scary Monsters | 
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| List Price: $16.98
Buy New: $9.81
You Save: $7.17 (42%)
Buy New/Used from $5.99
Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 82 reviews)
Sales Rank: 7815
Category: Music
Artist: David Bowie
Publisher: Virgin Records Us
Studio: Virgin Records Us
Manufacturer: Virgin Records Us
Label: Virgin Records Us
Format: Enhanced, Original Recording Reissued
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 21895
UPC: 724352189502
EAN: 0724352189502
ASIN: B00001OH7Y
Release Date: September 28, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | It's No Game, Pt. 1 | | • | Up the Hill Backwards | | • | Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) | | • | Ashes to Ashes | | • | Fashion | | • | Teenage Wildlife | | • | Scream Like a Baby | | • | Kingdom Come | | • | Because You're Young | | • | It's No Game, Pt. 2 |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com essential recording
Some would argue that this is the last great Bowie album, and certainly his only great album of the '80s. While it lacked the bite of its punk brethren at the time, it appealed to some fans of that genre and to middle-of-the-road rockers as well. Muscular playing met with no-frills production, and the product as a whole was infused with a gloriously arty style. "It's No Game (Part I)" opens the album, and is sung in Japanese, and "It's No Game (Part II)" closes, in English. New York punker Tom Verlaine even contributed a track ("Kingdom Come"), and "Scream Like a Baby" tells a dark and violent story with a howl. The drug-oriented "Ashes to Ashes" confesses that Major Tom was a junky while sounding all sleek and alluring, and the dance floor hit "Fashion" took aim at its very subject. The crowning jewel is the title track, with Robert Fripp's guitar ripping the place up at a relentless pace. It's been a long time since Bowie sounded this inspired. --Lorry Fleming
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| Customer Reviews: Read 77 more reviews...
 After the Berlin Trilogy May 10, 2009
This release is the first after the "Berlin Trilogy", recorded in Germany, including "Low", "Heros" and "The Lodger". The German industrial music scene had an obvious influence on Bowie, as proven by the grinding guitar and screaming keyboards on these recordings. This disk begins with a Japanese version of "It's No Game", which is repeated in English to conclude the release. "Up the Hill Backward" is a catchy tune with layered vocals throughout. "Scary Monsters", with Robert Fripp's famous guitar work, dueling Carlos Alomar's sleek style is a racing number with interesting vocal effects. Chuck Hammer's guitar synthesizer provides an interplay to Andy Clark's synthesizer and E Street member Roy Bittan's piano on "Ashes To Ashes", which revisits the "Space Oddity" theme of Major Tom. Clark, Fripp and Alomar also star on "Fashion", another of the charting singles off this one. Bitton's memorable piano is one of the highlights of "Teenage Wildlife", "Scream Like a Baby" features Bowie's soaring vocals and Clark's synthesizer lines. "Kingdom Come", the only cover on this one (Tom Verlaine) shows Bowie's reverence for Television and their punk purism. Pete Townsend guests on guitar on "Because We're Young", and the recording ends with an English version of "It's No Game". The re-release features better sound recording and four nuggets that were not previously available, including different versions of "Space Oddity", "Panic in Detroit", "Crystal Japan", and a version of "Alabama Song", the Brecht classic also covered by the Doors. Fripp's and the influence of Brian Eno (who did not appear on this release, but was instrumental in the sound of the Berlin trilogy) shows on the arrangements and orchestration of the entire album. This is great release, quite definite of the times. Get the re-release for the additional cuts, they do not disappoint.
 Scary Monsters February 3, 2009
Scary Monsters being Bowie's 1980 release was a major hit and peaked at nr 1 in the UK albums chart and contained such hits as "Ashes to Ashes", "Fashion", "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)" and "Up the Hill Backwards". The cd booklet is very avantgarde and has Bowie dressed in some clown outfit and has a very nice personel list and lists whom and what they played. 4/5.
From a 40 year career one of the half-dozen best October 31, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
There are so many reviews of this album already I don't want to be redundant but as someone who has every album that Bowie ever released and then some, I want to chime in and encourage you to check this out. When reviewers mince about whether the latest Bowie offering compares to his classics, "Scary Monsters" is typically namechecked as the latter bookend formalizing the classic years of Bowie's peak.
I don't agree with that; Bowie's albums may have slumped in the 80s but powerful CDs from the 90s like 1.Outside and Earthling, not to mention Buddha of Suburbia and Black Tie White Noise, measured on a par with Bowie's classics. That said...
Scary Monsters is indeed one of Bowie's finest. Once you get past some of Bowie's very best songs, "Ashes to Ashes", "Fashion" and the title track, you delve into Bowie's most harrowing work with stellar moments like both versions of "It's No Game" and the cover of Tom Verlaine's "Kingdom Come". But it's not like the other third of the album is filler, not at all. It merely had the misfortune of sharing disc space with classics like those already mentioned. Oh, I suppose I could do without "Teenage Wildlife" but 9 out of 10 is par for the course for so many Bowie albums.
This belongs in the shortlist of Bowie's finest, next to Station to Station, Diamond Dogs, Aladdin Sane, Low, Earthling, and 1.Outside, and just a titch better than 'Heroes', Young Americans or Hunky Dory. The best thing about getting this album as opposed to a 'best of' is that you get the full length versions of some of Bowie's finest moments rather than hatcheted edit versions. Did I mention this album was strongly recommended?
Scary Monsters is Bowie's struggle with heroin September 8, 2008
1980 was a great year for albums.Genesis had Duke while Peter Gabriel had Melt.David Bowie had Scary Monsters.It starts with Its No Game and never lets up.Thank God Robert Fripp's guitar stands out like a bull in an apartment.Bowie had to fight his demons with the release of Low.The Lodger and Scary Monsters.Although many fans were turned off others were turned on.This album will be played by old and new fans reguardless of age.
If you gotta do '80s pop, might as well do it right May 30, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
Eno's out, and bizarre new-wave pop is today's special. The enjoyable failed single "Up the Hill Backwards" even sounds like something Talking Heads would do sometime around Speaking in Tongues. The record was a pretty big success, spawning three massive singles: the guitar hero title track; the weird, funky, great "Space Oddity" sequel "Ashes to Ashes", one of Bowie's most famous songs; and the fantastic, sarcastic disco-rocker "Fashion" all made large impacts on the charts and the radio and the whatever else. The singles aren't as timeless as something like "Jean Genie", but they're great period pieces, and Bowie's a creative enough gentleman to keep them from sounding like period caricatures. Besides, "Fashion" might even be catchier than "Golden Years", and I haven't been able to get "Golden Years" out of my head for the past week. Oh, don't forget the ominous, angry "Scream Like a Baby" or the paranoid fun of "Because You're Young". But sadly, it's not all that good. There's no way around it: "Teenage Wildlife" is an inferior rewrite of "Heroes", and whatever "It's No Game" is, it isn't good. Plenty weird, but not well-written or anything. I can't really get into the Television cover "Kingdom Come", either. And it hasn't endured as well as Bowie's best work, good as it may be.
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