i liked new sensations when it came out but i would never play it now.
― scott seward, Thursday, 21 January 2016 15:08 (eight years ago) link
I think Berlin is a sodden self-parody but so am I.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 21 January 2016 15:08 (eight years ago) link
(only albums i need to own forever: lou reed, berlin, sally can't dance, the bells, the blue mask, rock n roll animal, lou reed live. the rest is for demented superfans who have to justify everything like sonic youth fans.)
― scott seward, Thursday, 21 January 2016 15:11 (eight years ago) link
how do you distinguish the wheat from the chaff on MMM?
I'd wager that most people feel the entire album is either one or the other.
― Meat Sheet (Old Lunch), Thursday, 21 January 2016 15:11 (eight years ago) link
Ecstasy is a wonderful record.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 21 January 2016 15:12 (eight years ago) link
maybe the first time he hired a real producer who didn't fuck shit up, and the songs are terrific.
are we taking it for granted that transformer (famously prod. bowie/ronson) is the best one and that's why no one has mentioned it yet AT ALL?
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 21 January 2016 15:13 (eight years ago) link
I mentioned it. It has more than a couple tracks I don't care for.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 21 January 2016 15:14 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, Transformer is pretty patchy, and the great tracks on it are so over-played and over-familiar that I can't really listen to it anymore (both times I saw Lou live - on the New York and Magic & Loss(!) tours - he wearily encored w/ 'Walk on the Wild Side' and even the audience didn't seem that bothered that he'd played it. )
But it would take a demented superfan to suggest that Transformer is inferior to New Sensations :-)
― Chicamaw (Ward Fowler), Thursday, 21 January 2016 15:23 (eight years ago) link
i like the 70's live versions of the best songs on transformer more than the studio versions. satellite, vicious, etc.
― scott seward, Thursday, 21 January 2016 15:25 (eight years ago) link
R&R animal and lou reed live are seriously two of my favorite records of the 70's and i am not a live album superfan. live albums that are essential to me a pretty small list.
― scott seward, Thursday, 21 January 2016 15:27 (eight years ago) link
(i am a demented dick wagner and steve hunter superfan though...)
i also like coney island baby more than any 80's record other than the blue mask. but i don't feel the need to own coney island baby anymore...
― scott seward, Thursday, 21 January 2016 15:28 (eight years ago) link
Transformer still feels pretty classic to me, that Ronson guitar sound, excellent tunes, great Lou vocals. i like the wagner/hunter attack, but my main complaint about R&R Animal is probably Lou's performances. anyway, probably should be on a Lou thread...
― tylerw, Thursday, 21 January 2016 15:30 (eight years ago) link
Yes, let's talk about this from that Dwight Yoakam piece upthread, wau:
six months before Elvis’ death in 1977, the King had called him out of the blue to discuss Bowie possibly producing his next album.
― Retro novelty punk (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 21 January 2016 15:31 (eight years ago) link
― scott seward, Thursday, January 21, 2016 9:11 AM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Transformer, the only album known by non-superfans, is only for demented superfans???
― Amira, Queen of Creativity (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 21 January 2016 15:32 (eight years ago) link
hahaha! don't listen to me about anything! yeah yeah transformer. haven't played it in decades. probably pretty good though.
― scott seward, Thursday, 21 January 2016 15:34 (eight years ago) link
Meantime
http://pitchfork.com/news/63059-hear-david-bowie-impersonate-bruce-springsteen-neil-young-iggy-pop-lou-reed-tom-waits-in-newly-unearthed-recording/
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 21 January 2016 15:45 (eight years ago) link
Oh yeah. I've said so many times
Indeed you have!
― The Return of the Thin White Pope (Tom D.), Thursday, 21 January 2016 15:46 (eight years ago) link
bowie producing elvis in 1977 is a ridiculous thought...
― tylerw, Thursday, 21 January 2016 15:59 (eight years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, January 21, 2016 10:45 AM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
This is the most hilarious thing I've heard in a very long time.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 21 January 2016 16:03 (eight years ago) link
The second one is not Marc Bolan?
― Starman Jones said it's 2 legit 2 quit (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 21 January 2016 16:06 (eight years ago) link
yeah sounds more like him than Neil Young imo
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 21 January 2016 16:08 (eight years ago) link
transformer is amazing, all the way through.
i'm a terrible bowie fan because although i think of myself as a huge fan, i really just obsessively listen to everything up through let's dance and then skip forward to the next day and http://i.imgur.com/DCfpQ4X.gif. it's interesting to read all the accounts of attempts to give another fair shot to tonight and never let me down and tin machine, and the varying opinions about the 90s stuff. i just can't see myself diving into that stuff for a very long time. i've listened to station to station roughly 3 billion times and it's still deeply satisfying, every single time, and life is too short to be listening to the likes of Tonight. i suppose i'd be interested in a playlist of only post-Let's Dance songs, though.
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 21 January 2016 16:09 (eight years ago) link
My range of "acceptable Bowie" is even narrower - it's basically the Berlin albums (including Stage) and the two final albums (plus the original version of "Sue"). I just bought that Nothing Has Changed compilation, the one that's in reverse chronological order, and I know I'm never gonna make it to the third disc.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Thursday, 21 January 2016 16:13 (eight years ago) link
Karl, having taken the deep Bowie dive all the way through '95 over the past two weeks, I will permit you to retain your superfan status within the parameters you have set. They are very sound parameters.
― Meat Sheet (Old Lunch), Thursday, 21 January 2016 16:16 (eight years ago) link
Karl you need to fuck with his 80s film songs, they are top drawer
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 21 January 2016 16:17 (eight years ago) link
I'm gonna skim back through the '80s and '90s at some point and cherry pick anything worthwhile. I'll report my findings here.
― Meat Sheet (Old Lunch), Thursday, 21 January 2016 16:20 (eight years ago) link
"When the fires broke out on the Rio Grandeleft nothin standin but the smell of a van"
his springsteen lyrics are killing me
― Amira, Queen of Creativity (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 21 January 2016 16:21 (eight years ago) link
who has the Bowie cargo shorts photo descrined in last Sunday's NY Times? Asking for a friend (Alfred).
― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 21 January 2016 16:23 (eight years ago) link
he sings the same lyrics for everyone xp
― hi-nrg candidate (crüt), Thursday, 21 January 2016 16:24 (eight years ago) link
It's not an this thread? Also, can't Alfred ask for himself. He isn't shy.
― Starman Jones said it's 2 legit 2 quit (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 21 January 2016 16:24 (eight years ago) link
seems like the lyrics were intended as Boss parody and then reused for the others.
― Starman Jones said it's 2 legit 2 quit (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 21 January 2016 16:25 (eight years ago) link
I would never answer a cargo shorts question.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 21 January 2016 16:27 (eight years ago) link
boss parody was the best
neil young is the last one on the tape i think
― marcos, Thursday, 21 January 2016 16:36 (eight years ago) link
his neil is pretty solid! could imagine it being on Life or something.
― tylerw, Thursday, 21 January 2016 16:38 (eight years ago) link
He's no adam buxton :-)
Of course everyone's already heard him do dodgy impressions of a few of these! That was nice to hear tho
― eoy_saer (wins), Thursday, 21 January 2016 17:22 (eight years ago) link
David Bowie scores first top forty hit in America since 1987.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 21 January 2016 17:27 (eight years ago) link
Lazarus is actually kind of the least memorable song on the record for me.
― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Thursday, 21 January 2016 17:28 (eight years ago) link
He's got Iggy nailed....
― Hadrian VIII, Thursday, 21 January 2016 17:29 (eight years ago) link
Meantimehttp://pitchfork.com/news/63059-hear-david-bowie-impersonate-bruce-springsteen-neil-young-iggy-pop-lou-reed-tom-waits-in-newly-unearthed-recording/― Ned Raggett, Thursday, January 21, 2016 10:45 AM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post PermalinkThis is the most hilarious thing I've heard in a very long time.― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, January 21, 2016 4:03 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, January 21, 2016 4:03 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Ha! His Springsteen parody is spot on!
― Turrican, Thursday, 21 January 2016 17:34 (eight years ago) link
His impressions are ... not very good.
― Allen (etaeoe), Thursday, 21 January 2016 18:25 (eight years ago) link
I remember Eno saying that good singers tend to be good impressionists, I think he was talking about Bowie... and (whisper it) Bono.
― The Return of the Thin White Pope (Tom D.), Thursday, 21 January 2016 18:29 (eight years ago) link
the hot pants line
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 21 January 2016 18:30 (eight years ago) link
he nails a couple of 'em, but his voice provides a limited bag of impersonation tricks
reminded me of Andy Partridge's "That Wag" on "Fuzzy Warbles" where he does Robert Smith, Morrissey, etc.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 21 January 2016 18:31 (eight years ago) link
Springsteen by far the best. Think I have heard him do a better Iggy impression on the officially released material.
― Starman Jones said it's 2 legit 2 quit (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 21 January 2016 18:39 (eight years ago) link
He sure is a chameleon, that David Bowie. Perhaps further proof that by that point he wanted to be anybody but himself.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 21 January 2016 20:18 (eight years ago) link
...
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 21 January 2016 20:47 (eight years ago) link
So, here's a question:
Have we ever gotten the full story on why Bowie retired?
We all know about the heart attack onstage in 2004 and rumors of poor health afterward. I know he had young children. And obviously, he did a few things here and there, as evidenced by Lazarus musical, various appearances at shows, and, of course, the two records.
But is that really the story? I'm asking in large part because Bowie's reclusion over the last decade has obviously colored how it feels as a fan to lose him so suddenly -- particularly given that we literally JUST got him back before he departed for good.
For that matter, this was someone who seemed to really, really enjoy his celebrity. As much as I've been listening to his records the last week, I've also been watching his interviews. And man, Bowie did a LOT of interviews -- the guy was positively everywhere for long, long stretches of his career, including the early 2000's. It's hard to believe this was someone who "just got tired of it all." The guy was ubiquitous -- and seemed to really, really enjoy being in the limelight.
Do we know what exactly happened? Did he conclude that he didn't have much else to say? Did he want to spend time with family because he never really had before? Was he no longer able to keep up with the pace of being a celebrity? All of these are legitimate reasons -- as is his right to not really share why he decided what he did.
It just seems odd.
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 21 January 2016 21:59 (eight years ago) link
I think you're right, he wanted to spend time with his family because he never really had before. One account had him walking his daughter to school every day. There's also the (apocryphal?) story of him post heart attack of being afraid of dying on stage.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 21 January 2016 22:03 (eight years ago) link