c'mon guys, some pretty crazy comments here. who helped him make outside, other than his carefully selected backing band and eno? how is that any different than low/heroes? same could be said about visconti and heathen. he's always chosen top notch collaborators for each record and the only real authentic band outside of tin machine that he ever had was the spiders (and he still ran that show, too). other than that, it was always a cherry picked rhythm section and a banger guitarist (fripp, alomar, belew) and mostly visconti at the helm, making it all sound great.
those 70s records were 'trendy' too, kraftwerk (and kraut) preceded the berlin era material (autobahn, anybody?). soul was nothing new at the time. even glam was around a few years before bowie broke it, not to mention stuff like the velvets and scott walker which he championed and took a lot of early ideas from. he may have helped popularize a lot of styles and sounds through his celebrity and damn fine songwriting chops (seriously, some of the best), but he didn't create them out of thin air.
it's one thing if you don't like the recent material, but to dismiss it on these claims means shows some ignorance about his history and legacy.
to those who 'check out' when it was cool to do so (those who were there at the end of the peak get a pass):
Last edited by frankie teardrop; 01-17-2012 at 09:06 PM. Reason: forgot absolute beginners!
There is no good footage of live "Station to Station" from the 70s. Which happens to be one of my favorite Bowie albums.
Here, how about this?
( of course, having seen the Serious Moonlight tour, I also like to watch his hair from that period.)
Last edited by allegro; 01-17-2012 at 09:14 PM.
mostly joshing at you, the rest applying to some of the other comments.
It's all about the hair, dude.
bleached for the beach!
Still my favorite artist after all these years... though I also skip Tonight, Never let me down, and Tin Machine II (Tin Machine I is ok). But there are always a few gems on every album - Loving the Alien is almost brilliant, the 80's production hurts it, though. "Absolute Beginners" and "This is not America" are real gems (Another post-Scary Monsters classic is Under Pressure). I still regard Heathen as a masterpiece on par with the classics. I don't quite get the praise for Reality which is a too mixed bag for me. Outside is a bit too complex for it's own good while Earthling is very concise. Hours is maybe a bit simple and Black Tie, White Noise is underappreciated (In the end, it's a very progressive jazz fusion album). I heard good things about Buddha of Suburbia, but I only know the very good title track.
I'm in the middle of a huge Bowie fixation right now. just found this site "world of bowie bootlegs" with some great stuff on it. I own most of Bowie's official dvds but was interested in getting "live in lisbon 1990" or "the power to charm" as it's sometimes called. found a torrent but no seeds. if anyone could seed this I'd be very happy.
I started out only wanting to listen to ziggy era bowie, but the last few years have grown to love most of his work. at the moment I'm listening heavily to everything from young americans thru scary monsters. love his work with eno (also delving into eno and david byrne's work with and without talking heads, my life in the bush of ghosts is amazing).
I've found some good concert footage from 1978 but I wish there was some between ziggy and 78.
YES, this is AWESOME, I think we posted it on the old ETS, great stuff. Lots of footage of Bowie coked up out of his mind. But AWESOME footage from the tour that produced THIS album:
edit: Found it:
More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracked_Actor
It was filmed in 1974. Bowie was 27 years old at the time.
PART 1:
PART 2:
^^^ Note DAVID SANBORN on sax during my FAVORITE version of "Sweet Thing" ^^^
PART 3:
PART 4:
Last edited by allegro; 01-21-2012 at 07:33 PM.
If you're into hilarious Bowie history, read this book:
What's that book about? Never heard of it...
David Bowie was one of the first musicians I ever got seriously into. Low, Lodger, Scary Monsters, Station to Station, and Outside are my personal favorites, but practically every album prior to Let's Dance was incredible... I'm not blown away by Heathen or Hours, but I wouldn't say they deserve to be slagged alongside stuff like Never Let Me Down. And I liked Earthling... I actually thought it was a much more genuine attempt to embrace a genre he found fascinating than what he came up with for Young Americans.
Also, there's some Tin Machine moments that have been unfortunately passed over and mostly forgotten. "I Can't Read" is an incredible song...
I think that's Liv Tyler's mom, and the inspiration for the Kate Hudson character in Almost Famous.
yup, exactly. And many many other things, Todd Rundgren mostly. Lots of TR's songs are written about her, most memorably my favorite, this one:
Great book, except you have to put up with her ego and "I'M NOT A GROUPIE, I'M AN ARTIST!" but Bebe is a legend and is HILARIOUS. And she has the BEST stories. Including LOTS about David Bowie, natch, and they're still great friends.
By the way, some great trivia maybe some of you don't know:
Part 4 of the above movie:
Jump to 11:11, recognize that black dude?
IT'S MY MAN LUTHER VANDROSS (R.I.P.)
Last edited by allegro; 01-21-2012 at 09:53 PM.
I remembered watching Cracked Actor on BBC America years ago. I had it on a VHS tape. I'm not sure if I have it anymore and I don't have it on VCR. It's an incredible documentary and a must-see for Bowie fans. I remembered that scene in the limo with Carole King as Aretha Franklin's "You Make Me Feel Like a (Natural Woman)" was playing and he was talking about a fly that is in his milk carton. He was fucked up on coke at the time. I remembered seeing Luther Vandross in the film. He did vocal arrangements on the Young Americans album and co-wrote "Fascination" with Bowie. Bowie gave him his break. It needs to come out on DVD/Blu-Ray if Bowie ever decides to do a video anthology.
Wait, that's CAROLE KING in the limo?? Um, I gotta go look at that again.
pretty sure it was just coco schwab, his pr lady for like 30 years
he's pretty embarrassed about cracked actor, if i recall correctly. doubt he'd ever willingly allow that to go into circulation. pretty terrifying stuff there, if only watchable as a historical document and because he survived it. yes, it's coco in the limo.
the real issue i have with david live is the vocal work. really close to death, strained, and out of breath and it doesn't sound good especially compared to what he'd do in the studio around that time. i like some of the musical rearrangements but many of them don't translate well either, but it's mostly the vocals that sink it for me.
as for tin machine-- i love 'i can't read' (especially the re-recorded version for the ice storm soundtrack) and 'you belong in rock and roll.' not the greatest music otherwise, but knocked him out of that late 80s slump he was in.
apeman, it sounds suspiciously like you're letting lazy journalism form your opinions for you. i think everyone can agree that the 70s albums are the best, hands down, but as jinsai said, i don't think anything that came after the 80s is worth such immediate & harsh dismissal either. the secret is to not let the critics influence your taste too much and also to accept the fact that while bowie popularized and succeeded with a lot of styles, he's never been a true original. just a very opportunistic and visionary trendspotter, and i mean that with respect as he did great things with underground styles. with the exception of the last few records, he hasn't rested on his laurels any like many of the names checked above. anyone who changes that much is susceptible to missteps along the way, but to completely slag off 30 years of music is kind of baffling to me.
Last edited by frankie teardrop; 01-22-2012 at 11:13 AM.
Here is my Best of Bowie 1997–2003 playlist. If you want to play along and burn a CD you have to track down all the radio edits (or send me a PM).
1. I'm Afraid of Americans (V1 Edit) 4:26
2. Little Wonder (Edit) 3:40
3. Dead Man Walking (Edit) 3:51
4. Seven Years in Tibet (Edit) 4:01
5. I Can't Read (Short Version) 4:40
6. Thursday's Child (Radio Edit) 4:25
7. Seven 4:04
8. The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell (Edit) 4:00
9. Survive (Video Edit) 3:36
10. Something in the Air 5:45
11. Nature Boy 3:25
12. Slow Burn (Radio Edit) 3:55
13. Afraid 3:28
14. Everyone Says 'Hi' (Radio Edit) 3:29
15. Sunday 4:45
16. New Killer Star (Edit) 3:42
17. Never Get Old (Radio Edit) 3:39
18. She'll Drive the Big Car 4:35
19. Bring Me the Disco King (Loner Mix) 6:00
i can get behind that in a big way. pretty much cherry picked from those last few, though i'd probably make a case for 'heathen (the rays).' there was some talk on the old boards about toy. haven't listened to it since it leaked, but i enjoyed it for the most part. some of those heathen b-sides (also appearing on toy) were really nice.
some pretty cool concert footage recently uploaded:
sound & vision tour, tokyo 1990. includes the dancing blonde from la la la human steps, who also appears in the (awful) 'fame 90' video and pretty much every hit possible on the setlist:
lorley festival 1996... outside era... some cool setlist nuggets ('look back in anger,' 'moonage daydream,' pre-earthling 'telling lies', that cool eno/outside version of 'the man who sold the world', and a tin machine track of all things):
sheperds bush 1997... earthling tour. much of the same, but some nice hunky dory stuff and a great laurie anderson cover:
GQ awards 1997... 'always crashing in the same car,' 'panic in detroit,' a jazzy version of 'my death' and some fun bloopers during 'hallo spaceboy':
and the best for last... a crisp 1978 performance in germany:
Last edited by frankie teardrop; 01-24-2012 at 10:25 AM.
I love latter day Bowie. Sometimes I feel like I'm one of the only ones that really loves Hours...
That mix a couple of posts back was great, by the way...
Saw Prick/NIN/Bowie in 1995 and NIN fans weren't particularly kind to the opener or Bowie. Threw chunks of sod and bottles at them. Bowie powered through.
Thank you to everyone who's digging the compilation CD/playlist. I'm working on some album art for it too, hang tight.
I can maybe see that ugly epithet being applied to Hours... but certainly not the latter two. Parting ways with Reeves Gabrels and getting Tony Visconti back in the producer's chair was arguably the best creative kick up the arse Bowie could've asked for... those two records hold their own against his best work.
currently bumping off vinyl, waiting for dinner guests to arrive. the ryko reissue version with bonus tracks!
I've got a large 4500x4500 version too if anyone wants to print it.
Last edited by botley; 01-30-2012 at 12:12 PM.
also just found this in a local bin:
had no idea it existed on vinyl! reasonably priced.
Pretty astounding what great a distinction/difference there is between early/mid-career Bowie and very late Bowie. Like two different artists. I love his older stuff, but recently I've been ALL OVER Earthling, Hours, and Heathen (I'm going to pretend like Reality never happened). Lovely stuff.