“Loving the Alien” was the opening track of his 1984 album Tonight. One of two tracks on the album written solely by Bowie, an edited version of the song was released as a single in May 1985, nine months after the release of lead single “Blue Jean” and eight months after the release of the album. “Loving the Alien” reached No. 19 in the UK Singles Chart. The song explored Bowie’s “intense dislike” of organised religion. “Loving the Alien” inspired the title of Christopher Sandford’s 1997 biography of Bowie.
Background
As a demo track, the song was simply called “1”. Bowie said “‘Alien’ came about because of my feeling that so much history is wrong – as is being rediscovered all the time – and that we base so much on the wrong knowledge that we’ve gleaned.” He recorded the demo in Montreux, Switzerland. He would later comment that the production on the song undid the power of the lyric, saying he preferred the demo version. The music video was co-directed by Bowie with frequent collaborator David Mallet.
Reception
Bowie’s biographer David Buckley called it “the only track on the album with the gravitas of much of his earlier work”. Journalist Dylan Jones described it as “definitely the best song from the Tonight album”. Yo Zushi of the New Statesman described the song as a “seven-minute masterpiece”. While critical of much of Bowie’s 1980s output in his appraisal of Best of Bowie in 2002, BBC reviewer Chris Jones stated: “Loving The Alien does have a strange distant beauty to it. Like watching a ballet through a telescope.”
Track listing
7″: EMI America / EA 195 / EAP 195 (UK)
“Loving the Alien” (Re-mixed version) (Bowie) – 4:43
“Don’t Look Down” (Re-mixed version) (Pop, Williamson) – 4:04
The 7″ was released in a gatefold sleeve that contained still images from the video on the inside and back covers.
The 7″ shaped picture disc (EAP 195) contained the same tracks (a very small number of these were pressed on translucent amber vinyl).
12″: EMI America SEAV-7860 / 12EA 195 / 12EAP 195 (UK)
“Loving the Alien” (Extended Dance Mix) (Bowie) – 7:27
“Don’t Look Down” (Extended Dance Mix) (Pop, Williamson) – 4:50
“Loving the Alien” (Extended Dub Mix) (Bowie) – 7:14
–The 12″ single was released in a gatefold sleeve that covered in images from the video. The lyrics to “Loving the Alien” were also printed on the inner sleeve. A “limited” version of the 12″ single also included a fold-out poster.
–Also available as a picture disc.
–Re-mixed by Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero.
–The Extended Dance Mix of Loving The Alien is very similar to the album version, the differences include a remixing of the marimba, an added drum break and an extra instrumental passage between the first chorus and second verse.
–The Extended Dub Mix is a stripped-down version of the track with full vocals.
Download: EMI / iEA 195 (UK)
“Loving the Alien” (Re-mixed version) (Bowie) – 4:43
“Don’t Look Down” (Re-mixed version) (Pop, Williamson) – 4:04
“Loving the Alien” (Extended Dance Mix) (Bowie) – 7:27
“Loving the Alien” (Extended Dub Mix) (Bowie) – 7:14
“Don’t Look Down” (Extended Dance Mix) (Pop, Williamson) – 4:50
Live performances
Bowie performed the song on his 1987 Glass Spider Tour. On the Reality Tour in 2003 and 2004, he again performed this song, but this time a stripped down version with only Bowie on vocals and Gerry Leonard on guitar; in the film of the tour, Bowie remarked that this arrangement was perhaps “the way it should have always been done.”
Other releases
It appears on several Bowie compilation albums, including Bowie: The Singles 1969-1993 (1993), Changestwobowie (1998 reissue), some versions of Best of Bowie (2002), Sound + Vision (2003 and 2014 reissues), The Best of David Bowie 1980/1987 (2007), ISELECT (2008), and Nothing Has Changed (3-CD version) (2014). The original uncensored video for “Loving the Alien” also appears on the “Day-In Day-Out Video EP” released in 1987.
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