"Sound and Vision" is a song by the English musician David Bowie. It was released in January 1977 by RCA Records on side one of his 11th studio album Low. RCA later chose it as the first single from the album. Co-produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, the song was recorded at the Château d'Hérouville in Hérouville, France, in September 1976, and completed at Hansa Studios in West Berlin in October and November. The song began as a simple G major chord progression that Bowie gave to the backing musicians, writing and recording his vocals afterward. It features backing vocals from Brian Eno and Visconti's then-wife Mary Hopkin.
Regarded by biographers as the closest to a "conventional pop song" on Low, "Sound and Vision" is oddly structured. Beginning as an instrumental, elements are added throughout the song's runtime; Bowie's vocals do not appear for over a minute and a half. The song's lyrics are dark and introspective, reflecting Bowie's mental state after years of drug addiction, and provide a stark contrast to the music itself, which is more joyous and upbeat. Like other Low tracks, the song's drum sound was achieved through the use of Visconti's Eventide H910 Harmonizer.
Released as a single on 11 February 1977, "Sound and Vision" was a commercial success, making number three on the UK Singles Chart, aided by its appearance in BBC television commercials. It peaked at number 69 on the Billboard Hot 100, signalling Bowie's commercial downturn in the US until 1983. Music critics and biographers consider "Sound and Vision" one of Bowie's greatest songs. He performed it only once on his 1978 Isolar II world tour, but frequently on later tours. Remixes of the song have been created in subsequent decades and it has appeared on several compilation albums.
Writing and recording
Like its parent album Low, "Sound and Vision" was co-produced by David Bowie and Tony Visconti, with contributions from multi-instrumentalist Brian Eno. The backing tracks were recorded at the Château d'Hérouville in Hérouville, France, in September 1976, and Bowie's vocals and other overdubs were recorded at Hansa Studios in West Berlin in October and November. It was the first song Bowie wrote at the Château with Eno in mind. The recording process for the song, and the rest of the album, differed from Bowie's previous work. The backing tracks were recorded first, followed by overdubs, and the lyrics and vocals were written and recorded last. Used during the recording of Iggy Pop's The Idiot earlier that year, Bowie heavily favoured this "three-phase" process, which he would use for the rest of his career.
According to biographer Chris O'Leary, the song began as a simple descending-by-fifths G major progression that Bowie gave to the band, suggesting further melodies, a baseline and drum ideas. Drummer Dennis Davis thought it sounded "like a Crusaders tune", while bassist George Murray found it reminiscent of Bo Diddley. As with most of the tracks on the album, the band went with the basic idea and finished the backing track in a few takes. The song was largely completed without Eno, who arrived late in the sessions after all the backing tracks for side one were almost finished. The drums on "Sound and Vision" were treated through the use of an Eventide H910 Harmonizer, used at Visconti's insistence. The sound, described by biographer David Buckley as "revolutionary" and "stunning", is particularly evident on the album tracks "Speed of Life" and "Breaking Glass", as well as "Sound and Vision".
Visconti's wife, singer Mary Hopkin, contributed the song's backing vocals; she was credited as Mary Visconti. Hopkin was visiting the Château with her children when Eno asked her to sing. She recorded her vocals before any lyrics or melody were written, recalling in 2011:
Composition
Like the majority of the tracks on the first side of Low, "Sound and Vision" is classified as a "song fragment". Structurally, it starts as an instrumental, running for 46 seconds before backing vocals croon two descending notes. At 1:14, Eno and Hopkin sing their vocal line, which echoes the main guitar line, followed by a darker saxophone part played by Bowie. Bowie's vocals take a full one minute and 45 seconds to appear, which was done at Eno's insistence to "confound listener expectations". Different elements build throughout the song's runtime: the beginning only contains the rhythm section, which is followed by a mock-string section created using an ARP Solina synthesiser, then backing vocals, brass and finally Bowie's vocal.