David Bowie – Let's Dance (2018 Remaster) CD

David Bowie – Let's Dance (2018 Remaster)

Over 32 years ago, the number one song in the UK singles chart was a songwriting collaboration between David Bowie and a very dapper gentleman that featured a blistering guitar solo from a guy called Stevie Ray.

"Let's Dance" was the title track of Bowie's debut album for EMI Records, an album that was originally supposed to be produced by longtime Bowie collaborator Tony Visconti, but who found that he was replaced on the project a little later than he probably should have been. (When Visconti inquired with Bowie's assistant about the status of the project, he received the bad news that Rodgers and Bowie had already been working together for two weeks, that it was working out, and that his services weren't needed after all. Ouch.)

Still, the end result was certainly the uber-commercial affair EMI had hoped for when they reportedly plunked down $17.5 million for Bowie's services with their label: Let's Dance topped the charts in the UK, Australia and a number of other European countries, and when it reached #4 in the US, it put Bowie in the Top 5 of the Billboard Top 200 chart for the first time since 1976's Station to Station.

As for the single, "Let's Dance" accomplished something no Bowie single had done before and never has again: it topped both the UK and US singles charts.

It also introduced a lot of people to the guitar artistry - or guitar playing, if you like (but we know you don't, and we don't blame you) - of Stevie Ray Vaughn, who had crossed paths with Bowie after the guitarist performed at the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival and - to use Bowie's own words - "completely blew the Thin White Duke away". The result was Vaughn performing the song "Let's Dance", just in case you've always wondered who plays the solo at the end of the song. Now that you know, you should listen to the song again and wonder why you didn't figure it out sooner.

Tracklist:
1. Modern Love
2. China Girl
3. Let's Dance
4. Without You
5. Ricochet
6. Criminal World
7. Cat People (Putting Out Fire)
8. Shake It

Label: Parlophone
Released: 1983/2025