#4. NOT The David Bowie Issue
David would have been 75 last Saturday but being a fan has led me to so many other artists too.
Last Saturday would have been David Bowie’s 75th birthday and saw the release of all manner of new music and videos including the long lost Toy album of Bowie’s earliest songs, which he reworked and re-recorded in 2000.
I am a MASSIVE David Bowie fan (no, you don’t understand, I used to live at his address; 24 Foxgrove Road, Beckenham, Kent), but I want to use this issue to share some of the art I have discovered not by him but through him.
Mooreish Words
David Bowie was a prolific reader and aerophobe meaning he took trains and boats instead of planes wherever possible. This gave him ample time to read, which is why he took a mobile bibliothèque containing 1,500 volumes everywhere he went. At the launch of the ‘David Bowie Is…’ exhibition in Ontario, Bowie released a list of the 100 books he considered the most important and influential out of the thousands he read during his life time. Journalist John O’ Connell has compiled that list into a beautiful volume my wife got me for Christmas called ‘Bowie’s Books’ in which he adds context, notes and song references to each selection. My intention is to read every one of the hundred books before I die but this book, in and of itself, is a lovely read too. If you’re wondering what to read next, take a look.
I have always felt a deep connection to David Bowie; we were born in the same town, I once lived at his former address and, when I moved to Singapore, I found out that the first major rock ‘n’ roll concert staged here was David Bowie’s Serious Moonlight Tour. In 1983 Goh Peng Seng, a doctor and celebrated poet, risked everything to bring him here against the wishes of the authorities. When David went back to his planet in 2016 (he didn’t die, he just went home), Dr. Goh’s son published the account of what his father went though to bring him here and it is fabulous: https://www.facebook.com/gohkagan/posts/10156458854910338.
And I published my own tribute to him too…
Mooreish Sounds
In the same year he visited Singapore, David played Major Jack Celliers in ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence’ opposite Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto who also scored the film. The title track has always been a stunning piece of work but last month Sakomoto released the recording of a live streamed performance from 2020 called ‘Playing The Piano 12122020’. In it he plays a new version of the track that is slower and more contemplative than the original. I am not ashamed to say that it reduced me to tears on the first listen and every listen thereafter so please, give it your full attention (and play at the highest bit rate on Spotify - check your settings).
Godfather of punk and Bowie’s former flatmate Iggy Pop has also been raiding the archives and last year released a massive box set of all his collaborations with Bowie, both live and in the studio. Amongst his many talents Bowie was a great producer and was behind the desk for Iggy’s iconic albums ‘The Idiot’ and ‘Lust for Life’ as well as Lou Reed’s ‘Transformer’. Listen out for Bowie’s backing vocals and get stuck in:
Finally, godfather of ambient music Brian Eno, who co-produced Bowie’s legendary Berlin trilogy of albums ‘Low’, ‘Heroes’ and ‘Lodger’, has started a radio station available exclusively on Sonos Radio HD, which will feature decades of previously unheard work.
The Lighthouse will serve as a living collection where Eno will premiere both past and new musical projects directly to fans across the world, giving listeners rare insight into an illustrious career spanning more than 50 years of creating, producing and redefining music.
The first programme, in which Eno shares the story behind the station, is available to anyone via Mixcloud: https://www.mixcloud.com/sonos/program-1-introducing-the-lighthouse-from-brian-eno/
Mooreish Visions
I knew Beck’s breakthrough track ‘Loser’ but didn’t truly discover him until I heard his cover of Bowie’s ‘Diamond Dogs’ on the ‘Moulin Rouge’ soundtrack in 2001.
Since then I have been a devotee and few others can best Bowie’s original recordings with a cover. In 2013 Beck reimagined ‘Sound & Vision’ for a Lincoln Cars campaign working with 170 musicians including the Dap Kings, members of the USC marching band, a Peruvian charango band, a gospel choir, a gamelan ensemble, an arsenal of electric guitars, percussion, mallets and harps, a theremin, a singing saw, an Alphorn, and even a yodeler all in binaural sound. Strap on your headphones and strap in for a surround sound sonic orgasm…seriously!
Mooreish Art
Finally, I couldn’t end without something by the man himself. In addition to being an iconic musician, actor and producer David Bowie was an accomplished visual artist too and Very Private Gallery have assembled an online retrospective of his work here: https://veryprivategallery.com/david-bowie-paintings/.
That’s all from me, have an inspired weekend. N