‘Bertolt Brecht’s Baal’ by David Bowie

As Bowie journeyed through the 80s, releasing albums that were getting increasingly rubbish, he also undertook a variety of side projects that were, on the whole, far more interesting than his proper work. It was also the period in which he stretched his wings as an actor, with mixed success. One of the roles he played during this period was the part of Baal in a TV adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s play. As part of this, he recorded five songs for the soundtrack which were released as an EP at the time, and re-released a couple of years ago as a download.

Bowie’s voice lends itself well to ‘Baal’s Hymn’, the track which outlines his character’s journey. The middle three songs – ‘Remembering Marie A’, ‘Ballad of the Adventurers’ and ‘The Drowned Girl’ are all suitably atmospheric. ‘The Dirty Song’, which closes the album, is short, throwaway, and slightly unpleasant, but it’s all in character, so it’s hard to criticise.

At five tracks long, and none of them written by him, it could never be more than an interesting curio in his career, but judged on those terms, the EP is fairly successful.