Author:Paul Morley
Not so much a biography, more of a critique of the life and times of David Bowie.
Paul Morley’s writing is certainly not everyone’s cup of tea – remember those long ponderous articles in the NME back in the day? He is, however, one of the team who curated the ‘David Bowie is’ exhibition for the V&A.
If you’re looking for a linear book on Bowie’s life in straightforward chronological order then this most definitely isn’t the book for you, and likewise if you want a detailed album by album analysis of his musical output.
This is instead more a series of impressions about Bowie, which perhaps tell you as much about the author as they do the subject.
To be fair, Morley does cover the major players in the Bowie story – Visconti, Eno, Iggy, Reed etc, and he is particularly strong on his early days and musical career.
It illustrates very well how Bowie never stopped moving forward and innovating, even when he dropped out of the public eye, constantly striving to invent the future.
At the end of the day, the book lives up to it’s sub title, because David Bowie did indeed make a world of difference.
Length of Read:Long
Might appeal to people who enjoyed…
Bowie fans might want to check this out, but may be diappointed in the format of the book – it may not be what they were expecting or hoping for.
Fans of Morley’s previous books will also want to read this – if you liked the excellent Nothing, or even The North, then you will find much to enjoy here.
One thing you’ve learned
Morley is obviously a huge Bowie fan, but as always he expresses his thoughts in his own unique style – take it or leave it!
minibreakfast says
What *is* the subtitle please? I can’t make it out from the jpeg.
Bargepole says
Oh sorry, it’s ‘How David Bowie Made a World Of Difference’.
minibreakfast says
Thanks Barge!
Tiggerlion says
Thanks for the review, Bargepole. I think I’ll give this a pass. Morley grinds my teeth.
minibreakfast says
He co-wrote (or ghost wrote?) Grace Jones’s autobiography. It is EXCELLENT.
Tiggerlion says
That’s why I haven’t read it. I hold on to my prejudices until grim death.
minibreakfast says
I shall send it to you for Christmas. Along with a CD of… well, I think you can guess…
SteveT says
Never mind sending it to Tiggs – he is an ungrateful dolt. Whereas I on the other hand would love to read it.
I assume you recommend it? She strikes me as an interesting character so would hope nothing is glossed over.
Tiggerlion says
Obviously, I haven’t read it but it is indeed personally revealing. The section on her first orgasm is particularly unglossed.
minibreakfast says
I do indeed recommend it. The paragraph on her first orgasm that tigs mentions is somewhere here on the AW, as I posted a pic of it a while back. Possibly against copyright law…
minibreakfast says
It’s here on the Grace thread. There’s another excerpt much further down. https://theafterword.co.uk/happy-birthday-grace-jones/
Mike_H says
It gets a 7/10 and a rather lukewarm review from Allan Jones in the latest Uncut. Here’s how the review starts:
“Where to start? As much as Paul Morley’s The Age Of Bowie is a book by Paul Morley about David Bowie, it’s also a book about Paul Morley writing a book about David Bowie called The Age Of Bowie in which a writer named Paul Morley spends nearly 100 pages describing the book he’s going to write about David Bowie. It gets a bit knotty. Anyway, the gist of what Morley promises, writing now in a preface about writing a preface for a book he’s writing about David Bowie, is that while he’ll respect the facts of Bowie’s life, he won’t be bound to them, tethered to the mundane data of an already well-documented career.”
Sounds ghastly to me.
Colin H says
…and to me too, Mike! Adding to the ghastliness is that any review by Allan Jones is vabout Allan reading a book about etc etc etc
ivan says
I suppose the question we really all want answered, Barge, is how long does it take Morley to mention Jacques Derrida?
duco01 says
I believe that “De la grammatologie” gets a brief mention on page 37 of Morley’s book.
minibreakfast says
I had this in my hands today, but good sense prevailed and I put it back on the shelf in favour of Sylvia Patterson’s memoirs.
Fin59 says
Without question the three most important (male) people in the history of pop/rock are:
– Presley
– Dylan
– Bowie
Even Morley, solipsistic onanist that he is can’t fuck that up.
Kid Dynamite says
I think you are doing Blaze Bayley a great disservice
minibreakfast says
And Herb Alpert.
Rigid Digit says
Fair’s fair – he did Iron Maiden a great disservice
bogl says
On the other hand, his summary of Bowie as the Google of the ’70s is pretty good. And his Bowie playlist for Radio 3’s Late Junction last night was brilliant.
I read his book about Kylie. I enjoyed it, was carried along by the language, but none of it has stayed with me. Suspect it will be similar with this book, but I will doubtless be reading it at some point.
ganglesprocket says
Paul Morley’s book “Words And Music” might be the single most preposterous thing I have ever read in my life. Not saying that I hated it, but I did think it was utterly ridiculous, which can sometimes be good.
anton says
to paraphrase one of his fellow name scribes “there is only one thing worse than being pretentious – and that is not being pretentious”. I rest my case.
anton says
NME scribes.
anton says
and I think it may been someone with the initials JB.
Black Type says
I’ve been following his broadcast of this, in abridged form, on Radio 4’s Book Of The Week programme, and am really enjoying his idiosyncratic take on what has become a well-known story. He has approached it in a non-linear, impressionistic style in love with the images and emotions evoked by language…very Bowie, of course.
DogFacedBoy says
A pal who really doesn’t know me as well as he thinks he does has got me ticket to next Word In Your Ear night featuring Morley in conversation.
I apologise in advance for the person shouting ‘c**t’ every 30 secs but I may not make it anyway