2019-07-01_Uncut_UK

TIN MACHINE III:THE LOST ALBUM!

T

herehavelongbeenrumours
ofa “lost”TinMachinealbum.
Tentativeplansweremadeto
recorda thirdstudioeffort,butthe
band’ssplitputpaidtothat.Instead,
manyoftheunheardrecordings
(someofwhichhavefetchedupon
bootlegs, with titles like “It’s A hit”,

“exodus”and“It’sTough”)seemto

originatefromthesessionsforTin

MachineandTinMachineII.

“Thereareeightto 10 songs,left

overfromthefirstandsecond

albums,thatwerefinishedbut

notmastered,”revealsreeves

Gabrels. “Plus there’s another

10 livesongsthatweresupposed

tobeincludedonOyVey,Babyand

evenmorestuffif youwanttogo

deeperintothearchives.There’s

a lotofTinMachinestuffthat

neversawthelightofday.”

BothproducerTimPalmerand

bassist Tony Sales confirm that

there’smoreoutthere.“There’s

certainlyenoughforanother

album,”saysSales.“I’vetalkedto

the[Bowie] estateaboutit andI’ve

alsodiscussedit withreevesand

hunt.Davidis in hisbestvoiceon

theserecordings.There’sa lotof

energy and the band is kicking ass!”

IfthefirstTinMachinerecordpresenteda noisy
opportunitytoreboothiscreativityafterthelacklustre
mid-’80srunofalbums,itssuccessorwascreatedunder
differentcircumstances.HoledupinStudios 301 inSydney,
thiswasa bandfarfromhome;asa consequence,thesongs
werelessdestructiveandmoreconsidered.Therewas
sophisticationandharmony,edgedwitha keensenseof
experimentalderring-do.“Whenweweredoingit,no-one
hadevencoinedtheterm‘industrial,’”saysGabrels.“I
remembertryingtotellTimPalmerhowI wantedthe
guitarstosoundliketheywerepressedrightagainstthe
monitors,withnoairbetweenthem,butnothaving the
languagetoexplainwhatI washearing.”
Atitsbest,TinMachineIIis a stepforwardfromits
predecessor.“BabyUniversal”is a classicBowiesong
inanyera;“YouBelongInRock’n’Roll”is stirringart
rockwithjumpingsax.Themelancholyof“Amlapura”
is offsetby“ShoppingforGirls”,a harrowingexposéof
childprostitutioninThailand.Meanwhile,“Goodbye
MrEd”featuresa deceptively casual dissection of
modernAmericanills.
Despitethealbum’sprominentqualities,TinMachine
IIpeakedatNo 23 inBritainonitsreleaseinSeptember
1991,droppingoutofsightwithinweeks.InAmerica,it
stalledoutsidetheBillboard Top 100. It has never been
reissuedsince.
TinMachinedidtheirbesttopromotetherecord.They
touredinearnest,coveringEurope,AmericaandJapan
ontheIt’sMyLifeTour,beginninginOctober,1991.Ondays
off,theyappearedoneverythingfromWogantoTopOfThe
Pops. ButoncethetourfinishedatTokyo’sBudokanHall
onfebruary 17 thefollowingyear,it wascleartheband
hadrunitscourse.A sketchylivealbum,OyVey,Baby,
waslefttostandasa badly served document of Tin
Machine’sdecline.
Atthetime,therewererumoursthatthebreak-upwas
partiallydowntoHuntSales’accelerateddrugabuse.
SpeakingtoUncutin1999,Bowieconfirmedthat
“personalproblemswithinthebandbecamethereason
for its demise. It’s not for me to talk about them, but it

becamephysicallyimpossible for us to carry on. And that was

prettysad,really.”

“Wehadtalkedaboutdoinga thirdrecord,thennextthing

I knewDavidwasfinishedwithus,”saysHuntSales,whois now

clean.“WasI strugglingwithmyproblem?fuck,yeah.ButI never

misseda show,I nevermisseda session.Doesthatmakeit right?No,

it doesn’t.I waswhatyou’dcalla functioning addict. So you could

blameit onme,butthat’sbullshit.”

MuchasBowiehadfoundit easytomoveonfromonebandto

anotherduringthe’60s,herevivedhissolocareerwithinmonthsof

TinMachine’ssplit,returningtoMountainStudiostobeginsessions

forwhatbecameBlackTieWhiteNoise. ButwhiletheSalesbrothers

wentbacktoindividualprojects,GabrelsremainedbyBowie’ssidefor

muchofthe’90s,collaboratingon1.Outside,Earthlingand...hours.

TinMachinehaveoftenbeendismissedassomekindofaberration

inBowie’scareer.A midlifecrisis,perhaps;orhisfinal,andgreatest,

misstepaftera stringofcreativedisasters.Butboththesepositions

miss the point.Whateverthemonetaryspoils,mainstreampopand

megastardomdidn’tsuitBowieduringthe’80s.

Hiscuriosity,thesamespiritthathadguidedhim

throughthe’70s,layinchallenginghimself,in

reinvention,ingallantexploration.Whatbetter

waytodoit thanteamupwitha volatilebandof

outliers,discardyourpastandseewhathappens

next?If anything,TinMachinereturnedBowieto

hisrightfulplace,foraginginthetransitory space

betweenpopandexperimentalart.

“TinMachineeliminatedallfutureexpectation

forDavid,”reckonsGabrels.“WithoutTinMachine

youwouldn’thavehadOutside, justaswithout

OutsideyouwouldneverhavehadBlackstar. David

hada reputationforanticipatingthenextthing and

TinMachinewasa harbingerofthe’90s.”

Palmeragrees:“Ididn’tworkwithPearlJamuntil

twoyearsafterthefirstTinMachinerecord,soit pre-

datedthegrungemovement.It wasaheadofthatcurve

andprobablysuffered,commercially,asa result.”Tony

SalesbelievesTinMachine“gotDavid’sbloodmoving

again.Theyweresomeofthemostcreativeyearsofmy

life.It helpedallofus,butI thinkitreallyhelpedhim.”

“IlookbackontheTinMachineyearswithgreat

fondness,”BowietoldUncut. “Theychargedmeup.

I can’ttellyouhowmuch...Reevesshookmeoutofmy

doldrums,pointedmeatsomekindoflight,said,‘Be

adventurousagain’...I’vebeenfindingmy voice,

anda certainauthority,eversince.”

“Davidsaidit’dtake 25 yearsbeforepeoplecame

aroundtoTinMachine,”saysReevesGabrels.“I

rememberheusedtohavetheLowrejectionletter

fromRCAframedonhiswallathishomein

Switzerland.They’dsentthattohimbeforeit came

out,sohe’dbeenthroughthesamethingbefore.

Nowit seemsasthoughpeoplearefinally

appreciating what Tin Machine was all about.”

JulienTemple'sTinMachine:NineSong

Compilation(Video)– 30thAnniversaryis

beingmadeavailableforthefirst time by

Parlophone on June 28, 2019 SAlly herShBerGer

JULY 2019 • UNCUT• 91

Theybelongin

rock’n’roll:the

reconvenedband

preparetotour

secondandfinalLP

Tin MachineII, 1991

TIN MACHINE