![]() ![]() Panic In Detroit – from Aladdin Sane (1973) Having said that, Survive is one of the most gorgeous, memorable songs in the Bowie canon – guitarist Reeves Gabrels is nothing short of astonishing the heartbreaking beauty of the lyrics – “ I should have kept you, I should have tried“… “ You’re the great mistake I never made” and the optimism of the repeated refrain “ I’ll survive“. To me, it tells of a parasitic relationship between a guru and followers – it’s properly Anti Christ in its cynicism (‘ We used him, we let him use his powers – we let him fill our needs‘), and I can see how the leap from that to the Messianic Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust was a natural step.Ĭritically acclaimed, panned by most fans, this is a problematic album for me. Lyrically it’s beautiful, and some of the tracks soar, but in this case the sum just isn’t greater than the whole of the parts. Janine is probably the most accessible track but Cygnet Committee has always been my favourite. Opening with Space Oddity, it swings between flashes of brilliance-to-come ( Letter to Hermoine) and cludgy social consciousness ( God Knows I’m Good). Cygnet Committee – from Space Oddity (1969)ĭespite Space Oddity sounding naive and folky, it’s actually Bowie at his most cynical, tapping directly into what was commercially attractive to get his sounds out. Otherwise known as Bowie – The Cocaine Years, the album includes the magnificent Golden Years, and bizarre TVC 15, about a girlfriend being eaten by a television set.īut for me the standout is the eponymous opening track, with it’s sense of impending disaster the slow build of synthesised train tracks emerging from the vinyl crackle, the agonized wail of strings, the maddening, repetative ‘dum, dum, dum, dum’ beat, then…nothing…įollowed by Bowie informing us of “ The return of the Thin White Duke, throwing darts in lovers’ eyes“. Station to Station: from Station to Station (1976) So, let’s turn over the cards he placed – in no particular order – on my piece of green baize, shall we?ġ. Whether it’s Cockney Troubador ( London Boy) Apocalyptic Saviour ( Ziggy Stardust), Nihilist (Berlin period), drum n bass ( Earthling) or blond pop star ( Let’s Dance) Bowie is a deck of cards, and you just have to play the hand he deals you. This isn’t a reinvention, it’s a performance. ![]() What it means, quite simply, is that a singer who defies convention and description ( although well done Guardian for attempting it with the term ‘Glam rock singer’) is still telling his stories through the medium of music and imagery. Just about every national newspaper website has dusted off it’s Bowie biog and cobbled together some thoughts about What It All Means with an eye to linkbait and comment. It is unutterably moving, even allowing for the fact the video features a Bowie character with an uncanny resemblance to the Bo! Selecta Bear, and reminiscent of Seven, from the album Heathen.Īs you’d expect, when Twitter heard of the new single, it exploded. ![]() (Note: Said revolution was not difficult, given that same summer brought horror in the form of the Gap Band‘s Oops Upside Your Head and Leo Sayer‘s More Than I Can Say).Īfter a 10-year hiatus, and a no-show at the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony that dashed fans’ hopes of a live performance, he’s back to mark his 66th birthday with a single, Where Are We Now? to be followed by his 30th studio recording, The Next Day.Īwash with personal references, melancholy abounds in the new single – Bowie sings of “ a man lost in time“, stalking hauntedly through Berlin streets “ just walking the dead” but towards the end hope soars “ as long as there’s you, as long as there’s me“. My David, the man who fell to my particular patch of nine-year-old Earth and revolutionised my music world with Scary Monsters and Super Creeps. On Tuesday January 8, however, the final item (after, indeed, the news of a British soldier being shot dead in Helmund) was a stunner.ĭavid Bowie had released a single. The 8.30am news on Radio Wales is, generally, a quick run through some developments Welsh politics, some Afghanistan-related tragedy, and traffic woes. When she’d returned to earth we asked her to compile her top ten – no easy task for this super fan who danced to one of his songs at her wedding… Getintothis’ Alison Gow was one of millions rather excited about the news. David Bowie returned with new single Where Are We Now? today – his first material since 2003.
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