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Post by Kensterberg on May 24, 2004 19:00:52 GMT -5
I'm not sure about Heathen, but I'm almost positive that at least a couple of the tracks on Reality originated with the Outside project/follow-up.
I don't agree at all about Bowie "taking it easy" post-Hours. I'm with Bowiglou in thinking that Hours/Heathen/Reality is the strongest trio from the Thin White Ziggy since his seventies heyday climaxed with Scary Monsters.
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Post by Dr. Drum on May 24, 2004 19:16:25 GMT -5
Ken, I think we maybe look to Bowie for different things at this point. To my mind he was really pushing himself into new territory artistically on Outside in a way that he definitely wasn't on the rather thin 'hours...'. Heathen and Reality are better, but frankly, I think he could crank out another half dozen of these without breaking a sweat.
I'm pretty certain that "Sunday" originated on the Outside project and probably at least one song from the second half of the disc, as well.
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Post by Thorngrub on May 24, 2004 20:31:59 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]BTW, I don't think Contamination will ever see the light of day. Apparently Bowie lost interest in going through the umpteen hundred hours of tape from the sessions with Eno to craft the follow up.[/glow]  [glow=pink,2,300]If my ears don't deceive me, however, he has reworked songs from those sessions for both Heathen and Reality. [/glow]  *sniffle* ....Maybe I should get REALITY then . . . |
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Post by Thorngrub on May 24, 2004 20:38:04 GMT -5
[glow=purple,2,300]I'm with Bowiglou in thinking that Hours/Heathen/Reality is the strongest trio from the Thin White Ziggy since his seventies heyday climaxed with Scary Monsters. [/glow]
I'd have to give Heathen a few more spins, and then listen to Reality to double-check your statement there, but for now, I'm afraid I'll have to insist that both Earthling and Outside were far more experimental -- and as Doc suggested - pushed the envelope farther -- than his latest 2.
Of course it is well know among Bowie-ites that he used to follow a formula of releasing an experimental album, and then a commercial album, in a pattern like that, back in his heyday. Maybe he's doing 2 at a time now, or something. But I really liked Earthling's jungle/dance/techno/hardcore dynamics. Songs like 7 Years In Tibet had a shocking PUNCH to them I found utterly lacking in Heathen. (Again, I can't say much about Reality having not really listened to it yet)
In any case -- I think we can all agree that The Thin White Duke is still coming on strong here into the 21st Century, which is really fantastic if you stop and think about it.
Long Live The Goblin King!
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Post by phil on May 24, 2004 21:35:41 GMT -5
1) Wild is the Wind off Bowie's BBC RADIO THEATRE album gets played every other day around here.
I love this song ... !!
2) Neil Young gets the credit for calling Bob Dylan "His Bobness" during the 30th Anniversary Tribute Concert ...
I think ... !!
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Post by Dr. Drum on May 25, 2004 6:11:39 GMT -5
I give Bowie marks for effort with Earthling but the album isn’t aging particularly well, aside from "I’m Afraid of Americans" which again, is really another displaced Outside sessions track.
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Post by bowiglou on May 25, 2004 11:28:10 GMT -5
hey bowie acolytes one and all...........I don't know, Outside just never quite resonated for me excpet Hallo Spaceboy and that one somewhat conventional song at the end.......I think what I found a bit offputting was the storyline/spoken word interpolations........what maybe was intended as theatrics just seemed a bit silly.......as for Earthling, similar to Thorny I adored 7 Years in Tibet, Little Wonder, and I"m Afraid of Americans, but I do agree with many critics who opined that for the first time Bowie was chasing after the trends instead of setting them...that being said, I did go to the Earthling tour and some of the songs I was lukewarm to (e.g., Dead Man Walking) were much improved with a live appearance..but Heathen and Reality have truly rejuvenated my interest in Bowie.........it's not plausible to expect a 57 year old man to continue to set the trends in a genre with build in adolescence such as rock and roll, but I wouldn't be shocked if we see some eno-ized Low type album some day................you know, 1/2 instrumentals and the other half more conventional songs.......an orchestral/synth type of arrangement would seem to suit him well!...in fact I really think he should have a re-union with Fripp, and do a bowie/frippp/eno masterpiece!!!!..........something to bring in the millenium!!!!!!
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Post by phil on May 26, 2004 12:00:02 GMT -5
35 years ago today, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were starting their Bed-In at the Queen Elizabeth hotel in Montréal ... I wish I had have the guts to get in the room and say hello to John Lennon instead of staring at him from his suite door like the 15 y/o idiot that I was at the time ...  |
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Post by phil on May 26, 2004 12:21:28 GMT -5
Scène un - Prise deux ...  |
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Post by Mary on May 26, 2004 13:17:42 GMT -5
35 years ago today, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were starting their Bed-In at the Queen Elizabeth hotel in Montréal ... Oh jesus christ don't get me started on the fuckin bed-in!!!! As much I respect John Lennon (and even Yoko Ono, I've never been on the demonize Yoko bandwagon), I find the bed-in to be the most obtuse, offensive, vacuous form of "protest" ever. I mean, let's think about this. The "bed-in" takes its inspiration from the "sit-ins" of the 60s, of course (which in turn took their inspiration from some of the labor strike of the 30s). The civil rights sit-ins often involved destitute black people enduring vicious torment and beatings to stake a claim to something like a stool at an ordinary, working-class diner. The fucking bed-in featured an unthinkably rich and privileged couple lying in a luxurious fucking bed in an elegant hotel for days on end that virtually no ordinary working person could afford, even if they could get all the time off from work. Lying in bed in a luxury hotel is not a form of protest, it's a form of indulging in privilege. Which is fine, if I had that kind of money I'd lie around in fucking luxury hotels too, but I wouldn't try to fucking dignify it by pretending it was a form of political protest in the proud lineage of the labor strikes and civil rights sit-ins. The way in which the bed-in was just utterly fucking oblivious to class privilege makes my stomach turn. So when I think abut John Lennon, I find it's best to forget about the bed-in altogether... ...sorry phil, you totally stumbled on one of my massive pet peeves!! fucking bed-ins.... bah.... M |
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Post by phil on May 26, 2004 13:22:57 GMT -5
Party pooper ...(:þ...
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Post by RocDoc on May 26, 2004 13:55:30 GMT -5
Yeah, John and Yoko 'doing it' in a transient tenement fleabag in Cleveland woulda been SO much superior.. |
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Post by bowiglou on May 26, 2004 18:34:25 GMT -5
"party pooper"...........LOL!!..almost spit out an admixture of lemon starbursts and diet coke on my keyboard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by Thorngrub on May 28, 2004 17:39:45 GMT -5
I think I agree with Drum that Earthling isn't necessarily aging all that well. I haven't heard it in a blue moon but I see what he means. There's a handful to scoop out of there that still resonate, but that's probably it.
You know an interesting thing about the wickedly cool guitar riff from Dead Man Walking-? It was literally a "gift" from Jimmy Page himself. That's right - Bowie heard Page strumming it one day, and mentioned how much he liked it, and Jimmy shrugged and said "You can have it, mate". That's the story -- and the source is Halloween Jack himself. Listen to that song again and I think you'll hear the Page structural influence. It's the main guitar riff -- pure Pagey all the way.
Well everyone take care this Memorial Day -- watch your backs -- play it safe -- and have a rip-roarin' time. I'll be working Monday, but at least I get Holiday Pay (double-time), so if it's slow (*fingers crossed*), I'll probably pop in here now & again.
Cheerio~
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Post by koolkat on May 28, 2004 19:29:11 GMT -5
Hi everyone. Big Bowie fan here too!
That Jimmy Page guitar riff actually first appeared in Bowie's "Supermen". He later reworked it for 'Dead Man Walking'.
I totally agree with you guys about 'Outside'. Such a shame that album was overlooked. I think it's his last 'fantastic' album from start to finish.
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*sniffle* ....Maybe I should get REALITY then . . .
