Live “Cracked Actor” during the “Philly” Dogs tour in Los Angeles coupled with Bowie’s twisted ode to Hamlet. Dig the cape. CC: Yorick. Video: David Bowie :: Cracked Actor (Los Angeles, September 5, 1974) _____________________________________________________________________________________
I’ve been a real freak for Bowie’s Scary Monsters over the past year. Compounding this near obsession was discovering the collection Fresh from Divorce: The Scary Monsters Chronicles five or so months back. At 19 tracks the (very) grey-market bootleg is described by its compiler as a selection of “relevant documents surrounding the creation of [...]
Cracked Actor, the BBC produced Bowie documentary focusing on the changeling’s time spent in LA post-Ziggy/pre-Station To Station, is a raw—at times unsettling—look into the artist’s life and career during the mid ’70s. A period often mythologized as a sort of hedonistic manifest destiny gone purgatorial limbo, the always svelte Bowie is positively skeletal here—a [...]
Versatility: a trait that when forced, more often than not, suffers from feeling exactly that way. Historically this is an issue David Bowie has avoided for the most part—especially during his 70s peak. Unlike a number of the artist’s contemporaries, Bowie has, rather effortlessly, traversed the ins and outs of various trends, fashions, and genres [...]
“We are the goon squad and we’re coming to town, beep beep.” From 1980. “Fashion,” one of my favorite Bowie bangers with Robert Fripp happens to be one of my favorite Bowie videos as well. Beep beep. + Download David Bowie via eMusic’s 35 free MP3 no risk trial offer ____________________________________________________________________________________
Bowie’s Space Oddity LP has never ranked as one of my favorites in his catalog—and one would be hard pressed to hail it as essential—but damn if the 2nd disc of this new reissue doesn’t just keep bringing me back. Tracing various sides of Bowie’s early persona, from rough-hewn to orchestrated, the set paints an [...]
Ever seen a grown man attack a guitar? Watch Adrian Belew on tour with Bowie in ’78. + Download DRM free digital music via eMusic’s no risk 25 Free MP3 trial offer. —————————————————————————————————————————–
Speaking of Brian Eno collaborations, last week at the Echo, Sylvia’s between-band DJ set included “Boys Keep Swinging,” my favorite track off Bowie’s Lodger LP. Culled from the third and final installment of Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy, with Eno wearing the producer’s cap, Lodger has the dubious distinction of being known as the most critically panned [...]
