David Bowie succumbs to cancer.

[Duder]

One of my favorite Bowie tunes:

 

[rtslinger]

Bowie fans enjoy this one record live 1974 in Philly

just amazing

 

[Kinsman]

Not that I was a huge fan really, But!
The man was a real artist. His influence is huge.

Thank you, Sir. Godspeed.

 

[Snaxster]

Sad to hear David Bowie just died. While I was not a rabid fan I thought he had a very strong body of work over several decades. My favorite era was him bringing Stevie Ray Vaughn to the attention of the masses. Discuss.

Though I never met the man, and I wish him well now, my view of David Bowie's career and stature as an artist is mixed.

My opinion of David Bowie's work:

In the best tradition of English rock musicians, Bowie "stole from the best". And in the much older English tradition, also embodied by his contemporary countrymen rockers, he employed theater and costume; especially cross dressing in any form, and gender bending in any case. To that extent, he was part of an artistic or cultural tradition rather than being such a singular phenomenon as was commonly thought.

Bowie's brilliance was as an organizer and a curator. He had great taste, considerable intelligence, and a very strong will. If without the instrumental chops and musical pedigree, he was sort of the Miles Davis of British rock. Like Miles, from phase to phase in his career, he found and retained some of the most talented and innovative players, collaborators, and producers for creating his albums.

Using these two central aspects of his approach, stealing and curation, though implying a lack of basic originality, Bowie nonetheless gave the world some gems and few were the wiser for the trick.

Whereas his contemporary countrymen directly or indirectly stole from black American music, tropes, and dialect as he did, Bowie also stole or borrowed from the German Bauhaus and Swiss dadaists, both the originals (e.g. Oskar Schlemmer) and their modern interpreters (e.g. Klaus Nomi). Unaware of the precedent, nearly all of the many Americans who viewed Bowie's 1979 Saturday Night Live performance thought his costumes were wholly new and original.

For me, David Bowie's important work comprises most of the album Low and the title track from the album "Heroes". Though I like a track here and there from his other albums that I heard (admittedly I stopped trying much after Let's Dance), it is that one small arc from 1977 through 1978 I find to be exceptional. The production team of Visconti/Bowie/Eno and the larger team of musicians were unbeatable. At the height of their powers, together they created something that none of them might have done alone. I credit Bowie with seeing to it that they did.

(Correction: Bauhaus, not Expressionists)

 

[Kragnorak]

I just listened to his latest album, and it's wonderful, and really different. How many musicians in the rock/pop world release something fresh at the age of 69...?

Yes, I watched the video for Lazarus last night and it is quite powerful. I suspect the whole of Blackstar is an amazing last testament!

 

[gjohnson441496]

Funny thing, "The Bewlay Brothers" was the first thing in my head this morning.

Me too! It's still in my head even now. What a coincidence? But his catalog is SO vast. I have 95% of his recordings. I still remember like yesterday the first time I heard a David Bowie recording. It was Aladdin Sane and it so clicked with me, I totally got it.

 

[Algo]

What a freakin'ly crappy couple of weeks.
Can we music lovers catch a effin' break.

 

[elgecko]

"My death waits to allow my friends a few good times before it ends, so let's drink to that and the passing time..."

 

[rtslinger]

I only seen him once live it was a concert here in NJ in the then Meadow lands arena
It was announced that he would play all of his hits from his early years to the present. Adrian Belew was the guitarist at the time just amazing

David Bowie's 1990 Sound+Vision Tour was billed as a greatest hits tour in which Bowie would retire his back catalogue of hit songs from live performance. The tour opened at the Colisée de Québec in Quebec, Canada on 4 March 1990 before reaching its conclusion at the River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 29 September 1990, spanning five continents in seven months. The concert tour surpassed Bowie's previous Serious Moonlight (1983) and Glass Spider (1987) tours' statistics by visiting 27 countries with 108 performances.

this was the incredible set list

Most memorable, China Girl when he danced with a Hologram no big deal today but this was 1990!

From David Bowie

• "Space Oddity"

From Hunky Dory

• "Changes"
• "Life on Mars?"
• "Queen Bitch"

From The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

• "Starman"
• "Ziggy Stardust"
• "Suffragette City"
• "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide"

From Aladdin Sane

• "Panic in Detroit"
• "The Jean Genie"

From Live Santa Monica '72

• "I'm Waiting for the Man" (from The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) by The Velvet Underground and Nico; written by Lou Reed; outtake from 1966-72 sessions)

From Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture

• "White Light/White Heat" (originally from White Light/White Heat (1968) by The Velvet Underground; written by Lou Reed)

From Diamond Dogs

• "Rebel Rebel"

From Young Americans

• "Young Americans"
• "Fame" (Bowie, John Lennon, Carlos Alomar)

From Station to Station

• "Station to Station"
• "Golden Years"
• "TVC 15"
• "Stay"

From Low

• "Sound and Vision"
• "Be My Wife"

From "Heroes"

• ""Heroes"" (Bowie, Brian Eno)

From Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

• "Ashes to Ashes"
• "Fashion"

From Let's Dance

• "Modern Love"
• "China Girl" (originally from The Idiot (1977) by Iggy Pop; written by Pop and Bowie)
• "Let's Dance"

From Tonight

• "Blue Jean"

Other songs:

• "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" (from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963) by Bob Dylan; written by Dylan)
• "Alabama Song" (originally from Bertold Brecht's opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny; written by Brecht and Kurt Weill; released a non-album single (1980))
• "Amsterdam" (originally from Enregistrement Public à l'Olympia 1964 by Jacques Brel, written by Brel & Mort Shuman; B-side of the Sorrow" single (1973))
• "Baby, Please Don't Go" (originally a single (1935) by Big Joe Williams)
• "Baby What You Want Me to Do" (originally a single (1959) by Jimmy Reed; famously covered by Elvis Presley(1968))
• "Fame '90 (House mix)" (new version of said song from Young Americans (originally from 1975); released as a single in 1990)
• "Heartbreak Hotel" (originally a single (1956) by Elvis Presley, written by Presley, Mae Boren Axton and Thomas Durden)
• ""Helden"" (German language version of the song from "Heroes"; appears on some versions of the ""Heroes"" single)
• "John, I'm Only Dancing" (released as a non-album single in 1972 with a sax version released the following year; written by Bowie)
• "Pretty Pink Rose" (from Young Lions (1990) by Adrian Belew; written by Bowie)
• "You and I and George" (traditional)
• "Gloria" (originally by Them, it was first released as a B-side to the "Baby, Please Don't Go" single (1964) and later found on The Angry Young Them (1965); written by Van Morrison)

 

[Roxbororob]

Finally took the time to see his newest videos. Oh my...

 

[Michedelic]

I just listened to his latest album, and it's wonderful, and really different. How many musicians in the rock/pop world release something fresh at the age of 69...?

Not to detract from Bowie's passing, which I am devestated by, but in answer to your question, I offer Scott Walker, whose birthday is a day after Bowie's, and is now 73. Bowie owes(owed)a huge stylistic/artistic debt to Walker, which Bowie put right by helping finance a very deep documentary on Walker's life and work, "30th Century Man"(2006). Scott Walker: 30 Century Man - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia To the casual American pop/rock fan, Walker is a mere British Invasion era one hit wonder footnote; as lead vocalist on The Walker Brothers' "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore", he hit the top of the charts in 1966 on both sides of the Atlantic, but only in the UK and Europe did the trio sustain a career(the irony being that the Walker Brothers were neither brothers or British...another note of trivia is that the Jimi Hendrix Experience opened for them on an early tour).
Walker eventually commenced a breakaway solo career that included heavily orchestrated art songs, written by himself and others, performed under the veneer of what can only be described as a "Sinatra on acid". It was during this period that Walker discovered the Belgian/French singer-songwriter Jacques Brel, whose works Walker covered amply(when you hear Bowie performing Brel's "My Death" during the Ziggy period, that is through Walker's example).
As Walker's solo commercial prospects faded into the 70's, the Walker Brothers reunited for a last ditch album, "Nite Flights", which actually was somewhat experimental for a 'pop' LP. A key track, "The Electrician"(about a mob execution)was a big influence on Bowie's "Lodger" album.
Walker was invisible until the early 80's, when he reemerged "Climate Of Hunter", and has been on a roll of sorts since the mid 90's with "Tilt", "The Drift", "Bish Bosch", and his collaboration with sludge band Sunn 0)))
"Soused". A caveat...these albums are not for the faint of heart, they are dark, dense affairs, pulling emotions out of you that you didn't know you had. They are made of not 'songs', but movements, with jarring sound sculptures under the guise of an extreme 'rock' form, being barely even that. Sometimes a cathartic hellride, sometimes chocked with sly humor, sometime painfully touching. His catalog is something that you can't just jump into; start with solo album "Scott 4", move to "Climate..." and then through chronologically to the most recent four(as mentioned). Even at the end Walker's influence lays heavy on Bowie's "Black Star" track. I could list Youtube clips of Walker's stuff all day, but that would be pointless, you have to discover him for yourself, at your own pace. I'll just leave you with this, which while not connected lyrically, conveys aurally my sense of Bowie's loss...

 

[Bob_Ross]

His individualism and concepts were way before his time and he turned me on to the genius of Reeves Gabrels.

Thread drift: The guy that (inadvertently) turned me on to Reeves Gabrels was

...Clark Dark! Clark was the drummer in two Boston bands, The Dark and Life On Earth, that Reeves played in prior to his joining Bowie in Tin Man. [edit: Tin Machine]

(I'm presuming you're not the same Clark Dark.)

 

[cnltb]

What a way to go...
Almost Mozartesque
Rip!

 

[Duder]

Thread drift: The guy that (inadvertently) turned me on to Reeves Gabrels was

...Clark Dark! Clark was the drummer in two Boston bands, The Dark and Life On Earth, that Reeves played in prior to his joining Bowie in Tin Man.

(I'm presuming you're not the same Clark Dark.)

It was the SNL performance of "Little Wonder" that introduced me to Reeves Gabrels. Oddly enough, I saw Duncan Sheik play an acoustic set on Valentine's Day 2002 in Nashville and his lead guitarist was Bowie's (at the time) touring guitarist. Nice guy and hell of a player.

Edit: It was Gerry Leonard that I met. God bless Google.

 

[pacojas]

@Michedelic ,... if i didn't know any better i'd be guessing that "Black Star" arrangement sounds like a homage to the song you posted.
thanks for that info!

 

[tifan]

Bowie was a team player, too. I saw him backup Iggy Pop on keys some years ago . . .

 

[Freez]

RIP Ziggy

 

[alaskaleftybass]

Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills
and put your helmet on

Ground Control to Major Tom
Commencing countdown,
engines on
Check ignition
and may God's love be with you

[spoken]
Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Liftoff

This is Ground Control
to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule
if you dare

This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating
in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do

Though I'm past
one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much
she knows

Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead,
there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you....

Here am I floating
round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do.

RIP Major Tom. Say hi to my brother Tom. You were his Absolute Hero.

 

[P. Aaron]

REMEMBER: When you cover Heroes, cop that Booker T & The MG's (Time Is Tight) style rhythm that underpins it. I recall seeing a band cover Heroes once and vocally it was well done but they missed that key element. Fripp & Eno just make it sound cool & modern.

Besides all that, as a cancer survivor, this gets personal whenever I see someone succumb. Like Lemmy, and Chris Squire and now David Bowie, these guys created the soundtrack of my teens & 20's. I hate the thought of these types of life changes. There are certain things you want to stay the same and yet, life doesn't give us those gifts. I don't wanna grow up yet!

 

[Bellbass]

For me he was the greatest...Reflexive, intelligent, curious, maybe the best voice in rock (he had so many personnas, he could sing in so many ways and had such a range from the deepest lows - Berlin trilogy - to the highest pitch - doing all his own back vocals and a great interpreter - listen to Wild is the Wind as one of many examples of his greatness as a singer). A great composer and lyricist: he's written some of the greatest tunes. Like someone said earlier the Miles Davis of rock. Such a loss...