Low

Throughout his career, David Bowie always had one eye on stardom and the other on his music. His art, however, was a careful balance of the two; his popularity rarely wavered throughout the vast swings of his musical offerings. In the 60s, he ventured from R&B artist to singer-songwriter, culminating with Rick Wakeman's Mellotron on the classic "Space Oddity." In 1970, he released an incredibly progressive album of hard rock, The Man Who Sold The World, before launching into glam rock and the Spiders from Mars. In the mid-70s, Bowie turned to both a writing collaboration with Brian Eno and, more surprisingly, the krautrock of Germany for inspiration. In 1976, Bowie and Eno headed to Europe with longtime producer Tony Visconti and a backing band to record two albums, both released in 1977. First up in January was Low, recorded in France and mixed in Berlin. Bowie provided the songs on the first side, but it was mostly Eno and his studio alchemy for their veneer. While there's modern, electronic Euro-ness afoot, it's still unmistakably tuneful; there's no denying the "Sound and Vision" the pair generate. The second side takes an abrupt left turn towards the ambient: Song-less and drum-less, the side shows Bowie and Eno following their artistic muse, painting the musical canvas with sound. The melody of "Warszawa" has a passing familiarity, one that's entirely romantic; while "Art Decade" travels over the gentle pulse of the Chamberlain, an early sampler. The eerie "Weeping Wall" is 100 percent Bowie, and the cinematic "Subterraneans" could go on forever-Bowie also provides sax on the track. Turns out, the formula was a success, as the album reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 11 in the US. Recorded at Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin, the grittier Heroes followed in October, with Robert Fripp's thick-toned guitar the unmissable addition. It reached No. 3 in the UK, yet dipped to No. 35 in the US. Bowie and Eno would reunite for a final collaboration in their so-called Berlin trilogy, the more conventional Lodger, in 1979. After one final dalliance with art rock on Scary Monsters in 1980, Bowie would sanitize his act and move into commercial territory for the remainder of the 80s.