Your favourite Bowie?

[hospitalfood]

my favorite, less well known but great

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoPPiDkXO3Y

[vifferman]

I just remembered how much I love Scary Monsters, but in part it's not such much for any particular song, but for Robert Fripp "spraying burning guitar all over it" (his words, and very apt too ).

[Shadows]

One of my favourites

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jg4ekLG9Zo[/youtube]

[Big Dave]

New:

[HenryDorsetCase]

I've been a fan since I was about 13 or 14. One of the very first albums I ever heard was a friends big brother's copy of Aladdin Sane, which I still love.

The two eras that really do it for me are the early 70's: Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs (which I still have in the gatefold LP sleeve with the painting in the middle). Basically I think they are complete works of genius. RCA have sold each one to me a number of times: album, album, CD, CD remaster, "ultimate edition" CD blah blah.

The other period I love is the Berlin trilogy: Low, Stationtostation, Heroes. Though they can be something of a downer, they are again, sublime.

Live albums?: I have Live in Santa Monica 72, David Live (76) Stage (78) and the Ziggy concert which was errrrr 74? Correct me if I am wrong but I think the band was the Ronson/Boulder/Woodmansey Spiders on both records.

My favourite is probably David Live, though the critics ( who are, generally, tossers) don't agree. The big stage, the studio overdubs, the transition from the painted up persona to the Young Americans persona (it was recorded in Philly) blah de blah. Protip: Get the 2005 remaster: it has better track order, and they put in Time. They also put in that awful Whiskey Bar Bertold Brecht thing which I dont like. The band is great but Earl Slick on git-box is downright incredible.

Having said that, over the last couple of months I have been playing STAGE fairly obsessively. I have it on a USB stick in my car and its permanently rolling pretty much. I was not allowed to go to the Christchurch concert in 1978 (thanks Mum ) but its that tour. The version of Station to Station is amazing, and now I am in love with the Berlin trilogy, the versions of those songs I really like too (TVC15, Warsaw, Wild is the Wind). Plus he cranks out the rockers too. And what a band!: Carlos Alomar (who was like 12 at the time) Adrian Belew, Dennis Davis and George Murray.

I intend to revisit the 80's stuff that I had in school: I own the albums but havent listened for years: talking about Lodger/Scary Monsters era.

One of my favourite Bowie things ever is a thing called "Earthling in the City". One of the songs is in Chinese. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthling_in_the_City

I listen to it a bit, and probably do Earthling and Outside a disservice by doing so.

I quite like that Heaven album too for the occasional listen.

Oh yeah. I'll just do up the buttons on my fan-club anorak and be over here.

Will I buy the new one? Yeah probably.

The thing is to me the single especially sounds quite like some of the Berlin era material... but Ive only listened to it a few times.

[HenryDorsetCase]

I'll just leave this here:

[youtube]6IJsAuUgSgc[/youtube]

[misterO]

I think Bowie wasn't lying when he claimed to come from a different planet. Funny thing was, I often didn't like songs the first time I heard them, but after a few plays they got under the skin. Scratch the surface to dig deeper and you'll find some solid gold:

It's No Game (Part 1)
Queen Bitch
Holy Holy
Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed
Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family
Width of a Circle
Lady Grinning Soul
Cygnet Committee
Secret Life of Arabia
Sweet Thing (reprise)

Man, that Mick Ronson could play a MEAN guitar!

[martybabe]

Don't know how I missed this thread first time around.

HUGE fan of Bowie all my life, saw him live in the UK in 1973 in his Kimono period. He did about 5 costume changes during the gig and mesmorised the audience. The single best concert I have ever been to. He became a Hero to me and 40 years later his status has barely wavered.

Can't pick a favourite but best Album would be a toss up between Ziggy and Space Oddity.

The latter has been barley mentioned here, so for all the really old Bowie fans, I give you: Noggin the Nog and the wild eyed boy from Freecloud and the poetry of 'memories of a Free Festival'

[Hitcher]

Suffragette City. A classic R&R track that builds inexorably to its conclusion and then ends. No fade out nonsense with the chorus endlessly repeated.

Wham bam, thank you Ma'am.

[Swoop]

Geeze. Had to go and find out when the Glass Spider tour was in Auckland.
A good night at Western Springs late '87.

[martybabe]

An anecdote:

I used to work with a Guy that regularly organised gigs for local venues. He told me once how he had booked a little known artist called David Bowie for a Gig at a small city Town Hall. He was aware of Bowie's work and frankly wasn't over keen to book the 'odball' and his missgivings seemed justified on the night as Bowie had still not arrived at the venue 30 mins after his published start time.

On the Brink of sending the audience home, Bowie arrived in a crappy old minicab and anounced that his band and instruments were stuck in a knackered old Transit van somewhere on the motorway. He apparently brushed aside any idea of cancellation and went onstage to a hostile reception armed only with an acoustic guitar, a bar stool and a Microphone.

What followed, the story goes, was a two hour solo performance by an odd-looking, strange sounding, audience captivating, professional artist that will live forever in the memory of those lucky enough to be there.

"So you're a Bowie fan now", I said to my workmate, "No" says he " I think his music and singing are shite but, judging by the audience reaction, his utter confidence/arrogance on stage, I reckon the Bastard will be huge and go on for bloody decades!"

There you have it, a Star was born, believe it or believe it not dear reader, it's all part of the Legend for me. DB 'The Guvna'