Track Listing

1. Beauty and the Beast
2. Joe the Lion
3. Heroes
4. Sons of the Silent Age
5. Blackout
6. V-2 Schneider
7. Sense of Doubt
8. Moss Garden
9. Neuköln
10. Secret Life of Arabia

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11777 in Music
• Released on: 1999-09-28
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Enhanced, Original recording reissued
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Album Description
Limited Edition Japanese pressing of this album comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve. 2007.

Amazon.com essential recording
One of Bowie's more stellar moments working with Brian Eno, Heroes again sees the artist moving into barely chartered waters (at that point, 1977), creating moving, emotive rock and putting it right up against some very detached and futuristic synthesized sounds. The collection opens with a ferocious rocker, courtesy of Robert Fripp's taut, snarling guitars ("Beauty and the Beast"), and then slides into the roar of "Joe the Lion" without missing a beat. Bowie's vocals have rarely sounded as desperate as they are on "Heroes," the anguished "Blackout" rages on a peculiarly up beat, and suddenly the listener finds they've slipped into a parallel world of icy soundscapes. The next four tracks present glassy synthesizers, stark piano, the ping of Asian-styled guitars, and other styles presumably left over or influenced by the Low recordings. The delicate "Moss Garden" is particularly beautiful, and "Sense of Doubt" is brooding and ominous. The closer, "The Secret Life of Arabia," moves with the rhythm of a snake charmer, and Bowie's vocals are irrepressibly intoxicating. Challenging, and worth the effort. --Lorry Fleming

Amazon.com
The second disc in the late-'70s Bowie/Eno trilogy, Heroes essentially repeats the form of Low--half rock songs with darkly cryptic lyrics and bizarre mixes, half foreboding instrumentals--but the songs are better realized (especially the weirdly dramatic title track) and the non-songs are more richly textured. The album's tone is muffled and desperate, like screams from the next room. As on Low, Bowie plays hide-and-seek with his slithery voice: songs have backing vocals and nothing more, or shift into German and French, or never quite move past an introduction. Eno's treatments make the instruments sound gluey and sluggish, especially in the proto-ambient second half of the album. This is mood music for an execution day. --Douglas Wolk

Customer Reviews

The Overlooked Sister to 'Low'
David Bowie's catalogue is very diverse in terms of styles and personas he's adopted over the years. Most people familiar with his work are likely to name 'Ziggy Stardust,' 'Station To Station' or even 'Let's Dance' as milestone albums. But when someone mentions "Heroes," one immediately thinks of the monolithic title track, which to this day retains a place in David's live shows. In my opinion, 'Heroes,' the album, has always been rather overlooked; the spotlight being stolen by it's sister, 'Low.' And while 'Low' is most definitely a masterpiece, 'Heroes' is an excellent work in it's own right and deserves re-evaluation.

'Heroes' takes the listener away to an alternative world filled with chaos ("Beauty and the Beast"), desperation ("Blackout"), nostalgia ("Sons of the Silent Age") and humor ("Secret Life of Arabia"). David's voice hits startling new heights here, and he's singing as though his life depended on it. The ambient instrumental tracks range from murky ("Sense of Doubt") to soothing ("Moss Garden") to horrific ("Neukoln").

I find it almost a cathartic experience listening to 'Heroes,' for it's as if David is purging all these raw emotions out of his system and trying to make the best of a difficult situation (relevant to his circumstances during the time the album was recorded). Depending on my mood, it's not uncommon that I feel either drained or refreshed after listening to the album in one sitting.

'Heroes' evokes a whole gamut of feelings, and is a most provocative listening experience. It's a wild runaway-train of an album, by an artist who was always far ahead of his time. Highly recommended to all DB fans (new or old) or anyone who likes music that takes you on an adventure.

Second installment in "Berlin Trilogy" is brilliant
David Bowie made three albums while living in Berlin. The second of them, "Heroes," sees Bowie continuing his bare-bones production, ably assisted by Brian Eno. The title track of this album remains my all-time favorite Bowie composition, both for its poetic quality and for the harmonics, hooks and production values. Bowie utilizes several unusual instruments on this album, including the Japanese samisen (a stringed instrument). Another favorite piece on this album is an instrumental, "Neukolnen," inspired by Bowie's Berlin neighborhood. This is an album not to be missed.

The pinnacle of the brilliant Bowie/Eno achievement.
When U2 released their excellent `Achtung Baby' CD in the early 90s, critics and fans alike praised the "new" sound, admired them for their risk-taking, and generally fawned over the rock/electronica mix. Obviously Bono and the band were instrumental in this, but were it not for Brian Eno's influence and presence, it's unlikely if this album would have emerged as the great collection it did. Also, those who lauded this collaboration as groundbreaking need only to go back 20+ years to Eno's work with David Bowie with the Low/Heroes/Lodger trilogy to see that they were doing it back then.

This (`Heroes') album marks the pinnacle of their trilogy in my mind as I find it to be much more accessible than the dark (but brilliant) `Low' and not as (forgive me) odd as `Lodger'. The most recognizable track on the album, "Heroes" is still a wonderful song. "Joe The Lion", "Sons of the Silent Age", and "Beauty and the Beast" are other highlights of the non-instrumental pieces.

However, side B is the true gem of this album. The combination of "Sense of Doubt", "Moss Garden", and "Neukoln" are some of the most beautiful and haunting instrumental work that Bowie and even Eno have produced. These three songs surrounded with the non-instrumental "V-2 Schneider" and "The Secret Life of Arabia" make for a spectacular 20 minutes of music.

If you're just starting to dabble in Bowie's work, this is definitely a good starting place.