Ever since his death, I feel like the world learned a little bit more about David Bowie. While 98% of the posters, murals, and postings online seem to revolve mainly around his Aladdin Sane imagery, Bowie had a plethora of dramatically unique musical variables. In case you've been living with your eyes and ears gorilla glued shut, here is a David Bowie crash course to get all caught up.
Here are a few songs that showcase that.
Album: Tonight
Year: 1984
Most of the mid to late 80's were aggressively regarded (even by Bowie himself) as a creatively stagnant period for Bowie. This album specifically is one of my least favorites, but this song is one of my favorites. It has a very synthetic, upbeat feel throughout.
If you're still bored (because holy shit you must be really desperate at this point reading this blog) after reading this, check out the live version of this song done on the reality tour here. It's just done with guitar and vocals. A much more straight forward, sad sound in my opinion.
Album: Hunky Dory
Year: 1971
This was actually the first vinyl of Bowie's I ever owned. It captures him in his early stages of exploring his different musical and stage personas. This is more along the lines of what most people know about Bowie. It has all the components to a classic 70's rock song, driven by piano and vocals. It's not my favorite album of his, but this era definitely needs to have some light shed on it if we're highlighting various styles.
Album: Low
Year: 1977
This would probably be the album that caught most "casual" Bowie listeners by surprise. I have blabbed about this record in this blog in various ways since my first post. If we're talking Bowie eclectic changes and dramatic changes - this list can't be complete without this album. This song specifically would be a go to on this album. Instrumental, slow moving, and very haunting. It takes you to a seemingly dark, sad place - and just leaves you there without any positive hooks or jingles.
Album: Outside
Year: 1995
This would definitely be more on the abstract side of Bowie's career. An improvised, deep and jazzy track that really stands out from his 70's hits and even latest releases. The song almost sounds like an intro until around 3 minutes, when the drum machine comes in to tie the heavily processed vocals and fantastic piano playing (by Mike Garson of course) all together. If we're talking about eclectic tracks, no list would be complete without basically any track off this album.
The Outside album is perfect. It's just the right balance of abstract and catchy to easily be one of my favorite albums. The approach (with Eno) was interesting enough, let alone the music that came from it. To me, when I see people flock to the obvious Bowie songs - this is the album I always want to counter their claims with.
Album: Station to Station
Year: 1976
This was a transitional album from Young Americans and his beloved Berlin trilogy. It still has the "classic Bowie" elements, but this was the entrance to spacey synths and noisy guitars. The beginning track is one of my all time favorite songs. On the "Stage" album - it's fucking pure magic. These strange UFO type sounds come in, then this wall of noise from Adrian Belew builds up, the bass rumbles in, complimented by the sheer power of the drums (starting with just single floor tom slams) and builds into a beautiful, catchy tune. A crucial track to displaying his ever changing styles.
Album: Scary Monsters
Year: 1980
Crystal Japan was the first Bowie song I heard that opened my eyes to him being more than "Ziggy Stardust." This instrumental, triumphant sounding track immediately seems to take me on a voyage far beyond traditional instruments and settings. It always seem to take me a fairy-tale type place, very much like a Jim Henson movie type set.
Funny enough, the only reason I really dove into this song and Bowie at first was from Nine Inch Nails. Trent basically covered this song note for note when creating "a warm place" for the Downward Spiral. That track stood out like a sore (but great) thumb on that album, and I tried to find as much information on it - and I immediately started looking into Bowie's material from there.
Song: Fascination
Album: Young Americans
Year: 1975
Last but certainly not least is this track and album. This was a period of his I wish lasted a bit longer. He was infamous for deserting previous styles and diving head first into different ones. This one in my opinion was his most fluent segue.
Fascination is a great example of what this album represents musically. It has the grooves, tones, and arrangements of deep soul music, without it seeming contrived or forced. The production on this album is spot on. Just the right mix of the horns, backup singers, and percussion. The backing band used on this album became a reoccurring lineup for him and only got tighter and smarter with age.
In closing... There have been so many artists and bands that WANT to be eclectic and unique, but no one does it like Bowie. So many people fuck it up by simply trying to do something different than their last album just to say it was different, without truly owning that unique style.
Funny enough, the only reason I really dove into this song and Bowie at first was from Nine Inch Nails. Trent basically covered this song note for note when creating "a warm place" for the Downward Spiral. That track stood out like a sore (but great) thumb on that album, and I tried to find as much information on it - and I immediately started looking into Bowie's material from there.
Album: Young Americans
Year: 1975
Last but certainly not least is this track and album. This was a period of his I wish lasted a bit longer. He was infamous for deserting previous styles and diving head first into different ones. This one in my opinion was his most fluent segue.
Fascination is a great example of what this album represents musically. It has the grooves, tones, and arrangements of deep soul music, without it seeming contrived or forced. The production on this album is spot on. Just the right mix of the horns, backup singers, and percussion. The backing band used on this album became a reoccurring lineup for him and only got tighter and smarter with age.
In closing... There have been so many artists and bands that WANT to be eclectic and unique, but no one does it like Bowie. So many people fuck it up by simply trying to do something different than their last album just to say it was different, without truly owning that unique style.
-Novak