Show Notes
Tin Machine 2! Turkey or twizzler?
It has to be said, full marks to Bowie and the boys for steaming ahead with their second album despite bemused reactions to the 1989 debut, Bowie gallivanting off around the world on the mammoth May - Sep 1990 Sound + Vision tour, being dropped by EMI (leaving DB without a record deal for the first time since 1966) and Reeves getting into the intricate properties of sex toys* - all of this conspired to create this, the occasionally brilliant, sometimes baffling, entirely peculiar Tin Machine 2. Bangers and clunkers come together in a far more focused way than the first album, a greater spectrum of songwriting and Reeves revels in the spacious soundscapes, aided and abetted by producer Tim Palmer.
In this opening episode Leah Kardos and I get to grips with the background to the album, its long gestation and the first few tracks, swooning over our favourites and coming to angry blows over "If There Is Something". Come ahead and dive in!
Many thanks to Leah as ever and also for her background intro music for this and all recent episodes - more information about Leah's many activities at https://www.leahkardos.com/
*I feature Reeves Gabrels, taken from an earlier albumtoalbum episode - do check out his whole interview here! https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/davidbowie-albumtoalbum/id1355073030?i=1000547920678
Tin Machine 2 is not currently available on streaming, but cheapish second hand copies abound on ebay and amazon. (Leah and I feel strongly it should be reissued)
More from DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUM
As Carlos Alomar's THE D.A.M. TRILOGY'S "Back to Berlin Tour 2025" winds to a close, hundreds of fans across Europe have enjoyed seeing the man himself in person alongside the dapper don of the deep end George Murray, axe spanker extraordinaire Kevin Armstrong and their smokin' hot band, performing hits and deep cuts from '76 - '80. It's been a joyful experience as anyone who's been lucky enough to catch one of their shows will affirm and in this, the second part of my conversation with Carlos taped before he hit the road, his enthusiasm, good humour and inexhaustible fund of memories, anecdotes and reflections colour our chat with good vibes and positive energies.
He's the man who went from Philly soul to Scary Monsters by way of Station to Station and all things Berlin - yes, it's Carlos Alomar, guitarist, songwriter, collaborator, bandleader and all round musical machine joining me on this episode for a wide ranging conversation spanning technology, working with David Bowie, James Brown, George Murray, Dennis Davis, The Monkees, Jimi Hendrix, watermelons, cherries and pineapples and much more. He even gets his guitar out and demonstrates where just a couple of those legendary licks originated from.
Part Two of my conversation with Tin Machine co-producer and amanuensis Tim Palmer takes in the aftermath of the 1989 debut LP and the fractured coming together of elements to make up the arguably stronger second album - a smorgasbord of some classic Bowie songwriting, noise, avant garde guitars, sex toys and good time rock'n'roll. In this episode Tim reflects on those sessions that took place simultaneously with David's round-the-world Sound + Vision tour (in which he set out to lay his back catalogue to rest) as well as the frequently astonishing level of innovation, invention and energy that went into Tin Machine 2.
What have U2, The Mighty Lemon Drops, Pearl Jam, Robert Plant, The Mission, The Polyphonic Spree, Gene Loves Jezebel oh and - David Bowie all in common? That's right - superproducer Tim Palmer has worked with them all, and countless others over the decades and is regarded as one of the most accomplished and renowned names in the biz.
Sorry! Join me for the second part of my conversation with author, musician, professor and all round superstar Leah Kardos on Tin Machine II – the overlooked, underrated work by Hunt and Tony Sales, Reeves Gabrels and David Bowie, from 1991. So underrated, in fact, that it's not even properly available - a mystery in itself. There have been occasional rumours of a Tin Machine box but this never quite happens. Leah and I feel this is a great tragedy, as to ignore Tin Machine is to ignore a crucial, transformative and vital moment in Bowie’s evolution.