

Despite being released at the height of Britain's punk explosion, Low feels like the first post-punk album. Bowie, Brian Eno, and producer Tony Visconti gave the album an alien sound through off-kilter mixing and the liberal use of synthesizers and effects. Split between a side of quirky, tightly wound rock songs ("Always Crashing in the Same Car," the unorthodox but catchy "Sound and Vision") and a suite of mostly instrumental meditations—"Warszawa" is hauntingly cinematic; “Subterraneans” is warmly moody, with free jazz-inspired flourishes—Low is Bowie at his most fearlessly experimental.