Lodger is the thirteenth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 25 May 1979 through RCA Records. Recorded in collaboration with the musician Brian Eno and the producer Tony Visconti, it was the final release of his Berlin Trilogy, following Low and "Heroes" (both 1977). Sessions took place in Switzerland in September 1978 during a break in the Isolar II world tour, and in New York City in March 1979 at the tour's end. Most of the same personnel from prior releases returned, along with newcomer guitarist Adrian Belew. The sessions saw the use of techniques inspired by Eno's Oblique Strategies cards, such as having the musicians swap instruments and playing old songs backwards.
The music on Lodger is based in art rock and experimental rock. It lacks the electronic and ambient styles and the song/instrumental split of its two predecessors, favouring more conventional song structures and exploring styles such as avant-pop, world and new wave music. Lyrically, the album is divided into two major themes: travel (side one) and critiques of Western civilisation (side two). The pop artist Derek Boshier took the cover photo, portraying Bowie as an accident victim across the gatefold sleeve.
Lodger was a modest commercial success, peaking at number 4 in the UK and number 20 in the US. It produced four singles, including the UK top 10 hit "Boys Keep Swinging". Music videos directed by David Mallet accompanied three of the four singles. The album initially received mixed critical reviews, with many calling it the weakest of the Berlin Trilogy. Reception has grown in subsequent decades and it is now widely considered to be among Bowie's most underrated albums. Its world elements have been highlighted as particularly influential. Bowie and Visconti were dissatisfied with the album's original mix and, in 2015, Visconti remixed the album with Bowie's approval for inclusion on the 2017 box set A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982), along with a remaster of the original.
Background
In the second half of 1976, David Bowie and his friend Iggy Pop relocated to the Château d'Hérouville in Hérouville, France, to escape from the drug culture of Los Angeles. There, Bowie produced Pop's debut studio album The Idiot (1977) and recorded his own, Low, in collaboration with the musician Brian Eno and the producer Tony Visconti; the album came to be known as the first in Bowie's Berlin Trilogy. After Lows release in January 1977, Bowie toured with Pop before co-producing his second solo album Lust for Life (1977), at Hansa Tonstudio in West Berlin.
Bowie's productivity continued throughout the rest of 1977. He recorded his second Berlin release with Visconti and Eno, "Heroes", released in October 1977, after which he conducted extensive promotion for the album. These included a collaboration with the singer Bing Crosby on Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas television special ("Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy"), and contributing narration for an adaptation of Sergei Prokofiev's classical composition Peter and the Wolf, released as an album in May 1978. He also starred in the David Hemmings film Just a Gigolo, and toured Low and "Heroes" on the Isolar II world tour from March 1978 to the end of the year.
Recording and production
Recording for Lodger began during the four-month break in the Isolar II world tour during September 1978. Although Lodger is known as the final release of the Berlin Trilogy, it was largely recorded at Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland, with additional recording to finish the album at the Record Plant in New York City. The atmosphere in Montreux was very different from that in Berlin; the studio was built on the site of a previous studio that had burned down. Whereas Hansa Tonstudio was located near the Berlin Wall, Mountain Studios was located in an Alpine retreat. The guitarist Carlos Alomar described the location as "boring", preferring the "excitement" of Hansa. Mountain also lacked the Hansa's acoustics.
thumb|upright=0.9|alt=A man in a red hat playing a yellow guitar|Lodger features contributions from the future [[King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew (pictured in 2017).]]
Many of the same musicians from the previous records—Eno, Visconti, Alomar, Dennis Davis and George Murray —returned for the Lodger sessions. According to the biographer Chris O'Leary, these cards were "part-fortune cookie, part-Monopoly 'Chance' cards", intended to spark creative ideas. Eno and Bowie used them previously to create some of the instrumentals for "Heroes". Using the cards, Bowie and Eno conducted numerous experimental methods during the sessions. Some of these included using old tunes played backwards, employing identical chord sequences for different songs and having the musicians swap instruments, as Alomar and Davis did on "Boys Keep Swinging". and Belew also observed Eno's and Bowie's working relationship closing down: "They didn't quarrel or anything uncivilised like that; they just didn't seem to have the spark that I imagine they might have had during the "Heroes" album." Visconti shared similar sentiments, saying on multiple occasions: "I don't think [David's] heart was in Lodger." "We had fun, but nevertheless an ominous feeling pervaded the album for me."
The sessions at Mountain Studios lasted three weeks, after which the band went back on tour. At the tour's conclusion, Bowie reconvened at the Record Plant in March 1979, where he recorded his lyrics and instrumental overdubs, and began mixing. Belew returned to record further guitar overdubs while Visconti recorded a replacement bass guitar part for "Boys Keep Swinging" after Bowie decided Davis' original was unsuitable; work was completed in a week. Visconti recalled having "sonic problems" during the mixing stage because the studio did not have the technical advancements of European studios.
Musical style
Much like its two predecessors, Consequence of Sound described the music on Lodger as art rock and experimental rock. However, the album abandons the electronic and ambient styles and the song/instrumental split that defined the two earlier works, in favour of more conventional song structures. O'Leary particularly highlights Davis' drumming as the standout, while Alomar's guitar solo was influenced by John Lennon's rhythm guitar work in the Beatles. The Quietus found "Boys Keep Swinging" to contain elements of glam rock and garage rock. To accomplish the shot, taken in February 1979 at Duffy's London studio, Bowie balanced himself on a steel frame while the photographer captured the image from above. The broken nose and facial morphing were accomplished using prosthetic make-up and nylon threads. Bowie's bandaged hand was genuine; according to Pegg, he had burned it with coffee that morning and decided to incorporate the hand into the photo. At Bowie's request, the image was taken in a low resolution with a Polaroid SX-70 type camera; outtakes from the photoshoot have appeared in the 2014 book Duffy/Bowie – Five Sessions. The front features a postcard with the album title in four different languages, enhancing its theme of travel. Inside the gatefold are pictures of Che Guevara's corpse, Andrea Mantegna's painting Lamentation of Christ and Bowie being readied for the cover photo. Rykodisc did not reproduce these images on their 1991 CD reissue.
Release and promotion
RCA Records released the lead single from Lodger, "Boys Keep Swinging", with "Fantastic Voyage" as the B-side, on 27 April 1979. To promote the song, Bowie had appeared on The Kenny Everett Video Show four days earlier. According to Pegg, he dressed in a "1950s Mod-style suit" that made him look like a "fresh-faced schoolboy". David Mallet, who Bowie chose to direct a promo video for "Boys Keep Swinging", directed the programme. The promo and his Everett performance were filmed back-to-back, although the former featured extra backup dancers who turned out to be Bowie in drag. The Everett performance, along with an appearance as the guest DJ on Radio 1's Star Special, helped "Boys Keep Swinging" reach number seven on the UK Singles Chart, Bowie's highest-charting single since "Sound and Vision". However, due to the song's gender-bending video and lyrics, RCA refused to release the single in the US.
thumb|upright=0.8|alt=Gary Numan performing in 1980|Lodger was released at a time when artists that were influenced by Bowie's other Berlin releases, such as [[Gary Numan (pictured in 1980), were starting to gain popularity. Numan himself was criticised by contemporaries and Bowie himself as a copycat of Bowie.]]
RCA issued Lodger on 25 May 1979,