• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

★ ~ The David Bowie Thread ~ ★

adavidbowie001.gif
 
First shown four years ago, this retrospective of his final years - with some interesting older stuff - really is very good, by no means a "greatest hits" puff piece but a proper examination of how he worked and faced his imminent demise, loads of insights from collaborators and friends, and some very poignant content. Currently on iPlayer.

David Bowie: The Last Five Years
 
First shown four years ago, this retrospective of his final years - with some interesting older stuff - really is very good, by no means a "greatest hits" puff piece but a proper examination of how he worked and faced his imminent demise, loads of insights from collaborators and friends, and some very poignant content. Currently on iPlayer.

David Bowie: The Last Five Years
1610979280827.png


Took me most of my life before I eventually came across, and realised the fact that David Bowie and his family (before he became famous) lived just ten minutes walk away from where I lived in Greater London during my younger day's!
 
Last edited:
Bowie and Brel.

Every Bowie fan will surely know and love his two famous covers of Brel songs - Amsterdam and My Death:



This article makes a strong case that many other hat-tips or homages to Brel are liberally dotted throughout Bowie's songs.
Bowie himself cited Jacques Brel as one of the three main influences on him (the others being Iggy Pop and Lou Reed).

https://collectingbrel.com/2017/04/12/beyond-coincidence-jacques-brel-david-bowie/
 
Did this work?
I speculate that the GS show inspired the cynical rock supergod scenes in the great film Velvet Goldmine where The Fan turns his back on the corporatised artist. It looks like Serious Moonlight in the film, but this was the tour that really drew a lot of criticism because it felt very shallow in terms of concept and delivery. All slick, no soul. It is better if you drop the garrish theatrics and just listen, but that wasn't the purpose. The music hasn't aged well, apart from Absolute Beginners. A rare miss? A dud? Or just prejudiced due to unfamiliarity?
 
Now that would have been interesting.

Here's a bit of Bowie trivia of which I was unaware.

One character from the novels who didn't appear in the Hannibal series is the title character's uncle Count Robert Lecter, who first appeared in Hannibal Rising. While Robert in the novel is short-lived and ultimately doesn't play a major role, showrunner Bryan Fuller had big plans for the Count on Hannibal. In fact, he first offered the role to David Bowie during the second season, who expressed interest.
https://boingboing.net/2021/03/22/d...lay-count-robert-lecter-on-nbcs-hannibal.html
 
There's maybe other threads where this might be appropriate - 'Fortean Music', perhaps...

I reckoned it probably belongs here!

My first thought was, "takes a while to get there', however, that's perhaps central to its charm.

Methinks Mr Bowie would approve.

And with a :)...

 
A painting bought at an Ontario thrift shop turned out to be a David Bowie original, and it's going up for auction.
Painting bought for $4.09 at thrift shop identified as David Bowie original

A painting purchased for less than $5 at a Canadian thrift store is now up for auction after the artist was identified as music legend David Bowie.

Auctioneer Cowley Abbott said the painting was purchased for $4.09 from a donation center for household goods in South River, Ontario, and was subsequently discovered to have been painted by Bowie in 1997. ...

The auction house said the painting, titled D Head XLVI, is part of a series the singer created between 1994 and 1997. ...

The painting is being sold as part of Cowley Abbott's International Art Online Auction and is expected to fetch a high bid of $9,000-$12,000.
FULL STORY (With Photo): https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/0...ift-store-painting-David-Bowie/9991623790740/
 
Heh, I was just about to promote that ^ compilation.
So Hunky Dory is 50. I didn't listen to it until I was in my 30s, thinking, stupidly, that anything pre-Ziggy could only pale. Now HD is among my very faves. Here's a good retrospective evaluation track by track by Altrockchick.
https://altrockchick.com/2016/04/07/classic-music-review-hunky-dory-by-david-bowie/

A very interesting review, that sheds light on some of Bowie's more arcane lyrical references.
I think Altrockchic was a bit too dismissive of the two preceding albums though.
IMHO they contain some of Bowie's most sublime material, namely Cygnet Committee, The Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud, Memory of a Free Festival, Width of a Circle, After All and All the Madmen.
 
There have been some great pieces on Bowie in Record Collector mag recently, the last one I read was a in-depth piece on the writing and recording of "The Man Who Sold The World" and Bowie's career in the year or two before that record was released. Worth hunting down if you're a fan.
 
Here's a good retrospective evaluation track by track by Altrockchick.
C'est fantastique!

Such that it came to mind this is one of my favourite Bowie songs, speculatively searched YouTube for a performance I had never seen before and found, from 1997...

 
Back
Top