Musings on the byways of popular culture
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David Bowie would have been 79 years old today. What a remarkable life he led and what a fabulous career. He filled my life with curiosity and joy. He wasn’t just a singer, songwriter, saxophone, keyboard and guitar player and producer, he was also deeply entrenched in the visual arts and fashion, an innovator on the internet, a thespian and an icon. He was the definitive Rock Star. Blackstar remains a stunning final statement.
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On the new Albumtoalbum podcast. He was great to chat with, and lots of brilliant details about being in the studio with the Dame, Visconti and the band. We talked for ages, and I invited musician, writer and manager of the Visconti Studio at Kingston Uni, Leah Kardos to join in too. It made me re-listen to Blackstar and get over the loaded associations I had with it and really appreciate the joy and verve captured in the studio as Bowie and McCaslin’s band set each other off beautifully.
This is first of three episodes and hope you might enjoy!
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/davidbowie-albumtoalbum/id1355073030#episodeGuid=tag%3Aaudioboom.com%2C2020-06-21%3A%2Fposts%2F7612878
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I thought it was a great documentary. The talking heads were all people who knew him, the older clips were used for context and the Bowie quotes were perfect. I was delighted that there wasn’t a single ‘critic’ or ‘uber-fan’ in sight. You got the impression he was full of beans, excitement and curiosity right through to the very end. He looked so fit and energetic. What a man! What a life!
I could have done with more of The Next Day band talking about and playing those songs. That band was much more engaging and interesting on the TV than the Blackstar one, although the opposite is arguably true on the records. I also felt the last few months were somewhat rushed, but, then, those last few months were probably very rushed in real life for the man himself.
The most moving part was Tony Visconti spotlighting Bowie’s vocal on the track Lazarus. Fair choked me up, it did.
What did you think?
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The results are in. 97 Afterworders voted for a total of 612 albums, The scoring mechanism really focussed the mind. It was possible to get into the top fifty with just two votes, yet Mogwai’s Atomic languished in 61st place with ten votes. Where there is a tie for points, I’ve given the higher place to the album attracting more votes.
@salwarpe will be adding colour and flavour, comparing and contrasting different scoring systems. Still, there is a very clear winner no matter what system is used.
Here is the official top ten Afterword Albums of 2016:
1. David Bowie – Blackstar 703 points (48 votes) 2. Leonard Cohen – You Want It Darker 330 (29) 3. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool 274 (31) 4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree 252 (26) 5. Michael Kiwanuka – Love And Hate 252 (21) 6. Teenage Fanclub – Here 177 (20) 7. Paul Simon – Stranger To Stranger 169 (17) 8. Wilco – Schmilco 128 (14) 9. Case/Lang/Viers 115 (17) 10. The Avalanches – Wildflower 112 (10)
You can view everyone’s votes on the link.
Happy New Year!
https://theafterword.co.uk/the-afterword-best-albums-of-2016-poll/
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Teaser from Donny McCaslin’s upcoming album Beyond Now; the voice is Jeff Taylor’s.
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As expected, an expanded version of the Album of the Year* is to be released before the end of 2016, and it looks like it’ll be a three or even four disc set. Should keep Santa busy.
*IMO, anyway.
http://davidbowienews.com/2016/09/blackstar-expanded-edition-due-out-soon/
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It’s been a strange year, musicwise. It started brilliantly with the release of Blackstar but that euphoria didn’t last long. I spent a whole month listening to nothing but Bowie and the best part of the next. It took a while to summon up the enthusiasm to listen to anything else. As a consequence, I am well behind on ‘new’ 2016 releases. My expenditure is down by close to 75%. I have a playlist on my iPod where I put all my new purchases. Compared to last June, it is puny.
Now, more than ever, I am genuinely interested to explore Afterword recommendations.
Here are my top ten of the year so far:
1. Blackstar – David Bowie 2. Lemonade – Beyoncé 3. A Moon Shaped Pool – Radiohead (I regard it as a single suite with ebbs and flows, the key combination being between piano, voice and strings. Utterly beautiful) 4. Man Made Object – GoGo Penguin 5. HITNRUN Phase Two – Prince (The 2015 Tidal release doesn’t count) 6. Into The Silence – Avishai Cohen 7. Hollowed – iTAL tEK (It may just be me, but electronica is having a poor year. This is an exception. Hollowed » Continue Reading.
Madonna did one, Kanye threatened one, Gaga did one, there’s a big one planned for New York, and an all-star supergroup are rumoured to be performing one at the Brit awards. But do we really need all of these Bowie tributes? Now don’t get me wrong, I was surprised at how upset I was by his death, and much of the last month has found me rediscovering Bowie’s music and being struck by how varied its is and how well so much of it stands the test of time. But isn’t that enough? Blackstar by itself stands as a much greater tribute to what he was about than a bunch of rockstars performing meat-and-potatoes cover versions of his greatest hits. Looking at the line-up of the New York shows (see link) I can see a few acts with a real Bowie connection, whether through history or spirit, but equally there are others whose presence is mystifying to say the least. Then there’s the rumoured line-up for the Brits; lots of star-power for sure, but it fair makes the heart sink to imagine what it’s going to sound like.
No doubt Bowie meant as much, if not more, to many » Continue Reading.
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and we don’t know what it is, do we, Mr Jones?
Well, here’s the new Bowie… There’s at least four songs in here, and they’re all good. Echoes of 1.Outside and ‘Pallas Athena’ Uneasy listening at its best. Portentous? Yes, indeed! Pretentious? But of course!
It’s a ‘Hmmmmmm…*strokes chin*….’Yes, I think’ from me.
