The Buddha of Suburbia (soundtrack)

The Buddha of Suburbia is a 1993 soundtrack album by English singer-songwriter David Bowie inspired by the four-part television serial of the same name originally shown on BBC2 (itself adapted from the novel of the same name by Hanif Kureishi). Although classified as a 'soundtrack album', the title track is the only song that featured in the programme's actual soundtrack.
Released between "Black Tie White Noise" (1993) and "Outside" (1995), the album was produced and mixed at Mountain Studios (Montreux) in Switzerland and, according to Bowie, it took only six days to write and record, but fifteen days to mix because of some "technical breakdowns".
Background.
During Bowie's brief press tour for "Black Tie White Noise" in early 1993, he spoke with Hanif Kureishi, who suggested Bowie could write a soundtrack for his upcoming miniseries "The Buddha of Suburbia" on the BBC. The music Bowie made were short "motifs – combinations of guitar, synthesizer, trumpet, percussion, [and] sitar." After deciding the music wasn't right for the show, Bowie revisited the new material with Erdal Kizilcay, reshaping the songs by distorting, re-recording, and adding vocal melodies to the songs. Only the title track remained unaltered from the original soundtrack. The album was classified and released as a soundtrack in November 1993.
Later in the 1990s, Bowie considered re-recording "Dead Against It", one of the tracks from this album, during both his 1995 "Outside" and 1997 "Earthling" studio sessions, but he never followed through.
Deletion.
Despite Bowie once hailing it as his favourite album, both the 1993 European and 1995 American releases were deleted for many years. Or, as Bowie put it, "The album itself only got one review, a good one as it happens, and is virtually non-existent as far as my catalogue goes – it was designated a soundtrack and got zilch in the way of marketing money. A real shame."
The album was re-issued on 17 September 2007, in the UK and on 2 October 2007 in the US.
Inspirations.
On the European version of the album Bowie provides comprehensive liner notes on the themes and production techniques involved, and reveals a list of 'residue from the 1970s' as his inspiration for the songs. The list includes the following references:
Free association lyrics, Pink Floyd, Harry Partch, Costume, Blues Clubs, Unter den Linden, Brucke Museum, "Pet Sounds", Friends of the Krays, Roxy Music, T-Rex, The Casserole, Neu!, Kraftwerk, Bromley, Croydon, Eno, Prostitutes & Soho, Ronnie Scott's Club, Travels through Russia, Loneliness, O'Jays, Philip Glass in New York clubs, Die Mauer, Drugs.
Track listing.
All songs written by David Bowie.