reevaluate where he was at in his career. The tour took a toll on him and he found it hard to maintain the stadium rockstar lifestyle. Due to the poor critical reception of the album and tour, he decided to rejuvenate himself creatively and artistically, forming the rock band Tin Machine with guitarist Reeves Gabrels, whom he met through the tour, creating a partnership that lasted the rest of the 1990s. Bowie also effectively cut ties with Alomar, a collaborator since 1975's Young Americans, although the guitarist later played on the 1995 Outside Tour and on a few tracks for Outside (1995), Heathen (2002) and Reality (2003). Although he was initially proud of the finished product, Bowie's views on Never Let Me Down soured as the years passed. By 1993, he remarked that he played the role of a session musician in the studio and allowed others to take control of the production and arrangements rather than being more involved himself, resulting in a final product he felt was "a bitter disappointment". When his personal website BowieNet launched in 1998, Never Let Me Down was the artist's only studio album excluded from his official career biography on the site. Three years prior, he acknowledged Never Let Me Down as his "nadir": Legacy In later decades, Never Let Me Down is generally considered one of Bowie's weakest releases. Several made unfavourable comparisons to Tonight. Critic Charles Shaar Murray told journalist Dylan Jones in the 2010s that he thought Never Let Me Down was "just awful" compared to Tonight, a record "of classy filler with no center". In The Rolling Stone Album Guide, Rob Sheffield wrote: "Tonight was an expensive quickie padded with lame covers, while Never Let Me Down made things even worse with originals." AllMusic senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine called Never Let Me Down "far more interesting" yet "not as consistent" as Tonight. Reviewing the album's 2018 remaster, O'Leary summarised: "For all of its flaws, Never Let Me Down has a unity – the album has a somewhat charming period – piece feel to it now. It's one of the most time-stamped '1987' records ever made." Looking back in 2019, Ultimate Classic Rocks Patrick Moran considered Never Let Me Down to be "far from being the nadir" of the albums released between Let's Dance and Outside, although it still remains one of his worst. Calling it "an undigested mix