Album
Never Let Me Down
Never Let Me Down is David Bowie's seventeenth studio album, released in April 1987 on EMI America. He made it with co-producer David Richards, with Peter Frampton on guitar, recording in Switzerland and New York City in the autumn of 1986. After his disappointment with 1984's Tonight, Bowie wanted to approach the process differently, and he saw the record as a return to rock and roll. The sleeve shows him surrounded by images drawn from the songs.
It sold well and reached the UK top 10, and all three singles made the UK top 40. Fans and critics were less kind, with many objecting to the "overblown" production, and the Glass Spider Tour that followed, his most elaborate yet, met a similar reception. Bowie himself kept his distance from the finished sound and often spoke of remaking it. He remixed "Time Will Crawl" for iSelect in 2008. It is worth hearing as the low point he moved on from, leading to Tin Machine and then Black Tie White Noise in 1993.
Never Let Me Down: tracklist, credits and charts
11 tracks · 48:06Tracklist
- 1Day‐In Day‐OutDavid Bowie4:38
- 2Time Will CrawlDavid Bowie4:18
- 3Beat of Your DrumDavid Bowie4:32
- 4Never Let Me DownCarlos Alomar and David Bowie4:03
- 5ZeroesDavid Bowie5:46
- 6Glass SpiderDavid Bowie4:56
- 7Shining Star (Makin’ My Love)David Bowie4:05
- 8New York’s in LoveDavid Bowie3:55
- 9’87 and CryDavid Bowie3:53
- 10Too DizzyDavid Bowie and Erdal Kızılçay3:58
- 11Bang BangIvan Král and Iggy Pop4:02
- Produced by
- David Bowie, David Richards
- Recorded at
- Mountain Studios, Power Station at BerkleeNYC, Mountain (Montreux, Switzerland), Power Station (New York City)
- Recorded
- September–November 1986
- Mixed by
- Bob Clearmountain
- Engineered by
- Malcolm Pollack
- Label
- EMI America
- Length
- 48:06
Line-up
- Carlos Alomar · guitar, background vocals
- Crusher Bennett · percussion, congas, rhythm sticks, wood block
- David Bowie · keyboard, background vocals, lead vocals, synthesizer, harmonica, mellotron, Moog, guitar
- Steve Elson · baritone saxophone
- Earl Gardner · trumpet
- Stan Harrison · alto saxophone
- Erdal Kızılçay · bass, drums (drum set), keyboard, sampler, synthesizer, organ, violin
- Sid McGinnis · guitar
- Lenny Pickett · tenor saxophone
- Philippe Saisse · piano, keyboard
- Robin Clark · background vocals
- Diva Gray · background vocals
- Gordon Grody · background vocals
- Lani Groves · background vocals
- Peter Frampton · guitar, electric sitar
- The Coquettes · background vocals · guest
- Mickey Rourke · lead vocals · guest
Singles
- “Day-In Day-Out” · 23 March 1987
- “Time Will Crawl” · 15 June 1987
- “Never Let Me Down” · 17 August 1987
Peak chart positions
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart · 1987 | 6 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) · 1987 | 2 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) · 1987 | 3 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) · 1987 | 3 |
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) · 1987 | 4 |
| Italian Albums (Musica e dischi) · 1987 | 4 |
| French Albums (SNEP) · 1987 | 6 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon) · 1987 | 6 |
| Dutch Albums (MegaCharts) · 1987 | 9 |
| Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) · 1987 | 13 |
All 14 charts
| New Zealand Albums (RIANZ) · 1987 | 14 |
| Swiss Albums (Hitparade) · 1987 | 18 |
| Australian Albums (ARIA) · 1987 | 19 |
| US Billboard Top Pop Albums · 1987 | 34 |
Certifications
| Region | Certification |
|---|---|
| Canada | Platinum |
| France · 1987 | Gold |
| United Kingdom | Gold |
| United States | Gold |
From MusicBrainz, Wikipedia and Wikidata. Only what the sources record is shown.
73.0
Popularity (0–100, vs the whole vault)
2.0k
ListenBrainz listeners
96k
Wikipedia views, last 12 months
4.1k
Deezer fans (all editions)
Released the same week
Also released on 21 April
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Full discography →
David Bowie
1967
David Bowie
1969
The World of David Bowie
1970
The Man Who Sold the World
1970
Hunky Dory
1971
Do Anything You Say
1972
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
1972
Rebel Rebel / Queen Bitch / Sorrow / Amsterdam
1973
Images 1966–1967
1973
Aladdin Sane
1973
Pin Ups
1973
Diamond Dogs
1974
David Live
1974
Young Americans
1975
Station to Station
1976
ChangesOneBowie
1976
Low
1977
“Heroes”
1977
David Bowie Narrates Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf
1978
Stage
1978
Lodger
1979
David Bowie
1980
Scary Monsters… and Super Creeps
1980
The Best of Bowie
1980
Christiane F.: Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo
1981
ChangesTwoBowie
1981
In Bertolt Brecht’s Baal
1982
Rare
1982
Supergroups
1983
Serious Moonlight
1983
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars: The Motion Picture Soundtrack
1983
Let’s Dance
1983
Golden Years
1983
Fame and Fashion (David Bowie’s All Time Greatest Hits)
1984
Love You Till Tuesday
1984
Tonight
1984
Labyrinth: From the Original Soundtrack of the Jim Henson Film
1986
Glass Spider
1988
Sound + Vision
1989
Changesbowie
1990
Early On (1964–1966)
1991
Black Tie White Noise
1993
The Singles Collection
1993
The Buddha of Suburbia
1993
Live Santa Monica ’72
1994
RarestOneBowie
1995
1.Outside: The Nathan Adler Diaries: A Hyper Cycle
1995
Earthling
1997
The Deram Anthology 1966–1968
1997
The Best of David Bowie 1969/1974
1997
The Best of David Bowie 1974/1979
1998
‘hours…’
1999
Liveandwell.com
2000
Bowie at the Beeb: The Best of the BBC Radio Sessions 68–72
2000
All Saints (Collected Instrumentals 1977–1999)
2001
Heathen
2002
Best of Bowie
2002
Reality
2003
Club Bowie: Rare and Unreleased 12″ Mixes
2003
Live EP (live at Fashion Rocks)
2005
The Collection
2005
The Platinum Collection
2005
Bowie 1965!
2006
The Best of David Bowie 1980/1987
2007
Outside / Earthling / Hours / Heathen / Reality
2007
iSELECT
2008
VH1 Storytellers
2009
Space Oddity
2009
A Reality Tour
2010
The Next Day
2013
Pin-Ups Radio Show
2013
The Next Day Extra EP
2013
Nothing has changed.
2014
Five Years 1969–1973
2015
★
2016
Who Can I Be Now? 1974–1976
2016
Lazarus
2016
Legacy
2016
No Plan
2017
Live Nassau Coliseum ’76
2017
Cracked Actor (Live Los Angeles ’74)
2017
A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982)
2017
Welcome to the Blackout (live London ’78)
2018
Loving the Alien (1983–1988)
2018
Glastonbury 2000
2018
Conversation Piece
2019
Is It Any Wonder?
2020
ChangesNowBowie
2020
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The Width of a Circle
2021
Toy
2021
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2022
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2022
Fun Mix
2022
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The best of 1987
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Document
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More on EMI America
The label →
Releases and pressings
How we know the release date wikipedia 1987-04-21 vs 1987-04-18 (musicbrainz), 1987-04-27 (wikidata)
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | 18 April 1987 | |
| Wikipedia infobox | 21 April 1987 | |
| Wikidata | 27 April 1987 | |
| US release | 1987 | earliest US date |
| UK / Europe release | 1987 | earliest UK or European date |
21 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | XE | EMI America | 5099924074612 | other |
| 1987 | US | EMI America | 077774667722 | other |
| 1987 | US | EMI America | 077771726712 | other |
| 1987 | US | EMI America | 077774667722 | other |
| 1987 | US | EMI America | other | |
| 1987 | US | EMI America | other | |
| 1987 | XE | EMI America | other | |
| 18 April 1987 | JP | EMI America | 4988006612396 | original |
| 1995 | FR | Virgin | 724384098629 | other |
| 13 November 1995 | GB | Virgin | 724384098629 | other |
| 1998 | FR | — | 724349309722 | other |
| 20 September 1999 | GB | EMI | 0724352189403 | other |
| 28 September 1999 | US | Parlophone | 724352189403 | other |
| 2002 | NL | Disky | 0724357956222 | other |
| 7 March 2007 | JP | 東芝EMI 株式会社 | 4988006851160 | other |
| 23 December 2009 | JP | EMI Music Japan Inc. | 4988006877269 | other |
| 2019 | XW | Parlophone | 190295671389 | other |
| 15 February 2019 | XE | Parlophone | 190295511142 | other |
| 27 February 2019 | JP | Parlophone | other | |
| 16 August 2019 | XW | Parlophone | 190295671426 | remaster |
| — | — | — | other |
Cover art sources
deezer · native: native 1800x1800
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| deezer ✓ | 1800×1800 | native: native 1800x1800 |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |
| coverartarchive | 600×594 | upscaled |