As most reviewers have mentioned, this album gets a bad rap, with many even pointing to it as Bowie's worst. I don't know exactly why it gets such a bad rap, but I'll take a shot: Bowie didn't release quite as much great work in the 80s as he did in the 70s, and what he did put out was all in a completely different sound. Never Let Me Down was, I believe, his 4th album from the 80s. It wasn't glam-rock, and it wasn't paticularly experimental. It was more popish. By the time "Never Let Me Down" came out I guess fans of the older Bowie just gave up hope. "Tonight" was a let down, and this wasn't moving him back in the direction of his glory years. Hence, this album is disliked by many fans. As modern Bowie fans though, looking back, we have the priveledge of taking in all his work at one time. And from this perspective, there's truly nothing wrong with "Never Let Me Down". If you don't like 80s rock, you may not like this, and that's perfectly fine. However, as a person who grew up as a child listening to 80s music and who loves theatrical rock music, Bowie does it as well or better than anyone. Heck, I'd say that "Day-In Day-Out", "Time Will Crawl", "Beat Of Your Drum", and "87 And Cry" are downright brilliant! Bowie has so many interesting instrumentations going on. You have guitars, horns, synths and some really energetic vocals. Bowie's voice sounds incredible on this album! There's a reason Bowie has lasted and is going strong well into today, and it's because his music evolved. This was a step on the evolution. Don't listen to the naysayers, give the album a chance and I'm sure you'll be surprised about the bad press. As a side note, keep in mind that the beloved cult-classic "Labyrinth" came out around the same time as this album, and the song-writing isn't all that different from Labyrinth on "Never Let Me Down".