‘His mansion in Beckenham has been demolished, for instance, and I’m unlikely to have a fling with Mick Jagger,’ he admitted. ‘However, it is possible to engage with and get a feel for his experiences without immersing oneself to a dangerous extent.’
What do I think? I think this is well past the pale but, much like Morrissey and Taylor swift, it has nothing to do with me.
You might think Aldous, or maybe Harold Wilson, or God knows John Lennon, who returned his MBE “…as a protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against ‘Cold Turkey’ slipping down the charts.”, would turn down a Knighthood but Bowie?
Across The Universe – David Bowie – It is worth noting how much worse this is than even the Rufus Wainwright take. Botched and a half by Phil Spector, the Lennon unplugged version is the one to go for, Bowie overdoes everything to start with and when the best thing you can do with the song is let it speak for itself, Bowie oversings it at then some – C-
Today, there is certainly a lot of mediocrity, any American Idol, X Factor product is an example for me! But at the same time, there is a lot of excellent music, it is just harder to find it because of the enormous amount of bands formed every year and songs released each day!
‘I was very interested in what I could take and what I could do. I looked upon the body as a laboratory – I used to throw in this chemical and then that one to see what would happen; I was intrigued by that.’
We posted the track listing a couple of days ago and will do it again at the bottom here, but the first time round it was just a bizarre setlist, a mix of hits, obscurities and remixes plus three new songs. Now I see it as different periods in the ongoing story of…
“Sue” is awesome if you like this sorta weirdly addictive passionate sax screetch on top of Bowie at his completely and most over the top. I absolutely love it myself. Grade: B+
CNN, I didn’t say new Bowie album ‘soon’. I quoted THE MAN who said ‘More Music Soon’ on Bowienet. That music is Sue.” Ergo, the new song we already know about. I am guessing Bowie is so rich he is happy not hitting the road and as Tony noted, he didn’t lift a finger to promote The Next Day.
The other thing to keep in mind here is the following: since the Kinks digital output has been disastrous and since just about every single album the band have ever made deserves a deluxe version, let’s hope the band start sorting out their past history before they are too late to do it.
Nothing is gonna get you too close to Bowie because Bowie has never wanted you to get too close to him. Perhaps his greatest gift was to be so much to so many people while maintaining a mystery, a mystery “Is” doesn’t come close to mastering.
rock nyc has nothing to add to this story in which Susan Sarandon tells the Daily Beast she had a sexual relationship with David Bowie when they worked on “The Hunger” together 30 years ago except sexual relationship is the dirtiest of adjectives on earth
“This city is even better than the one you were in last year, so remember to dance, dance, dance. And then sit down for a minute, knit something, then get up and run all over the place. Do it. Love on ya. More music soon. David”
If it was in the New York City area I’d certainly be there and if you are somewhere in the Dover area you haven’t lived till you’ve enjoyed the timing of Joe Stevens the storyteller. He once had me rolling on the floor with tears talking about Paul McCartney throwing him off the tour bus for asking about a Beatles reunion in what, 1971? 1972?
Performing at The Garage in London, all 7 songs will be done- no word on who’s picking up the vocals but it wont be Bowie. Considering this album came out in 1970 the opportunity to hear it live with two of its original creators is pretty cool- but vocals doth maketh the sound.
This is as far away from the livingness of “Kooks” as you can imagine. It is a drift that can barely lift its head into a oblivion. And oblivion is less inviting and more inevitable, Bowie is not laid back he is dulled out, he is a dull turned off inanimate blue.
I took me a little while to understand this picture above, what was this about? The surrounding looked strangely familiar, but these head tops give it all… of course! It’s Abbey Road!
It Takes A Woman – Walter Matthau – Jokey sexism turned on its tail with growly jowly and curt Walter claiming you need a woman to help clean the stables and shoe the horse, that all romantic. “The important things in life come gift wrapped” he tells his prospective fiancee… hard to disagree right? – B+
But as these people start realizing how much space these albums take up and how the ‘amazing sound’ they pretend to hear (lets face it- the average Jim aint hearing a damn difference between stream and vinyl) is not portable- it’s done.
Bonnie Portmore – The Rails – aka Richard and Linda Thompson’s kid Kami and her husband James Walbourne singing an old Irish folk song about saving the forest or something. Their voices mesh very nicely on this oldie which dates back to 1976… so yeah even older than papa – A-
It seems as though for once and perhaps the only time, music can’t seem to help. I go back to Aretha Franklin and I wish I had a copy of that February 17th, 2012 concert at Radio City where Aretha mourned her Goddaughter Whitney Houston.
The extended guitar intro is excellent, the groove points directly backwards to Young Americans even as it seems to jumpstart itself into a world of cocain addiction, fascist dream and insanity, and, hey, I am happy to hear it twice – A
The crowning achievement of Morrissey’s career? Maybe not, but if anything puts you at the pinnacle of pop perfection that anything would be David Bowie covering your song and for Morrissey, called into the Imperial Studio for a listening party with Bowie, Morrissey had that moment
I far prefer the Extra Songs to the Next Day ones -especially this Bruce rip, and I made that for the third Crenshaw EP, it is the first time it is the covers I am loving more than the new song. The Bobby Fuller track is blowing my mind. But the week belongs to Conor Oberst and Maria Taylor’s perfect holiday album, dating from 2002.
Love Is Love – Hello Steve Reich James Murphy for DFA Remix – David Bowie – Sure, he’s using an idea from Reich, but the way the clapping becomes the beat blows me away every time
The problem here is much the same as the problem on the entire album: the songs aren’t there. Oh the singing is powerful and felt, the instrumentation first rate, the atitude a poerfect mesh of here and now and then, but the song can’t sell it – B-
My concept is that since it was cover songs from second wave Brit Beat bands of the early 1960s, and since these bands, the Who, the Yardbirds, the Pretty Things, Pink Floyd…, since these were all boy bands attractive in post- Beatle sense to a girl fanbase with pictures from “Fabulous” pasted on their walls, well, they were Pins Up, weren’t they?
A blues classic, I went to see Harvey three times on this time, indeed see her fanbase move her from the Academy to the Beacon, and this song was the set highlight. This is so exual and so deep, it is a swampy wet femininity she never did again – A
Slippin And Slidin – Otis Redding – One of the great covers mostly because Redding has one of the great voices, but also because Little Richard was a teen phenom and his original sounds like a pop song, Redding sounds like a soul song – A
Of the five songs he has released so far from his upcoming album, only one is a complete dog, and this one is a specific bruised new r&b song of the first order and a refutation of his new born reputation: “I ain’t all bad” he claims, and I buy it – B+
Luscious Jackson made a welcome return to the fray with an album that is shockingly wonderful and fun. The 1990s indie band reformed in 2011 and just released their first new album and it is really great. I know I’m gonna forget about it but I hope you don’t.
The short film – entitled ‘L’invitation au Voyage’, an obvious Beaudelaire-ian reference – features a hot-air balloon, Venice’s Piazza San Marco, American model Arizona Muse and a masquerade ball worthy of a Luchino Visconti or Stanley Kubrick film
Gammage should cover Bowie by the way, including this terrific remix. Springsteen? I haven’t felt this strongly about a Springsteen song in years. One more thing, if I had the time I would love to give Luscious Jackson a long listen.
Glad Tidings Take 9 – Van Morrison – Now available on Spotify, this version, a slower, sweeter, more powerful than the version on Moondance, is, alone, worth the time it took to piss off Van and archive the studio sessions – A+
Heavy Metal Heart – Sky Ferreira – The best moment on her amateur hour opening slot for Vampier Weekend a coupla months ago, the album has lots of great moments, and this isn’t even the best – B
Matangi – M.I.A. – This isn’t any better than Vicki Leekx, but it isn’t any worse, and it has “Come Walk With Me”, a potential dance crossover hit and so many beats it’s gonna seriously shake up your life – A
This is a perfect song, it starts with the chorus, and those waah waah waahs, and then Bowie plays between his falsetto and baritone, and he throws in handclaps and drum machines and back up singers. And the lyric is as brilliant and overwhelmingly baroque and also dramatic lyric, plus a rap: “one of these days and it won’t be long… ” that bit off an album so great he reached a zenith of artistry and paranoia never to be touched again.
And what if the album sucks? Well all this hype will have been for nothing, but right now, the hype is high and any detail about the upcoming Arcade Fire album, ‘Reflektor’, which is filtering through the info superhighway is the center of all attentions.
close enough for me to whip my gum at
