Review Thread: The Chameleon: David Bowie Reviewed

Comus · 02-26-2010, 05:29 PM

Bump, come on guys let's finish this **** up.

Bulldog · 02-28-2010, 04:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Comus

Bump, come on guys let's finish this **** up.

JayJamJah's not around these days, and he's in line for the next review.

Pity as I was quite enjoying this thread. When/if it gets sorted, I'll take care of the Tonight and Buddha Of Suburbia reviews if that's alright.

Comus · 02-28-2010, 06:05 PM

If anyone wants to take on the next review then you're very welcome to it! I really want this thread to be completed.

loveissucide · 03-07-2010, 06:00 PM

I can do Heroes if anyone wants.

Bulldog · 03-09-2010, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loveissucide

I can do Heroes if anyone wants.

Then it's sorted

On another note, are we gonna bother with '82's Baal EP? If anyone thinks so and doesn't have it, I'll send a link your way (pretty sure I've still got it in my megaupload files).

Comus · 03-12-2010, 02:52 PM

Doesn't really seem significant enough to warrant a mention, but if anyone wants to review it, I can't see the harm.

loveissucide · 03-12-2010, 03:10 PM

Will have it up tomorrow or Sunday.

Bulldog · 03-12-2010, 06:38 PM

^ Looking forward to your take on it.

And, yeah, I'll just type up the Baal review once Scary Monsters is done. It's only 5 tracks, so it won't exactly take long.

loveissucide · 03-14-2010, 01:19 PM

Heroes

After completely shattering the public image of himself on Low by seemingly committing career suicide with a predominantly electronic album, rather than a more commercial-sounding follow-up, Bowie decided to plunge headfirst into the weird. This album is possibly the strangest music he would ever release, and it must be remembered that despite containing his best-loved song, the title track's status as stadium fodder belies just how complex, dark and downright weird it's parent album is. This album used to be my favourite Bowie release, but the time has come to see if I still rate it as highly.

The album begins with Beauty And The Beast, a bizarre funk workout featuring Bowie's heavily treated vocals and lyrics which seem to be concerned with some class of chaos. As a stand-alone track, it's a bit odd, but as an album opener it works brilliantly by setting the tone for the rest of the record-uneasy, manic, unpredictable. This is followed by the surrealist character sketch Joe The Lion, in which Bowie manges to connect masochistic fortune tellers, a protagonist who is somehow "made of iron", and urges the listener to "buy a gun".

The sheer weirdness of this track is a joy to behold, and a perfect precursor to the mixture of joy and despair which makes up the title song, with it's sonically extraordinary guitar playing by Robert Fripp making the tale of doomed love seem like the most inspiring track ever written. This romanticism continues through the sorrow of Sons Of The Silent Age, seemingly a requiem for the lost souls "who glide in and out of life" and the terror of Blackout, in which some of the strangest funk ever recorded functions as the soundtrack for the most unnerving lyrics on the album, suggesting the darkness and paranoia of Low has not yet passed.

The constant mood shifts of the record continue into the soaring joy of V-2 Schneider, a mostly instrumental piece in which the only vocals are the title being repeated as a sort of chorus, yet the music radiates joy. Then come the instrumentals, evoking that the fear of Low remains in tracks such as Sense Of Doubt, but also that a new fascination with his environment has come into play with Neukoln attempting to convey life inside the Berlin of the 70's, and a desire to explore the outside world in the form of the evokation of Japan in Moss Garden. The album is ideally rounded off with The Secret Life Of Arabia, providing a silly disco conclusion to round off an album of constantly shifting moods.

In conclusion, after reassessing the album, I would no longer consider it his finest work, with Low and Scary Monsters being better albums. However, I would consider it his most creative, as despite the constant musical and emotional shifts it still makes a coherent whole.

9/10

Urban Hat€monger ? · 04-07-2010, 04:40 PM

Lodger coming up this weekend

I hope

03-07-2010, 06:00 PM	#4 (permalink)
loveissucide Himself Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Leuven ,Belgium, via Ireland Posts: 1,325	I can do Heroes if anyone wants. __________________ www.last.fm/user/p-mccusker http://www.mixcloud.com/pmccusker www.valjester.wordpress.com

03-12-2010, 03:10 PM	#7 (permalink)
loveissucide Himself Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Leuven ,Belgium, via Ireland Posts: 1,325	Will have it up tomorrow or Sunday. __________________ www.last.fm/user/p-mccusker http://www.mixcloud.com/pmccusker www.valjester.wordpress.com

03-14-2010, 01:19 PM	#9 (permalink)
loveissucide Himself Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Leuven ,Belgium, via Ireland Posts: 1,325	Heroes After completely shattering the public image of himself on Low by seemingly committing career suicide with a predominantly electronic album, rather than a more commercial-sounding follow-up, Bowie decided to plunge headfirst into the weird. This album is possibly the strangest music he would ever release, and it must be remembered that despite containing his best-loved song, the title track's status as stadium fodder belies just how complex, dark and downright weird it's parent album is. This album used to be my favourite Bowie release, but the time has come to see if I still rate it as highly. The album begins with Beauty And The Beast, a bizarre funk workout featuring Bowie's heavily treated vocals and lyrics which seem to be concerned with some class of chaos. As a stand-alone track, it's a bit odd, but as an album opener it works brilliantly by setting the tone for the rest of the record-uneasy, manic, unpredictable. This is followed by the surrealist character sketch Joe The Lion, in which Bowie manges to connect masochistic fortune tellers, a protagonist who is somehow "made of iron", and urges the listener to "buy a gun". The sheer weirdness of this track is a joy to behold, and a perfect precursor to the mixture of joy and despair which makes up the title song, with it's sonically extraordinary guitar playing by Robert Fripp making the tale of doomed love seem like the most inspiring track ever written. This romanticism continues through the sorrow of Sons Of The Silent Age, seemingly a requiem for the lost souls "who glide in and out of life" and the terror of Blackout, in which some of the strangest funk ever recorded functions as the soundtrack for the most unnerving lyrics on the album, suggesting the darkness and paranoia of Low has not yet passed. The constant mood shifts of the record continue into the soaring joy of V-2 Schneider, a mostly instrumental piece in which the only vocals are the title being repeated as a sort of chorus, yet the music radiates joy. Then come the instrumentals, evoking that the fear of Low remains in tracks such as Sense Of Doubt, but also that a new fascination with his environment has come into play with Neukoln attempting to convey life inside the Berlin of the 70's, and a desire to explore the outside world in the form of the evokation of Japan in Moss Garden. The album is ideally rounded off with The Secret Life Of Arabia, providing a silly disco conclusion to round off an album of constantly shifting moods. In conclusion, after reassessing the album, I would no longer consider it his finest work, with Low and Scary Monsters being better albums. However, I would consider it his most creative, as despite the constant musical and emotional shifts it still makes a coherent whole. 9/10 __________________ www.last.fm/user/p-mccusker http://www.mixcloud.com/pmccusker www.valjester.wordpress.com

04-07-2010, 04:40 PM	#10 (permalink)
Urban Hat€monger ? The Sexual Intellectual Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Somewhere cooler than you Posts: 18,626	Lodger coming up this weekend I hope __________________ Urb's RYM Stuff Most people sell their soul to the devil, but the devil sells his soul to Nick Cave.

03-12-2010, 06:38 PM	#8 (permalink)
Bulldog why bother? Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: UK Posts: 4,840	^ Looking forward to your take on it. And, yeah, I'll just type up the Baal review once Scary Monsters is done. It's only 5 tracks, so it won't exactly take long.