the rise and fall and subsequent resurrection of David Bowie

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"Sailing over Conney Island

Twinkle twinkle, Uncle Floyd"

Picked up a copy of Bowie's new "Heathen" (got the limited edition with some remixes by Moby, old sport).

Ever since bullshit like "Let's Dance" and that disco-kind of garbage he did in the late eighties, I was thinking that Mister Stardust must have finally washed out. He's fifty and everything, and he doesn't use any coke anymore, so you couldn't really blame him if he wasn't at his best. But his previous album, "...hours" and his latest, "Heathen," are both absolutely wonderful. "...hours," I think, was a little weak around the edges, but still had some great songs on it.

"Heathen," though, is the only new release I've bought recently, so I thought I'd review it for everyone. And it's about twice as strong as "...hours" was: much more solid (though, natually, a few things aren't too great). But some bits of "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars," I think, were pretty silly.

Begins with "Sunday", which I haven't thought enough about yet.

Track two is a great cover of the Pixies' song "Cactus." Bowie sounds much more beautiful than the original, actually: with his grooving English/cigarette-smoking accent, he emotes perfectly (not in the self-parodying kind of way that Francis does).

[I mean no harm to the Pixies, because they're original writing is great and poetic and wryly funny, it's just that David Bowie is a lot cooler and he handles it about as well as Hendrix handles "All Along the Watchtower," and I'd rank it as one of those sorts of covers that's actually good.]

Bloody your hands on a cactus tree,

Wipe it on your dress and send it to me.

Track three has an echo-y voice,sort of record-y feel as it begins. Sounds a little like his "The Wild-Eyed Boy From Free Cloud" mixed with Sinatra's "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" here. It's my favorite on the album.

Track four ("Slow Burn") sounds very, very much like "Heroes". And not in a gross way. But in a kind of way that's nice that he's finally decided to appreciate how great his work was 70's, instead of ignorning it completely. And, how revving, Pete Townshend is playing on it.

"Afraid" is about an interesting sort of "Major Tom" character, the story of alienation again, but with no spacesuit. It's not as great, of course, as that classic, but it's as supremely human as "Space Oddity" was, and it's interesting that the characters (Ziggy, Tom, the Thin White Duke, the Diamond Dogs, etc) have all been abandoned. He's sort of more mature at fifty, it seems to me.

And it's just sad that he's grown out of the dress-wearing phase.

"I've Been Waiting For You," is track six, a cover of the song by Neil Young.

"I Would Be Your Slave" is a little weaker than other songs, but it's pretty neat-O, anyway.

"Took A Trip in a Gemini Spacecraft" is very dorky, with some silly techno noises underneath. The lyrics are goofy. It's got some Pink Floyd's "Money" style sound effects, which is the sort of thing that's always really pissed me off. I hate "Money", old sport; can't really explain why.

Track number nine is really wonderful: "5.15 The Angels Have Gone." In the same vein as "The Buddha of Suburbia,"

Living in lies

By the railway lines

which I'd always really loved.

"Everyone Says 'Hi' (10) lends itself to some bad rhyming, but is still very, very grooving. But here's some advice for you, Mister Bowie: having the background guys doing "doo doo wop"s is gross, man. It seems pretty cheesy, and if this track hadn't been overproduced with frilly, baroque-ian vocals behind him, I think it'd be a lot better.

Not that it isn't spectacularly cool anyway. But that's the problem with his Live at the BBC recordings, too: there are lots of screwball girls behind him who say, "sha na na na na" everytime he sings anything nice.

On second thought though, the doowops,etc. aren't too obvious.

Eleven sounds like a Dirige, domine deus meus, in conspectu kind of chant. It's great. "A Better Future." ("I demand a better future, or I just might stop loving you.") Then it changes dramatically and Bowie belts out very nicely.

The title track (12) returns to a more lyrical sort of ballad than 10 and 11. There are some goofy synths, but it's great, anyway.

I'm a very harsh critic as far as every aspect of life goes. But I think this album is wonderful.

And, hey! neat liner notes!


	Deadly Ivy \| home Minority Report \| bog \| the rise and fall and subsequent resurrection of David Bowie \| hippies \| story \| mug \| s.a. \| allen \| the case against books by girls the rise and fall and subsequent resurrection of David Bowie "Sailing over Conney Island Twinkle twinkle, Uncle Floyd" Picked up a copy of Bowie's new "Heathen" (got the limited edition with some remixes by Moby, old sport). Ever since bullshit like "Let's Dance" and that disco-kind of garbage he did in the late eighties, I was thinking that Mister Stardust must have finally washed out. He's fifty and everything, and he doesn't use any coke anymore, so you couldn't really blame him if he wasn't at his best. But his previous album, "...hours" and his latest, "Heathen," are both absolutely wonderful. "...hours," I think, was a little weak around the edges, but still had some great songs on it. "Heathen," though, is the only new release I've bought recently, so I thought I'd review it for everyone. And it's about twice as strong as "...hours" was: much more solid (though, natually, a few things aren't too great). But some bits of "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars," I think, were pretty silly. Begins with "Sunday", which I haven't thought enough about yet. Track two is a great cover of the Pixies' song "Cactus." Bowie sounds much more beautiful than the original, actually: with his grooving English/cigarette-smoking accent, he emotes perfectly (not in the self-parodying kind of way that Francis does). [I mean no harm to the Pixies, because they're original writing is great and poetic and wryly funny, it's just that David Bowie is a lot cooler and he handles it about as well as Hendrix handles "All Along the Watchtower," and I'd rank it as one of those sorts of covers that's actually good.] Bloody your hands on a cactus tree, Wipe it on your dress and send it to me. Track three has an echo-y voice,sort of record-y feel as it begins. Sounds a little like his "The Wild-Eyed Boy From Free Cloud" mixed with Sinatra's "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" here. It's my favorite on the album. Track four ("Slow Burn") sounds very, very much like "Heroes". And not in a gross way. But in a kind of way that's nice that he's finally decided to appreciate how great his work was 70's, instead of ignorning it completely. And, how revving, Pete Townshend is playing on it. "Afraid" is about an interesting sort of "Major Tom" character, the story of alienation again, but with no spacesuit. It's not as great, of course, as that classic, but it's as supremely human as "Space Oddity" was, and it's interesting that the characters (Ziggy, Tom, the Thin White Duke, the Diamond Dogs, etc) have all been abandoned. He's sort of more mature at fifty, it seems to me. And it's just sad that he's grown out of the dress-wearing phase. "I've Been Waiting For You," is track six, a cover of the song by Neil Young. "I Would Be Your Slave" is a little weaker than other songs, but it's pretty neat-O, anyway. "Took A Trip in a Gemini Spacecraft" is very dorky, with some silly techno noises underneath. The lyrics are goofy. It's got some Pink Floyd's "Money" style sound effects, which is the sort of thing that's always really pissed me off. I hate "Money", old sport; can't really explain why. Track number nine is really wonderful: "5.15 The Angels Have Gone." In the same vein as "The Buddha of Suburbia," Living in lies By the railway lines which I'd always really loved. "Everyone Says 'Hi' (10) lends itself to some bad rhyming, but is still very, very grooving. But here's some advice for you, Mister Bowie: having the background guys doing "doo doo wop"s is gross, man. It seems pretty cheesy, and if this track hadn't been overproduced with frilly, baroque-ian vocals behind him, I think it'd be a lot better. Not that it isn't spectacularly cool anyway. But that's the problem with his Live at the BBC recordings, too: there are lots of screwball girls behind him who say, "sha na na na na" everytime he sings anything nice. On second thought though, the doowops,etc. aren't too obvious. Eleven sounds like a Dirige, domine deus meus, in conspectu kind of chant. It's great. "A Better Future." ("I demand a better future, or I just might stop loving you.") Then it changes dramatically and Bowie belts out very nicely. The title track (12) returns to a more lyrical sort of ballad than 10 and 11. There are some goofy synths, but it's great, anyway. I'm a very harsh critic as far as every aspect of life goes. But I think this album is wonderful. And, hey! neat liner notes!