Music Rambles: David Bowie

[crankyoldman]

I absolutely love David Bowie. I love artists that change and grow over the years, but still maintain the core of themselves. I love that he experimented in all SORTS of ways and that he is the epitome of male androgyny. I am slowly collecting every album of his, and as many random singles/collabs as I can find. I recently found Low at a local music store, having been unable to find it other places, because it only has one song on it that would make a Greatest Hits compilation. I've been wanting it for a while, because since it was one of the less popular albums it showed up on Pandora and "Be My Wife" was a song I came to like a lot. So let's go through some of the Bowie albums that are special to me, and why.



Low
One of three albums that are referred to as the "Berlin Trilogy", it makes up a period of time that Bowie hung out with Brian Eno (who started ambient music) and drank a lot. No, really. Out of the three, 'Heroes' is the most well known, by its title track. The other is Lodger, which I don't have and thus don't have an opinion on it yet. But so far, I like Low the most. Half the album has lyrics, and all the lyrics have recurring themes of loneliness, desperation, and various other unsavory slightly emo things that are oddly comforting to me. They also tend to have peppy beats to go with said lyrics, which is kind of hilariously awesome. I decided to especially look for these three because a lot of current Industrial music is influenced by it, especially the instrumental tracks, which are really really haunting at times.

Sample Tracks:
What In The World
Be My Wife (my favorite)
Art Decade


Heathen
This is actually the first Bowie album I bought evar. And it was for someone else. I ended up liking it so much that I copied it before giving it to them. I didn't know too much about Bowie then, except that he did a lot of songs from my parents' era and sometimes got mistaken for a woman. This is a really mellow album that does a very good job of creating a mood, which orchestral and strange electric bits, but mostly focuses on Bowie's lower range, which is admittedly my favorite. I used to nearly always have this on when I was writing, which probably explains a few of the themes I have going around. In a way, it's kind of a coda for Low, as if finishing up a few things he was trying to say but was too mixed up to. It doesn't surprise me that both albums have the same producer. It's kind of funny that I became a bigger fan than the person that I gave it was (well, he didn't realize that Bowie was experimental, ha).

Sample Tracks:
I Would Be Your Slave
Everyone Says Hi
Heathen (The Rays) (my favorite)

Outside
Music from this album has been used in movies a lot. "Heart's Filthy Lesson" in particular, which I remember really vividly from the end credits of SE7EN. But it's a concept album at heart, the first of what was supposed to be several. Some of the remains from his attempt to do a 1984 musical (yes, I know, I'm sad it never happened, it would have been AWESOME) are also sprinkled in it. More electronic influence, dirtier more industrial sound, and some absolutely EPIC sounds. Also has some really nifty spoken parts from various characters in the "story", who either freak you out or freak you out and then make you love them. I've included one in the samples so you get what I mean. Oh and the concept involved art murders and fun things like that, if you were wondering.

Sample Tracks:
Segue - Baby Grace
Hallo Spaceboy
The Voyeur Of Utter Destruction (As Beauty) (my favorite)

There's others, but I'll get to them later. Or I'll go on about Peter Gabriel. Who knows.