100 favourite albums: # 12: Low - David Bowie

Even today, more than thirty years on from its initial release, Low still carries with it the shock of the new. An 11 song set of avant-pop, it breaks down into two sides - the first made up of seven crisp pieces of kinetic pop-ism, the second comprised by four crystallinely abstract musical soundscapes - which complement and comment upon each other, each sounding as vivid and as modern as the other. The 'pop' side is immediate but indelible - every song's a keeper, and as catchy as you could want (I really can't pick any favourites - each is as good as every other) - while each of the four pieces on the 'abstract' side is a shimmering edifice, complete in itself, and especially the magnificent "Warszawa", which sounds like glass vibrating in the shape of a tower. Who knew that Art could sound so good?

...always crashing in the same car...