B ★ O ★ W ★ I ★ E  

You know it . . . . . .though somehow the single not the album . . . . .what is THAT all about ? . . . . . too dance, too Nile Rodgers for me, too reminiscent of disco? Not entirely sure . . . . . but the video for 'China Girl' and 'Let's Dance' did it for me. Not least because the album featured favourite guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. Genius!

On this day in music history: April 14, 1983 - “Let’s Dance”, the fifteenth studio album by David Bowie is released. Produced by Nile Rodgers and David Bowie, it is recorded at The Power Station in New York City in December 1982. Newly signed to EMI Records, Bowie collaborates with producer and musician Nile Rodgers (of The Chic Organization). Rodgers assembles a group of top notch musicians that feature his Chic band mates Bernard Edwards (bass), Tony Thompson (drums), Rob Sabino (keyboards) and Sammy Figueroa (percussion) as well as Omar Hakim (drums), Carmine Rojas (bass), Rodgers himself on guitar. During the sessions, Bowie brings a then virtually unknown blues guitarist named Stevie Ray Vaughan into the studio to play lead guitar. The singer had seen Vaughan only a few months before performing in Montreux, Switzerland. Dazzled by his virtuoso blues guitar playing, Bowie invites Stevie Ray to play on “Let’s Dance”. The guitarist makes quick work of his contributions, laying down his lead parts within a few takes. Vaughan’s stand out playing on the album’s hit singles is one of the catalysts in launching him into stardom in 1983. Led by Nile Rodgers’ production expertise, the album is recorded and mixed in only seventeen days. The end result of the sessions is the most commercially successful album of Bowie’s career. It spins off three singles including “China Girl” (#10 Pop), “Modern Love” (#14 Pop), and the chart topping title track. Bowie supports the album with the “Serious Moonlight World Tour” during 1983, his first concert tour in over five years. A full length home video of the show filmed in Vancouver, BC, Canada (on September 12, 1983) is released in 1984, and is nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Long Form in 1985. The album has been reissued on CD three times, in 1995, 1998 and the most reissue issue in 2003 as a hybrid SACD. “Let’s Dance” hits number one on the UK album chart, peaking number four on the Billboard Top 200, and is certified Platinum in the US by the RIAA.


thanks to the most excellent Jeff Harris' blog 'Behind The Grooves