Stevie Wonder | 20 Deep Cuts

To celebrate the great Stevie Wonder’s impending 74th birthday, we bring you 20 Deep Cuts from Stevie’s classic mid-70s era when the music he created will forever stand as some of the greatest ever made.

Stevie Wonder signed to Motown records at the age of 11, and by 20 he was a certified star. In 1971 at the ripe old age of 21, his existing Motown contract had expired so he negotiated a new deal on Tamla Records which saw him receive an unprecedented 14% of all royalties, and importantly, complete creative control.

Over the following five years, Stevie would release five albums of unparalleled brilliance; music brimming with positivity, funk and soul, and it would become known as his classic period. This collection of tracks highlights what happens when you give a brilliant artist the freedom to create. Select track to listen.

TRACKS:

1. Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing Innervisions
2. Smile Please Fulfillingness’ First Finale
3. Jesus Children of America Innervisions
4. Please Don’t Go Fulfillingness’ First Finale
5. Happier Than the Morning Sun Music of My Mind
6. Joy Inside My Tears Songs in the Key of Life
7. I Love Every Little Thing About You Music of My Mind
8. Knocks Me Off My Feet Songs in the Key of Life
9. He’s Misstra Know-It-All Innervisions
10. You’ve Got it Bad Girl Talking Book
11. Maybe Your Baby Talking Book
12. Seems So Long Music of My Mind
13. Love Having You Around Music of My Mind
14. Summer Soft Songs in the Key of Life
15. Tuesday Heartbreak Talking Book
16. Lookin’ For Another Pure Love Talking Book
17. Have a Talk With God Songs in the Key of Life
18. Creepin’ Fulfillingness’ First Finale
19. Visions Innervisions
20. Love’s In Need of Love Today Songs in the Key of Life

In 1972, Stevie Wonder released the first of his five classic albums: MUSIC OF MY MIND (1972) ★★★★★. Inspired by the soulful genius of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, this album was unlike anything Wonder had released before. On his preceding releases he was occasionally writing and playing keys. Here Stevie plays everything except guitar, displaying a breathtaking virtuosity both musically and vocally, and unleashing a full-length artistic statement with songs flowing together thematically. Opening with back-to-back epics ‘Love Having You Around’ and ‘Superwoman’, both colossal funk narratives clocking in eight minutes apiece, Stevie steers the direction towards the TONTO synthesizer, something he had been heavily into and loved experimenting with on his vocals. What resulted was a multi-dimensional LP, proving the artist had gone stratospheric creatively. The album was not hugely successful commercially, and even today remains somewhat underrated, perhaps it was too wild and experimental for his audience. They would come around.

The follow-up album TALKING BOOK (1972) ★★★★★, was released only six months later and delivered a stark shift in sound and lyrical subject matter. Stevie’s Fender Rhodes and Hohner Clavinet textures were more up front this time, developing what would become his signature 70s sound. The lyrics touched on manhood (‘Lookin’ for Another Pure Love’), maturity (‘I Believe’) and spiky personal themes such as his recent divorce (‘Maybe Your Baby’). Again Stevie is all over this musically – his drumming is a major highlight on the timeless ‘Superstition’ for a start. His drums mesh with the congas and his bass drum/high-hat/snare work are as good as any drummer going around. There are more guest musicians on board this time too. Big names such as David Sanborn on sax and Jeff Beck on guitar both appear, and the artwork for Talking Book was also the first with a colour palette of browns and oranges which would be repeated thematically for the subsequent classic releases. The album launched an avalanche of Grammy’s and chart topping achievements which would also be repeated over the next three releases.

Stevie followed up Talking Book only nine months later with perhaps his finest album: INNERVISIONS (1973) ★★★★★. Incredibly, this was yet another step up in brilliance and musical expansion and something of a continuation on the themes and sounds of the previous LPs. Here we find Stevie tackling world issues such as politics (‘Mistra Know It All’), religion (‘Jesus Children of America’) and racism (‘Visions’), and again he plays the majority of the instruments, however it’s his vocals and lyrics that take things to another level. With a developing studio expertise and occasionally using the sounds of the street, Stevie creates a dazzling cinematic experience like no other. Lyrically cerebral, there is an increased social consciousness turned inwards on the man: he’s asking big questions, like on the prophetic and funktastic ‘Higher Ground’ to name but one. Following the release of yet another classic, Stevie Wonder was involved in a car accident that resulted in him being in a coma for four days – thankfully he would recover and use the experience as a spiritual epiphany and a challenge to his art.

Several months later he released the comparatively introspective FULLFILLINGNESS’ FIRST FINALE (1974) ★★★★★. This underrated album finds our hero pondering life, death, relationships, and God. It is slow and sombre at times and the expansive textures are toned down. There’s a lot more acoustic piano for instance and the lyrics talk about spirituality and the afterlife on more than a couple of occasions. There are some major highlights where Stevie shows us his prowess as a producer with exquisite opener ‘Smile Please’ and the vibrant soul album closer ‘Please Don’t Go’. As before, Fulfillingness’ First Finale is mostly the work of a single man mixing in reggae grooves and piano synth, and it’s refreshing to hear more songs devoted to the many and varied stages of romance. Despite more Grammy’s, it’s the calm before the storm and is seen now as the least heralded of the classic run, but an album well overdue for revaluation.

In 1975 Stevie took a break from touring and recording, only to unleash the following year his pièce de résistance, the stunning double album SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE (1976) ★★★★★. This saw a culmination of everything Stevie had been working towards thus far in his career. With Songs in the Key of Life he delivered a concept album about love and life and effortlessly achieved the pinnacle of his recording career with this far-reaching commercial and artistic extravaganza. Unlike the previous albums, Stevie surrounds himself with a host of talented musicians including Herbie Hancock and George Benson, and takes on production duties adding a personal touch to the sound and general feel of the album. Some of the best drumming of his career is here. Stevie’s perfectly in the pocket on this album, again it’s the lyrics that are the most striking of his career. He addresses a dystopian reality in ‘Village Ghetto Land’ and lands some of his finest songwriting ever can be found on this record (eg: ‘Knocks Me Off My Feet’). Stevie Wonder’s career was building to something like this, and succeeded in unleashing a work of unparalleled artistic genius. It was a massive seller and marked the end of his classic period, accomplishing what few artists could only dream of.

The Lemon Twigs | A Dream Is All We Know (2024)

The Lemon Twigs hit back with a new album to universal acclaim that is a sojourn into the realm of dreams while embracing all things baroque pocket-prog.

The New York band’s self-produced fifth album, A Dream Is All We Know, is released today on Captured Tracks, and sees a shift in tone from the melancholic balladry and power pop of their previous two outings, 2020’s Songs For the General Public and last year’s Everything Harmony, this time combining elements of the Beach Boys, while channeling the Everlys’ close harmonies, and the late-60s Merseybeat sound, in turn contextualising the Twigs’ upbeat charms as part of a lineage of rock and roll history, while sounding like the best thing to come along since the bands they so clearly idolise.

Over the decades there have been bands that have put their own spin on the music of the past, but none have done it with the attention to detail, songwriting prowess, or raw talent of The Lemon Twigs, who infuse complexity with accessibility, while weaving intricate musical phrases and unexpected psych-pop turns into infectious melodies. Although their music is reminiscent of their many influences, they always continue to put a modernist twist on things, making their music sound fresh and visionary while keeping the hooks coming one after another.

Photo: L.Stack, October 2023, The Corner Hotel, Melbourne, Australia.

Constructed with the D’Addario brothers swapping instruments and layering all the parts themselves, the new record was arranged and produced entirely analog in their Brooklyn recording studio. Throughout the 12 tracks they cover baroque pocket-prog, guitar centric rock, and sunshine pop, communicating their ideas with clarity and an emotional resonance, all accompanied by their top-drawer musical chops and euphoric harmonies.

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Released on May 3, 2024 

All songs written, produced and mixed by The Lemon Twigs
Except track 6 produced by The Lemon Twigs and Sean Ono Lennon

TRACKS:

1.⁠ ⁠My Golden Years  3:13
2.⁠ ⁠They Don’t Know How To Fall In Place  3:33
3.⁠ ⁠Church Bells  2:07
4.⁠ ⁠A Dream Is All I Know  3:43
5.⁠ ⁠Sweet Vibration  2:48
6.⁠ ⁠In The Eyes Of The Girl  3:04
7.⁠ ⁠You And I Are Not Wise  2:41
8.⁠ ⁠How Can I Love Her More  2:48
9.⁠ ⁠Ember Days  2:55
10.⁠ ⁠Peppermint Roses  2:32
11.⁠ ⁠I Should’ve Known Right From The Start  2:36
12.⁠ ⁠Rock On (Over and Over)  2:21

CREDITS: 

Brian D’Addario – vocals, drums (1,3,4,5,8,10,11,12), bass (3,4,5,8,10,11,12), electric guitar (2,3,4,5,7,8,10,12), acoustic guitar (7,8,9,11), 12 string (3,6,7,9,10), mandolin (11), all keyboards, all strings and horns except track 9, orchestral arrangements
Michael D’Addario – vocals, drums (2,6,7), bass (1,2,7), rhythm guitar (1,10,12), lead guitar (3,12), acoustic guitar (1,3), 12 string (1), engineer
Sean Ono Lennon – bass on track 6
Daryl Johns – upright bass on track 9
Andres Valbuena – drums on track 9
Otis Harriel – violin on track 9
Yuri Kye – violin on track 9
Rachyl Martinez – viola on track 9
Doug Machiz – cello on track 9
Paul D. Millar – flange on track 10

Mastering by Paul D. Millar at Bug Sound
And Scott Hull at Masterdisk
Art direction and photography by Eva Chambers

Buy The Lemon Twigs’ A Dream Is All We Know at their Bandcamp page.

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Further Reading:

♥     The Lemon Twigs | Bowery Ballroom, NYC (2021)

♥     The Lemon Twigs | Foolin’ Around/Tailor Made (2018)

♥     The Lemon Twigs Official

♥     The Lemon Twigs | Songs for the General Public (2020)

♥     The Lemon Twigs | Everything Harmony (2023)

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A Dream Is All We Know in action.

Look Closely: Black Sabbath’s Heaven And Hell

In April 1980, Black Sabbath unleashed Heaven and Hell, their first with Ronnie James Dio at the helm, and the iconic cover art was inspired by a charming 1928 photograph of some young women dressed as angels and smoking madly.

In 1980 Black Sabbath, fronted by the great Ronnie James Dio at the time, were in a jam. They were releasing a new album called Heaven and Hell and the original album cover idea was not working out.

Enter artist Lynn Curlee. “The Smoking Angels” painting was not commissioned specifically for the heavy metal legends, rather inspired by a charming 1928 photograph of some young women dressed as angels, madly smoking and playing cards during their short break between acts at a college Christmas pageant.

Smoking Angels took Curlee three weeks to complete.

“It was done in acrylic on canvas, and measured about 4 by 6 feet,” he says. “I work with standard brushes in a meticulous technique, with no airbrushing. Since the painting already existed, it didn’t exactly fit into the square album format, so the right side had to be severely cropped. Of course, the original painting includes the entire wing of that angel.”

What the artist didn’t mention was that two of the angels had been removed for the painting. Can you tell which ones? Here’s my rather primitive mock-up.

They say that life’s a carousel
Spinning fast, you’ve got to ride it well
The world is full of kings and queens
Who blind your eyes and steal your dreams
It’s heaven and hell, oh well

Frank Zappa: The Central Instrumentalizer

The uncatergorizable Frank Zappa. Astute, paradigm-shifting virtuosity at its uncompromisingly brilliant and ballsy best. The Central Instrumentalizer Vol I and II consist of hand-picked instrumental highlights throughout Zappa’s expansive career.

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Frank Zappa: The Central Instrumentalizer Vol I mp3

1.  Filthy Habits – Sleep Dirt (1979)

2.  Twenty Small Cigars – Chunga’s Revenge (1970)

3.  Pink Napkins – Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar (1981)

4.  We Are Not Alone – The Man From Utopia (1983)

5.  Zoot Allures – Zoot Allures (1976)

6.  Treacherous Cretins – Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar (1981)

7.  Apostrophe’ – Apostrophe’ (1974)

8.  Rat Tomago – Sheik Yabouti (1979)

9.  Black Napkins – Zoot Allures (1976)

10. Watermelon in Easter Hay – Joe’s Garage (1979)

11.  Rejyptian Strut – Sleep Dirt (1979)

12.  Sofa No.1 – One Size Fits All (1975)

13.  What’s New in Baltimore – FZ Meets the Mothers of Prevention (1985)

14.  Tink Walks Amok – The Man From Utopia (1983)

15.  G-spot Tornado – Jazz From Hell (1986)

16.  Blessed Relief – The Grand Wazoo (1972)

17.  Peaches En Regalia – Hot Rats (1969)

18.  Aybe Sea – Burnt Weeny Sandwich (1970)

19.  Imaginary Diseases – Imaginary Diseases (2007)

20.  Sexual Harassment in the Workplace – Guitar (1988)

Running time: 1:39:07

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Frank Zappa: The Central Instrumentalizer Vol II mp3

1. I Promise Not to Come in Your Mouth – Zappa in New York (1978)

2. Duke of Prunes – Orchestral Favorites (1979)

3. Son of Mr Green Genes – Hot Rats (1969)

4. Flambay – Sleep Dirt (1979)

5. Eat That Question – The Grand Wazoo (1972)

6. The Orange County Lumber Truck – Weasels Ripped My Flesh (1970)

7. Theme From The 3rd Movement Of Sinister Footwear – You Are What You Is (1981)

8. St. Etienne – Jazz From Hell (1986)

9. Sleep Dirt – Sleep Dirt (1979)

10. D.C. Boogie – Imaginary Diseases (2007)

11. Rubber Shirt – Sheik Yerbouti (1979)

12. Jim & Tammy’s Upper Room – Guitar (1988)

13. RDNZL – Studio Tan (1978)

14. Marque-Son’s Chicken – Them Or Us (1984)

15. Ancient Armaments – Halloween (1978)

16. Bowling on Charen – Trans-Fusion (2006)

17. Echidna’s Arf (Of You) – Roxy & Elsewhere (1974)

18. Big Swifty – Waka-Jawaka (1972)

19. Envelopes – Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch (1982)

20. Montreal – Imaginary Diseases (2007)

Running Time: 1:54:33

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Top Photo: Frans Schellekens. Frank Zappa performs on stage at Ahoy on May 3 1988 in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

More Album Cover Outtakes

Pavement repurposed a 1970’s prog-rock album cover for their impeccable four-track EP Watery, Domestic.

Little known jazz-rock combo, Ambergris, released their one and only, and rather formidable, self-titled album in 1970, which could only be described as jazz-infused funk rock with latin shades.  

Stephen Malkmus from indie rock-legends Pavement, doodled over the rooster cover using chalk for their Watery, Domestic release in 1992, which could only be described as one of the greatest EPs of all time. 

The Pavement record marked the recording debuts of both Bob Nastanovich and Mark Ibold, on percussion and bass respectively, although both had been touring members for some time. This EP came to mark the final time original drummer Gary Young would record with the band.

The title for the EP came from Bob’s description of his beer preferences, since his tastes typically went towards low-alcohol American beer brands, i.e. Watery, Domestic.

With its bold colors and sharp detail, Malkmus repeated his propensity for defacing obscure record jackets and repurposing them as his own as seen on the groundbreaking Slanted and Enchanted the same year, and later Pavement classics where a collage approach was used for Crooked Rain Crooked Rain and Brighten the Corners.

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Further Reading:

♥     Brighten the Corners Album Art

♥     More Album Cover Outtakes | Pavement’s Wowee Zowee

♥     Pavement | Top 50 Songs

♥     Stephen Malkmus | Groove Denied

Elvis Costello and the Imposters | Palais Theatre

Elvis Costello and two thirds of the Attractions performed the final concert of their Australian tour at the Palais Theatre in St.Kilda, Melbourne on 4 April 2024.

Featuring remarkable pianist Steve Nieve and one of the best drummers ever in Pete Thomas from the Attractions, Elvis Costello accompanied by his backing band of the last two decades, the Imposters (featuring Charlie Sexton on guitar, and Davey Faragher on bass), performed very much a warts ‘n all 2½ hr set that included endearing chats with the audience, and many classics (some nigh on unrecognisable mind you) from his highly acclaimed career spanning more than four decades and thirty-plus albums.

The set included classic Elvis Costello and the Attractions album tracks, oldies covers, and some unexpected twists and turns. He alternated between centre-stage rock out with his greyburst Fender Jazzmaster and a red 50’s Stratocaster (he played more solos than Sexton), picked up a Gibson acoustic for a seated cover of ‘Dio Come Ti Amo’ sung in Italian, then sat at the grand piano for a few ballads including ‘Face in the Crowd’. He even made a passing reference to former bassist Bruce Thomas as “some other bloke” from their early days.

I first saw him back in ’91 in his scary bearded-and-long-hair phase of Mighty Like a Rose, and it’s fair to say this beloved entertainer is not the same scything vocal powerhouse he once was, however Elvis is still a fine storyteller, musician, and all round entertainer.

He spoke of his father’s influence on him (and his dancing!) and how his parents met across a record store counter and his ongoing love for vinyl LPs. Elvis also included a humorous anecdote of buying an early Bruce Springsteen album (probably Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.) and being bewitched by the romantic imagery it conjured, only to be somewhat letdown by his first visit to the USA in the late-70s.

This was the final Australian concert for the rock legend before embarking on four sold out Japan dates and a co-summer headlining tour with Daryl Hall in June and July for a 22-city US outing.

The terrific set list included: ‘Watch Your Step’, ‘Waiting for the End of the World’, ‘Everyday I Write the Book’, ‘Radio Radio’, ‘Watching the Detectives’, ‘Clubland’, ‘Almost Blue’, ‘Man Out of Time’, ‘I Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down’, ‘High Fidelity’, ‘(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes’, and a barnstorming finale that included ‘Alison’, ‘Pump It Up’, ‘(I Don’t Want to Go To) Chelsea’, and the Nick Lowe-penned Brinsley Schwarz classic, ‘What’s So Funny Bout Peace Love and Understanding’.

Further Reading:

♥   Elvis Costello and the Attractions | Get Happy!! Sessions

♥   High Fidelity | The Best of Elvis Costello in the ’80s

♥   Didn’t Know It Was A Cover | Elvis Costello’s Shipbuilding

Fripp & Eno | (No Pussyfooting) (1973)

The image used for the 1973 ambient masterpiece (No Pussyfooting), was designed by British photographer and filmmaker Willie Christie, and exhibits Robert Fripp and Brian Eno perched in a dramatic Infinity Mirror Room.

The striking composition was photographed and designed at Brian Eno’s behest by British photographer and filmmaker Willie Christie, who constructed the room at a photography studio in Maida Vale, West London in 1972, hiring the mirrors and zinc floor from Chelsea Glassware. In a nod to the infinite reflective rooms of artists Yoyoi Kusama and Lucas Samaras, Eno sourced most of the other artefacts himself, though Christie contributed the guitar-shaped mirror. The image is at one with the music it enshrouds – prismatic, playful, calm, cerebral, oblique – reflecting the Revox tape loops Eno pioneered.

The first of three major collaborations between the musicians, (No Pussyfooting) evolved out of Eno’s early analogue tape looping experiments combined with the King Crimson head-honcho’s “Frippertronics” electric guitar technique.

It didn’t really sound like anything that had come before it – Robert Fripp 2024.

The album was the result of a impromptu meeting at the London EG offices, where Fripp, having returned from touring America and auditioning singers for Crimson including Elton John and Bryan Ferry, was invited to Eno’s 28 Brondesbury Villa in St. John’s Wood for a cup of tea.

28 Brondesbury Villas, St.John’s Wood

To this day Fripp has no idea why he took his 1959 Les Paul and Pedalboard with him, because upon arrival, Eno, without explaining to Fripp regenerative music theory, plugged him into his two Revox A77 reel-to-reel tape recorders and hit go.

Fripp played his first note, a low F#, and responded to what happened next, building up a dense layer of sculptural ambience that slowly decayed as it turned around the deck’s playback. After 18 minutes Eno pressed stop and asked Fripp if he’d like to play on top of that. He said yes, so Eno wound back the tape and the guitarist played over the top of it. Side One is called ‘The Heavenly Music Corporation‘, and it was the very first thing they ever recorded together, in the process, creating an entirely new genre of music.

The project may not have gone any further had it not been for Eno playing the results to Richard Williams, the editor of Melody Maker, who liked it very much. So they recorded a second side. ‘Swastika Girls‘, takes up Side Two and was recorded at Command Studios in Piccadilly. This piece displays how the guitar can sound with the addition of VCS3 Synthesizer and Digital Sequencers sharing the space, often discordant, at times melodic and hypnotising.

Eno and Fripp would later refine the system on Evening Star, and Eno’s solo album Discreet Music (both 1975), and Fripp would take it and base whole albums and live appearances around it, particularly the majestic Let the Power Fall (1981), but it was here on (No Pussyfooting) where it all started.

The release of the album was strongly opposed by EG Management and Island Records. At the time, Fripp was considered more a left-field character, and Eno, as a member of the highly successful Roxy Music, it was alleged it might damage his commercial potential, paralleling Fripp’s experience with Daryl Hall’s Sacred Songs, an album he produced in 1978 and RCA Records prevented the release of until 1980. It didn’t matter to Eno. In the 11 months between recording Side One and Side Two, he was sacked by Roxy.

When mixing the album in London’s Air Studios, Fripp was concerned these management obstacles would compromise their artistic ambitions. So he pulled out a piece of paper and wrote “No Pussyfooting” on it and placed it on the mixing console to remind themselves not to give in to censorship.

(No Pussyfooting) eventually came out in America on a budget label and has since been reissued multiple times, but it didn’t receive a major release for an album which is now considered significant for its pioneering work in the realm of ambient music. David Bowie was such a fan he paid tribute by insisting on the double-quotes around his “Heroes” album title.

Photo: Mick Rock, 1972.

Sleeve images: 2014 Opal gatefold 200-gram super heavy-weight vinyl original stereo mix reissue, cut from the masters approved by Fripp & Eno.

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Further Reading:

♥     Electronically Yours with Martyn Ware | A Podcast

♥     Robert Fripp | Exposure (1979)

♥     Eno: Masterworks | 1974 – 1977

♥     Robert Fripp | Network (1985)

♥     David Bowie | “Heroes” (1977)

More Album Cover Outtakes

The cover of the Pavement fan-favourite Wowee Zowee, featured a painting by American artist Steve Keene based on a photograph entitled ‘The Arab World’, originally published in Life magazine in 1972.

The indie rock legends’ Pavement-iest album, Wowee Zowee (1995), featured artwork by American painter and friend Steve Keene, based on a photograph originally found in Life magazine‘s 1972 World Library title The Arab World. The caption below the original photo read, “A midday rest is enjoyed by three Arab women and a goat on an arbor-shaded porch. Fellahin women often wear black robes over their other clothing.”

Omitted from Keene’s painting is a girl in a tan dress holding a baby, stationed between the two sitting women. Bandleader and all-round indie-rock icon Steve Malkmus, saw the artwork during a live painting session at one of Keene’s exhibitions and chose the piece for the group’s new album. The wildly prolific and distinctive New York-based artist had also made covers for the Silver Jews (The Arizona Record), and the Apples in Stereo (Fun Trick Noisemaker).

“Pavement asked me to paint their album cover for Wowee Zowee and it was absolutely incredible to have that happen because I’m so into their music. A few days later, I painted a bunch of stuff on paper for them to pick out which one they wanted. They had been doing all sorts of funny scribbly drawings and stuff on their previous album covers so I thought they were just gonna take my art and kind of chop it up and make a collage out of it like their other albums. But they basically just straightforwardly took one of the things that I painted and then they stuck the words on top of it.” – Steve Keene, 2015.

With the addition of cartoon speech bubbles, it resembled the front cover of Guru Guru’s excellent 1972 album Känguru, an album Malkmus had always admired. The back cover shows a wizard with the speech bubble “Pavement Ist Rad!”, an additional nod to the origin of the cover, and the album’s title is also a homage to the track that open Side Two of The Mothers of Inventions’ debut Freak Out! (1966).

Further evidence that Malk adores the psyched out kraut scene, he also covered Can’s ‘Ege Bamyasi‘.

Further Reading:

♥    Steve Keene 

David Bowie | Album Reviews

David Bowie | Album Reviews/Homages (1967 – 2016).

Bowie’s output was consistently interesting over a long period of time despite a false start. From the 60s Ken Pitt vaudeville beginnings resulting in his first self-titled album, through to the solo beginnings with Space Oddity in 1969, via his untouchable ’70s, stadium filling superstar years of the ’80s, underrated ’90s and early ’00s, before an astonishing comeback with The Next Day in 2013, through to his final masterpiece Blackstar (2016).

A purely subjective view, and I will not be de-coding Bowie’s songs for meaning or messages, rather looking at the quality and enjoyment of each song and era, album by album, on its own merits.

I hope you enjoy reading it (and thank you), as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Photo: Jimmy King, 2016.

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ALBUMS:

David Bowie (1967)

Space Oddity (1969)

The Man Who Sold the World (1971)

Hunky Dory (1971)

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1972)

Aladdin Sane (1973)

Pin Ups (1973)

Diamond Dogs (1974)

Young Americans (1975)

Station to Station (1976)

Low (1977)

“Heroes” (1977)

Lodger (1979)

Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)

Let’s Dance (1983)

Tonight (1984)

Never Let Me Down (1987)

Tin Machine (1989)

Tin Machine II (1991)

Black Tie White Noise (1993)

The Buddha of Suburbia (1993)

Outside (1995)

Earthling (1997)

Hours (1999)

Heathen (2002)

Reality (2003)

The Next Day (2013)

Blackstar (2016)

Blackstar (2016)

The final devastating instalment in the David Bowie catalogue, the breathtaking and relentlessly fascinating masterpiece, Blackstar.

TRACKS

1. Blackstar: The album begins with the sprawling avant-jazz title track which I will refer to as Blackstar rather than ★: Bowie’s requiem. It’s a swirling miasma of art rock jazztronica, avant sci-fi drum n’ bass and acid-house grooves, featuring a two-tonal melody with hints of Gregorian chants. Got that? Frankly a bizarre song and quite unlike anything recorded before or since by anyone. Think Scott Walker with commercial responsibilities. It began life as two tracks then eventually one track over 11 minutes edited down to 9:57. His voice is multi-dimensional throughout: rich, snarling, crooning, swaggering. Halfway through the song collapses on itself and out of the ruins are Visconti’s lush strings resurrecting the piece. The disturbing video directed by Johan Renck, depicts a woman with a tail discovering a bejewelled astronaut skull. There are gyrating scarecrows, and Bowie, looking incredible, appears as button-eyes. There’s a lot to this, and much of it genuinely odd and utterly fantastic.  10

2. ‘Tis a Pity She Was a Whore: Originally released in November 2014 as a non-album single, it was re-released as a B-side to ‘Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)’ with Bowie on sax. It was then re-recorded as one of the first tracks for the album with Donny McCaslin’s band. It starts with an intake of breath from Bowie; frenetic drums, grand piano; the closest cousin is Beauty and the Beast. Essentially a raucous five-minute mesh of melody and discord, an art-rock noir romance packed under the ice of modern jazz sqwonk. “Hold your mad hands I cried!”.  9  

3. Lazarus: A musical self-epitaph and the powerful centrepiece of the album, this was a man who facing his own mortality and the lyrics directly reference that. Originally written for the off-Broadway musical of the same name, Bowie liked it so much he included it on the album. Originally titled ‘Bluebird’, the track is minimal, powerful and devastating. Bowie crucially plays the grinding, reverb-drenched spaghetti western guitar, on Marc Bolan’s Fender Stratocaster no less, and the creeping horror of the video depicts a frail, button-eyed Bowie in a hospital bed, levitating. Elsewhere he can be seen struggling with writer’s block, then writing furiously with a sense of urgency while wearing a striped outfit (the same he wore in widely-seen promotional shots for Station to Station) before backing into a cupboard and closing the door on himself physically and metaphorically.  10  

4. Sue (Or in a Season of Crime): Like ‘Tis A Pity….’, this urgent track was previously recorded in 2014 and re-recorded for the album. It’s a film-noir narrative given the avant-funk treatment by the McCaslin’s band and is a powerful piece of avant-funk – another bold and startling accomplishment.  9

5. Girl Loves Me: Sung in the fictional Russian-inflected English language ‘Nadsat’, the language used in Anthony Burgess’s novel A Clockwork Orange, the electronic ‘Girl Loves Me’ is menacing in tone and militaristic in feel, with a cool treated bassline; it’s also the least jazz-tinged track on the album. The final version owes a good deal to the tinkering of guest musician James Murphy on percussion.  6.5

6. Dollar Days: The last song written for the album, in the studio Bowie picked up a guitar and showed the band his little idea and they learned it right there and then. “If I never see the English evergreens I’m running to / It’s nothing to me / It’s nothing to see.” A rare reference to England and a devastating lyric, perhaps the most powerful on the album. The song starts regretfully but builds towards a triumphant tone, it’s a gut-wrencher. The song begins quietly, with Bowie pensively turning the pages of a notebook, followed by a subtle parping sax. This is a chilled out, acoustic-sounding, moving number: “Push their backs against the grain / fool them all again and again…I’m trying to / I’m dying to.” Bowie forever defying the moneymen. The vocal fades and the guitar powers on. Autobiographical, obviously.  9

7. I Can’t Give Everything Away: Bowie’s beautiful harmonica briefly appears, a rare sighting, floating above a mournful pulsating groove. The final epic on his final album could not be more fitting as an album closer. One of the most haunting and majestic tracks Bowie has ever recorded. Not one of us knew for sure that Bowie’s final hour was so close upon hearing this when it came out. It’s still almost unbearable even now. “I know something is very wrong,” he begins, then sings: “The blackout hearts, the flowered news / With skull designs upon my shoes.” The sense that Bowie had an unhappy secret he desperately wishes he could share is reaffirmed in the chorus. The overall effect is ambiguous, moving and spellbinding, adjectives that apply virtually throughout the album. This album-closer has the perfect fade-out, harmonica and all, as Bowie signs off forever.  9

ALBUM RATING:  9

VERDICT: Forget The Next Day, this was David Bowie’s real comeback. The devastating final instalment in the catalogue is Blackstar, the finest epitaph anyone has ever created for themselves and listening to these tracks is still a harrowing experience for most.

The album was released to coincide with Bowie’s 69th birthday (8 Jan 2016). The circumstances are now widely known: Bowie’s passing just days later (10 Jan 2016) saw the album hit No.1 in every chart known to man, and in the ensuing days, weeks, months and indeed years, rightly saw an outpouring of grief alongside a plethora of touching homages, album-reviews-turned-eulogies, books, memorandums, podcasts, concerts, covers and documentaries, all of varying degrees of grandeur, paying tribute to our hero. No one in the band or the general public were aware of his illness, and it goes without saying the passing of the greatest rock star of all time came as a huge shock and profound loss to the world.

The lyrics contained within the album were reflective and weighty, contemplating his mortality. Clearly his farewell, Blackstar is a self-contained world. It never strains to be of-the-moment like Outside or Earthling, nor does it reference Bowie’s past as blatantly as The Next Day or Heathen. Instead, he struck out for the fringes, the dark corners, looking for one last new way to be David Bowie. The world without him would be inconceivable, he simply just was, and naturally always will be. Blackstar was one final incandescent explosion of creativity.

Bowie was always a collaborator who sought out great players to facilitate each magnificent transition, and had long championed virtuosos (Ronson, Fripp, Belew, Stevie Ray Vaughan to name a few). As good as Heathen, Reality, and The Next Day undoubtedly were, there is a certain safe familiarity to them. Personnel-wise, Bowie worked with a core of musicians that had been a part of his coterie for many years (Gail Ann Dorsey et al). On Blackstar, Bowie was completely untethered, at last collaborating with an entirely new group of gifted musicians; putting on the map saxophonist Donny McCaslin and his innovative and progressive jazz band, comprised of keyboardist Jason Lindner, bassist Tim Lefebvre and drummer Mark Guiliana, who shaped the sound of the album and enabled Bowie to go in several directions at once.

Blackstar, in both content and circumstance, is the final mask of the great man. It’s fitting too that the album blends so many of his iconic musical styles and genres; European art song, post-punk dirge, and jazz-fusion groove from white musicians, they’re all here in Bowie’s trilingual funk farewell. He was adventurous to the very end.

The album went on to be the best-selling album of 2016 and received universal acclaim, it’s also one of the few Bowie album covers not to feature an image of the singer. The Blackstar symbol [★], rather than writing ‘Blackstar’, has a sort of finality, a darkness, a simplicity, which is a representation of the music contained within the LP’s mysterious grooves. The man was spectacular.

“His death was no different from his life – a work of Art. He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn’t, however, prepared for it. He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us.” – Tony Visconti, 2016.

Photo: Jimmy King, 2015. With Donny McCaslin.