Look Back in Anger (song)

"Look Back in Anger" is a song written by David Bowie and Brian Eno for the album Lodger (1979). It concerns "a tatty 'Angel of Death'",[1]  and features a guitar solo by Carlos Alomar.

RCA Records was unsure if America was ready for the sexual androgyny of "Boys Keep Swinging",[2]  the lead-off single from Lodger in most territories, and "Look Back in Anger" was issued instead.[3]  The B-side was another track from Lodgercalled "Repetition", a story of domestic violence. The single failed to chart.

"Look Back in Anger" has a mixed reputation among Bowie commentators. NME critics Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray have described it as "probably the low point" of the album,[1]  while Nicholas Pegg considers it "one of Lodger'sdramatic highlights".[3]

Beyond the shared title, the song has nothing to do with the John Osborne play Look Back in Anger.

Bowie performed the song on his 1983 "Serious Moonlight" Tour (it is the opening number on the Serious Moonlight (1983 film) film) and reworked it in the mid-90s as a heavy rock song for the "Outside" and "Earthling" tours.



Contents
[hide]  *1 Track listing  ==Track listing[ edit] == ==Production credits<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Music video<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">David Mallet directed a music video for the song, featuring Bowie in an artist's studio. The scenario was based on the conclusion of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, as a self-portrait of the protagonist grows more handsome while he himself physically decays.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[4] ==Other releases<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Cover versions<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==
 * 2 Production credits
 * 3 Music video
 * 4 Other releases
 * 5 Cover versions
 * 6 Notes
 * 1) "Look Back in Anger" (David Bowie, Brian Eno) – 3:08
 * 2) "Repetition" (Bowie) – 2:59
 * Producers:
 * Tony Visconti
 * David Bowie
 * Musicians:
 * David Bowie: Vocals, Guitar, Backing vocals
 * Dennis Davis: Percussion
 * George Murray: Bass
 * Carlos Alomar: Guitar
 * Sean Mayes: Piano
 * Brian Eno: Synthesizer, Horse trumpet, Eroica horn
 * Tony Visconti: Backing vocals
 * It appeared on the following compilations:
 * Chameleon (Australia/New Zealand 1979)
 * Christiane F. soundtrack (1981)
 * Golden Years (1983)
 * Sound and Vision (1989)
 * The Singles Collection (1993)
 * The Best of David Bowie 1974/1979 (1998)
 * The Platinum Collection (2005/2006)
 * In 1988 Bowie recorded a "new, brutal version of the song" with Reeves Gabrels on guitar and Erdal Kizilcay on bass and drums; it was the first arrangement Bowie and Gabrels collaborated on, taking place shortly before the formation of the band Tin Machine.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[5]  The recording was issued as a bonus track on the Rykodisc CD release of Lodger in 1991.
 * Kaligare - .2 Contamination: A Tribute to David Bowie (2006)
 * Swans of Avon - The Dark Side of David Bowie: A Tribute to David Bowie (1997)
 * Tender Fury - Thoughts of Yesterday (1992)