Never Let Me Down - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Describing the album, critic Ira Robbins wrote "although this casual loud-rock outing... seems on first blush to be slapdash and slight, the first side is actually quite good, offering provocative pop-culture lyrics delivered with first-take enthusiasm and carefree backing." In 1987, Spin Magazine called the album "an inspired and brilliantly crafted work. It's charged with a positive spirit that makes art soul food; imbued with the contagious energy that gives ideas a leg to dance on", but by 1989 they had changed their mind and called the album "disappointing". Rolling Stone Magazine called the work an "odd, freewheeling pastiche of elements from all the previous Bowies," "unfocused," and possibly "the noisiest, sloppiest Bowie album ever. ... Being noisy and sloppy isn't necessarily a bad thing, but sad to say, Never Let Me Down is also something of a mess." Another critic held a general optimism for the potential of the songs on the album, complaining only that the "oppressive production smashed them."