This is a great album but you have to accept it on its own terms. Bowie became obsessed with the novel, "1984" and wanted to do a musical about it (that is odd enough, isn't it?). The author's estate refused, so  Bowie went ahead and did the music anyway and released it as this album. It  is one of Bowie's best albums and sounds like a very talented, very  creative 17 year old set loose in a recording studio with some great  musicians and what he thought was an important piece of art destined to be  revered for all the ages. It isn't that, of course-but most very good work  is never completed without some degree of passion and self-delusion. Bowie  had the passion down alright. This is a rocking, moody, scary album-and it  is all great fun at the same time. Join him as he paints his apocalyptic  landscape full of decay and totalitarianism. It is well worth the ride!