Monday, 4 February 2013

David Bowie

My dear eldest cub, who has impeccable taste in music, has recently raised the subject of Mr. Bowie with me. She's been tuning into old Dave a fair bit and was wondering what I would recommend. Where on earth do you start? All I could do was list my personal favourite albums (a long list) and point her in the direction of some tracks that are, perhaps, less known to the more casual fan. I find it heartening that there are young folk ready to explore the works of the heroes of us 'older' music obsessives and I hope I have done right by both my cub and the venerable Dave with my picks. What would you have recommended? She's acquainted with the Ziggy era stuff. In the meantime, here's one that I pointed her to, though it was not written by the man himself, of course.



Wild is The Wind (1976)
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8 comments:

Kolley Kibber said...

My big sister left home when I was eleven, leaving me her copies of 'Pin Ups' and 'Hunky Dory' (and, er, 'Silverbird' by Leo Sayer but let us not dwell on that). I listened to the two Bowie albums day and night, and became transfixed by 'The Bewlay Brothers', which supplied me with enough weird imagery to run a screenplay in my head. I adored that song, still do.

I'd like to say I grew up and became a successful film director as a result, but I didn't. I did become a shrink though. Maybe Bowie's hymn to his tormented brother had some bearing on that? Yes, let's go with that one.

5 February 2013 08:23
C said...

She got good taste! It must be brilliant to have a dad like you too, all that musical knowledge to plunder.
Wild Is The Wind is a fave of mine too.. beautiful... What would we recommend? As you say, hard to know where to start. My own familiarisation with Bowie started with Aladdin Sane as my sister had it and even my mum loved it. I suppose then, as his career was continuing to unfold throughout my youth, I heard a combination of his then contemporary songs and some older works, so it was a nice mix, including going right back to his Manish Boys days. Hunky Dory remains a favourite for me, though. For singles I'm a sucker for 'John I'm Only Dancing'. But I think you'll have a great time introducing the more obscure numbers to her!

5 February 2013 17:10
caregiver/Gin said...

What I love about this post is a youngster, ones very own, turns to the parent for opinions and suggestions. Worth a million $ or as they say, priceless. It does not matter what you suggest: only matters that she reached out to you and you responded from the heart. Good man Singing Bear. :)

5 February 2013 18:42
Singing Bear said...

Kolley Kibber: Firstly, thank you so much for reading this and i hope you'll come along again and feel free to leave your thoughts. You're so right about 'The Bewley Brothers'. I found it rather challenging when I first heard it many years ago, which is usually a good sign. From my favourite Bowie album.

C: Your mum must have been pretty hip. There's no way my mum was going anywhere near DB. Thinking back to the Ziggy/Aladdin Sane days, I still find it amazing that so many the 'hard nuts' as school loved Bowie so much and all tried to get the hair just right. What was that all about?

Gin: She's a very tuned in person with a natural feel for the good stuff. All due praise to her, not me.

5 February 2013 20:33
Old Pa's Corner said...

Well I started with Ziggy then worked back....and then just kept buying anything new. You can't go wron with a double greatest hits package and take it from there. I love that song by the way always been one of my favourites.

7 February 2013 09:17
Singing Bear said...

OPC: Yes, a 'best of' would be a wise place to start.

7 February 2013 16:47
The Swede said...

'Starman' on TOTP led me to 'Ziggy' and started me on the Bowie road, but 'Hunky Dory' is probably my fave Dave. That being said, he's done so much great stuff, perhaps you'd best off advising Cub#1 what to initially avoid (mostly from 84-91 I'd say) and telling her to dive in anywhere else that she pleases!

7 February 2013 20:05
Singing Bear said...

The Swede: I, too, had that 'Starman' moment (it just wouldn't happen today, would it?). It was definitely a case of 'What the bloody hell is this???', even though I'd been a T. Rex fan for a while. You're totally right about Bowie in the 80's and I've already told her as much. I don't even like 'Let's Dance', to be honest.

8 February 2013 09:03

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