âAdam Steiners Silhouettes and Shadows is the mind-bendingly fascinating story of an album and its maker at the peak of his career.ââ"Arsalan Mohammad, host of the David Bowie: Albumtoalbum podcast
"An insightful, expansive, and informed searchlight into the inner workings of one of the most essential recordings of Bowies oeuvre. Beautifully conceived and written with penetrating insight."â"Chuck Hammer, guitarist
âSteiners rich text brilliantly recreates the claustrophobic paranoia and relentless self-analysis of an album that seems more unsettling every time you hear it.ââ"Peter Doggett, author of The Man Who Sold The World
âScary Monsters is one of David Bowies most fascinating recordsâ"a decade-closing album full of anger, confusion, innovation, retrenchment, theft, and sheer brilliance thats unique in his catalog. Adam Steiner digs into every aspect of it, from its songs to its art to its videos. He skillfully traces its many tributaries and listens to how it echoes throughout Bowies later works. Anyone whos been entranced by Scary Monsters over the years will find much of interest here.ââ"Chris OâLeary, author of Ashes To Ashes and Rebel Rebel
âThe 1980 album Scary Monsters is, arguably, David Bowies masterpiece. It sums up everything Bowie had accomplished in the 1970s, but its sounds and its obsessions also foreshadow much of what Bowie would do in the decades to come. There are good reasons that every great Bowie release till his death in 2016 was called by some reviewers âhis best album since Scary Monsters.â In Silhouettes and Shadows, Adam Steiner provides a kaleidoscopic view of Bowieâs masterpiece. Reading Silhouettes and Shadows is like living with the album in real-time. In some chapters we are next to Bowie as he is creating the album; sometimes we are next to the photographers and artists putting together its dazzling cover; sometimes we are with the videographer shooting the groundbreaking video for "Ashes to Ashes;" sometimes we are with Steiner himself as a responsive, insightful listener to the music and lyrics of each song, and to Bowie as an artist. Its a pleasure to relive Scary Monsters in Steiners hands!ââ"Glenn Hendler, author David Bowieâs Diamond Dogs (33 â")
"Steiner gathers together much significant researchâ"covering areas of Bowieâs recording career that have been previously overlooked."â"George Underwood, artist
âBoth foreshadowed destination and a point of departure, Scary Monsters is a significant staging post in Bowieâs career. Adam Steinerâs erudite book communicates the thrill of an artist meeting the times, and his past, head on.ââ"Graeme Thomson, author of Themes for Great Cities: A New History of Simple Minds
âAdam Steinerâs analysis of one of Bowieâs most charismatic yet strangely elusive albums is as compelling as it is rich in detail. It sent me straight back to the record, as the best writing on music always does. This is a fresh and vital addition to the lengthening bibliography on David Bowieâs extraordinary career.ââ"Michael Bracewell, author of Souvenir
âWritten with a poetâs love for the jumble of words, the criticâs fierce interrogating eye, and the fanâs love of music, Silhouettes and Shadows is an essential read for anyone who takes Bowie seriously. Steiner brings out this unique stage in Bowieâs life and art in full colour and with a rich and intriguing weave of testimony old and new and fresh insights on Bowie and his incredible music.ââ"David Buckley, author of David Bowie: Strange Fascination
"Written with a poets love for the jumble of words, the critics fierce interrogating eye, and the fans love of music, Silhouettes and Shadows is an essential read for anyone who takes Bowie seriously. Steiner brings out this unique stage in Bowies life and art in full colour and with a rich and intriguing weave of testimony old and new and fresh insights on Bowie and his incredible music."â"David Buckley, author of David Bowie: Strange Fascination
âAdam Steiner has written an in-depth discussion of David Bowieâs âlast great albumâ ⦠Itâs a convincing argument and backed up with an in-depth analysis of the social, cultural and political landscape of the time ⦠Steiner seems to have read everything anyoneâs written about Bowieâs work, and heâs also done his own interviews too.ââ"Louder than War
