Name your favourite David Bowie album… Go on… Is it “Heroes”- “Ziggy Stardust”- “Scary Monsters”- “Lodger”- Sigh. No one ever says Lodger… Possibly because it is a knotty, difficult album – thematically split between travel and wide vistas with particular attention paid to Bowie and Tony Visconti's adaption of Brian Eno's “Oblique Strategies” (side 1) and minute critiques of everyday mundanities and tragedies on side 2. There's nothing resembling a hit single on it (although the Talking heads parody, “DJ” is all arch and mordant wit) and parts of it, especially side 2 are very sobering indeed.

That said, what it lacks in up front punch it makes up for in spades in the way it compels you to re-listen to it and break it down, both in terms of it's intricate musical structures and the sense that Bowie is clearing ideological house for the next move forward – and in hindsight you can see how “Lodger” does segue into the succeeding “Scary Monsters”.

The ultimate tribute to “Lodger” is that 15 years after it came out, it was one of the key touchstones for the Britpop movement, especially for Blur and to a large extent Pulp and Suede.

Is it my favourite Bowie album- No – I'm a “Station to Station” forever guy. Will it be your favourite- Who knows, but it isn't likely. But if you buy it now and you are in any way serious about these kind of things, by 2024 it should be your most listened to Bowie album. That's both its charm and its utility