Upon release, it divided critical opinion and received little promotion from RCA or Bowie, who opted to tour as Pop's keyboardist. RCA refused to issue Low for three months, fearing it would be a commercial failure. The cover artwork, a profile of Bowie from the film The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), was intended as a visual pun, meaning 'low profile'. Visconti created the distinctive drum sound using an Eventide H910 Harmonizer, a pitch-shifting device. Side one consists primarily of short, direct avant-pop song-fragments, with mostly downbeat lyrics reflecting Bowie's state of mind, and side two comprises longer, mostly instrumental tracks, conveying musical observations of Berlin. Grounded in art rock and experimental rock and influenced by German bands such as Tangerine Dream, Neu!, Harmonia and Kraftwerk, Low features Bowie's first explorations in electronic and ambient styles. Sessions began at Hérouville's Château d'Hérouville in September 1976 and ended in October at Hansa Studios in West Berlin, where Bowie and Pop had relocated. After completing The Idiot, Bowie began recording the first of three collaborations that became known as the Berlin Trilogy with American producer Tony Visconti and English musician Brian Eno. There, Bowie produced and co-wrote Pop's debut studio album, The Idiot, featuring sounds Bowie would explore on his next record. After years of drug addiction when living in Los Angeles, Bowie moved to France in 1976 with his friend Iggy Pop to sober up. Low is the 11th studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 14 January 1977 through RCA Records. Released: November 1978 (Australia and New Zealand only)

' Sound and Vision' / 'A New Career in a New Town'.

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