Tag Archive: david bowie


GREAT GAMES – SHAME ABOUT THE AFTERSHOW

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August 15, 2012
Olympics closing ceremony

Old wild man seemingly reduces young pop star to a state of ecstasy.

Danny Boyle’s inspired Isles of Wonder ceremony which opened the London Olympics had a clearly defined theme and purpose – using music to celebrate the nation’s achievements and to restore Team GB’s standing in the world.

The only brief for the closing ceremony seemed to be that this so-called ‘Symphony of British Music’ should cobble together whatever performers they could get hold of to make an ‘aftershow party’ with a global impact.

Sadly, the vibrant choreography and state of the art lighting  couldn’t mask the lack of genuine substance to Kim Gavin’s show. Lord Seb Coe saying beforehand that “it’s not anything desperately profound” turned out to be a massive understatement.

What was lost amid all this faux-nostalgia was the achievement of the athletes themselves who were shuffled into the stadium  en masse to take their place in Damien Hirst’s gigantic union jack while Elbow sang a couple of songs that sounded more dirgey than celebratory. Once trapped in the arms of the stadium flag they were a captive audience to a show that all but ignored their efforts over the previous two weeks. Continue reading →

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DAVID BOWIE AND THE 1970s

Filed under: Books, Music — 1 Comment
May 25, 2012

THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD  by Peter Doggett (The Bodley Head, 2011)

One of the greatest books on contemporary rock is Revolution In The Head by Ian MacDonald. Subtitled The Beatles’ Records And The Sixties, this illuminating song by song guide to everything the Fab Four recorded is worth buying for the introductory essay alone – ‘Fabled Foursome, Disappearing Decade’. In the space of just 34 pages, MacDonald puts the monumental achievements and legacy of The Beatles into lucid perspective and recognises that we will never see their like again. The way music is made, promoted and consumed has changed beyond all recognition since the heady days of the 60s so the cultural impact the four young men from Liverpool had is unrepeatable.

MacDonald was commissioned to write a similar book on David Bowie but sadly the project floundered n 2003, when he killed himself after a long period of clinical depression. The mantle has passed to Peter Doggett who has himself written a critically praised book on the Beatles, You Never Give Me You Money, which focused on the band’s break up and immediate aftermath.

In his introduction, Doggett admits that Revolution In The Head was the model for his book although the format is not entirely the same and it has to be said that it’s nowhere near as good.

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CHAMELEON, COMEDIAN, CORINTHIAN, CARICATURE AND BIRTHDAY BOY

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January 8, 2012

David Bowie is 65 today. He shares his birthday with Elvis Presley (who would have been 78) and Stephen Hawking (who is 70).

Cue corny + tenuous links: Elvis and Bowie helped define rock while Hawking and Bowie are both fascinated by time and space.  (Sorry – I couldn’t resist!)

For what it’s worth, this is my list of what I rate as his ten best albums and the ones that  will guarantee his immortality:

1. Hunky Dory (1971)
2. The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (1972)
3. Low (1977)
4. Heroes (1977)
5. Aladdin Sane (1973)
6. Station To Station (1976)
7. Scary Monsters And Super Creeps (1980)
8. The Man Who Sold The World (1970)
9. Space Oddity (1969)
10.Let’s Dance (1983) Continue reading →

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BACKTRACKING # 39 : We are DEVO!

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November 14, 2011

Part of an irregular series of bite-sized posts about 7″ singles I own – shameless nostalgia from the days of vinyl. (Search ‘Backtracking’ to collect the set!)

DEVO – Mongoloid b/w Jocko Homo (Booji Boy, 1977)

Q: Are we not men? A : We Are Devo!

The title and content of the A-side is quite topical in view of the recent controversy over Ricky Gervais’ casual use of the word ‘mong’ on Twitter. I actually always regarded Mongoloid as the flip-side as Jocko-Homo seemed a lot catchier. The synthetic panic pop in the style of Talking Heads seems deliberately designed as an irritant and, if so, it works a treat.

You can’t hear it without picturing the band with nerdy dance routines, yellow jump suits, silly glasses which made them look like a tacky Ohio version of Kraftwerk.

There is some pseudo sci-fi bullshit behind the whole band concept that doesn’t really merit close investigation.

The single has a novelty value but musically it’s a mess. It ended up in my collection because high profile connections with Neil Young, David Bowie and Brian Eno raised my expectations that this was more than just hype.

“Every man, woman and mutant shall know the truth about Devo” is a line from the promo video and the sad truth is this is a very crap record indeed. “We’re pinheads all!” was an all too apt rallying cry.

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BACKTRACKING #21: LOU REED’S PERFECT DAY

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July 16, 2011

Part of an irregular series of bite-sized posts about 7″ singles I own – shameless nostalgia from the days of vinyl. (Search ‘Backtracking’ to collect the set!)

LOU REED : Walk On The Wild Side b/w Perfect Day (RCA Victor, 1972)

I thought I was someone good

Lou Reed is not renowned for being a sentimental man.

He has built his reputation on songs with Velvet Underground and beyond  about life on the dark side : suicide, prostitution, S & M and hard drugs.

This makes this song all the more surprising and touching. On the face of it, Perfect Day is a blissful romantic memory of spending quality time with a loved one. Simple pleasures of drinking Sangria in the park, a visit to the zoo and a trip to the movies are like an amalgamation of ideal  things to do with a partner. A walk on the sunny side in contrast to the A side stroll down meaner streets.

But there are black clouds on the horizon that threaten this idyll. The key line for me is when Lou sings “You made me forget myself, I thought I was someone else…..someone good”. This transforms the song from a song of innocence to one of experience. Lou does not in his wildest dreams imagine life is really like this for very long and wants us to know that he knows.

The song first appeared on the overrated 1972 album Transformer produced by David Bowie. This was Bowie doing his rescue act for a hero in crisis, an act he also performed for Iggy Pop with The Idiot and Lust For Life.

A star-studded cover for Children In Need means the song is now remembered as a message of charity and hope so any negative subtext has been effectively eliminated.

Walk On the Wild Side itself has also become a standard that has lost any shock value it might have had. It makes me smile that this was not banned by the prudes at the BBC who presumably at that time didn’t know the significance of “giving head”. I saw Lou Reed perform this live on two occasions as an encore each time. Both times he murdered it – it was like he was miffed by the fact that this has become his ‘big hit’.

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