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Post by Thorngrub on Jan 31, 2007 13:14:54 GMT -5
I mean, hell, I'd go out of my way to play The Laughing Gnome as well as Please Mr Gravedigger to people in order to show how wildly diverse a musical terrain the man is capable of exploring.
If I wanted to show his "shmaltzy hack" moments, I'd play Tonight or Never Let Me Down, but those are the only 2: everything else I can think of has some interesting musical merit.
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Post by Kensterberg on Jan 31, 2007 13:15:03 GMT -5
ThoRny, you really have been hitting the special mushrooms hard this week, haven't you?  |
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Post by Thorngrub on Jan 31, 2007 13:15:50 GMT -5
haha, yeah I wish
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Post by Thorngrub on Jan 31, 2007 13:16:09 GMT -5
db is in my soul, man .. . just like bd  |
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Post by Kensterberg on Jan 31, 2007 13:34:42 GMT -5
Honestly, if I were trying to show just how bad Bowie could be ... well, it would be between Diamond Dogs and Never Let Me Down Again for studio cuts and David Live really takes the cake as far as on-stage goes.
As bad as the Deram stuff is, it can at least be written off as the equivelent of Bowie's "garage band" days, early demos, etc. These other records were all done after he'd become famous and in control of his own artistry, and so there's a lot less excuse for the fact that they all suck, pretty much through and through.
[Note: Both Rebel Rebel and Diamond Dogs are pretty good songs -- two of the best Rolling Stones numbers that Bowie ever wrote. But the rest of that record is almost universally bad, and it illustrates just how thoroughly Bowie's fascination with stage mannerisms story devices can undermine even his strongest rock and roll instincts. Plus, it is almost entirely devoid of the soul that made both Ziggy Stardust and Aladin Sane such great records, or even the quirkiness which distinguished Hunky Dory and The Man Who Sold the World from the rest of his competition].
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Post by Thorngrub on Jan 31, 2007 13:37:50 GMT -5
Diamond Dogs is an absolute classic, and one of my faves of his.
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Post by Thorngrub on Jan 31, 2007 13:50:42 GMT -5
[Note: Both Rebel Rebel and Diamond Dogs are pretty good songs -- two of the best Rolling Stones numbers that Bowie ever wrote. But the rest of that record is almost universally bad, and it illustrates just how thoroughly Bowie's fascination with stage mannerisms story devices can undermine even his strongest rock and roll instincts. Plus, it is almost entirely devoid of the soul that made both Ziggy Stardust and Aladin Sane such great records, or even the quirkiness which distinguished Hunky Dory and The Man Who Sold the World from the rest of his competition]. Oh I'm going to have fun w/this. Rebel Rebel is a throwaway tune as far as I'm concerned; yes, it's fun at a dance club but that's its limit pretty much. I love the title track, especially for its lyrics, but it comes close to that "commercial / annoying" quality that Rebel Rebel is redolent with. The rest of the songs are exactly where the true brilliance of this album lies, imho. Future Legend is fucking classic, straight up: " And in the death
As the last few corpses lay rotting on the slimy
thoroughfare
The shutters lifted in inches in Temperance Building
High on Poacher's Hill
And red, mutant eyes gaze down on Hunger City
No more big wheels
Fleas the size of rats sucked on rats the size of cats
And ten thousand peoploids split into small tribes
Coverting the highest of the sterile skyscrapers
Like packs of dogs assaulting the glass fronts of Love-Me
Avenue
Ripping and rewrapping mink and shiny silver fox, now
legwarmers
Family badge of sapphire and cracked emerald
Any day now
The Year of the Diamond Dogs
"This ain't Rock'n'Roll
This is Genocide!", It just doesn't get any better than that when considering dystopic science fictional rock'n'roll. And songs like Sweet Thing, Candidate, Rock'n'Roll With Me, damn these are ALL 5-star classics as far as I'm concerned, so I'm really thrown for a loop w/your peculiar take on them being "universally bad", I couldn't disagree more. And then there's We Are The Dead and Big Brother- 2 more fucking excellent songs, nobody writes lyrics or music like this anymore. And the quirky, brooding Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family is a rousing closer that ends the concept album with such finality its as if listening to it nails the whole point home and leaves it ringing in your ears for days. Diamond Dogs, imho, deserves careful consideration in Bowie's Top 5 albums ever. I mean, c'mon - that album defines Bowie as a technopolitical prophet in the wilderness, it is an important work and contains not only a fabulous Orwellian concept but a good chunk of his best vocals and lyrics. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it  " Beware the savage jaw of 1984" |
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Post by Kensterberg on Jan 31, 2007 13:53:55 GMT -5
nobody writes lyrics or music like this anymore Thank god! |
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Post by Thorngrub on Jan 31, 2007 15:07:13 GMT -5
lol
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Post by upinkzeppelin2 on Jan 31, 2007 17:09:09 GMT -5
Low finished higher on this list than any other Bowie album, so I'm surprised it didn't get a single vote.
The Castaways 25 Greatest Rock and Roll Albums
1. The Velvet Underground and Nico
2. London Calling - The Clash
3. OK Computer - Radiohead
4. Exile On Main Street - The Rolling Stones
5. Achtung Baby - U2
6. Who's Next - The Who
7. Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
8. Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys
9. Abbey Road - The Beatles
10. The Beatles(the White Album)
11. AEnima - Tool
12. Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division
13. In Utero - Nirvana
14. Blood On the Tracks - Bob Dylan
15. 3-way tie: Physical Graffiti - Led Zeppelin; The Clash; Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth
18. Tie: The Velvet Underground; The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths
20. Tie: Revolver - The Beatles; Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix
22. 3-way tie: Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan; Live At Leeds - The Who; Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - Smashing Pumpkins
25. Appetite For Destruction - Guns and Roses
25 through 50:
26. Tie: The Joshua Tree - U2; Fun House - The Stooges
28. Tie: Low - David Bowie; Led Zeppelin III
30. Turn On the Bright Lights - Interpol
31. BloodSugarSexMagik - Red Hot Chili Peppers
32. Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan
33. Marquee Moon - Television
34. Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan
35. The Doors
36. Doolittle - The Pixies
37. The Bends - Radiohead
38. Tie: Automatic For the People - R.E.M.; Funeral - Arcade Fire
40. Led Zeppelin IV(Zoso, Symbols)
41. Scary Monsters - David Bowie
42. Tie: Loveless - My Bloody Valentine; III - Peter Gabriel
44. Tie: Kid A - Radiohead; Meddle - Pink Floyd
46. Closer - Joy Division
47. Tie: Surfer Rosa - The Pixies; "Heroes" - David Bowie
49. Dirt - Alice In Chains
50. Let Love In - Nick Cave
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Post by wayved on Jan 31, 2007 22:00:39 GMT -5
Huh? I disagree with 38! My Bloody Valentine did not make the list?
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Post by loudaab on Feb 5, 2007 21:07:56 GMT -5
I have a really hard time committing to Bowie. I really like his guitar player in the 70s--Ronson, but alot of his music isnt very gripping IMO. I do like his song 'Heroes' especially the lyrics, but I find that alot of his lyrics dont really convey anything to me. I also like the song 'Suffregette City' and 'Ashes to Ashes'. Overall though he is one of those guys who has had a long career but just hasnt left its mark on me.
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Post by Kensterberg on Feb 5, 2007 21:26:24 GMT -5
I have a really hard time committing to Bowie. I really like his guitar player in the 70s--Ronson, but alot of his music isnt very gripping IMO. I do like his song 'Heroes' especially the lyrics, but I find that alot of his lyrics dont really convey anything to me. I also like the song 'Suffregette City' and 'Ashes to Ashes'. Overall though he is one of those guys who has had a long career but just hasnt left its mark on me. Your loss. BTW, Bowie worked with several guitarists in the seventies, incl. Ronson from The Man Who Sold the World through Aladin Sane, Carlos Alomar on Station to Station, and Robert Fripp on "Heroes." So that was Fripp's disctinctive sound you heard on "Heroes" but Rono's rocketing guitar on Sufragette City. Lots of Bowie's back catalog (both good and bad) has been posted here lately ... you might be able to persuade someone to help you out with filling in the blanks in your Bowie appreciation. The man, quite frankly, has had probably the most impressive solo career in rock by anyone whose name isn't Bob Dylan. Hell, on some days I might even be persuaded to put Bowie ahead of His Bobness (Reality blew Modern Times clean off the map, FWIW). |
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Post by loudaab on Feb 5, 2007 21:32:58 GMT -5
What about Neil Young? He's neck and neck with Dylan IMO. Dylan has a few years head start on him, and no one can touch Dylan's early folk stuff. My God, that stuff is a national treasure.
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Post by Kensterberg on Feb 5, 2007 21:38:45 GMT -5
What about Neil Young? He's neck and neck with Dylan IMO. Dylan has a few years head start on him, and no one can touch Dylan's early folk stuff. My God, that stuff is a national treasure. Neil Young can't touch Bowie or Dylan. Young has never made a flawless record -- even his best stuff has serious flaws -- while both Bowie and Bob have gone years w/o recording a dispensible note. (In Bob's case, we'd be talking about Bringing It All Back Home through John Wesley Harding, and in Bowie's we'd be looking at the run starting with seventyfive's Station to Station and wrapping up with nineteen eighty's Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). In fact, Bowie's '75 through '80 output might just be the best run in all of rock. If Bowie had never recorded another note before or after this period, he'd have a spot in the top five or so greatest rockers. IMHO of course). |
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