rise in fame and success from Let's Dance and the Serious Moonlight Tour in 1983 made him feel disconnected from his newfound fanbase. After the poor reception of 1984's Tonight, he worked on a series of miscellaneous projects that included collaborations with the Pat Metheny Group for "This Is Not America" (from the soundtrack to the film The Falcon and the Snowman) and Mick Jagger for "Dancing in the Street". He also continued acting and composing for film soundtracks such as Absolute Beginners (1985) and Labyrinth (1986). Wanting another record, EMI compiled a compilation of 12" mixes from Let's Dance and Tonight following Bowie's successful performance at Live Aid in 1985. Titled Dance, it reached the artwork stage before being shelved. In mid-1986, Bowie produced and co-wrote multiple tracks with his old friend Iggy Pop for his solo album Blah-Blah-Blah, and recorded the title song of the 1986 film When the Wind Blows with Turkish musician Erdal Kızılçay, before commencing work on his next studio record. Writing and recording Bowie spent mid-1986 in his home in Switzerland writing songs with Iggy Pop. He bought a Fostex 16-track and AHB mixing console to record elaborate home demos, which he recorded with Kızılçay before regrouping with a full band. Having worked together sporadically since 1982, Bowie greatly appreciated Kızılçay's musicianship, proclaiming, "He can switch from violin to trumpet to French horn, vibes, percussion, whatever... His knowledge of rock music begins and ends with the Beatles! His background is really jazz." During the sessions, Kızılçay played keyboards and synthesisers and, according to biographer Chris O'Leary, "provided any sound" Bowie requested. Unlike the sessions for Tonight, Bowie encouraged collaboration for the new album's sessions, mainly wanting "better" versions of his home demos. Never Let Me Down was recorded between September and November 1986, beginning at Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland, and completing at the Power Station in New York City. It was co-produced by Bowie and David Richards; both had co-produced Blah-Blah-Blah and the latter previously engineered "Heroes" (1977). Let's Dance engineer Bob Clearmountain returned for Never Let Me Down. According to Bowie, he was responsible for the album's "great, forceful sound". Returning from the Tonight sessions was regular collaborator Carlos Alomar on guitar, Carmine Rojas on bass and a group of saxophonists known as the Borneo Horns. With Kızılçay, they were joined on lead guitar by Bowie's former classmate Peter Frampton, whom Bowie