David Bowie At 50
By Tony Chrome

In His Own Words

"Being 50 I want to see what you can do as a rock artist at 50. Everybody else can do what they want to do but I know what I want to do and I’ve got the chance of doing it."

"It’s extraordinarily exciting for me because I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen. I really feel if I had to lay back on what I’ve done before I’d much prefer to stop and I really would much prefer to sculpt and paint and that sort of thing."

"I’m still wildly excited about what I do as a musician; then that’s the course that I choose to take."

"I’m really not quite sure why we eventually settled on 'Earthling.' It was supposed to describe man’s pure habitat on Earth. The irony isn’t lost on me that it’s sort of me in maybe my most worldly guise. A human guise. Naturally enough I really like this album because it’s the most recent one."

"Since the early 90’s I was really impressed with this new music that they call jungle and I touched by what was happening in London. On the Outside album, for a couple of tracks, 'I’m Betrayed' and 'We Prick You,' both sort of paid homage to that nature of music, and I wanted to create a hybrid with jungle. And I already started using a lot of drum and bass industrial tech sounds on the live show, and it gradually evolved during the course of the whole of this year, and by the time we were doing the festival in Europe we were really enjoying ourselves. We were really excited how the band had evolved in one year. We were down to just a five piece. That’s Mike Garson on keyboards (ex-Spiders), Reeves Gabriels on guitar (ex-Tin Machine), Zachary Alford on drums, and Gail Ann Dorsey on bass, and myself, we wanted to take this high energy we created on tour and take it into the studio. We virtually had two days between finishing the tour and going into the studio so we really went in fast. We wrote the new album in nine and a half days. That was the point of the exercise, to work really quickly, write really fast, and see what happened. I can’t foresee me stopping working. I really love what I do for a living."

 

From Hive Dweller To Earthling

The very first recording released by David Bowie was "Liza Jane"/"Louie Louie Go Home" on Vocalion (a division of British Decca). At the time of the release of "Liza Jane" he was still known by his real surname and the credit on the 45 appears as David Jones & The King Bees. The flip side was a cover of a then current Paul Revere & The Raiders tune. The year was 1964 and this young quintet and their leader were influenced by the British R&B look and sound of The Pretty Things and The Rolling Stones quite heavily. A year later he was fronting a similar group dubbed The Mannish Boys.

By 1966, after adopting a stage name, his group was known as David Bowie And The Lower Third. Pop leanings were emerging by the time his first LP, David Bowie, was released on Deram in 1967. This Deram material, comprised of all self-composed tunes and bearing a strong resemblance to Anthony Newley in the vocal department, is reportedly about to be released as The Deram Anthology, and will include unreleased songs and outtakes, possibly prepared with the cooperation of Mr. Bowie himself.

The major improvement of "Man of Words, Man of Music" (the original title of the Space Oddity LP) was the fluency this young songwriter had developed in such a short space of time with dialectic pieces and poetic, dreamy, tunes with cryptic overtones. Highlights include "Cygnet Committee", "Jamine", and the top 5 British hit "Space Oddity", his first commercial breakthrough.

In the interim between Man of Words/Space Oddity and The Man Who Sold The World, the first line up of what would become The Spiders was developing.

Ah! The Spiders with their fantastic stage extravaganzas appearing as though they teleported down from outer space in lurex and lace. The transition from tired sixties anti-showbiz values and the emergence of what was conveniently labeled "Glitter", the Ziggy Stardust period was when all hell broke loose. Packed halls with screaming fans, cognoscenti, and eager press for this copy-worthy individual and his refined heavy metal kids. The transition to this climax of Spidermania was preceded by the brilliant LPs, The Man Who Sold The World (with large doses of Mick Ronson’s guitar and arranging genius) and the introspective collection of the abstract and referential songs that fill the thoroughly enjoyable yet jarring Hunky Dory.

Hunky Dory’s understated brilliance was followed by the creation of David Bowie’s first mass media character. He was playing the role of Ziggy Stardust and dubbed his 1972 LP and subsequent touring and recording group The Spiders From Mars. This fantastic phase of his career involved a highly successful album and world tour. This time he rose to mount a one man second British Invasion of America, which was to affect the public perception of him as a superstar from then onwards. He achieved his highest chart placings and attracted the largest crowds to date during these breakthrough years of 1972 and 1973. All this activity culminated with his audiovisual impressions of America on his next opus, Aladdin Sane, an underrated and explosive piece of work showcasing the piano outbursts of one Mike Garson, who re-joined his group on the Outside LP and tour and remained by his side until the present and hopefully into the future.

By the end of this so-called "Glam" phase, all the parties concerned decided to call it a day, and the end of the Spiders culminated with the NBC 1984 Floor TV special, the Pin-Ups LP, and the farewell performance at the Hammersmith Odeon, captured on film as "Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture" by D.A. Pennebaker. His next move was the Diamond Dogs album with assistance from hired hands, and David handling all the guitar work. This project was a foreboding Orwellian odyssey, followed by a mammoth stage show designed by Jules Fischer. An extreme about face and another commercial peak occurred in the wake of his plastic soul excursion, Young Americans, producing no less than two major his singles: the title track, and "Fame" (with John Lennon guesting), rising to the top of the charts and giving David Bowie his first American number one record.

He then re-invented himself as "The Thin White Duke" for the Station To Station LP and tour. This music was a fusion of dance and metal with mixed results, but definitely another first. He then composed a soundtrack to a Nicholas Roeg film he was starring in entitled "The Man Who Fell To Earth", which was rejected by the filmmaker and subsequently became half of his new album, Low, the first of a trilogy of not very commercial, yet extremely influential LPs with Brian Eno. The soundtrack comprised side 2 of Low and song fragments seemingly arranged in a somewhat arbitrary manner (influenced by William Burroughs cut up technique) filled side 1 and worked quite well. Bowie and Eno dubbed this work process "oblique strategies".

The second work of the ongoing trilogy was dubbed Heroes and followed the same structure (side 1 vocal, side 2 instrumental) and proceeded in this vein with mixed yet still satisfying results. Heroes produced the anthemic title track, which still holds up very well today.

Album three, Lodger, the final installment of this remarkable trilogy, is possibly the most experimental of the batch. Adding Adrian Belew (ex-Zappa) on guitar to the mix was an innovative move, and textured sonic assaults like "Red Sails", with waves of guitar noise, worked quite well. The accompanying videos for "D.J." and "Boys Keep Swinging" were also precedent setting moves.

Scary Monsters arrived after the dawn of the eighties and was his last great album until the return to form and reunion with Eno of the artistic triumph Outside years later in 1995. Scary Monsters was a precarious juggling of sarcastic kitsch such as "Fashion" and "Boys Keep Swinging", scoring as UK hits both, and the excursion fare "Repetition" and "Yassassin".

The eighties produced the Reagan/Thatcher era muzak of "Let’s Dance", "Blue Jean", and "Modern Love" on a series of pay-the-rent-on-the-villa-in-Switzerland favorites, and their accompanying long players best left forgotten.

Bowie emerged from this abyss and reinvented himself as a group, Tin Machine, and picked up his trusty new guitar foil, Reeves Gabriels along the way during this transitional period. After a few years woodshedding like one of the boys, David was ready to unleash his new masterpiece, Outside, admittedly listening to a bit of the old Scott "Tilt" Walker along the way.

Jungle music (that dreaded techno-derived bass and drum concoction sweeping the nation for the last several years) has been assimilated on David Bowie’s latest offering, "Earthling", and it’s quite an intoxicating brew of ear candy and poison. What’s in store for us next from DukeStardustAladdinSaneEarthling? The music is outside!

 

Bowie's Birthday Party at the Garden

The festivities commence with a very faithful version of "Little Wonder" from the Earthling album, after which David makes the pronouncement "We’re your rock band for the night. We’re going to get partified with a bunch of fantastic guests", which just about sums it up. This is followed by "Heart’s Filthy Lesson" from his previous release, Outside. At this point Frank Black guests on "Scary Monsters", then joins the Thin White Duke for a rousing rendition of "Fashion", segueing into a rare guestless "Telling Lies". After the announcing The Foo Fighters, the enlarged bunch launch into "Halo Spaceboy". Strapping on an axe and joined by Dave Grohl, they perform the extremely P.C. "Seven Years In Tibet". Then Bowie shocks us by pulling out a Nirvana number, "The Man Who Sold The World". (Ha ha ha ha!) Some kids in our kulture actually believe this! Robert Smith of The Cure then emerges for "Last Thing You Should Do". Bowie sez "this goes back a long time" and sinks into "Quicksand" from Hunky Dory with a hirsute Robby. "Battle For Britain" follows with very exacting execution. Next is "Voyeur", from the rather more adventurous and esoteric Outside. With Sonic Youth, "Afraid Of Americans" is the next selection punched up on the outta space jukebox with Thurston, Kim, & co.

More music for & from Earthling as "Satellite" gently plays in the sports facility and the fans roar! A duet with bassist/singer Gail Ann Dorsey (subbing for Freddy) and Mr. B raising their voices for an authentic "Under Pressure". Now let’s all go to Berlin for a bit of "Heroes" by the wall! It’s enough to tear it down once again! Looou! Looou! The King of New York himself, Mr. Lou Reed! Up on the 11th floor trying hard to pull Sister Flo on "Queen Bitch" up 3 flights of stairs for "I’m Waiting For My Man". Some VU classic rock for you white boys in San Francisco.

Then Looou steps up to center stage for a trip to dat "Dirty Blvd." that runs parallel to desolation. This climaxes in a hot bath of "White Light/White Heat". Looou exits and we freak out in a "Moonage Daydream". Yeah!

Gail sings David "Happy Birthday" and the fans cheer. David’s birthday speech: "For those who’ve come and seen me for so many years it’s been a fantastic ride. Thank you very much. For those of you who maybe just found my music, I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t bore you. We’ll do a couple more songs then au revoir."

"All The Young Dudes" in a climactic version with Billy Corrigan follows this speech and your rock band for the night ends their set with "Jean Genie"! After the main event we are treated to an intimate performance of "Space Oddity", his first major success. Bowie waves the crowd goodnight and we adjourn to the dressing for backstage renditions of "I Can’t Read" and "Repetition" with stunning special effects (of course) and another chapter in David Bowie’s fantastic career ends for now.

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