NMC #241 (DAVID BOWIE)

by "morie Bowie" Jon

David Bowie--Blackstar (January 2016)

1. Blackstar
2. 'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore
3. Lazarus
4. Sue (Or In a Season of Crime)
5. Girl Loves Me
6. Dollar Days
7. I Can't Give Everything Away

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Permalink Reply by Scott on January 18, 2016 at 9:36am

You posted the entire album... Interesting. I will say up front the two tunes from the pre-released videos did nothing for me. Maybe a full context will help.

This is very reflective for him, very personal. You can tell lyrically he knew this was it. So its eerily cool to hear. Musically there are some real nice pop-rock moments and some fine production. But remove all the emotion from the album and its not really something I would get into, at all. His vocals are not very interesting, maybe that's a result of what was going on this past year, but I find them flat and repetitive.

Bowies music isn't in my wheelhouse, or near my wheelhouse property line even. Seems to be more of a European style than what Ive been brought up to like. Not a knock, just is what it is. Still its been interesting to get such a flavor of his career this past week.

Nice work!

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Permalink Reply by Jon on January 18, 2016 at 9:39am

I'm going to keep posting Bowie albums until you like one. I'm thinking Young Americans and maybe Hours... will be to your liking.

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Permalink Reply by Scott on January 18, 2016 at 9:40am

I'm good with that...

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Permalink Reply by RJhog (Admin) on January 21, 2016 at 2:23pm

Totally forgot to comment on this. First, I'll mention one more time, in case somebody missed it. The only studio album I've ever owned in any way, shape or form by Bowie is Let's Dance. I have liked quite a few of his hits like Space Oddity, Changes, Rebel Rebel, Young Americans, Fame, China Girl and Modern Girl. But I've always thought his music, besides the songs I listed above, was weird.

Listening to this, you'd immediately think I wouldn't like it. But not so fast. The opener just speaks to me. Kind of in an eerie way. I think it's that strange drum beat in the first part of the song, along with his vocal tone. Eerie is really the only word I can use to describe it. I even like the fact that it's a long song. I just like it all the way around.

Lazarus, Dollar Days and I Can't Give Everything Away are very easy songs to listen to. I really think that any of the three of them could have been a hit back when radio played rock music. The others aren't so simple. 'Tis A Pity and Girl Loves Me are very weird, but for some reason, I don't dislike them. The only track that really doesn't do much for me is Sue.

So overall, I think this is really good and I'm glad I bought it. I probably would not have bought it had he not passed.