anyways here’s a list of underrated bowie stuff that no one asked for ! these are my personal takes with some fun stuff tacked onto the end ♡
here is a playlist of the tracklist !!! have fun
“sweet thing/candidate/sweet thing (reprise),” live in LA, ‘74 || sleazier with intriguing melody changes particularly on the ‘street where i live’ line to the ‘door ajar’ line
“sweet thing/candidate/sweet thing (reprise),” live in LA, ‘74 || sleazier with intriguing melody changes particularly on the ‘street where i live’ line to the ‘door ajar’ line
“amsterdam,” b-side to “sorrow,” 1973 || one of the overlooked covers but i guess all his covers are overlooked, there aren’t many knock out ones let’s be honest but THIS ONE. this is good. this is his version of the classic jacques brel track that i tend to think about really damn often
“space oddity,” 1979 || the more shaky, dissonant, and desolate version of the track released in a short film type situation in conjunction to “ashes to ashes,” culminating in a full storyline with the character of major tom up to that point. the beginning of the “ashes” video is where the combined vids picks up from after this remake’s vid. very good. hear it with your ears. or whatever.
“love is lost - hello steve reich mix,” 2013 || remix which is breathtaking and brings on chills, remixed by james murphy and uses samples of reich’s ‘clapping music,’ textural and moves in a wave like manner. promo for “the next day ep,” and fourth single from this era it’s beautiful.
“the bewlay brothers,” hunky dory, 1971 || final track on the record, syd barrett like and haunting. some of his best lyricism ever and from a deeply personal standpoint, going over his interpretations of growing up with his older brother - terry -‘s schizophrenia and how it affected both terry and david’s reality. ‘i was stone and he was wax / so he could scream and still relax” i could go on forever about this god damned track
“joe the lion,” “heroes,” 1977 || i think i’d go so far as to say that that the majority of “heroes,” with the exception of the title track, are insanely under appreciated and overlooked which is awful bcoz the entire record is beyond visceral and screeching with an acute, undisguised pain and disillusionment. tracks like “blackout” just need to be heard. maybe one of the most overt references to suicide in his whole discography, ie; “the wind laughs in your face / i guess you’ll buy a gun, you’ll buy it second hand / you get up and sleep.”
“who can i be now?,” 1974 || a recording which was first released as a bonus track for the 1990 reissue of “young americans” and can now be found on “the gouster ep” which is the og iteration of “young americans.” scrapped from the tracklisting to make room for ‘fame’ & ‘across the universe’ after a session with john lennon. but recorded with the same personnel and at the same studio. one of the most insightful glimpses into the fractured and lost psyche that resulted in the thin white duke’s existence.
“station to station,” live 1983 || found on the ‘serious moonlight’ live thingy — carlos alomar is loosing it on this version with the spiralling guitar near the end of the more grating, less sweeping intro. amped up with backing vocals to the first line. there’s a version of this during the tour that adds this dazzling synth line to the intro however it’s on some youtube live vid i can’t be fucked to find atm
“loving the alien - extended dub mix,” dance, 2018 || oh what the 80’s could have been … this track gives the opening airy vocals a better platform due to keeping the instrumentation low til it kicks into the first chorus where an interesting reverb or something is added to david’s vocal track. generally more chill with an emphasis on the percussive instruments being given time to spread out as though a fringe pool across an empty street. i feel bad for the album ‘tonight,’ it could have been so amazing. this version is long and admittedly can kinda be predictable with the flow or whatever but it gives a great glimpse into the potential the album had and is an interesting listen
“the stars are out tonight,” the next day, 2013 || what the fuck is wrong with you people and not paying any attention to my main babe, ‘the next day,’ huh??? like he brought it all and no one talks about it. i think this was the second single after ‘where are we now,’ maybe third i can’t remember exactly but it’s one of the greatest songs of his entire career with a phenomenal video and an emotional rollercoaster of memories and aches. spin around sobbing and remember all you’ve done sort of a thing. i cannot tell you to listen to ‘the next day’ enough, listen to it.
“bring me the disco king,” reality, 2003 || let’s talk about how david was simultaneously horrified of being a slave to trend but also mortified at the idea of being unknown and becoming a has been. do you think about it. maybe you shouldn’t, it wouldn’t help your health any. anyways get past this album cover and you find something shocking. this song is one of those horror songs of loneliness, fear, and lost sense of self. concerned about who he is now, what he may be. it’s insane how beautiful his voice is here, it’s perfect balance between gentle with a firm sadness. yes.
“sound & vision,” 2013 mix || isolated vocals makes the otherwise on edge original mix into a lullaby like relaxing tune that doesn’t get enough attention, it’s a beautifully ballet delicate mix that i think sounds like a music box and i love it
“changes,” live in detroit, 1974 || this can be found on the recent RSD ‘i’m only dancing (soul tour)’ release it’s one of the best versions of the track iv ever heard and probably my personal favourite. it’s so. so. so. fucking beautiful like being a bowie fan you’ve heard changes a million times but this is a completely different experience it’s like hearing it again for the first time. it breaths a beautiful life into it i love it so bad.
all of lodger (1978) || i’m not joking. you are all terrible bowie fans. lodger is so so so overlooked if not outright ignored when it’s one of the most solely david jones records in his entire discography with tracks like ‘african night flights’ sounding like absolutely nothing else iv ever heard in my life. themes of anti-war sentiment and military disillusionment, discomfort with being a singular being and a constant need for change and movement. like it’s the record which encapsulates his core idea of “if you’re comfortable, you’re doing something wrong” and working in strange, new areas and places as a means of advancing his craft. it’s really heavily influenced by the afro funk and stuff he and eno and visconti listened to tons of and has all these crossing lines with his visiting new york often during 1978-1981, like, “DJ” is sung that way to poke fun at david byrne from taking heads as brian eno, who works on ‘lodger’ here & there, had just begun his collaborations with talking heads and david saw them and devo often at CBGB’s & max’s kansas. he’s emulating david byrne’s vocal style and ticks for some light hearted jokes. then you have darker elements like domestic abuse on “repetition” and an interesting repurposing of iggy pop’s ‘sister midnight’’s instrumental track for “red money.” it’s literally the same instrumental track there isn’t a difference, david liked what they made for that track and then used it for his own thing on ‘lodger.’ this album is so god damned interesting youre all such awful bowie fans.
“neighbourhood threat,” tonight, 1984 || again. oh gee what the 80’s could have been. this is david’s version of the track berlin era iggy pop track from ‘lust for life.’ david wrote the music for the original but does a 180 on this later version which gives it a clean almost james bond theme song feeling. it moves in an interesting gliding way with flashes of light and it’s GOOD. again, oh what could have been. tonight could have been that big comeback record, i mean, really. this was made in what is technically bewley brothers team pt.2 (that being he and iggy’s little name for the two of them) as it was made together with iggy’s “blah blah blah.”
“under pressure,” live in dallas, 1995 || duet with gail ann dorsey who was his main bassist throughout the 90’s and one of his most prominent and relevant collaborators alongside the likes of carlos alomar, y’know, like, she’s capital I-T, IT. her voice is brilliant here and the soaring upwards energy of the version is breathtaking. wow. yes.
“heroes/helden,” heroes ep, 1977 || from that little EP of it with like four different languages of the song. this one is the one i like the most from that EP because he is screaming in a brutal way when he transitions to german in this version, it’s just so so painful to listen to at times. a great exploration of the way his voice works and the lengths it can go to.
“zeroes,” 2018, radio mix || OH WHAT THE 80’S COULD HAVE BEEN……. this is one of my fave bowie songs, hands down but only this mix. when i heard it for the first time it made me cry, like it’s such a hopeful and dream like tune. the kinduva thing that makes you want to wake up not just this morning but every morning. he feels so close here, like i could reach out and really touch him. perfectly catchy and pop in the genius way only great pop music can be. please listen to this.
“jump they say,” black tie white noise, 1993 || this is probably the most popular track off this record which is otherwise dismissed. i don’t know how i feel about that cuz his cover of the walker brothers’ “night flights” on this is also good (consider that track a bonus to this entry) and i thoroughly dig the track “i know it’s gonna happen someday.” this is kinda the iman album and people have alottuv opinions on her, i won’t say anything one way or the other. whatever, anyways. “jump they say” is like one of those spiritual sequels to “the bewley brothers,” quite literally. this song was written after his older brother (the subject of bewlay) passed away by suicide after long term admission to a mental institution, it’s the present reality to the whimsical past of bewlay. a simultaneous defence of terry and his abilities, his strengths and amazing qualities and a lament (i feel) for what our institutions do to the mentally ill.
“5:15 the angels have gone,” heathen, 2002 || lightly spiritual hum over a smooth surface, using his ‘ziggy’ or folk voice to evoke the eerie surroundings of the track, this song gives me chills it’s so … desolate in so many ways in the best way possible, kicked off like a train on its tracks in the dark to some other faraway place. don’t underestimate the 2000’s bowie.
“sex and the church,” buddha of suburbia, 1993 || i don’t know how david intended to make this a soundtrack for a documentary about jesus or whatever the fuck this record was made for. this album is worth the browse, even just for a good idle electronic trip-hop type deal and seeing david from this side of life. interesting mainly because it’s just him doing all the writing and all the instruments as far as i can remember.
“hang onto yourself,” live 1977 || on the vinyl version of ‘stage,’ all of the ziggy tracks are on the first disk’s a-side. these songs had not been performed since the ziggy tour and are reinterpreted with a new team and a new outlook, the version of ‘ziggy stardust’ from this show is where bauhaus got the inspiration for their cover of the song. these are the perfected forms of the ideas presented in the original 1973 record. theyre my personal faves.
“teenage wildlife,” scary monsters, 1980 || i think this record is appreciated by fans in a really respectful and artful way, i definitely think scary deserves all the hype that ‘low’ gets even though i do adore ‘low.’ “teenage wildlife” is the first track on the b-side and it’s an amazing start to something like this, after evoking his feelings on travel and discomfort with stagnancy on the prev record, even rubbing elbows with new wave artists like devo and whatever he looks to the new english music scene and sees he’s being lumped in, like his history erased and for the first time in his discography begs for a stake in this claim. the lyric “the same old thing in brand new drag comes sweeping into view” is a direct line to gary numan’s success during his early solo work / tubeway army stuff and how people like gary and the human league and whoever were suddenly his contemporaries all while begging him for the secret key coz he’s there hero. he’s screams to be left alone but also to be recognised for what he is and what he’s done. this constant rat race for independence and blending in, being both with and without, and it tears me to shreds. i adore it.
“wild eyed boy from free cloud / all the young dudes / oh ! you pretty things medley,” live 1973 || somewhat of a classic i think amongst fans and in his entire career, it’s from the ziggy live album that saw an official release 10yrs after its recording in 1983 alongside the film wherein david gives another impeccable performance. his million yard, sharp stare and exact precise movements to the tracks as they blend and morph together, many of his vocal ticks display themselves here as well which is comforting beyond relief. i’d recommend watching the live performance because it changes the platform of all three songs drastically and exemplifies why it is he’s one of the greatest performers of all time. hats off to the spiders from mars (ronson/boulder/woodmansey) for the way they seamless blend and pluck and sew these tracks into the harmony they exist in now, here, in this form. this changed me fundamentally as a child.
“strangers when we meet,” 1.outside, 1995 || last track and the most under appreciated single off the record. its a beautiful sweeping ballad which departs from the industrial sound of the record into a more fleeting rendezvous, delicate in the best way he can make it which is astounding. lyrically impeccable and emotionally moving; “all my violence / raining tears upon the sheets / i’m bewildered, for we’re strangers when we meet” “steely resolve is falling from me / my poor soul / all bruised passivity / all your regrets / ride rough-shod over me” it’s … i don’t know, it leaves me besides myself in awe with the sheer immaculate existence of this song. david’s vocals are deep, trailing into wonder and thrown outwards — feathers, nights in silk sheets and white curtains and a busy night outside. riotous jovial love inside. this is my favourite bowie song and i really can’t stress enough how jaw dropping this song is, i tear up every time.
SOME VIDEOS? yea. || excerpt from jean genie on the diamond dogs tour which was notoriously elaborate and was not seen out the whole way through with the effects, sets, and routines. footage from this is rare.
amanda lear “who are you?” cut scene from the 1980 floor show which shows many cute bowie-isms and sortuv bloopers for this scene
live footage from the isolar i tour of ‘stay,’ this footage kinduv haunts me due to the distance, shadow, and overall quality does nothing but draw attention to the skeletal and delicate frame of the thin white duke era. insanely rare and difficult to find film from the isolar i tour i wish someone had thought to.
the FULL legendary SNL performance with klaus nomi + joey arias performing ‘the man who sold the world,’ ‘TVC15,’ and ‘boys keep swinging.’ this was impossible to find for years upon years you better thank your gods and count your blessings for this. eat this up.
“cracked actor” documentary which got him cast as thomas jerome newton, in parts here.
the FULL 1980 floor show broadcast which hadn’t been available with the missing 20 or so mins til maybe a year ago. the version of “time” here is … wow. it’s the first one i’d ever seen.
“jazzing for blue jean,” the short promotional film for the 1983 single ‘blue jean.’ he’s adorable and precious.
HERE ARE A FEW RARES FOR YOUR TIME !
