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Post by Lord Emsworth on May 1, 2020 12:26:54 GMT
Low (1977)
Another of Bowie’s perfect albums. Has any artist ever had such a perfect ten year run as Bowie did from 1970-1980?
Every track is wonderful and the contrast between the pop side and the ambient side was a stroke of genius too. And to think he also released Heroes in the same year. The man was on fire.
Every song finds it way on the Definitive playlist. Of course.
Speed of Life Breaking Glass What in the World Sound and Vision Always Crashing in the Same Car Be My Wife A New Career in a New Town Warszawa Art Decade Weeping Wall Subterraneans
Absolutist favouritist tracks are Breaking Glass, What In The World, and Sound and Vision
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Post by Lord Emsworth on May 2, 2020 15:43:05 GMT
Heroes (1977)After thinking long and hard I conclude this is my favourite Bowie album ever ever ever Side one is all killer and no filler. Side two opens with V-2 Schneider and ends with The Secret Life Of Arabia - both excellent and the three ambient pieces in between are even better than those on Low (which are all good too). The title track is probably the perfect song. It may have been massively overplayed but it never gets tired. It’s got the lot. It might be even better in the German version. Actually the combined English and German version works really well. And to think that he also released Low in the same year. The man was on fire. Every song finds it way on the Definitive playlist. Of course. Favourite tracks Beauty and the Beast, Heroes, Blackout, and The Secret Life of Arabia, but it’s all great
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Post by personunknown on May 3, 2020 11:18:23 GMT
Another Bowie album which I should give more credit to. But this came out October 77, smack bang bang in the punk lp glut (Bollocks would come out the following week) and I never got round to buying it for a few years.
That poses a question in itself, are your favourite albums ones that you purchased when first released or do some that you discover later make the cut as well?
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Post by Lord Emsworth on May 3, 2020 12:06:53 GMT
Good question. In the main it's ones I purchased at the time although there have definitely been suprises along the way. When I compile my top 50 songs, which I will be doing soon, I'm pretty sure it will all be from (the golden age of) the 1970s which gets to the heart of your question.
My definitive playlist will end up with about 250 songs though
It's the final album today, talking of which....
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Post by Lord Emsworth on May 3, 2020 12:30:49 GMT
Blackstar (2016)I don’t especially rate this album and wonder how it would have been received if it wasn’t Bowie’s last album and inextricably intertwined with his death Don’t misunderstand me, it is good, and incredibly moving given the context and lyrical content, just not one of the classics My favourite tracks are... LazarusPlus the two final songs... Dollar Days I Can’t Give Everything Away
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Post by personunknown on May 3, 2020 15:01:36 GMT
I love Blackstar. It is about his death and his acceptance of it, the album wouldn't have existed otherwise. Also more than the sum of its parts as well: the starfield sleeve that it took even the eagle eyed fans months to discover, the black cancer lesion motif and even the album title taken from an old Elvis tune about impending death.
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Post by Lord Emsworth on May 3, 2020 19:35:19 GMT
I love Blackstar. It is about his death and his acceptance of it, the album wouldn't have existed otherwise. Also more than the sum of its parts as well: the starfield sleeve that it took even the eagle eyed fans months to discover, the black cancer lesion motif and even the album title taken from an old Elvis tune about impending death. I wish I could listen to it and feel thrilled, moved, engaged etc. I feel it’s wrong to react so dispassionately and, if I’m totally honest, often want to turn it off. Lord knows I’ve tried quite hard to “get into it” more. It is good though, and I do like it, but not nearly as much as you and the vast majority of listeners.
Perhaps I should seek medical help?
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Post by personunknown on May 3, 2020 21:16:13 GMT
I remember Sue (Season of Crime) coming out nearly a year before Blackstar and on the old forum saying it was a nonsensical mess. Now I see it far differently, a lyric deliberately mundane about the demise of a relationship backed by an avant garde jazz squall. Shouldnt work, but it is Bowie pushing the boundaries of music and eventually it invades your consciousness.
Maybe it might come to you one day Lord E but it doesn't matter either way. Bowie was so prolific across the genres there can't be many (if any) fans who love everything in his fifty year career.
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Post by Lord Emsworth on May 4, 2020 8:20:09 GMT
Thanks PU. I stress I do like it, I just don't love it. Partly it's a bit of an aversion to jazz but more than that it just doesn't move me like my favourites. I admire it more than love it. Dropping the odd track into a playlist works better for me.
But, yeah, as you suggest, I hope to really love it one day
I'd add that listening to Dollar Days, Lazarus, and I Can’t Give Everything Away, particularly their lyrical content, can me feel very melancholic
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Post by Lord Emsworth on Nov 13, 2020 12:17:57 GMT
Bowie and the Masai in 1977... Major Tom comic....
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Post by stu77 on Jan 3, 2021 20:54:12 GMT
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Post by Lord Emsworth on Jan 4, 2021 6:52:13 GMT
Looks good Stu - thanks
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Post by stu77 on Jan 8, 2021 2:24:49 GMT
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Post by stu77 on Jan 8, 2021 10:47:50 GMT
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Post by personunknown on Jan 8, 2021 12:13:20 GMT
^^ That Bowie, Bolan and the Brooklyn Boy, Visconti autobiography is a great read. There is a section in it where TV and his wife of the time (Mary Hopkins?) go off on some quasi religious conversion and Visconti alienates himself from the musical crowd. The book is long gone from my collection and I can't find any references to it online, anyone remember?
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