Low is the first in the "Berlin Triology", three albums that Bowie made with Brian Eno (in Berlin...) during a period of attempting to get clean from drugs. The result was three albums that stand out among Bowie's mostly illustrious career. Low is an unusual mix of electronica, rock and ambient vocals, combined with some of the most perfect song writing possible. "Sound And Vision" is definitely the most well known of all the tracks on the album, quite possibly since it's the most palatable, but personally I think that the real gold lies in tracks such as "A New Career In A New Town", and "Art Decade". The album can be (and was, in the day of records) split in to two parts, with the first half containing songs with a more obvious structure and the second half containing more lengthy, generally instrumental tracks. This album proved that Bowie knew how to do "avant-garde", and how to do it well.

I first came across Eno through David Bowie, after I'd worked out that three of my favourite Bowie albums (the Berlin trilogy, Low, Heroes and Lodger) were all written with the man in question. A huge amount in music is owed to this man, who is generally quietly respected by everyone who knows him. The greatest of his legends is arguably "My Life", which still needs a genre title that hasn't yet been invented. Him and David Byrne put their heads together and produced something so unusual and influential that it's still a challenge today. To be perfectly honest, it took me about five or six listens to get a glimpse of why it was so good, which is more than usual. Now it's one of my most prized albums, and gives me a similar feeling to that of returning home. This is essential music.