David Bowie: The next thread and the next thread...

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cobl04 said:
Yep. And his influence has been clear from the very start. She had a fucking lighting bolt on her face during a song CALLED LET'S DANCE. I mean ffs.
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Yeah, a lightening bolt. FFS, you just made my point: the influence is superficial, it's fashion. It's not in the music. She uses him as signifier of daring originality that she does not possess.

I knew her music before I knew the image and there was nothing to distinguish her songs from the others that got played in department stores in 2008/09. It reminded me of hearing Complicated and thinking it was a new adult contemporary singer but it turned out to be "Avril Lavigne, authentic punky chick!"
Carlos Alomar, Arcade Fire, Brian Eno, Tony Visconti, Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew are no-names? Please. The influence of the work they did without Bowie is 1000x greater than Gaga's. And some people might not know their names but everyone who listens to Bowie knows their music. And that's what's important. But the Grammy's aren't about music, and neither is Gaga. Bowie was though.

Maybe that's why he received one Grammy over his 50 year career.

But really, if the only argument for Gaga paying tribute to Bowie is "she was a fan! she had a lightning bolt!" then there are plenty of other fans who are just as successful as her, and who actually have something to do with him. And if she's such a fan then why did she ignore the last 33 years of his career? It wasn't a career tribute, it was a breeze though some hits meant to glorify her and her Elvis tribute act.

She reached out to Nile Rogers to be the band leader. Why? Because of of long, deep connection to Bowie, or because he's having a moment and she thought it would rub off on her, and get people talking about her?

Look at the list of people who were singed up for the Bowie tributes in NYC. Any of them would have been more suitable. And guess who's the musical director? Tony Visconti. I wonder why people paying tribute to a guy picked the producer of half his records, a nearly career long collaborator and friend of nearly 50 years to be the musical director.
 
Hollow Island said:
I knew her music before I knew the image and there was nothing to distinguish her songs from the others that got played in department stores in 2008/09. It reminded me of hearing Complicated and thinking it was a new adult contemporary singer but it turned out to be "Avril Lavigne, authentic punky chick!"
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This explains SO much.


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The copy of Blackstar that I reserved on amazon the day after Bowie died finally got here:

kvfXFRN.jpg


Big Star/Black Star :combust:
 
It's absolutely worth the wait/price. Everything is embossed and sleek on black paper, which darkens the clear vinyl. Full lyric sheet and credits with great new pics from the sessions. The free download is just icing on the cake.
 
Wow, they actually made it into the 80s :rolleyes:


This isn't directed at the Lips, but since Bowie's death I've been getting real sick of people who claim to be such huge fans and yet they don't seem to care about anything after the glam years aside from a few singles, and maybe the Berlin trilogy. That's only a 10-year window for a guy who recorded consistently up until 2003. This would be akin to not caring about Dylan albums like Blood on the Tracks, Desire, Infidels, Shot of Love, Oh Mercy, Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft, etc. Or with Neil Young you have Freedom, Ragged Glory, Harvest Moon, Sleeps With Angels, Silver & Gold, etc.

For a guy who has so many mid/late career standouts it's really unfortunate.
 
I don't know how highly regarded 'Young Americans' - that odd phase in between the glam years and the Berlin years - is among the Bowie contingent around here, but man 'Somebody Up There Likes Me' is a stunner.

Pretty sure Beck must have had Young Americans playing on repeat when he was doing Midnite Vultures.
 
Let's Dance was my introduction to Bowie. I've heard his seventies singles on the radio growing up but that album was my first Bowie record.


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Same here. And to be honest, it's also my favorite Bowie album, with The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust in second place.
 
lazarus said:
Wow, they actually made it into the 80s :rolleyes:


This isn't directed at the Lips, but since Bowie's death I've been getting real sick of people who claim to be such huge fans and yet they don't seem to care about anything after the glam years aside from a few singles, and maybe the Berlin trilogy. That's only a 10-year window for a guy who recorded consistently up until 2003. This would be akin to not caring about Dylan albums like Blood on the Tracks, Desire, Infidels, Shot of Love, Oh Mercy, Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft, etc. Or with Neil Young you have Freedom, Ragged Glory, Harvest Moon, Sleeps With Angels, Silver & Gold, etc.

For a guy who has so many mid/late career standouts it's really unfortunate.
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It's a shame, although I'd have said I was a big fan five years ago and I hadn't heard anything post-Lodger. There's a real tendency to ignore his later work. Were I more familiar with it I'd pitch an article to someone. Maybe I will, some day.
 
I'll just be honest with you guys and say that outside of Blackstar none of his post-Scary Monsters albums have blown me away the way Low, Aladdin Sane and Station to Station do. Lots of memorable gems scattered across them, and perhaps underrated overall, but I don't think someone is a bad fan for only having 1969-1980 material in their top 10. That run was astounding, among the very best ever.
 
Yes, that too. I think what frustrates Laz (and me as I hear more of it) is that there's a lot of good stuff that gets overlooked because they're from an era that isn't as celebrated.
 
LemonMelon said:
I'll just be honest with you guys and say that outside of Blackstar none of his post-Scary Monsters albums have blown me away the way Low, Aladdin Sane and Station to Station do. Lots of memorable gems scattered across them, and perhaps underrated overall, but I don't think someone is a bad fan for only having 1969-1980 material in their top 10. That run was astounding, among the very best ever.
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cobl04 said:
Yes, that too. I think what frustrates Laz (and me as I hear more of it) is that there's a lot of good stuff that gets overlooked because they're from an era that isn't as celebrated.
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Yeah, I didn't say anything about a Top 10. I'm talking about people not people being familiar with the later work AT ALL.

And I'm not sure what your criteria is for being blown away, but I don't know what other reaction you can have for something as outre and legitimately weird as Outside. It may not be a masterpiece but it's one hell of an artistic statement.

Regardless, Heathen stacks up song-for-song against any classic album, if you're just looking for memorable tracks. And in my opinion it smokes Scary Monsters, and obviously Let's Dance as well.
 
My problem with the Flips doing a Bowie session has very little to do with them picking early Bowie songs and a lot to do with Wayne Coyne being insufferable.
 
lazarus said:
And I'm not sure what your criteria is for being blown away, but I don't know what other reaction you can have for something as outre and legitimately weird as Outside. It may not be a masterpiece but it's one hell of an artistic statement.

Regardless, Heathen stacks up song-for-song against any classic album, if you're just looking for memorable tracks. And in my opinion it smokes Scary Monsters, and obviously Let's Dance as well.
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Heathen is great: well-paced and full of a kind of moody contemplation. I can't really get behind Outside, though. The thing is absolutely interminable, so unnecessarily drawn out that its interesting moments are lost in a sea of nonsense.
 
Outside is excellent. It's just way too long, but the highs of that record are some of his best work, at least post-“Heroes“. The final third is especially impressive.

Heathen starts off great, but loses me a bit in the 2nd half.

Blackstar is by far and away the most consistent of the three.
 
Outside, Heathen and Black Tie White Noise are all exceptional. The other two are more recent discoveries but I've been a big fan of Heathen for a decade or more. Albums holds up strong.
 
After listening to a lot of Bowie on Spotify, I've added the following to my arsenal:

Pin Ups
Station to Station
Low
"Heroes"
Heathen

Have not ordered yet, but will buy soon:

Diamond Dogs
Earthling


I really didn't care for Young Americans, alas. Outside was interesting. Black Tie White Noise was half good, half boring.
 
Kieran McConville said:
I don't know how highly regarded 'Young Americans' - that odd phase in between the glam years and the Berlin years - is among the Bowie contingent around here, but man 'Somebody Up There Likes Me' is a stunner.

Pretty sure Beck must have had Young Americans playing on repeat when he was doing Midnite Vultures.
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This was the first Bowie album I ever purchased. I hadn't listened to it for many, many, MANY years, and just played it again a few days ago.

Wow. I'd forgotten how much I'd loved this record when it was first released. "Somebody Up There Likes Me" IS a stunner, just fantastic. I also loved "Fascination" so much at the time, and it sounds so great still.

I am in awe that Bowie decided he wanted to make a soul ("plastic soul") album--and he did it. He pulled it off, brilliantly. I remember it was an extremely big deal when he made the transition from glam to soul, and he made it work. Of course, it helps when you've got talent like Luther Vandross and David Sanborn alongside you.

"Across The Universe" IS pretty bad, though...!

Right now, I'm stuck on "The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust" & can't get enough of it. I thought "Low" was my new favorite album (over "Achtung Baby" & "London Calling," even!), but I'm rethinking that...this album is just so damn fine. And some of the songs worked even better in concert. "Moonage Daydream" from the Ziggy Stardust documentary...there are no words for its magnificence. Mick Ronson was a guitar god and what a loss to the world that he died so young.

I will never forgive myself--never--that I was not more of a David Bowie fan while he was alive. I liked him, I had a few records, I was a casual fan, but now? He never leaves my iDevices & his songs go through my head overandoverandoverandover...
 
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^Eh, I don't mind Across the Universe, although it's sitting a little oddly on the record, like, not sure what it's doing there. Maybe it made some sense at the time with him also collaborating with Lennon on 'Fame'.
 
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