When I was in my teens, I went through the stage of getting into music and that stage still hasn't ended 25 years later on. Bowie was one of the artists that I read about back then as being influential and someone whose music I had to hear. Bands I loved then such as Depeche Mode spoke of him as an influence and bands I was getting into at the time, like The Cure, New Order and Pet Shop Boys, used him as a reference point so I had to explore. My love at the time, as it still is now, was electronic music so
Low seemed to be the obvious Bowie starting point. Thankfully, my mate Jamie, who was always ahead of us all on that sort of thing, had
Low and made me a copy from his Dad's original vinyl.
Speed Of Life was scratched on the record, so I got a special fade in version of it - that sort of thing was important. From the off,
Low transfixed me. It bursts from the blocks with
Speed Of Life, before an unstoppable run of three art pop classics arrives.
Breaking Glass is astounding both lyrically (
"Don't look at the carpet/I drew something awful on it") and musically with the combination of guitar and Eno infused synth noises a riot of joy. It's followed by
What In The World, like
Breaking Glass a sort of three quarters finished song, an idea, but something quite superb. The album's best known track
Sound & Vision rounds off the run absolutely perfectly. "
Pale blinds drawn all day/Nothing to do, nothing to say" fitted yesterday's global mood too, echoing the hollow feeling I had from around 7 a.m.
The atmospheric
Always Crashing In The Same Car slows the pace but still stuns me now and then
Be My Wife arrives, all pub piano and buzzing guitars - still one of my favourite Bowie tracks. What was Side 1 of this record company horrifying album then ends with the instrumental
A New Career In A New Town. This is a sensational track. A yearning instrumental, its title perhaps referencing Bowie's career refreshing move from America to Berlin, it rounds off the first part of the record wonderfully. What I noticed yesterday was that the harmonica riff from this is mirrored in
I Can't Give Everything Away, the last track on
Blackstar. Given that it is now fully apparent that
Blackstar was Bowie saying goodbye, I don't think that mirroring is accidental. Was that Bowie saying a musical goodbye, saying he was going somewhere new? Maybe not, and maybe I've overthought things a tad too much. Can't help but notice the same riff and wonder though.
Side 2 of Low is comprised of four experimental instrumentals that take Bowie's then interest in the European electronic sounds of Kraftwerk and Eno and Krautrock and turn it into something unique and quite breathtaking.
Warszawa is the most striking track, with its mood and atmosphere dark and romantic.
Art Decade is a slow moving piece, filled to the brim with electronics and effects from Eno's box of tricks. It's followed by
Weeping Wall which is propelled along on a buzzing main riff before the song takes a distinct turn in the direction of Cluster or Neu and the closing
Subterraneans is more ambient in tone, a beautiful end to a staggering album. To think he did all this immediately after his American conquering Plastic Soul days - it's astounding.
Low is one of those albums everyone should hear. If you ever get the chance, do the studio tour at Hansa in Berlin too. To stand where he stood when he came up with this and
Heroes is quite something.
I could say more about Bowie and about his other works that have thrilled me. Hearing
The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust just about blew me away, the song
Heroes itself whose light never dims, the opening riff to
Rebel Rebel which positively fizzes with energy and so on. He leaves an unparalleled back catalogue and one that will be discovered and rejoiced in by people for years and years to come. Leaving us with
Blackstar was something I guess you'd describe as typically David Bowie. What seemed to be a jazz influenced, fairly experimental record when you heard it last week, has turned into a stunning way of saying goodbye, knowing all that we now know. It's hard to think of any other artist who would have the talent to do something so remarkable. I loved in when I heard it before yesterday morning, and now it breaks my heart when I hear it now, but I can't stop listening to it. As ever, David Bowie is one step ahead of us all, even when he knew the end was coming.
Goodbye David. Thanks for everything.
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