Bowie in Total 4: The Music is Outside

On to part four (!) of David Bowie's substantial discography where he reunites with some old comrades and tries some new tricks. The 1990s were definitely one of the more interesting periods in Bowie's career as makes more of an effort to follow musical trends while being as iconoclastic as he's ever been. Overall, a good decade where his worst album of the era, 1999's Hours..., is still better than most music put out at the time.

Black Tie, White Noise (1993)

This album serves as a wedding album of sorts for Bowie, who had recently wedded supermodel Iman Abdulmajid, as the first and last songs are "The Wedding" and "The Wedding Song" respectively. Bowie reunited with producer/guitarist Nile Rogers and, as such, I like to imagine this album as the sequel to Let's Dance, with the intervening ten horrible years erased. In fact, I find this record to be much more enjoyable than Let's Dance, and to be a much more successful fusion of Bowie's disparate styles. He dives headfirst into early 90s dance music with greater success than one would expect while contributing an impressive amount of his distinctive saxophone playing. He continues his trend, dating back to Let's Dance, of including cover songs on the album, though of a far superior variety than those on albums previous. A cover of Cream's "I Feel Free" has Bowie reuniting with Ziggy-era guitarist Mick Ronson for a track that fuses dance-funk with a bit of classic rock jamming. His cover of Scott Walker's "Nite Flights" captures the eerie, driving feel of the original while including some Happy Mondays-style production. My favorite tracks are "Jump They Say", a superficially upbeat pop song with unsettling lyrics detailing the disorientation of living with schizophrenia, and "Pallas Athena", a mostly instrumental dance track that foreshadows the material that Bowie would put out later in the decade.

The Buddha of Suburbia (1993)

A soundtrack of sorts to a BBC miniseries of the same name, this album is often ignored but is a surprisingly good low-stakes effort by Bowie. He played most of the instruments himself, making this album the closest to a true solo effort for Bowie. Despite this, the songwriting is very good and the sound of the album, while somewhat dated, is consistently interesting. Many of the tracks are either instrumentals or have minimal, repetitive vocals. The only track I would omit would be the reprise of the title track at the end, featuring a superfluous guitar solo from Lenny Kravitz. My favorite songs are "Sex and the Church", a mostly instrumental mix of dark dance beats and free jazz, as well as "Dead Against It", a poppy track with a backing reminiscent of Neu! and late period Cocteau Twins.

1. Outside (1995)

Easily one of my favorite Bowie albums, this is his longest and strangest. It is a somewhat confusing though detailed concept album about a child murder in a near future of interest drugs and self-mutilation art. This album absolutely must be listened to with the accompanying booklet, which has amazing artwork and detailed narration on the plot and characters. Bowie reunited with Brian Eno, Tin Machine guitarist Reeves Gabrels and his 70s keyboardist Mike Garson to make for one of his best bands. The songs were largely formed from extended jams inspired by the various themes and characters of the album. The album fuses elements of jazz, avant-garde and industrial to create a wholly unique sound, exemplified by lead single, "The Heart's Filthy Lesson". There are a number of spoken-word interludes where Bowie portrays the various characters with surprising skill for a terrifying effect. I don't think it would be fair to pick my favorite songs since the album works so much better as a whole. If you're looking for a challenging and engaging listen, check this album out!

Earthling (1997)

Stylistically, somewhat of a continuation from Outside, this album is simpler and more immediate. As one of the major elements of the album is Bowie's interpretation of Drum and Bass, I thought this album would sound very dated but, surprisingly, it feels as fresh and contemporary as when it came out. Using many of the same musicians as Outside, this album is probably Bowie's loudest and heaviest. Somewhat less successful are the lyrics, which were largely composed using a William Burroughs-influenced cut-up technique. Even the songs where the lyrics and melody fall somewhat flat, such as "The Last Thing You Should Do" and "Looking for Satellites", are still enjoyable due to the strong musicianship and general enthusiasm of the process. To me, the best tracks are "Dead Man Walking", which has both the Drum and Bass influence and a strong lyric and melody, as well as "I'm Afraid of Americans", one of Bowie's better, more provocative singles from this era.

Hours (1999)

After a string of excellent albums, this one proved to be a bit of a let down with impressively ugly cover art. Originating as a soundtrack to the video game Omikron: The Nomad Soul, these songs lack the coherence or power of his previous few albums. Hours has a quieter, more contemplative mood that contrasts with the heavy, intense material of previous years. I see this album as a somewhat cynical attempt to cash in on the adult contemporary sound that was popular at the time with TV stations like Much More Music and VH1. Lead single "Thursday's Child" perfectly exemplifies this with a middle-of-the-road beat, wispy strings and soft, generic backing vocals. Despite this, the melodies of most of the songs are still strong, certainly way ahead of his 80s material. Also, Reeves Gabrels contributes some solid guitar playing for what would prove to be his last collaboration with Bowie. My picks for this album are "Something in the Air", a fairly adventurous track that involves a sickly funk groove and unhinged, digitally distorted vocals, as well as "If I'm Dreaming My Life", a classic rock epic with great guitar playing and a solid energy. After this comes the far more interesting Heathen and the beginning of the most recent phase of Bowie's career.

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks Concert Report

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks with Disappears at Lee's Palace Feb 23

Disappears

The opening band, Disappears, were quite different from Malkmus' indie/classic rock. They played a kraut-inflected variety of shoegaze that was both familiar and strange at the same time. The vocal parts were not especially interesting, largely consisting of repetitive chants. On the other hand, the band was consistently challenging with shifting and driving grooves. The lead guitarist had some amazing guitar sounds that at times were reminiscent of Neu!/Harmonia's Michael Rother and at other times sounded like a transmission from an alien society.

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks

Malkmus and company casually sauntered on stage quite excited about the fact that they were starting five minutes early. They played a somewhat-rambling hour-and-a-half set that was brought down somewhat by a less than exuberant crowd who talked amongst themselves for much of the show.  Despite this, the band seemed to be having fun and were very chatty. Their loose but skillful style of playing was evident throughout but it was a good but not great show.

The set largely consisted of songs from their solid new album Wig Out at Jagbags from which they played ten songs. The songs benefited from the looser, heavier sound of their live incarnation, particularly the singles "Lariat" and "Cinnamon and Lesbians". Unfortunately, the sound mix was a bit muddy and the bass was overemphasized. The songs didn't exactly start or stop, they gradually came together then collapsed. Malkmus has grown into an amazing guitarist and he threw in improvised riffs throughout the set. Their drummer often added backing vocals that reminded me a bit of Bruce Springsteen.

Another highlight with great guitar playing was "Senator", from the Beck-produced Mirror Traffic. They played seven songs from that album and they fit well with the new material. For the encore, the played "Stereo", one of Malkmus' previous band Pavement's better known songs, which got the crowd a bit more excited. They ended the show with a very loose medley/jam while Malkmus left the stage, allowing the band to finish the show on their own. While I saw how they could be a great band, I was left with the feeling that I wasn't seeing them at their best.

 

Wavelength Night 2 Concert Report

Wavelength Festival Night 2 at Adelaide Hall Feb 14

I'm taking a break from my Bowie project to report on some awesome bands. Marnie Stern was originally headlining this night but, due to flight issues, couldn't make it. Since I'd been listening to Marnie Stern all this week, I was pretty disappointed but I decided to check the show out since Wavelength always has something interesting and last year's festival was excellent. It ended up being quite worthwhile.

Matrox

Hail Matrox, our new robot overlords! The first band of the night and probably my favorite, these guys owned the robot rock. I was immediately impressed by the level of commitment in the costumes and presentation of Matrox. The music had elements of Kraftwerk, hardcore techno and some of the funkier Daft Punk songs, but still felt completely unique. My favorite track used TTC announcements like "506 Royal York, call control", to create a synthetic transit soul anthem. Could this replace Kardinal Offishall's "The Anthem" as the official Toronto theme song? Being the first band, they had the smallest crowd but definitely got the biggest response. "DISPERSE!!!.....DISPERSE!!!"

Most People

 

As someone with an occasional musical project titled And More, I appreciate a good ambiguous name. This duo was a last-minute replacement for Marnie Stern but still put on a polished performance. Their sound felt like a more sprawling, experimental take on Unforgettable Fire era U2. They combined strong melodies, plaintive vocals, soaring guitar riffs and occasional pounding drum breaks to a powerful effect.

Weaves

A strange combination of avant-garde and blues, Weaves have a very unusual sound largely held together by an outgoing and charismatic vocalist. The instrumentation was consistently unpredictable, veering from Zepplin-esque blues to atonal, aggressive riffage more reminiscent of no-wave acts like DNA or early Sonic Youth. Their songs often had a wandering structure characteristic of the blues. The only downside is that I think they could really benefit from a physical drummer as the programmed beats seemed stiff compared to the variable bass and guitar. I particularly enjoyed the bass player's intermittent thrashing on his instrument, a level of aggression one rarely sees with bass players.

Odonis Odonis

These guys were one of the bands that I was most excited to see as their sound particularly appeals to my tastes. Having listened to their music online as well as seeing them in person, I find that they are a band in transition. Their earlier material has a heavy Swervedriver influence on their sound and they perform this type of music quite proficiently. Their newer material has a much heavier industrial punk edge to it, and I feel that this sound suits them better and exposes more of their personality as a band. "Are We Friends" effectively demonstrates their newer sound and is one of their most memorable tracks.

DIANA

DIANA are easily the most well-known of all the bands playing this night. Oddly, in researching them, I found that they have a decent profile in Britain. They specialize in hazy, new-wave influenced synth rock. It's a sound that is fairly common in indie circles but they pull it off fairly well with strong melodies and good musicianship. They varied it up a bit with some heavy percussion breakdowns that got the crowd grooving. My favorite DIANA song is probably "Born Again".

Bowie in Total 3: Never Let Me Down?

And the decade started so well! Now we're entering the third and most painful section of Bowie's career, the 80s (with a little bit of 90s). Two awful solo albums and an ill-advised re-branding as Tin Machine managed to alienate most of Bowie's fan base while giving him his greatest commercial success. Many stopped here and never listened again, despite his excellent albums that followed this drought of talent. Bowie also develops a weird obsession with Iggy Pop, covering him on three albums in a row. Even after reading Bowie's various explanations and excuses, I still can't understand what could make a great artist go so bad. Fortunately, it gets better!

Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)

Bowie's last record produced by Tony Visconti for twenty years and his last good album for thirteen years, this album is easily one of my favorites and the one I come back to the most often. This is Bowie's last record with the rhythm section that he'd been with since Station to Station. Bowie offers some of his tightest songwriting with a generous dose of venom toward contemporary society. On the opener, "It's No Game (No. 1)", Bowie screams the vocals while Fripp wails discordant riffs and the lyrics are recited in Japanese, making for a thrillingly alienating start. The first side of the record is a burst of pure energy, spawning a couple big hits in "Ashes to Ashes" and "Fashion" while being as aggressively avant-garde as Bowie has ever been. The second half is comparatively quieter and more contemplative. "Teenage Wildlife" and "It's No Game (No.2) are about as intimate as Bowie gets while still being catchy as hell. My favorite songs on the album are the title track, which sees Bowie at his most fist-pumping, as well as "Teenage Wildlife", which conveys urgency and desperation perfectly.

Let's Dance (1983)

What was intended as a one-off experiment changes the direction of Bowie's career for the next decade. Produced by Nile Rogers, Bowie drags himself into the faux-funk, forced nostalgia and empty hedonism of the 1980s. Sometimes it works. The title track, "Modern Love" and a cover of Iggy Pop's "China Girl" have remained three of Bowie's most enduring songs. Bowie's vocals are uniformly strong throughout and the musicians are all on point, though Stevie Ray Vaughn's guitar doesn't quite fit. Unfortunately, "Cat People (Putting out Fire)", which was so awesome in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, seems a bit dull in it's full form. As well, other songs on the album, like "Ricochet", fall apart on their ill-conceived arrangements. Interestingly, producer/guitarist Nile Rogers, producer Giorgio Moroder and drummer Omar Hakim all featured on Daft Punk's fantastic album Random Access Memories 30 years later. While I would recommend "Modern Love" and "China Girl" as pop songs, the only great song on the record is "Let's Dance", which blends futurism and nostalgia into a dance sound that isn't revisited until 1993s "Black Tie / White Noise".                  

Tonight (1984)

A quickly recorded follow up to Let's Dance without Nile Rogers or any good songs, Tonight managed to further bolster Bowie's commercial success while firmly establishing himself as a mediocre, middle-of-the-road pop act. This was the most painful Bowie album to listen to, without a doubt, though at least it's short. The fact that Bowie thought it was a good idea to cover the Beach Boys classic "God Only Knows" in this style demonstrates that his judgement was way off. Iggy Pop, who was going through a similarly mediocre period, co-wrote five tracks on this album. One of Pop's co-writes, Tonight is a pseudo-reggae duet with Tina Turner that manages to embarrass both parties. The only songs that I found tolerable are "Loving the Alien", which was salvaged and rearranged to become a half-decent song for Bowie's 2003 tour, and "Blue Jean", the best attempt at a pop song on the album. Still, avoid at all costs.

Never Let Me Down (1987)

A marginal improvement over Tonight, this is still a fundamentally terrible album. Bowie seems to be more invested in this album than the previous two, playing more instruments and more actively developing the concept. Despite this, virtually every element is horribly ill-conceived, featuring a hideous cover and some of the worst musical excesses of the 80s. Massive, reverbed drums drown out any attempt at subtlety while Peter Frampton's obnoxious lead guitar manages to consistently annoy and somehow Bowie thought it would be a good idea to include a rap from Mickey Rourke. The sad thing is that, unlike Tonight, the potential for a good album is buried here somewhere. While some of the songs have good bits, I can't recommend any songs in their entirety.

Tin Machine (1989) and Tin Machine II (1991)

These were Bowie's only albums under another name and a partially successful attempt to restore his reputation. Backed by talented guitarist Reeves Gabrels, who would play on Bowie's albums for the next decade, and rhythm section Tony and Hunt Sales, Tin Machine is Bowie trying out late 80s hard rock. Overall, these albums are forgettable and the second album entirely unnecessary, but the performances are strong and there are some decent songs on here. Gabrels' guitar playing is strong throughout though often goes far over the top. A cover of John Lennon's "Working Class Hero" fails miserably, drowning out Lennon's mournful lyrics in hard rock excess. At their worst, Tin Machine sound like the house band at a blues bar. The only songs I would recommend are "I Can't Read", which is a solid song with genuinely interesting instrumentation reminiscent of Sonic Youth, and "Baby Universal", which has the strongest melody of all the Tin Machine tracks. It gets much better after this!