Reality (David Bowie album)


Reality is the 23rd studio album by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released on 15 September 2003 on his ISO Records label, in conjunction with Columbia Records. Co-produced by Bowie and longtime collaborator Tony Visconti, it was recorded between January and May 2003 at Bowie's home studio and Looking Glass Studios in New York City and Mike Garson's home studio in California. A rock album, it was written mostly after production on Bowie's previous album Heathen wrapped up. It contains covers of the Modern Lovers' "Pablo Picasso" and George Harrison's "Try Some, Buy Some". The album has received positive reviews from music critics. He supported the album with the A Reality Tour throughout 2003 and 2004, his final concert tour. It was his last album of original material for ten years, until the release of The Next Day in 2013.

Recording and production

Bowie started writing the songs for Reality as the production for his previous album Heathen was wrapping up. Some songs he wrote quickly: "Fall Dog Bombs the Moon" was written in 30 minutes. Other songs, such as "Bring Me the Disco King", was a song Bowie had tried his hand at as early as the 1970s and had tried again with 1993's Black Tie White Noise as well as Earthling in 1997. The album was recorded and produced in New York City's Looking Glass Studios and co-produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti. Bowie wrote four or five tracks at his home studio before coming to Looking Glass. Bowie and Visconti took those tracks and worked those into about 7 songs, before adding overdubs like rhythm guitars and keyboards. According to Visconti, they took care during this part of the process to record things properly, saying "we'd hardly redo anything. I always record things carefully in the first place, because I know we're not going to redo them, and so a lot of the demo parts ended up on the final version." They then took "a short break" during which time Bowie wrote a few more songs, and then they started the overdub process over again with that new material.
Consisting mostly of original compositions, the album also includes two songs written by others, the Modern Lovers' "Pablo Picasso" and George Harrison's "Try Some, Buy Some". These two tracks were originally slated for Bowie's never-recorded Pin Ups 2 album, a planned follow-up to Pin Ups, his 1973 collection of cover versions. Talking to Rolling Stone shortly before the release of Reality, he said of his recording: "We were pretty true to the original arrangement, but the overall atmosphere is somewhat different. It's a dense piece."
Bowie and Visconti produced both the stereo and 5.1 mix in the studio as the album was recorded. Of the 5.1 mix, Visconti said "My approach to 5.1 is to be involved, to have instruments wrapped around you rather than in front of you. Rather than putting you in the audience seat I actually put you in the band, and so that's what I did with Reality. Also, I put a slap-back on the vocal in the rear speakers to again create space."
Bowie usually recorded his vocals for songs in just one or two takes. Visconti remarked that Bowie had recently quit smoking, and as a result "he's recaptured some of his high range. He'd lost at least five semitones, and he's now gained most of them back. I mean, in the old days he used to sing 'Life on Mars?' in the key of C. Now he has to sing it in the key of G."

Album title

Bowie chose 'Reality' as the album title because, "I feel that reality has become an abstract for so many people over the last 20 years. Things that they regarded as truths seem to have just melted away, and it's almost as if we're thinking post-philosophically now. There's nothing to rely on any more. No knowledge, only interpretation of those facts that we seem to be inundated with on a daily basis. Knowledge seems to have been left behind and there's a sense that we are adrift at sea. There's nothing more to hold on to, and of course political circumstances just push that boat further out.

Critical reception

Reality has received positive reviews from music critics. A contemporary review of the album by the BBC called the album "a proper album, with a beginning, a middle and an end. It's direct, warm, emotional honest, even and the surfeit of pleasingly deceptive musical simplicity allows the irony of the central concept – that there is no such thing as reality anymore – an opportunity to filter through. It's also rather lively and convincing." The same review called this and his earlier album Earthling Bowie's "best album since Scary Monsters." Eric Carr of Pitchfork gave the album a positive review, writing: "What last year's Heathen implied, and what Reality seems to prove, is that...Bowie has finally joined us all in the present, mind-young as ever but old enough not to make a show of it." He further complimented its relaxed nature and considered its original songs as far superior to its covers; he criticised his cover of "Try Some, Buy Some" and felt "Pablo Picasso" was an improvement, but overall subpar compared to the originals. He ultimately called the album "pretty good" and believed it cemented his status as a modern artist. Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian similarly praised the album, calling it "touching, intelligent" and that it "gels unexpectedly well". She complimented Bowie's vocal performance and wrote that on the concept of 'reality', "the lyrics leave you guessing." Anthony DeCurtis of Rolling Stone praised the covers and felt the guitar work on "New Killer Star" was reminiscent of Bowie's work on Lou Reed's 1972 album Transformer. He ultimately believed Bowie succeeded in searching for 'reality', to the artist's "mixed dismay and amusement".
In a review for the limited-edition box set David Bowie Box, critic Thom Jurek described Reality as a "schizophrenic recording", on which the covers of George Harrison's "Try Some, Buy Some" and the Modern Lovers' "Pablo Picasso" " this set more than anything else". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic praised the album, complimenting the way Bowie and Visconti were able to modernise their former 1970s sound. While he called its predecessor "an amalgam of Hunky Dory to "Heroes", he writes that Reality picks up where its predecessor left off, creating an amalgam of "Heroes" to Scary Monsters. He felt that the album was more "artier" than Heathen, but "similar in feel" and "just as satisfying." He concluded: "Both records are testaments to the fact that veteran rockers can make satisfyingly classicist records without resulting in nostalgia or getting too comfortable."

Release history

Over the promotional period, the album was released in a variety of formats. The standard release was a single jewel case CD version, followed by the CD with a bonus CD of three tracks in digipak format as well as a European gatefold limited edition version with a bonus CD of eight tracks. The album was then released as a multichannel hybrid SACD, and then reissued with a bonus live DVD recorded in London.

Live performances

Bowie took the album on tour in 2003 and 2004 on what was originally planned to be a 7-month tour.

Track listing

On the Japanese edition, a recording of the Kinks' song "Waterloo Sunset" appears as a bonus track.
;Limited edition Digipak bonus disc
;European limited edition gatefold bonus disc
;Limited DVD tour edition
The DVD features a promotional concert where the whole album was played live track by track. It was recorded at the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London on 8 September 2003. On the Canadian reissue, the live DVD was truncated down to five tracks.
;DualDisc edition
A DualDisc edition was released initially in the Boston and Seattle regions of the US only. The CD side contains the album, whereas the DVD side contains the album in 5.1 surround sound and bonus material. Of most interest is the otherwise unavailable Reality film featuring full-length videos of "Never Get Old", "The Loneliest Guy", "Bring Me the Disco King" and "New Killer Star" directed by Steven Lippman. About half a year later this edition was released nationwide in the US and Canada.
The original test marketed DualDisc version differs in packaging and in the design on the inlay card from the version that was later released nationwide.

Personnel

Additional personnel
Production

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales