Bowie, David - "'Heroes'"

Bowie, David - "Heroes"
1977/1999, Parlophone

1. Beauty and the Beast
2. Joe the Lion
3. "Heroes"
4. Sons of the Silent Age
5. Blackout
6. V-2 Schneider
7. Sense of Doubt
8. Moss Garden
9. Neukoln
10. The Secret Life of Arabia

UVULAPIE: After cruising through the absolutely stunning Hunky Dory it seems we’ve hit a wall with "Heroes."  Old Man and I keep telling each other that we need to write this review but it’s not getting done, mostly because the album is pretty weak.  Finding myself with an extreme need to avoid a current work project I decided that the time had come to kick this one off.  Soooo…. "Heroes".  One of the so-called Berlin-trilogy albums.  I’ll start off and say that the album cover reminds me of artwork from the dark Daniel Amos classic Doppleganger.  I’ll second-off and say that some of the synthesizer instrumental tracks on side two, like “Sense of Doubt”, “Moss Garden” and “Neukoln,” sound a lot like the “just messing around” crap I used to make in the late Eighties when I bought my first synthesizer.  Either I’m a genius like Bowie or Bowie was flying high and decided to record his experimenting/noodling around with this then (1977) new toy.

OLD MAN: Y'know, I really enjoyed "Heroes" at first. "Beauty and the Beast" is a cool track and I was already familiar with it through Deliverance's cover. The title track is a classic. Absolutely love "Sons of the Silent Age." Then the album kind of crashes and burns in the second half with all these ambient tracks. I mean... I feel like no one had the courage to tell Bowie "no" here. These are just boring and tedious. And there's like...four of them in a row. "Moss Garden" sounds like the generic music they would pipe in at a spa. Seriously, I was so disgusted with the back half of this disc that I didn't listen to it for a couple months. I suppose if I wanted to play devil's advocate I could say these probably have some kind of connection to World War II and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Doesn't make them any less boring. The last track, "The Secret Life of Arabia," is not ambient (thank goodness!) but it's almost an afterthought. The song (and the album) just sort of peter out. Like "I guess we're done here" - fade out. I guess when you have a reputation as a "risk taker" that must means some risks don't really pay off.

UVULAPIE:  I will say that the album, as a whole, is dark and twitchy, similar to what I suspect a drug addiction would be like.  There’s pretty much just half an album here which means I’m comfortable with just writing half a review.

OLD MAN: Word.

Useless Fact: "Heroes" (the song) was inspired by Bowie watching his producer and his mistress at the Berlin Wall. 

Bowie, David - "Hunky Dory"

Bowie, David - Hunky Dory
1971, Parlophone

1. Changes
2. Oh! You Pretty Things
3. Eight Line Poem
4. Life On Mars?
5. Kooks
6. Quicksand
7. Fill Your Heart
8. Andy Warhol
9. Song For Bob Dylan
10. Queen Bitch
11. The Bewlay Brothers

Uvulapie:  Hunky Dory was released back in 1971, before David Bowie was DAVID BOWIE and one year before Ziggy Stardust obliterated the minds of youth the world over.  It was his fourth album and I’m fairly certain his only hit up to that time was “Space Oddity” from his second album.  This album starts with his second hit, “Changes”, which still sounds amazingly fresh and invigorating despite it being drawn from 50's pop nostalgia and nightclub noir.  Another song which immediately caught my fancy is the lighthearted “Kooks” in which he asks his newborn son if he wants to stay and be raised by a couple of kooks.  The music is upbeat with strings, a plucky piano in the verse, and an unusual arrangement.  It sounds sentimental and sweet, almost kitschy, and certainly not something I was expecting from the experimental, gender-bending DAVID BOWIE.

Old Man:  I won't belabor the point here - I like Hunky Dory more than Scary Monsters. It seems a lot more unified that's for sure. It's also nice to hear Bowie just sing the dang songs instead of yowl all over them. Wow... that was a lot more critical of Bowie than I thought I'd be, but there it is. "Andy Warhol" is great and it's one of my favorite Bowie songs ever already. I also really enjoyed "Oh! You Pretty Things," "Kooks," and "Queen Bitch." The last one sounds like a sort of proto-"Suffragette City." "Kooks" also vaguely reminds me of Daniel Amos' "Props." Not really sure why, though. I'm probably not as wild about "Fill Your Heart" because it seems a little goofy and cheesy but without the familial grounding of "Kooks." However, unlike Scary Monsters, there's not one song on here that I don't like.

Uvulapie: I just re-listened to both “Queen Bitch” and “Suffragette City” so that I could properly tear your comparison to shreds (purely for readership entertainment value, of course) and daggonit Old Man, you’re right.  Whatever.  Good catch.  I’ll respectfully disagree on the “Props”/”Kooks” comparison, however, though you get points for working in a Daniel Amos reference.  One song neither of us mentioned is the gorgeous “Life On Mars?”  It’s a dramatic yet forlorn piano song (in fact, most of the songs on this album are either based on piano or feature it in some way) that builds in an orchestral string section and a big, reaching vocal melody in the chorus.  And if I may work in one final digression, and I will unless you edit it out, this song reminds me of the first two Alice Cooper solo albums in its lofty rock/orchestra arrangement.

Old Man: Dude, I would never edit anything out. What's the fun in that? I didn't think to make the Alice Cooper comparison, but you're right. They were contemporaries on different continents but they tapped into a similar vibe. Though I don't know off-hand when this album was released in comparison with those. Another song we didn't mention was album closer, "The Bewlay Brothers." It's a bit more "Bowie" in that it seems a little more dour, experimental, and more... well Bowie than the rest of the album. It also ends with him singing in a thick accent for theatrical effect. Something Peter Gabriel used to do pretty regularly around the same time in Genesis. Theatrics were big back then...

Hunky Dory seems to be a hit with the both of us. I confess that I would direct someone to this album rather than Scary Monsters to get a sample of the artist.

Useless Fact: The line, "I am a product of Churchill's lies" in "Quicksand" shows up in Jimmy P. Brown's first Fearful Symmetry album as, "I am a product of Church's lies" from "Reinvent the World."

Bowie, David - "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)"

Bowie, David - Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
1980/1999, Parlophone

1. It's No Game (Part 1)
2. Up the Hill Backwards
3. Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
4. Ashes To Ashes
5. Fashion
6. Teenage Wildlife
7. Scream Like a Baby
8. Kingdom Come
9. Because You're Young
10. It's No Game (Part 2)

If you’re a regular reader you might remember the Genesis Project from 2016. I had a lot of fun with that and I always meant to do a David Bowie Project. Unfortunately, life had other plans and I never got around to it. Despite Mr. Bowie not getting his own official project, I still wanted to do something because I needed an excuse to buy some Bowie albums. So this is a sort of David Bowie Project lite, if you will. I can’t guarantee a Bowie album every month – the release schedule is: you'll get 'em when we finish 'em. This is because I am doing something a little different – a team review with my friend Uvulapie! We’re going to trade off thoughts and see how it goes! I’ll go first –

The Old Man: First off, I admit Scary Monsters is probably a strange place to start. I have no defense except that “Ashes to Ashes” is one of my favorite Bowie songs and it’s on this album. It also has “Fashion,” which is another well known and well liked Bowie tune. So… here’s the thing. I like Scary Monsters, I really do. But I don’t love it. I’m not sure what my deal is. Maybe my expectations were too high. I was expecting to just be floored but I wasn’t, even though I liked what I heard. There are a couple songs I’m not wild about either, particularly “Kingdom Come” (which is a cover), “Up the Hill Backwards,” and “Teenage Wildlife.” On the other hand I loved “It’s no Game” (both parts), the title track, and “Scream Like a Baby.” Maybe I should have gone with a different album to start with?

Uvulapie: Scary Monsters is a great start for me because it was the first album where I became aware of David Bowie as an artist.  It was late 1980 and this new channel called MTV was on cable (yes, I’m about a decade older than The Old Man which makes me, what…  The Older Man?)  They played the video for “Ashes to Ashes” and as a kid I really liked monsters so the name of the album caught my eye.  And so did the video.  By today’s standards it’s laughably lo-fi but, being the consummate artist that he is, Bowie was able to create images that stuck in my brain for decades, images of ghostly clowns on some martian landscape.  But instead of following up on this Bowie fellow my fifth-grade self plunked his money down to get Love Stinks by J. Geils Band, a video that starts with a guy using two fish as drum sticks.  Which is all to say that I heartily approve of your choice.

The Old Man: First of all you’re not the “Older Man” you’re the…Ancient Man! Haha! Get it? Because you’re SO MUCH OLDER than me! *ahem* Anyway, I never got to see any of the videos from this album but there are plenty of pictures of Bowie in the clown costume in the liner notes of my version of the album. Here’s one random thing I noticed – Bowie’s vocals in “It’s No Game (Part I)” are pretty desperate and ragged. The vocals in “…Part II,” however, are far more restrained – as if the singer is just trying to get his bearings of the situation he’s in. I’ve wondered why put the desperate vocals first? It seems like we get the end of the story, then the beginning. Which, now that I think about it is a pretty David Bowie thing to do.

Uvulapie: BALDERDASH!  Actually I never even noticed the change in vocal tone so one point for The Old Man.  What I did notice were all the guitar noodlings of Robert Fripp.  ALL.  OF.  THEM.  In songs like “It’s No Game” which is one part song and three parts Fripp.  They’re also in “Up The Hill Backwards” which sounds like a sing-a-long that would be sung around a camp fire.  Enough with the Frippery, already!  On the plus side are the creepy wavering piano tones and the slap bass of “Ashes to Ashes”, the immensely urgent and memorable melody of “Fashion”,  the weird warped spoken parts of “Scream Like a Baby” (plus the cowbell), and the authentic jangly eighties synth vibe from the intro of “Because You're Young.”  And how can you not enjoy lyrics like “Little metal-faced boy / Don’t stay away.”   But I fear that I’m agreeing too much and we all know that dissension makes for more interesting reading.  So hey, Adam, “Teenage Wildlife” is da bomb!  How can you not like Bowie singing an incomplete song like a bored lounge singer?  That’s not laziness… that’s genius!

The Old Man: "Teenage Wildlife" is...long. Too long. Even though I think it does a good job of evoking 50's Americana, I just don't care for it. I'm not sure if it's the pacing or length or what. Though now that it's walking around in my head I feeling like listening to it again. Maybe my opinion will change? Anyway, the synths in "Because You're Young" are actually my least favorite part of that song! I noticed you'd didn't say anything about "Kingdom Come." I think if you said you liked it I'd have to drive to your house for a fist fight. Haha! Just kidding! (Sort of!) So all in all it seems Scary Monsters is a bit of a mixed bag. "Ashes to Ashes" will remain one of my favorite Bowie tracks of all time. However, as a whole it seems to leave a bit to be desired. It wasn't the complete revelation that I'd hoped it would be, but there's still plenty more Bowie to dig into.

Bowie, David - "Best of Bowie"

Bowie, David - Best of Bowie

2002, EMI/Virgin

1. Space Oddity

2. Changes

3. Suffragette City

4. Ziggy Stardust

5. The Jean Genie

6. Rebel Rebel

7. Young Americans

8. Fame

9. Golden Years

10. "Heroes"

11. Ashes To Ashes

12. Fashion

13. Under Pressure (w/ Queen)

14. Let's Dance

15. China Girl

16. Modern Love

17. Blue Jean

18. Dancing In the Street (w/ Mick Jagger)

19. This Is Not America (w/ The Pat Metheny Group)

20. I'm Afraid of Americans (V1)

I'm not a huge fan of David Bowie, but I do like enough of his songs that I was motivated to snag this "greatest hits" collection. It's got pretty much all the songs you've probably heard on the radio. It also turned me on to some of his other tunes like "Ashes to Ashes" that I'd never heard before but instantly liked. It's also nice to have the industrial tinged "I'm Afraid of Americans" available. Trent Reznor helped out on that one and you can tell - it sounds like NIN with David Bowie on vocals.

Useless Fact: There's a two disc version of this collection with more songs out there, but as you can see I didn't care enough to track that one down.