It's thirty years(!) since the release of the first Tin Machine album, that matey, blokey, I'm-just-one-of-the-lads brief rock band incarnation that David Bowie took on to try and scour the eighties off his reputation. If there's one question to split Bowie fans right down the middle, it's the Tin Machine conundrum. I still think the first album is pretty good and I can remember listening to my new cassette in 1989 and thinking "this is more like it!"

If you've ever sat through Never Let Me Down or caught The Glass Spider Tour then you know what I'm on about. Bowie obviously thought so too, throwing his lot in with old mates the Sales brothers (he wrote 'Fall In Love With Me' with the pair for Iggy Pop's Lust For Life) and guitar torturer Reeves Gabrels, who Bowie first worked with alongside avant-garde "dance" troupe La La La Human Steps. The resultant self-titled album channels Hendrix, The Pistols, Pixies, you name it, and it's a lot better than its reputation suggests. They made a second one with a memorably daft cover of Roxy Music's 'If There Is Something', it has its moments, but it just isn't quite as good.

Anyway, it got Bowie back on track when he needed it. To celebrate the anniversary Parlophone have released this video, which was shot by esteemed rock n' roll director Julien Temple back in the day to push the album. It consists of a medley of nine songs, shot in New York. It might even send you back to the record.

https://open.spotify.com/album/0juQn8RD24F8sPnSWMZdls?si=3Du8XQ6mT-y8gxv1CU_TKw