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Post by Meth Lab Shenanigans on Dec 15, 2016 2:35:45 GMT -5
I don't buy the bit about him being "an era too late" to get Bowie. His music's aged extraordinarily well, I don't know of any rock stars from the '70s who have as many young fans as Bowie does. Maybe Led Zeppelin. I see what you're saying but I think there's a difference between someone being a few years too young to get Bowie at the time and "kids" "today". The main thing here being access to and the visibility of things from pop culture history. It's much easier for a 17 year old today to be pointed towards Bowie's best as a starting point than it was 30 years ago. At that time all that was readily available was the current iteration of an artist and if that had lost some of its previous sheen then it was easy to dismiss it as irrelevant. This is a good point.
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Post by Nudeviking on Dec 15, 2016 19:17:29 GMT -5
Aladdin Sane (1973)I don't know anything about this album and have no anecdotes about 8th grade to discuss, so let's just get down to business. Pre-Existing PrejudicesI thought I knew "The Jean Genie," but prior to listening to this album, @gordonfrohman told me I was confusing it with some other song called "Dream Weaver," so I guess I don't know anything about this album after all. Songs"Watch That Man" Bluesy rock n' roll number that wouldn't have sounded out of place in Rocky Horror Picture Show. As an album opener this one's pretty good. The chorus of ladies that appears in the coda is a nice touch. "Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?)" Dave Bowie finally came up with a piano lead song I am not against. I kind of like how the verses are smoky jazz club ballads and the choruses are heavy riff rock. The piano solo part is great. I like the Sonic Youth-sequel guitar skronk and wild saxophone wailing that happens in the background during it. "Drive-In Saturday" This is a weird song. It's a doo-wop song with weird sci-fi synth flourishes. The ending is good. "Panic in Detroit" This is great. Che Guevara name drops. Chorus of ladies that sound like "Gimme Shelter." Wild bongos and or conga drums. A superb guitar riff. A+ effort all around. "Cracked Actor" Holy fuck what a monstrous riff. The riff is so great that I'm willing to overlook the shitty harmonica part. Lyrically this seems to be about a prostitute giving a dude a blowjob, making this the second Bowie song about blowjobs I have encountered ("She Shook Me Cold" being the first). I believe that no other popular artist in the history of music has more blowjob songs than Bowie. "Time" Kind of a downer after such a great two pack of songs, but it's got pseudo Goddamn Brian May Guitar Sound going on and describes Time as falling "wanking to the floor," so I'll give it a pass. "The Prettiest Star" David Bowie's not a very good saxophone player is he? Saxophones aside this is an inoffensive 1950s rock n' roll panache. Nothing about it really stands out, but it's not overlong or annoying. "Let's Spend The Night Together" I'm familiar with The Rolling Stones version of this song, but this one is better because it's got synths in it and is way sleazier. The Bowie version succeeded in getting someone to go home with it to dance the blanket hornpipe. The Stones version probably got a drink thrown in its face. "The Jean Genie" Bloooooooooooooooze! As far as WASPy blues songs go this one's alright because at least the lyrics are about the whitest white guy shit ever. "Lady Grinning Soul" Piano slow jam. If "Please Mister Gravedigger (Version Two)" weren't ready a thing this would get my vote for worst album closing song yet. Plus three points for talking about touching boobs. Finally ThoughtsOverall I liked this better than Ziggy Stardust. Ziggy Stardust had higher highs to be certain, but it had lower lows as well. The worst songs on this album were songs that were merely okay instead of good and none of them were so long that they tried my patience. The best song on the album is probably "Panic in Detroit" with honorable mention going to "Cracked Actor." The worst song is probably "Lady Grinning Soul." "Time" narrowly avoided this indignity by talking about Time jerking off and by deftly deploying the Goddamn Brian May Guitar Sound and causing me to chuckle.
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Post by ganews on Dec 15, 2016 19:30:45 GMT -5
"The Prettiest Star" David Bowie's not a very good saxophone player is he? Grudging point for trolling, I guess. "The Jean Genie" is my favorite Bowie song.
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Post by Nudeviking on Dec 15, 2016 20:49:43 GMT -5
"The Prettiest Star" David Bowie's not a very good saxophone player is he? Grudging point for trolling, I guess. "The Jean Genie" is my favorite Bowie song. No, no trolling. I honestly don't think he's a particularly good saxophonist and I am of the mind that a lot of time he puts unnecessary saxophone parts into songs because he thinks he a better saxophone player than he actually is.
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Post by Meth Lab Shenanigans on Dec 16, 2016 1:56:26 GMT -5
"The Prettiest Star" David Bowie's not a very good saxophone player is he? I think his abilities are limited, but he uses them very well. He knows his limitations. I'd say my favorite tracks off Aladdin Sane are "Watch That Man" and "Time." We should be on by nowwwwwwwwwwwwww...
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Post by Prole Hole on Dec 17, 2016 8:16:51 GMT -5
Grudging point for trolling, I guess. "The Jean Genie" is my favorite Bowie song. No, no trolling. I honestly don't think he's a particularly good saxophonist and I am of the mind that a lot of time he puts unnecessary saxophone parts into songs because he thinks he a better saxophone player than he actually is. I again find myself on Nudie's side re Bowie Orthodoxy, because I also don't think he's an especially good sax player. He's functional, and has a basic ability to hit the right note at the right place, but there's no real passion or energy to his sax playing when a more experienced hand might be able to add to, rather than just run alongside, the material. Anyway, glad you like Aladdin Sane! For me it's a bit weaker than Ziggy - but then for me almost everything is a bit weaker than Ziggy. "Panic In Detroit" is effortlessly my favourite song from AS, so very glad to hear you like it, and yea "Cracked Actor" is just a killer riff - I wish the song had been worked on just a little more so it was a bit longer than two-verses-then-fade, but it's still a great song. I dig Bowie's 20's-Berlin piano stuff, so "Time", "Lady Grinning Soul" and the title track all work incredibly well for me (the title track is probably my number two song on the album - I love the discordant jazz piano). The reason this falls a bit below Ziggy for me, though, is probably the production. "Watch That Man" is a good song, but the vocals are placed weirdly - and not in a trying-to-do-something-interesting way, just in a this-wasn't-balanced-correctly way. "Drive-In Saturday" is the same - odd production (and I'm not really a fan of doo-wop) make it a bit of a strange fit, and it clashes with the otherwise-perfectly produced songs like "Panic In Detroit" or "Aladdin Sane". It doesn't make for an especially unified whole (and as ever the whole concept album aspect is, at best, tenuous). Saying all that though, Aladdin Sane is still a bloody good album, and thoroughly enjoyable. You have Pin-Ups next. You poor, poor thing.
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Post by Meth Lab Shenanigans on Dec 18, 2016 2:26:17 GMT -5
I don't consider Pin-Ups a "real" Bowie album. It was just a throwaway he did for fun.
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Dellarigg
AV Clubber
This is a public service announcement - with guitars
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Post by Dellarigg on Dec 18, 2016 4:21:17 GMT -5
I don't consider Pin-Ups a "real" Bowie album. It was just a throwaway he did for fun. Yeah - and as such it's a perfectly fine album. I've never gotten the disregard for it. Sorrow's on there, for shit's sake!
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Trurl
Shoutbox Elitist
Posts: 7,471
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Post by Trurl on Dec 19, 2016 17:54:41 GMT -5
The only reason I *like* Bowie's sax is because he's not good at it. The saxophone is a terrible instrument and saxophonists are the woodwinds' answer to hair metal guitarists. I'd rather stick pencils through my eardrums than listen to Charlie Parker.
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Post by Nudeviking on Dec 20, 2016 3:31:34 GMT -5
Pin Ups (1973)I was warned about this one. Repeatedly. By countless people. "Pin Ups is the goddamned worst album of all!" "Worse than David Bowie what with 'Please Mister Gravedigger (Version Two)?'" "Oh god yes. That one at least had whimsy. Pin Ups is a crime against humanity!" It's an album of covers which doesn't fill me with as much dread as apparently it does with others. Cover songs can be pretty fun and often serve as a gateway to bands and singers a person might otherwise never listen to. To be completely and totally honest the vast majority of my knowledge of David Bowie's own discography comes not from him, but rather from 1990s alterna-rock bands covering his songs. So I'm going into this one with an open mind, naysayers be damned. Pre-Existing PrejudicesHe's got two The Who songs on here, one of which ("I Can't Explain") is one of my favorite jams of all time. There's a Kinks song as well (another band I like), but it was apparently a b-side or something so I've never actually heard it. And then there's a Pink Floyd song. Since I've come around on Queen, Pink Floyd holds the spot of my most hated band of all. They are terrible, and unlike Queen I've actually heard the bulk of their "classic" discography and know precisely why I hate them. To be honest the only good thing Pink Floyd ever did was serve as the catalyst for a joke in the Homerpalooza episode of The Simpsons. Songs"Rosalyn" I feel like everyone's been putting me on. This is not terrible. In fact it's a pretty decent garage rock song. Bowie singing doesn't really sound like Bowie on this which I suppose could make someone who's super into Bowie's regular voice not think too highly of this song. "Here Comes The Night" Okay, you all weren't kidding when you said Pin Ups was terrible. Oh my god, this fucking saxophone solo. Anyone who gave me shit for saying Bowie was a mediocre saxophonist, you were right, I take it back. He's not mediocre he's fucking terrible. That solo sounded like some elementary school child who'd been playing for months attempting to play "Hot Cross Buns" or something. Fuck this song. "I Wish You Would" This riff is great. I should listen to more Yardbirds. Ug...way to ruin it with half-assed harmonica bleating Bowie, and what is up with these vocals? Is he intentionally trying to sound like an asshole? I don't get it. Bowie's not generally a shitty singer, but he totally ruined a great rock jam with bullshit bad singing. Maybe he's being ironic? Did they have irony in the 70s? No? Maybe he's being post-modern then? "See Emily Play" Weird. Somehow David Bowie took what's probably the least annoying, most straight forward pop song Pink Floyd ever did and turned it into an overlong piece of shit with superfluous string sections and madness inducing vocals. It was like he heard the original and decided, "That old Pink Floyd non-album single wasn't Pink Floyd-esque enough. I'd better fix it." "Everything's Alright" Shitty rock n' roll. Rock n' roll piano and bad saxophone bleating. A choir of David Bowies doing Elvis impressions. The music sounds like Rocky Horror Picture Show but terrible. "I Can't Explain" Fuck you Dave. Fuck you forever. These saxophones...I can't deal with this. Please make it stop. "Friday on my Mind" Another good riff ruined by an "ironic" vocal performance by Dave Bowie. Is he doing a fake British accent? I am so over this album. "Sorrow" More fucking G.E. Smith & The Saturday Night Live Band saxophone shit. It's kind of a pity, because beside bad saxophoning, the song's not bad. Bowie's actually singing and there's a decent string part. I guess this one's pretty good. "Don't Bring Me Down" Harmonicas. Rock n' roll. Blooooooooze. Everything half-assed. I hate this so fucking much. "Shapes of Things" The vocals during the chorus are wrong. They don't sound good and of course there's fucking poorly played saxophone shit everywhere. I have come to loathe the saxophone in all its myriad forms. If I were forced to say something positive about this song, I guess the synthesizer part during the verses is pretty cool sounding. "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" Good job Dave, you ruined another fucking The Who song. Kudos to you for putting out a cover that a random bar band would have been embarrassed by. "Where Have All The Good Times Gone" The riff's not terrible and that four note keyboard(?) thing that shows up is pretty good, but none of that matters because the album's done with, and that's all I care about at this point. Final ThoughtsFuck this album. I think I'm taking a Bowie sabbatical after this one.
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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Dec 20, 2016 21:52:52 GMT -5
"Sorrow" is a classic.
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Post by Nudeviking on Dec 21, 2016 1:46:11 GMT -5
Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy 7" (1982)
Since it's nearly Christmas I figured I'd break with tradition and review a non-album single (and one that's somewhat out of chronological order at that). In 1977, the same year that gave us Star Wars, Bing Crosby filmed a Christmas special, because what else really would he being doing. Bing Crosby is a name that trails just behind Santa Claus on the Dudes I Think of When Someone Mentions Christmas list (sorry Jesus, you're a respectable #3). Bing, or perhaps his producers, decided to show that they were with it and hip to sounds of the youth of the day and recruited David Bowie to appear as part of the special. Together they did a duet of "Little Drummer Boy" with some other nonsense tacked on top of it. Bing Crosby died five weeks later. In the years that followed the duet became somewhat inescapable and in 1982 David Bowie's record label finally released it as a single with a random song from the album Lodger, "Fantastic Voyage," as the b-side. This is what we are going to be listening to today. Pre-Existing Prejudices
The David Bowie & Bing Crosby version of "Little Drummer Boy" was ubiquitous around Christmas time in the early 80s and beyond. MTV used to play it on Christmas Day well into the 90s alongside "Christmas in Hollis" and "Oi to the World," so I'm pretty familiar with it. I've always thought it was a decent enough rendition of "Little Drummer Boy." The b-side, I'm completely unfamiliar with. Songs
"Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" I am ecstatic that they've left the spoken word intro part on the song since that's pretty much the best part of the entire Bowie & Bing pairing. They have such an awkward conversation it's utterly fantastic. The gist of it is Bing Crosby is some British lord's relative from America and is visiting the aforementioned lord's Christmas Manor House, which is just down the road from David Bowie's domicile. Bowie shows up because the Lord of Christmas Manor would let him use the piano there whenever he wanted. This seems weird to me because why wouldn't David Bowie have a piano of his own? I bet he was really showing up for something coke or cock related but when Bing Crosby answered the door a completely coked up Bowie had to come up with some reasonable excuse to be calling at this British lord's Christmas Manor House in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve and was just like, "Uhh...I wanted to sing about Time masturbating itself and Lord Cokecock said I could use his piano whenever I wanted to." Bing let's him in and they talk about Christmas traditions at the Bowie house as Bing Crosby is want to do when meeting strange coked out Brits in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve. David Bowie reveals that has a six year old son who apparently gets super excited at Christmas time. He goes on to say that the Bowies sing songs and hang up decorations and stuff, just like real Earth people do. Bing is impressed by the fact that the Bowies sing carols at home and then Bowie is all like, "Hows about we sing 'Little Drummer Boy together?'" Bing agrees and the song commences. Listening to it now, I'm surprised at how much more dominant the David Bowie "Peace on Earth" part is when compared to the Bing Crosby "Little Drummer Boy" part. I always thought the opposite was true. There's pretty decent croning from both dudes and I think the Peace on Earth part works pretty well as a counterpoint to the Little Drummer Boy stuff., but really the actually song plays second fiddle to the insanity that is David Bowie moments after going downhill skiing nose first conversing about holiday traditions with Mister Christmas, Bing Crosby. "Fantastic Voyage" This does not really get me in the holiday spirit at all, but you'd be hard pressed to make a song about nuclear annihilation festive ("Do You Hear What I Hear?" is the closest we, as a people ever got and even that one's pretty much a bummer of a song). "Fantastic Voyage" is a pretty good song, but the ending is kind of abrupt. I kind of wish there was a longer outro or even another verse and chorus before the song ended. If this is at all indicative the Bowie to come, I might be willing to overlook some of the awfulness that was Pin Ups. Bonus Song Not Found on the Single
"'Heroes'" During the aforementioned Bing Crosby Christmas thing, David Bowie also performed "'Heroes'" which was, at the time, a single from his most recent album. Video of that performance is included below. I think it's a fine rendition of a fine pop rock song, and though it doesn't really do much to fill me with Christmas cheer, I think this live version would have probably made a better b-side to the "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" single thematically than a random track from Lodger by virtue of coming from the same original source as "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy." Final Thoughts
It's weird that something as strange and awkward as this performance has become a timeless part of Christmas to the extent that it can be spoofed and parodied and people around the global will chuckle and say, "Ho ho, they're parodying that time a coked up David Bowie and a doddering old Bing Crosby sang a mediocre Christmas song together! How rich?" Listening to it this time around, I kind of wonder if this oddball performance gave rise to all those old crooners + young pop stars duet albums that were a thing in the 90s. Those albums very rarely worked since they were more often than not tongue and cheek in a way that this duet wasn't. Yes, it's awkward and surreal, but there is a weird earnestness in this song that the Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra duet albums of yore lacked. It also speaks volumes to David Bowie's ability to reinvent himself that he never repeated this sort of performance with himself in the clueless old timer role performed by Bing Crosby during this special. When David Bowie worked with Nine Inch Nails or had contemporary DJs remix his songs it felt like a natural pairing since those musicians were making the same sorts of music that Bowie was interested in at the time. Anyway this concludes the Nudeviking vs. David Bowie Holiday Extravaganza. The discography proper will continue after Christmas. Merry Christmas to all!
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Post by Prole Hole on Dec 21, 2016 3:51:18 GMT -5
Wow what a shitty, shitty Bowie album to end 2016 on, though I suppose that fits the year pretty well. I don't really know what to say about Pin-Ups that you haven't said already. Normally I'm all about the redemptive readings, but this piece of crap is just irredeemable. I do agree with Monty (and your good self) that "Sorrow" can be just about rescued, especially if it's in the middle of a Bowie playlist or something and you don't have to slog through the album before you get to it, but other than that, fuck this album. Fuck it.
The Bowie/Crosby Little Drummer Boy is legitimately one of my favorite Christmas tracks (since I only like about three that's maybe not saying much, but still). It is weirdly sweet, and it mostly works because there's absolutely no sense that Bowie either a) is there to take the piss or somehow undercut what's going on or b) seems to have any idea where is or what he's doing. But it works. Pa-rum-pum-pum-pum.
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Dec 21, 2016 21:15:07 GMT -5
Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy 7" (1982)
Since it's nearly Christmas I figured I'd break with tradition and review a non-album single (and one that's somewhat out of chronological order at that). In 1977, the same year that gave us Star Wars, Bing Crosby filmed a Christmas special, because what else really would he being doing. Bing Crosby is a name that trails just behind Santa Claus on the Dudes I Think of When Someone Mentions Christmas list (sorry Jesus, you're a respectable #3). Bing, or perhaps his producers, decided to show that they were with it and hip to sounds of the youth of the day and recruited David Bowie to appear as part of the special. Together they did a duet of "Little Drummer Boy" with some other nonsense tacked on top of it. Bing Crosby died five weeks later. In the years that followed the duet became somewhat inescapable and in 1982 David Bowie's record label finally released it as a single with a random song from the album Lodger, "Fantastic Voyage," as the b-side. This is what we are going to be listening to today. Pre-Existing Prejudices
The David Bowie & Bing Crosby version of "Little Drummer Boy" was ubiquitous around Christmas time in the early 80s and beyond. MTV used to play it on Christmas Day well into the 90s alongside "Christmas in Hollis" and "Oi to the World," so I'm pretty familiar with it. I've always thought it was a decent enough rendition of "Little Drummer Boy." The b-side, I'm completely unfamiliar with. Songs
"Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" I am ecstatic that they've left the spoken word intro part on the song since that's pretty much the best part of the entire Bowie & Bing pairing. They have such an awkward conversation it's utterly fantastic. The gist of it is Bing Crosby is some British lord's relative from America and is visiting the aforementioned lord's Christmas Manor House, which is just down the road from David Bowie's domicile. Bowie shows up because the Lord of Christmas Manor would let him use the piano there whenever he wanted. This seems weird to me because why wouldn't David Bowie have a piano of his own? I bet he was really showing up for something coke or cock related but when Bing Crosby answered the door a completely coked up Bowie had to come up with some reasonable excuse to be calling at this British lord's Christmas Manor House in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve and was just like, "Uhh...I wanted to sing about Time masturbating itself and Lord Cokecock said I could use his piano whenever I wanted to." Bing let's him in and they talk about Christmas traditions at the Bowie house as Bing Crosby is want to do when meeting strange coked out Brits in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve. David Bowie reveals that has a six year old son who apparently gets super excited at Christmas time. He goes on to say that the Bowies sing songs and hang up decorations and stuff, just like real Earth people do. Bing is impressed by the fact that the Bowies sing carols at home and then Bowie is all like, "Hows about we sing 'Little Drummer Boy together?'" Bing agrees and the song commences. Listening to it now, I'm surprised at how much more dominant the David Bowie "Peace on Earth" part is when compared to the Bing Crosby "Little Drummer Boy" part. I always thought the opposite was true. There's pretty decent croning from both dudes and I think the Peace on Earth part works pretty well as a counterpoint to the Little Drummer Boy stuff., but really the actually song plays second fiddle to the insanity that is David Bowie moments after going downhill skiing nose first conversing about holiday traditions with Mister Christmas, Bing Crosby. "Fantastic Voyage" This does not really get me in the holiday spirit at all, but you'd be hard pressed to make a song about nuclear annihilation festive ("Do You Hear What I Hear?" is the closest we, as a people ever got and even that one's pretty much a bummer of a song). "Fantastic Voyage" is a pretty good song, but the ending is kind of abrupt. I kind of wish there was a longer outro or even another verse and chorus before the song ended. If this is at all indicative the Bowie to come, I might be willing to overlook some of the awfulness that was Pin Ups. Bonus Song Not Found on the Single
"'Heroes'" During the aforementioned Bing Crosby Christmas thing, David Bowie also performed "'Heroes'" which was, at the time, a single from his most recent album. Video of that performance is included below. I think it's a fine rendition of a fine pop rock song, and though it doesn't really do much to fill me with Christmas cheer, I think this live version would have probably made a better b-side to the "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" single thematically than a random track from Lodger by virtue of coming from the same original source as "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy." Final Thoughts
It's weird that something as strange and awkward as this performance has become a timeless part of Christmas to the extent that it can be spoofed and parodied and people around the global will chuckle and say, "Ho ho, they're parodying that time a coked up David Bowie and a doddering old Bing Crosby sang a mediocre Christmas song together! How rich?" Listening to it this time around, I kind of wonder if this oddball performance gave rise to all those old crooners + young pop stars duet albums that were a thing in the 90s. Those albums very rarely worked since they were more often than not tongue and cheek in a way that this duet wasn't. Yes, it's awkward and surreal, but there is a weird earnestness in this song that the Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra duet albums of yore lacked. It also speaks volumes to David Bowie's ability to reinvent himself that he never repeated this sort of performance with himself in the clueless old timer role performed by Bing Crosby during this special. When David Bowie worked with Nine Inch Nails or had contemporary DJs remix his songs it felt like a natural pairing since those musicians were making the same sorts of music that Bowie was interested in at the time. Anyway this concludes the Nudeviking vs. David Bowie Holiday Extravaganza. The discography proper will continue after Christmas. Merry Christmas to all! If you're going to listen to a Bing Crosby song you should really listen to a Google.com Crosby song instead.
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Post by Meth Lab Shenanigans on Dec 23, 2016 0:20:28 GMT -5
"Fantastic Voyage" This does not really get me in the holiday spirit at all, but you'd be hard pressed to make a song about nuclear annihilation festive ("Do You Hear What I Hear?" is the closest we, as a people ever got and even that one's pretty much a bummer of a song). "Fantastic Voyage" is a pretty good song, but the ending is kind of abrupt. I kind of wish there was a longer outro or even another verse and chorus before the song ended. If this is at all indicative the Bowie to come, I might be willing to overlook some of the awfulness that was Pin Ups. Fantastic Voyage is such a great song. I'd say it's definitely indicative of the Bowie to come - if you enjoyed it or found its sound/lyrical content interesting, you should enjoy Station to Station and the Berlin trilogy as well.
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Post by Some Kind of Munster on Dec 23, 2016 11:07:01 GMT -5
"Fantastic Voyage" This does not really get me in the holiday spirit at all, but you'd be hard pressed to make a song about nuclear annihilation festive ("Do You Hear What I Hear?" is the closest we, as a people ever got and even that one's pretty much a bummer of a song). "Fantastic Voyage" is a pretty good song, but the ending is kind of abrupt. I kind of wish there was a longer outro or even another verse and chorus before the song ended. If this is at all indicative the Bowie to come, I might be willing to overlook some of the awfulness that was Pin Ups. Fantastic Voyage is such a great song. I'd say it's definitely indicative of the Bowie to come - if you enjoyed it or found its sound/lyrical content interesting, you should enjoy Station to Station and the Berlin trilogy as well. I like the part where he goes "Slide slide slippity-slide / When you're living in a city it's do or die"
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Post by Nudeviking on Dec 29, 2016 19:18:06 GMT -5
Diamond Dogs (1974)Previously on Nudeviking vs. David Bowie...Pin Ups had left me more or less disgusted with one David Bowie. I was just about ready to give up on the entire thing when D. Bowie's best selling single, "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy (Feat. Bing Crosby)" restored my faith in the man who was Ziggy Stardust. Will Diamond Dogs prove that faith well deserved or will I be forced to endure more halfassed saxophones and British guys doing fake British accents? Pre-Existing Prejudices
"Rebel Rebel" is a song I know. It's a solid rock jam if I recall. But enough about "Rebel Rebel" let's talk about this goddamn album cover. Has there ever, in the history of music albums being a thing, been a more repulsive, off putting album cover and then when you deploy gatefold action it gets even worse. Look at this nonsense! I mean I grew up with a ton of real shitty mid-90s alterna-rock album art but this is some other level shiftiness right here. Why would anyone choose to put such a thing on an album cover? Half alien. Half dog. Half British guy. 150% Bowie! Songs
"Future Legend" This is a concept album. The concept is Glam Rock Mad Max. It's a spoken word piece about mutants and "fleas as big as rats...rats as big as cats," that's a track unto itself but it's really more an intro to the next song than anything else and it's short so it's not as heinous as "Please Mister Gravedigger (Version 2)." "Diamond Dogs" A decent enough sleazy rock n' roll track. The shitty saxophone bleating actually isn't out of place here. "Sweet Thing"/"Candidate"/"Sweet Thing (Reprise)" It's kind of hard to talk about any of these songs as it's own thing since they transition into one another and share lyrical themes and music. There's some piano balladry going on but it's tempered with rock organ and chunky guitar riffs. I like the part that sounds like a flute (maybe an actual flute?) that shows up towards the end of the Reprise. "Rebel Rebel" What a monster of a guitar riff! This song is awesome. "Rock 'n' Roll With Me" When reviewing Queen's first album I wondered if there had ever been a truly great song with "Rock n' Roll" in the title. I still wonder that. That's not to say it's a terrible song. It's just kind of there. "We Are the Dead" Organs are way better than pianos in rock music. David Bowie talks about "fuck me pumps." Maybe the first time he swears on a record. The chorus is pretty solid. "1984" The beginning sounds like "Ghostbusters" before turning into a disco jam with porno wah guitars and disco orchestras. David Bowie is kind of rapping. This song is insane. Thirteen thumbs up! "Big Brother" Weird trumpets to start things off before it's synths and saxophones. It's not a bad song but I think it would be better if the saxophones were lower in the mix and the synths more prominent. "Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family" Guiro weirdness! Except the annoying repetition of "brother," at the end I like this song a lot. Bonuses!I had some kind of 1990s reissue so that means BONUS TRACK!!! WOOO! "Dodo" So much saxophone. So many brass sections. It sounds like the theme song to Sanford and Son. This is a pretty mediocre song. "Candidate (Demo Version)" I had to listen to this and the album version back to back because the first time I heard it I was like, "This song is pretty awesome, but I don't recall anything on the album proper that sounded like this," because beside both a few shared lyrics ("I'll make you a deal" and "pretend (I'm) walking home) the two songs are completely different. I like the demo version better since it's an actual song while the album version is more a movement in a suite that shares more with "Sweet Thing," than this demo. The album version's fine for what it is but this song is a solid jam. Final Thoughts
This was a really solid album. I think the fact that the songs flowed into one another let me overlook stuff that would generally have bugged me if the songs were more stand alone. "Future Legend," for example, is dumb as fuck as its own thing but as an intro to "Diamond Dogs" (the song) it's tolerable. Even songs that are basically okay on their own are made more awesome by the way the album is laid out with weaker tracks being buttressed by stronger ones in such a way that one doesn't really feel complete without the other. Beside "Rebel Rebel" and the bonus tracks there aren't really any tracks you could listen to without listening to at least one song that precedes or follows. It's a far cry from the scattershot collection of songs Queen was putting out at roughly the same time. If we're doing the best and worst song thing I'd go with "Rebel Rebel" and "Future Legend" respectively. If I have to pick a new to me song as the best I'd go with either the "Sweet Thing" suite or the demo version of "Candidate." Yay David Bowie!
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Post by Lone Locust of the Apocalypse on Dec 29, 2016 19:27:55 GMT -5
I knew you'd like this one.
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Post by ganews on Dec 29, 2016 19:50:35 GMT -5
I prefer the following cover to the original. Try it on, sax haters:
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Post by Nudeviking on Dec 29, 2016 20:04:02 GMT -5
I prefer the following cover to the original. Try it on, sax haters: Is this from some random European single? The Japanese version of Odelay? Some bizzaro mid-90s compilation album that probably has the band, that dog., on it? I have a lot of Beck stuff in my record collection but have never heard this before.
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Post by ganews on Dec 29, 2016 20:43:42 GMT -5
I prefer the following cover to the original. Try it on, sax haters: Is this from some random European single? The Japanese version of Odelay? Some bizzaro mid-90s compilation album that probably has the band, that dog., on it? I have a lot of Beck stuff in my record collection but have never heard this before. I was (and am) a Beck completist. I first found this on Kazaa or Limewire or some such in 2002 or so, but it's actually a collaboration with Timbaland on the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack.
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Post by Jean Luc de Lemur on Dec 30, 2016 13:50:19 GMT -5
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Post by Nudeviking on Dec 30, 2016 19:22:41 GMT -5
I know! It's about time Dave got off his ass and delivered a really solid album from start to finish instead of an EP's worth of solid jams padded out with masturbatory saxophone diddlies.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Dec 31, 2016 17:03:56 GMT -5
I prefer the following cover to the original. Try it on, sax haters: Wow! I'm not a sax hater, but I'm with you. I like this one over the original. I wasn't a big "Moulin Rouge" fan, didn't check out anything soundtrack-related. This is pretty cool. Thanks Beck! And Timbaland!
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Post by Nudeviking on Jan 2, 2017 19:21:28 GMT -5
Young Americans (1975)If the cover art is to be believed it seems that after turning into a half-dog, half-alien, half-British guy post-apocalyptic glam rock warlord on the last album, the character of Ziggy Stardust is more or less done with. I'm excited for this album. Diamond Dogs was great and this is clearly going to be something different, so let's get down to business! Pre-Existing PrejudicesI know the song "Fame," and if the "Across the Universe," song on this album is a Beatles cover, I'm familiar with that song as well, though not the Bowie version. I like both those songs well enough. Songs"Young Americans" This sounds like a 1970s Elton John song albeit with more shitty saxophone squealing. The verses are kind of forgettable but the chorus is decent and memorable enough that the first time it hit I was like, "Oh this song. I've heard this before." "Win" A mostly boring slow jam with more shitty saxophones. If I were to say something nice about this I suppose that the chorus is pretty decent. "Fascination" This song is actually pretty awesome. The riffs would be at home in some 70s blacksplotation movie and for the first time in a long time the saxophone wailing adds to the song rather than deters from it. "Right" And we're back to crap saxophone which is a shame because this is otherwise a solid song. The guitar riffs are great as is the Sly Stone style organ. I'd probably like this a lot more if the saxophones were cut out. If I were better with audio technology I'd do a De-Saxed David Bowie thing, put it on YouTube, get written up on Great Job Internet over at the Old Country and then get sued by Sony-Geffen-RCA or whoever has the rights to David Bowie's back catalogue and end up in prison. My cellmate would have a teardrop tattoo by his eye and be like, "Yo mang what are you in for?" and I'd tell him, "I took the saxophones out of a bunch of David Bowie songs from the 70s and posted them on the internet." That evening I'd get shanked by cellmate while he shouted, "Bowie's untouchable mang! Everything he did was perfect!" And as I died from blood loss I'd say, "What about Pin Ups..." and my cellmate would be all like, "Shit mang, you got a point there." "Somebody Up There Likes Me" More terrible G.E. Smith and the Saturday Night Live Band saxophone bleating. I kept half expecting Don Pardo to be like "Featuring Dana Carvey and Phil Hartman! With musical guest En Vogue!" during the way too long coda. "Across the Universe" Is there ever an instance of David Bowie covering a song and not making it worse than the original? Pin Ups was more or less godawful and this, while not as terrible of that diarrhea fart of an album, is not really the sort of thing you'd expect to find on an album proper. It would have been an okay b-side I suppose. "Can You Hear Me" I almost thought this was an inoffensive enough slow jam but then the Goddamn saxophones came in and farted all over everything. "Fame" Not the "I wanna live forever," "Fame," but this one's pretty good too. This is hands down the best sleaze guitar lick ever put to tape. The parts where Dave quasi raps are also grand. It occurs to me now that that Marilyn Manson song, "I Don't Like the Drugs but the Drugs Like Me," is basically a rework of this song. I can't really fault Miss Manson for it though because if you're going to steal sleaze guitar licks and vocal stylings you might as well steal from the best. Final Thoughts
This album was a total disappointment. I thought I'd turned a corner with Dave Bowie and gotten past the too much saxophone garbage but here we are, back to the pointless, masturbatory saxophone fuckery. "Fame" was hands down the best jam on the album with "Fascination" coming in a distant second. As for the worst song I guess "Win." It's kind of hard to pick though since all the other songs on this album (except "Across the Universe") were bad for more or less the same reason (slow and boring with too much shitty saxophone wailing). I hope that things get better again soon. Meh David Bowie...
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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Jan 2, 2017 20:20:54 GMT -5
Fun fact: this album was produced by John Lennon during what I consider to be his "good" solo period, and performed the backing vocals on "Fame."
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Post by ganews on Jan 2, 2017 20:36:51 GMT -5
"Fame" is also solidly in my top 5 Bowie songs. At some point I should elucidate what those actually are.
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Post by Nudeviking on Jan 2, 2017 21:09:31 GMT -5
Fun fact: this album was produced by John Lennon during what I consider to be his "good" solo period, and performed the backing vocals on "Fame." Fun Question: Did John Lennon get annoyed when he heard Davy B's cover of "Across the Universe?"
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Post by Desert Dweller on Jan 3, 2017 1:31:40 GMT -5
I'm wondering if Lennon ever thought anyone performed one of his songs better than he could?
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Dellarigg
AV Clubber
This is a public service announcement - with guitars
Posts: 7,499
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Post by Dellarigg on Jan 3, 2017 6:40:14 GMT -5
According to Wikipedia, John Lennon didn't produce the album - it was Bowie himself, with Tony Visconti and someone by the name of Harry Maslin (unless that was a Lennon pseudonym).
Also, the guitar lick from Fame was borrowed by James Brown almost immediately. (It was written by Carlos Alomar, who had been in one of Brown's bands in the early 60s.) Nice to see the most-sampled artist in history getting in some early sampling of his own.
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