S5 Ep10: Leah Kardos on Tin Machine 2 (Part Two)

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. 

Made largely in Australia, in between Bowie's Sound + Vision tour and filming commitments for The Linguini Incident, Tin Machine 2 was released to a muted critical reception and an even more muted commercial reaction, despite a Herculean effort by the lads to promote the record around the world. But clearly, for whatever reason, the spark didn't burst into flame. Maybe it was the label's lack of promotion as Bowie would later angrily claim ("They did dick to promote it") or perhaps the timing wasn't right, or maybe it was just the weather or something like that. But Nile Rogers was waiting in the wings, Black Tie White Noise was about to get underway, a loved-up Bowie was ready to walk Iman down the aisle and the laddish hi-jinks and rumoured intrapersonal issues within the unit were just too much to deal with.

Yet, despite being passed off as yet another misfire in a period where poor old Bowie couldn’t seem to catch a commercial or critical break, we feel there’s some inspired songwriting and brilliant performances on this album. Listen to Amlapura, Goodbye Mr Ed, hell even A Big Hurt - and tell us we're (Betty) wrong. Inventive, boundary-pushing musicianship, flashes of sheer brilliance from the band, moments of sublime songwriting - under different circumstances they would be standout moments in the Bowie canon. Unfortunately, given the times, they were forgotten. Until now.

If you want a fat tasty vinyl edition of Tin Machine 2, check out

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tin-Machine-II/dp/B087L8DB9L

https://www.juno.co.uk/products/david-bowie-tin-machine-tin-machine-ii-vinyl/867550-01/

https://uk.rarevinyl.com/collections/tin-machine/products/tin-machine-tin-machine-ii-silver-vinyl-uk-vinyl-lp-album-record-movlp2715-834103

etc 

Thanks to Leah Kardos for the intro/outro music