David Bowie R.I.P

width of a circle though.... "So I cried for all the others till the day was nearly through, for I realized that God's a young man too"

all the madmen might be kind of juvenile as a mission statement -- what was bowie the, 21? -- but those synth arpeggios, stately yet urgent, was there much that sounded like it in 1970?

Anyone returned to Never Let Me Down? "Day In Day Out" remains a horror, and the second side is disgusting (anyone who claims Bowie didn't care should note he plays lead guitar on "New York's in Love" and "'87 and Cry"), but "Time Will Crawl" works despite the choice of vocal performance and "Beat of Your Drum" compensates for its wtf chord changes and hellish lines ("I like the smell of your FLESH") with enthusiasm; it's Bowie doing "Glory Days."

not used to you piling on to critically maligned 80s albums by 60s/70s artists -- it and 'tonight' must be *really* bad

Ha. Have you heard Tonight?

a large part of the problem, as I wrote in my obit, is that Bowie can't lean on "craftsman" songwriting; he's no good at it.

"Loving the Alien" is my fave Bowie single from the 80s and one of his greatest vocal performances imo.

I listened to part of Tonight on Spotify about an hour ago. I made it as far as the title track. The version of "God Only Knows" didn't bother me much, 'cause I only like two Beach Boys songs anyway and that's not one of 'em; the reggae versions of Iggy songs were perverse, but interesting.

"Loving the Alien" sounds good in theory but the arrangement and blatant attempt at a Bryan Ferry vocal sink it.

Speaking of, Ferry's been quiet. He was always wary of Bowie, who himself was generous about praising his greatest rival.

Huh, interesting. Didn't Bowie help him with a big break in the Ziggy years?

probably still stunned by jerry hall getting engaged to rupert murdoch

the idea of Bryan Ferry tweeting is like imagining Fred Astair on a jackhammer.

*Astaire

I had three thoughts.

[...]

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, January 13, 2016 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Those are great, Ned, thank you.

actually:

absolute beginners
cat people
underground
as the world falls down
when the wind blows
this is not america

^^^ would've been a great bowie album

Do any of the Bowie comps include all of these?

No As The World Falls Down but:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_of_David_Bowie_1980/1987

the '93 Ryko comp includes "Absolute Beginners" and "Cat People" but that's it.

Tonight's dreadul, I have gone back to it multiple times thinking 'it can't be that bad can it?' only to learn once again, that it is in fact even worse than I remember.

uh wow, from FB

Unreleased pro live footage from the 1978 tour, supposedly televised in the US (but no one seems to have any specifics on that). Though shot in April, the slate shows a date of Nov. 7. (Post-production completion date? Air date?)

Six songs: "What in The World," "Blackout," "Sense of Doubt," "Speed of Life," "Hang On to Yourself," and "Ziggy Stardust."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyO_g_gObyI

oops that's just the last track, here's the rest (but w/Ziggy cut off)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOO0FjHbwh4

i have not read this thread but this has affected more than i ever thought it would. we simply lost an icon.

RIP David Bowie

also, everyone (i mean people who have Cable or DirecTv ect) will get Showtime turned on for free this weekend. anyways, Showtime is playing something called David Bowie Five Years on Friday the 15th. Since it will be on anyways you should try to catch it, i know i am.

Anonymous piano-practising neighbour who this morning out of the blue launched into Space Oddity: thank you. Really stopped me in my tracks.

I assume Five Years is the BBC documentary, I think from 2013 originally. I watched it the night before last and thought it very good. Well worth seeing.

For those in the UK, or access some other way, it's on the iPlayer at the moment for about a month: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0214tj1

Five Years is really very good. Carlos Alomar, Ava Cherry, Nic Roeg, Fripp, Nile, Wakeman - they're all in there, they're all good value.

Indeed. There are some great recollections, especially with instruments in hand.

It does feel like mourning, this.

I listened to Kenny Wheeler/Bill Frisell, Julia Holter, Ulrich Schnauss and Joan As Police Woman on the way to work this morning and it all weirdly sounded like Bowie.

Brandon Curtis just posted this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/13/arts/music/all-the-young-bands-the-artists-david-bowie-championed.html

It's really weird to listen to David Bowie interviewing Benjamin Curtis now neither of them are with us.

i don't think this album has gotten enough attention (apart from the title track.) what a banger width of a circle is

in going thru the discography this week, this has become my 2nd fave, after the Lodger. So heavy, basically sounds like Bowie had heard Sabbath and King Crimson, and decided to do his take on that.

I've found myself wishing over the past several days that there was a Bowie analogue to the Beatles' Anthology. I'd love to see clips from his career in chronological order and watch his evolution.

As I posted elsewhere, Bowie was downright elemental. There is a before, and there is an after. The only other living musical comparison I can think of is Dylan. Like Bowie, just the very idea of Dylan is radical/revolutionary/epochal.

for a long time I thought someone was playing a Pac-Man machine in the background of "What in the World" - doesn't make sense chronologically but I wanted to believe

I'm sure this has been documented or explored elsewhere, but does anyone know what exactly happened to Bowie in the early '80s? Was it just the siren call of MTV pushing him to change his approach? Sobriety? I've never understood how this unstoppable train went off the rails so abruptly.

Old age

Late 30s is old age?

He wasn't even that old!

On that never to be forgotten day of September 1st, 1984, when "Tonight" was released, he'd been a recording artist for 20 years.

I'm sure this has been documented or explored elsewhere, but does anyone know what exactly happened to Bowie in the early '80s? Was it just the siren call of MTV pushing him to change his approach? Sobriety? I've never understood how this unstoppable train went off the rails so abruptly.

― Professor Bworlph (Old Lunch), Thursday, January 14, 2016

He'd experienced a similar pre-MTV success in America in 1975 but sabotaged it in 1977. Age had something to do with it. And dough. He'd been the world's biggest cult artist for years; he needed money. Plus, by all accounts the Let's Dance success genuinely flummoxed him.

Listening to the Berlin era instrumentals make me wish that a much better version of Heavy Metal had been made and that Bowie had done the score.

Five Years is really very good. Carlos Alomar, Ava Cherry, Nic Roeg, Fripp, Nile, Wakeman - they're all in there, they're all good value.
Wow, sounds great.

Bowie's half of the labyrinth OST might be his mid 80s high point. It's so much fucking fun. And half of Thomas Dolby's band on "chilly down"!

It's very good tho you also have to listen to British music journalists Charles Shaar Murray and John Harris as well as Camille Lapglia which is a chore.

CSM is forced to read his own negative NME review of Low on camera though. That's quite funny.

Late 30s is old age?

rock n roll, mate

wow, I had no idea Bowie went back to snorting coke in the mid-80s, though it would certainly explain a lot. That Spin article was mentioned way upthread, does anyone have a link or a scan?

fwiw i kinda liked "Pretty Pink Rose"

after the brilliant live aid performance i have often wondered what a proper album length collaboration with thomas dolby would have ended up like.
think they could have definitely made an interesting album together.

i tried to watch some of this the other day. didn't get far. fun to skip around through though. just so much 80's....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9fQTQ6z324

so much guitar wank.

Nina, calling out for David like the rest of us:

https://www.facebook.com/a2theRon/videos/10209026686089968/