the bowie appreciation thread

[milesy]

was he zowie smith?

 

[Dubversion]

was he zowie smith?

surely Jones?

 

[ViolentPanda]

surely Jones?

Jones Smith?

That's even worse than Zowie Bowie ffs!!

 

[kakuma]

he's the original junglist

 

[Balbi]

After watching The Life Aquatic again, I can confirm - his stuff sounds great in Portuguese.

 

[Termite Man]

So, I say he's an artist.

But not a genius though . I think there is something wrong with people who claim musicians to be genius so easily even if they have crap work . I fucking love The Clash but I'm more than willing to slag some off Cut the Crap and some stuff off London Calling !

Similar with Bowie , he has done some superb stuff but IMO the poor stuff prevents him from being a genius !

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

yep, legend.

"ha ha ha
hee hee hee
I'm a laughing gnome
And you can't catch me".

wow.
certainly made me think hard about a few things, i can tell you!

A soldier with a broken arm, fixed his stare to the wheel of a Cadillac
A cop knelt and kissed the feet of a priest
and a queer threw up at the sight of that
I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour
drinking milk shakes cold and long
Smiling and waving and looking so fine
don't think you knew you were in this song

 

[Mation]

After watching The Life Aquatic again, I can confirm - his stuff sounds great in Portuguese.

I haven't seen the film but I've got the soundtrack album and it's brilliant.

According to the sleevnotes Seu Jorge is pretty much making up his own words and chucking in the odd "cigarette" and "rebel" in the right places!

Wonderful!

 

[Jo/Joe]

Sure, so he's shoved some shit suprisingly often, but surely the shit shouldn't sour the shiney stuff?

 

[Termite Man]

Sure, so he's shoved some shit suprisingly often, but surely the shit shouldn't sour the shiney stuff?

But it doesn't make him a genius though .

 

[Termite Man]

I also think a lot of Bowies great work has come when he has been working with other talented mucisians

Mick Ronson -
Man Who Sold The World
Ziggy Stardust
Hunky Dory
Aladdin Sane

Eno-
Low
Lodger
Heroes

and the stuff he did with Iggy .

Is it just a coincidence that with the exception of maybe 1 or 2 records all his best have had the involvement of talenyted people as well !

 

[Haller]

Is it just a coincidence that with the exception of maybe 1 or 2 records all his best have had the involvement of talenyted people as well !

What are the exceptions? This is rock & roll - it's a collaborative process. And part of Bowie's talent/genius (delete as desired) is an ability to spot a great collaborator. Ain't nothing to be ashamed of.

 

[Termite Man]

What are the exceptions? This is rock & roll - it's a collaborative process. And part of Bowie's talent/genius (delete as desired) is an ability to spot a great collaborator. Ain't nothing to be ashamed of.

The exceptions would be Scary Monsters and Space Oddity ( mainly for The Sygnet Comittee )

I'm not denying he's a great artist I'm a huge fan I'm just trying to point out he isn't as much of a genius as some people think , and the fact that his best work is done when he's working with good people does show he doesn't necesarily have the genius to make the good music on his own . I do agree picking the right people to work with is a sign of a great talent but if you can't produce great work without a decent collaborator then are you a genius ?

This is all my opinion though and I accept people disagree but the argument of "the good outweighs the bad" is shite IMO and I haven't heard any other argument put forward yet !

 

[Haller]

The exceptions would be Scary Monsters and Space Oddity ( mainly for The Sygnet Comittee )

I'm not denying he's a great artist I'm a huge fan I'm just trying to point out he isn't as much of a genius as some people think , and the fact that his best work is done when he's working with good people does show he doesn't necesarily have the genius to make the good music on his own . I do agree picking the right people to work with is a sign of a great talent but if you can't produce great work without a decent collaborator then are you a genius ?

This is all my opinion though and I accept people disagree but the argument of "the good outweighs the bad" is shite IMO and I haven't heard any other argument put forward yet !

There's a lot of truth in the saying that there's no such thing as a genius, only works of genius. Hell, even Shakespeare and Bach had their off days. But Bowie has produced a decent proportion of the very few pieces of rock music that deserve to be called works of genius.

And, I agree with you entirely, Cygnet Committee is right up there. His finest moment, I think, and long since been marked down as the closing music for my funeral. ('I want to live, live, live.')

 

[N_igma]

I nearly saw him...he was supposed to play at a festivel over here a few years ago then he had some problem with his heart and cancelled the gig. Damn!

 

[kakuma]

he's not even that good a singer, but he managed to translate his imagination into a career as a singer

if he's not a genius then he's a fucking don

 

[Strumpet]

MMMmmm BOwie...something so sexy about him...

 

[Sid's Snake]

Hell, even Shakespeare and Bach had their off days.

Hell, yes.

Pericles: utter utter shite
Coriolanus: snuff movie shite
Henry VI Part One: xenophobic shite
50% of the Merry Wives of Windsor: shite
Cymbeline: half shite

mind you, there's the rest

 

[Mation]

And, I agree with you entirely, Cygnet Committee is right up there. His finest moment, I think, and long since been marked down as the closing music for my funeral. ('I want to live, live, live.')

That's very mean but brilliant. I'm going to have that at my funeral too, just to get you back (We can forget about how that might work!)

At least I've stopped wanting the laughing gnome played at it.

I think it's absolutely part of his genius to pick just the right person to work with and get the best (ok, in Eno's case just some of the best) out of them. Ronno's solo album, anyone? Reeves Gabrels' solo efforts? No ta.

Reeves imo and despite that most people dislike Tin Machine, was the best thing to happen to Bowie since Scary Monsters. Gave him some energy and enthusiasm for making a fucking racket again so he started to enjoy the live shows more. And that seemed to kick him into trying to write something adventurous. Who the hell else of his longevity has really tried to do something new and come anywhere near suceeding?

I think he suceeded with 1. Outside fantastically well, and with a lot of Earthling too. Those songs were written to be played live and the mid-90s shows were amazing. Through These Architect's Eyes, The Motel, Seven Years in Tibet, I'm Afraid of Americans and for it's stupid bangyness, Hello Spaceboy are up there with his best 70s stuff. Hours was ok but the band was bland.

Heathen, the most recent album. I hated it on first hearing but the songs are really infectious and him almost at his melodramatic best.

I'm really blathering. Can you tell I've been up all night talking bollocks. Fortunately this is so long that noone will bother reading it.

 

[Jo/Joe]

But it doesn't make him a genius though .

If there is such thing as a genius in pop music, Bowie qualifies. I wouldn't compare him to Isaac Newton though.

 

[Pale Nerdy Girl]

Musically, I don't like that style, but I like him anyway, so he must be pretty damn good. And in Labyrinth he's a Sex God.

 

[thefuse]

Musically, I don't like that style, but I like him anyway, so he must be pretty damn good. And in Labyrinth he's a Sex God.

which style are you talking about?
i played hunky dory to a girlfriend of mine once and she didnt believe it was bowie because she'd only heard his 80's shit

 

[Haller]

Fortunately this is so long that noone will bother reading it.

I did.

 

[Pale Nerdy Girl]

which style are you talking about?
i played hunky dory to a girlfriend of mine once and she didnt believe it was bowie because she'd only heard his 80's shit

That's a good point. I haven't heard a lot of his stuff, what I have heard was just 80s pop.

 

[Termite Man]

I did.

so did I .

 

[thefuse]

That's a good point. I haven't heard a lot of his stuff, what I have heard was just 80s pop.

my personal favourites which i've been listening to pretty much constantly since the late 70's are 'hunky dory,' 'aladdin sane,' and 'the man who sold the world.'
theres some brilliant, timeless tracks on those albums. well worth checking out.

 

[Sid's Snake]

OK, lets fucking go...

Queen Bitch
Drive In Saturday
Fantastic Voyage
Kooks
Station to Station
Life On Mars
Weeping Walll
Art Decade
Breaking Glass
What In the World
Quicksand
Speed of Life
Sound and Vision
Always Crashing in the Same Car
V2 Schinder
TVC15
Bewlay Brothers
Memories of a Free Festival
Golden Years
Neukoln
The Secret Life of Arabia
Blackout

If you take out Ziggy - melodramatic crap - and anything past Fantastic Voyage on Lodger, you have the quintessential Bowie.

I saw him in '73. Believe me, he wasn't anything much.

But when you went to school with loads of heavy Esses lads who, went he made it so fashionable, were dressing gay, doing all these gay moves, you realise what kind of cultural and artistic power his beautiful songs had.

Genius.

 

[Haller]

I saw him in '73. Believe me, he wasn't anything much.

Nope, don't believe you.

Just for context, who did you see in 1973 who you reckoned was any good?

 

[Sid's Snake]

The Who.

 

[Badgers]

He caused the credit crunch, he is a nazi, blah, blah, blah....

The man can sing!!!