David Bowie just released a new single.
DocMcCoy
"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
I woke up this morning to The Internet Going Nuts and I thought, "A new Bowie record? Wow, didn't expect that at all." Then I thought, "It's probably not going to be much cop, though, is it?" Then I heard it, and thought, "OK, well, this might be the best thing he's done in almost 30 years." Just a really lovely song, and all the Berlin footage in the vid is a particular delight for me. That's his old apartment building on Hauptstrasse at 0'52''. I can walk there from my place in about 15 minutes.
Discuss, should you be so inclined.
Comments
Unlike the latest Madness single, which, whilst a bare faced rip of previous hooks and knowingly pastiche, has at least a cracking tune.
I understand he has heart problems which have prevented live appearances, but I've almost put him in the same mental box as Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel.
Sorry.
This is kind of how I feel about it. Being a Berlin resident myself (and living in Sch??neberg), I love the footage too. I wondered for a moment whether or not it was contemporaneous or archive, until I clocked the tattoo parlour on the left-hand side of the entrance to Bowie's apartment building.
A friend on Facebook described the song as having the same "terrible historical self-awareness" displayed by the surviving Beatles when they did Free As A Bird. He also observed how, after never paying much attention to the public perception of him, it suddenly seems Bowie is happy to reflect it back. Valid points, but not really ones I agree with. I think it's reasonable for someone of his age, who's drifted into semi-retirement amidst rumours of serious debilitating illness and even impending death, to reflect upon the time and place of his greatest artistic triumphs. Even if you do think he's playing around with his own mythology, it's still not as self-indulgent or self-aggrandising as, say, the opening sequence to The Shootist or any number of Frank Sinatra songs.
It'd be the easiest thing in the world to wave this away with a comment about how he's not as interesting as he was in his 20s or 30s, and I have no doubt that loads of people will do just that. But personally, I'm curious to know whether Bowie's interesting as an artist in his 60s. Discovering that he hasn't lost his gift for an affecting melody will do to begin with. He may not have the same pressing need to perform as Leonard Cohen, for example, but the thought of him simply withdrawing from the world as his creativity slowly dissipated, with the long silence only broken by an announcement that, "following a long illness, David Bowie died in the early hours of blahblahblah", would have been very tough to take. Glad to have him back.
The misspelling of Potsdamer Platz (no 'z' in Potsdamer) is forgivable, allowing it to make the screen isn't.
F*ck yeah, his ego was monumental. I was watching some clips of him duetting over the years and the f*cker often talks over the the other person's part while they are mid-flow. Great talent, no need for that. Or the horses heads.
There's a record store around the block run by this old man Mr. Jacksch
Do you mean the one just behind Crellestrasse near Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz? I don't know of another in the vicinity, but there's a strange old guy who runs this particular spot - grey hair, a little bug-eyed. He immediately asks you what sort of records you're looking for as soon as you're in the door. He isn't especially unpleasant or anything, just a little over-bearing to the point that you don't really feel like hanging around the place for too long. I got the impression there could be a few gems amongst all the 80s maxi-singles and obligatory crates of schlager, but I wasn't sure if this was one of those places where the necessary evil of making lots of unnecessary small talk would provide enough of a payoff. I haven't been in there since last summer, and I've never really given it a serious look anyway. Maybe I should swing by again.
Not a fan of Frank on any level but love watching him and Marlon Brando opposite each other in Guys and Dolls. Brando can't sing for shit but clearly loves inflicting musical torture on Frank whose total and undisguised contempt makes it all worthwhile. Brando's opinion of Sinatra's acting was just as high, apparently.
The one close to the station "Julius Leber Br??cke"...I found some Gems there, but the smalltalk/heat ratio is a little off, you're right. This Bowie video reminds me of how much I miss Berlin. I might drop by this Saturday...
good "twilight of career" material i suppose.