Written by: David Bowie, Brian Eno, Reeves Gabrels, Mike Garson, Erdal Kızılçay, Sterling Campbell
Recorded: May 1994 – February 1995
Producers: David Bowie, Brian Eno, David Richards
Released: 25 September 1995
Available on:
1.Outside
Personnel
David Bowie: keyboards, synthesizer, treatmentsBrian Eno: keyboards, synthesizer, treatments
Reeves Gabrels: guitar
Erdal Kızılçay: bass guitar, keyboards
Mike Garson: piano
Sterling Campbell: drums
The opening track on David Bowie’s 1.Outside, ‘Leon Takes Us Outside’ is a brooding instrumental which serves as a prelude to ‘Outside’.
The piece was part of a longer studio improvisation recorded in Montreux, from which several of the album’s tracks originated. In 2003 parts of the Outside sessions were bootlegged as The Leon Suite, which gives a flavour of how the recordings were originally envisaged.
I was a co-writer on seven songs from this album including this one. As many of you know, this was an improvised project. #TimsTwitterListeningParty
— Mike Garson (@mikegarson) July 5, 2020
The second track on The Leon Suite, titled ‘Suite 2 – Leon Takes Us Outside’, begins with the music which opens the released album. The bootleg also contains Bowie’s vocals, a drawling monologue in the guise of former convict Leon Blank.
Midwinter, Valentine’s Day, 25th June, 16th, Wednesday, July 6th, 20-0-1Midwinter, June 6th, Wednesday, August 18th, 9th, 1999, 12, Michaelmas, August, Wednesday, 13th
October 13th, Martin Luther King Day, afternoon, in view of nothing, 20-0-1
Late winter, Martin Luther King Day, 12, 16
August, Wednesday, 13th, Friday, 7, June.
19 January, midwinter
The Leon Suite
Shorn of its lyrics, the ambient instrumental ‘Leon Takes Us Outside’ served as the album’s atmospheric curtain-raiser. The influence of Brian Eno is clear – the unsettling, otherworldly piece bears a strong resemblance to the beginning of U2’s 1993 track ‘Zooropa’, another Eno production.
Outside, Track 1 – Leon Takes Us Outside
What a wild way to open an album. Only David would do this. There’s nothing commercial here. Seems we're headed 180 degrees from Let’s Dance. It sure does set a mood. Let’s see where it goes from here… #TimsTwitterListeningParty
— Mike Garson (@mikegarson) July 5, 2020
The vinyl edition of the album was titled Excerpts From 1.Outside. In addition to shorter edits of ‘Leon Takes Us Outside’ and ‘The Motel’, the former lasting just 25 seconds, it omitted the songs ‘No Control’, ‘Wishful Beginnings’, ‘Thru’ These Architects Eyes’, and ‘Strangers When We Meet’, as well as the Algeria Touchshriek and second Nathan Adler segues.
Bowie invited Pet Shop Boys to remix ‘Hallo Spaceboy’ for release as the third single from 1.Outside. The PSB version begins with a sample of ‘Leon Takes Us Outside’.
