"Heathen finds Bowie settling into his role as elder statesman of the post-punk art rock movement." David Bowie successfully charts a path into his later years with the help of a returning friend

By 2002, David Bowie had reinvented himself more times than most artists manage albums. But with Heathen, he returned to familiar ground in the shape of producer Tony Visconti.

This was a reunion with a long-time studio ally, a man he hadn't spoken to for 20 years, a man who'd worked on The Man Who Sold the World, Diamond Dogs, Young Americans, Low, "Heroes", Lodger and Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps). And it paid off. Heathen traded the brittle experimentation of Bowie’s late-’90s output for atmosphere, depth and emotional gravity, with Bowie’s voice – now older and wiser – sitting front and centre.

From the haunting Sunday to the genuinely beautiful Slip Away, Bowie still managed to surprise. Most artists covering The Pixies' Cactus would have slipped it in as an afterthought, but on Heathen it arrived early, fully Bowie-fied. A cover of Neil Young's I’ve Been Waiting For You was almost as prominent, with Dave Grohl guesting on guitar.

The partnership was a success. Many critics hailed Heathen as the best Bowie album since his last collaboration with Visconti (Scary Monsters). After years of wilfully navigating a path through the experimental hinterland, Bowie was back.

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Every week, Album of the Week Club listens to and discusses the album in question, votes on how good it is, and publishes our findings, with the aim of giving people reliable reviews and the wider rock community the chance to contribute.

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Other albums released in June 2002

• Tres Lunas - Mike Oldfield
• The Beginning Stages of... - The Polyphonic Spree
• The Elusive Light and Sound, Vol. 1 - Steve Vai
• Good Morning Aztlán - Los Lobos
• Let Go - Avril Lavigne
• Warriors of the World - Manowar
• Dying for the World - W.A.S.P.
• In Violet Light - The Tragically Hip
• It's Not Too Late - Neal Morse
• Live in the Classic City - Widespread Panic
• Sticks and Stones - New Found Glory
• Untouchables - Korn
• Degradation Trip - Jerry
• lovehatetragedy - Papa Roach
• Born a Lion - Danko Jones
• Century Child - Nightwish
• 3 - Soulfly
• Cheer Up! - Reel Big Fish
• Coup de Grace - Orange Goblin
• Crucible - Halford
• Murray Street - Sonic Youth
• Songs About Jane - Maroon 5
• Strange Beautiful Music - Joe Satriani

What they said...

"Heathen doesn't herald a second coming for David Bowie – not by a longshot. The youthful urgency of his early work is long gone. But that hasn't stopped him from making an album that is easily his best work since the halcyon days of faux-cockney accents and gender bending theatrics a la Scary Monsters, and that's good news. Bowie seems to have finally realised that he's just been trying too damn hard." (Pitchfork)

"Heathen begins portentously, with Bowie crooning in the big, theatrical voice of the Ziggy Stardust era about finding "signs of life" and other such vital matters of the universe. From there, his trip through space becomes even more self-important, as he offers up unintentional howlers ('I shot my space gun / and, boy, it really felt good') and even a pomp-ridden cover of the Pixies' great fractured punk song Cactus. 'For in truth,' Bowie intones on Sunday, the opening track of Heathen, 'it's the beginning of nothing.' He's got that right." (New York magazine)

"The most immediate pleasures on Heathen are all covers. David Bowie has exquisitely hip taste, and he attacks the Pixies’ Cactus, Neil Young’s ’69 ruby I’ve Been Waiting for You and the Legendary Stardust Cowboy’s sci-fi valentine I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship with the same sharp-dressed zest that he brought to the Easybeats and Pretty Things hits on 1973’s Pin Ups." (Rolling Stone)

What you said...

Nigel Mawdsley: I absolutely love a lot of Bowie's work, but sadly, Heathen isn't one of his better albums for me. Other Bowie albums that I think are excellent, apart from the obvious classics, other fans will 'baulk' at (Never Let Me Down or Earthling, anyone?). Bowie was never predictable, and I can appreciate why Bowie fans will love Heathen, but apart from three or four tracks, not one for me.

Matthew Joseph Hughes: This is Bowie's return to form. Heathen, Reality, The Next Day and Blackstar are as good as anything up to Scary Monsters. He falls off a bit in the 80s and 90s for me. Modern Love doesn't feel like Bowie to me, but this does.

Warren Bubb: Been a while since I listened to this one. When it came out, I really liked it. I felt he was back on track with Hours after the unlikable Earthling, and that was confirmed for me with the following Reality LP. Listening to it again, I don't think it's aged all that well. There are some great tracks like Slowburn, I Took A Trip On A Gemini Spacecraft, 5.15 The Angels Have Gone, and Everyone says 'Hi', but some filler like the Neil Young cover, and I Would Be Your Slave. Still good enough for 8/10 for me, but it's no Ziggy Stardust or Aladdin Sane.

Adam Ranger: Not a fan of Bowie's later output, to be honest. Too much art rock and not enough musical interest for me. So it was with a bit of trepidation that I listened to this album. The first track, Sunday, with its electronic noise backing, was not a good start for me. But the next track, Cactus, was far more interesting. A good, driving beat. Slip Away follows, pleasant enough, but not a "wow" moment.

I was all set to give up on the listen, and then we have Slow Burn and Afraid, and I've Been Waiting For You, three tracks which kept me interested and reminded me of my love for Bowie. The rest of the album is like that. Dullish track and an interesting track. Nothing amazing.

That trio mentioned above would make my Bowie playlist any day. I'm not sure about the rest of the album. Not a classic, but not a dud either.

John Davidson: Given I haven't listened to much Bowie for years, and then bought Stage just after Christmas, this comes at an interesting time for me.

On first listen, Heathen is a mature, thoughtful art rock album from one of the industry's great survivors and reinventors. He followed and defined the trends through the turbulent musical waters of the 1970s, emerging in the 1980s as a cool elder statesman of art rock/pop culture. But after Let's Dance/Cat People, I can't think of a song that made an impact until Blackstar arrived just before his death.

Going into Heathen with zero expectations, I was pleasantly surprised. It's not flashy. There are no obvious hits or crowd pleasers, but it's a solid, thoughtful album that seems like a logical follow-up to Station To Station or Low.

One of the things that really stands out is Bowie's voice. The songs act largely as a platform for Bowie's singing, and the lack of sing-alongs means this was never going to attract attention in the way that Scary Monsters did, far less Ziggy Stardust. But that doesn't mean it's dull, just that it will need an investment of time and interest to fully appreciate.

If your taste in Bowie is largely superficial (and that's not intended as a slight), I suspect this will bounce off, but if you are intrigued enough to keep listening, I suspect it may reward repetition.

I have listened through a few times now, and my first impressions remain true. It's a good album, but not a great one. It's reflective and sombre at times, but with some lighter moments too. I don't think I'll listen to it voluntarily after this week, but it's probably worth a 7/10.

David Bowie - Slow Burn (Official Video) [HD] - YouTube

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Greg Schwepe: If nothing else, David Bowie was extremely prolific the last 25 years or so of his career. During that time, he constantly churned out an album every two years or so. He had about a ten-year gap when taking a break after his heart attack during the Reality tour, then surprised all of us with The Next Day. He released Blackstar about three years later, and the real surprise was how sick he actually was when completing it. This was an artist who seemingly liked to produce new material, no matter the obstacle. At this point, he was still very relevant as an artist and adapted to new media (“BowieNet”) to keep up with the times.

The obstacle for Heathen (and other Bowie albums released around then) was probably “how do you get the attention of those outside the hardcore Bowie fan base to pay attention?” Or did it matter? Surely, any new Bowie album would garner enough buzz to get reviewed, but would it attract new fans? Or did it matter? Here’s an artist who apparently had lots of ideas for new material and seemed willing to put it out, whether it sold ten copies or 10,000. You were going to get an album of new Bowie songs to dissect. Lightning doesn’t strike twice, so you weren’t going to get Ziggy Stardust II. Or did it matter?

Heathen opens with Sunday and its stuttering keyboard riff and that unmistakable Bowie croon. The keyboard chord changes continue as Bowie repeats “and nothing has changed…everything has changed.” And right at the 3:45 mark, you get another “everything has changed…” and then the drums kick in to take this another gear.

The acoustic intro to Cactus follows, and along with the banging piano and drums, you’ve got a little bit of a sing-along here. Slow Burn, with its "Heroes"-like droning guitar intro follows, and you find another song that sticks with you. I’ve Been Waiting For You finds Bowie turning up the volume a little and letting the guitars go at it. The hyper-drum-filled I Took a Trip On A Gemini Spaceship could have been left over from Earthling. Not sure if Major Tom was on the spaceship with him.

Overall, Heathen is a solid album from start to finish, with no songs or sections I have to skip through. It’s an easy listen, unlike some other releases that really dare you to stick around and listen to everything (um, that would be parts of Lodger for me). And I believe for Bowie, this album was not full of throwaways. I attended the Reality tour and half of the setlist from that tour (and subsequent live album) was comprised of songs from Heathen, Reality, Outside, Earthlings, and Hours, in addition to the stuff from the super classic albums.

8 out of 10 on this one for me. Whether this album was a return to classic Bowie, as the sticker on the CD packaging said, remains to be seen. But for a Bowie fan like me, it was another in a continuing stream of new music.

Caleb Bradley: I just can’t get into his vocals after the 80s. I liked a lot of The Next Day, though.

Mike Canoe: Art rock as dad rock. After spending most of the '80s selling out, in both meanings of the phrase, and most of the '90s being a step behind prevailing music trends, Heathen went a long way towards David Bowie getting his credibility back.

And, weirdly enough, he did it by being himself instead of shapeshifting into another persona. Heathen found Bowie both navigating his fifties and the father of a newborn baby girl and the album permeates with melancholy and existential dread, either of those occasions might bring, not to mention being recorded in New York right around the September 11 attacks.

That said, Heathen isn't a heavy or dreary album, more pensive and reflective. The sound is soft but carries a lot of weight. Slow Burn and Everyone Says 'Hi' are drop-dead gorgeous, and the covers of Cactus and Gemini Spaceship are inspired.

As is often the case with Bowie, his choice of collaborators is crucial. First album produced by Tony Visconti since the hallowed Scary Monsters in 1980, and granted, I don't recognise the names of the guitarist and drummer who round out the core quartet (Visconti also plays bass), but their playing is innovative and sublime. The looping feels more natural here than on Earthling, which was too "look at me" showy.

I've actually softened on Earthling a lot in the past 30 years, but I think Outside is still the worst album he ever made - yes, I'd even rather have gnome puns - and I always struggle to remember any songs off of Hours. Heathen found Bowie settling into his role as elder statesman of the post-punk art rock he pioneered, as opposed to feeling the need to prove he was still ahead of everybody else. It was a good fit.

David Bowie - Everyone Says 'Hi' (Official Video) [HD] - YouTube

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John Beckett: It was a happy coincidence that the review album of the week is Heathen, because I purchased the album on Amazon a few months ago. Having been a fan in my early teens, with Ziggy Stardust, Hunky Dory, Diamond Dogs, Aladdin Sane, I had been listening to Bowie's back catalogue of albums on YouTube, and decided to get Heathen.

It is a return to form: Cactus, Slow Burn, Afraid, I've Been Waiting For You, just to mention some standout tracks, but there are more. I really enjoyed the album overall, obviously it wouldn't hit me as it did as a starstruck teenager, (and I had a Bowie haircut as well). But as a senior citizen in his 60's, I enjoyed it.

Evan Sanders: I've been a David Bowie fan for most of my life, so I was surprised that I hadn't heard of this album. Looking at his discography, it appears I tuned out his new releases from about 1987 up until 2013's The Next Day and then 2016's magnificent send-off, Blackstar.

Listening to it now, I found it to be an unusual combination of looking back and projecting forward. Several of the songs could have fit into an album sandwiched between his 1970's Ziggy Stardust and Berlin periods, such as Cactus, Slow Burn, and Gemini Spaceship. And then there are other songs that are melodically haunting and hint at what he would do on his final album, such as Sunday and Slip Away. Overall, maybe this is him reflecting at this point in his life, in between what he had been and what is coming next. A good listen for those who want to experience Bowie's entire catalogue, but not essential at all for more casual fans. 6/10

Nick Tedds: Bowie's stature as a visionary and one of the most innovative talents of my lifetime is richly deserved. The trouble, as with many similar highly acclaimed artists, is that it is really difficult not to compare later work with that on which the aforementioned reputation was built; the 'classic' seventies albums in Bowie's case. Heathen just feels a little flat to me, a collection of tracks that promise much but never quite get there, sprinkled with a couple of sub-standard covers.

Philip Qvist: Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust and Scary Monsters are my go-to David Bowie albums, although I have listened to plenty of his other albums, not to mention the many obligatory "Best of" compilations. Having said that, I basically stopped taking notice of his work after his rather successful, but a bit patchy, Let's Dance record.

So, all said, Heathen is a first for me. It's not a dud, far from it, but I hardly call it classic Bowie either. The production is very good, courtesy of co-producer Tony Visconti, and the same could be said about the musicianship, which included guest stars Dave Grohl, Kristeen Young and Pete Townshend.

The songs are good, but I don't think his three covers (Cactus, I've Been Waiting For You, and I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship) added much value to Heathen. Slow Burn, Afraid, Sunday and A Better Future were my picks from the album.

When the songs are good, they're great, but Heathen is one of those albums that has "Filler Included" written on the cover. Heathen is a difficult one for me to score because it's not great, but it's not bad either, so I will probably give it a 7.

Final score: 7.08 (49 votes cast, total score 347)

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