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Post by Russg on Jul 28, 2017 15:03:26 GMT
So I own a Best of Bowie CD and am really curious to try and delve a bit deeper into his catalogue, but its quite daunting knowing where to start with such a prolific artist.
Any recommendations?
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Post by MattyJam on Jul 28, 2017 18:55:38 GMT
Bowie is the kind of artist that has a lot of different styles, ranging from 70s prog rock, 80s pop, 90s drum and bass, avant garde concept albums, stadium rock, folk, Americana, blue eyed soul, jazz... the list goes on and on.
What songs do you enjoy the most from Best of Bowie? That may help give me an indication as to what's the best starting point for you.
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Post by Russg on Jul 28, 2017 21:25:14 GMT
My favourites on Best of Bowie are mostly on the second disc, songs like China Girl, Ashes To Ashes, Sound & Vision and Loving The Alien.
I do really like Space Oddity and Golden Years on disc one as well.
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Post by MattyJam on Jul 28, 2017 21:57:23 GMT
Sounds like you'd appreciate Bowie's eighties work, although be careful, as he did go through a bit of a dodgy phase in the mid-eighties. I would save albums like Tonight and Never Let Me Down for much later down the line. Maybe start with Scary Monsters or Let's Dance.
My personal favourites are Station To Station, Low, Heroes, The Next Day, Heathen and Blackstar.
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Post by MattyJam on Jul 29, 2017 13:36:49 GMT
You should definitely check out Blackstar, the album is incredible. Truly a work of art.
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Post by HIStoric on Jul 30, 2017 10:51:10 GMT
As acknowledged, he's quite the prolific artist and he has dabbled in all sorts of sounds, from his highly accessible pop music (1980s) to rather unaccessible experimental music (1995's 1. Outside). To answer your question, for 1980s material, have you seen the film Labyrinth? It's a pretty popular Jim Henson movie with Bowie as the main villain, I'm sure you've seen references to it on social media before. Great film too and Bowie sings some cool songs. The Magic Dance is probably the most well known from that film, I bought the EP for it on iTunes last year. To help expand into the previous decade a bit, I'd also recommend the 1970s songs, Fame, Fashion, and Beauty and the Beast. All of those are quite funky, make me wanna dance, so I found them relatively easy to get into  Some others I found relatively easy to into... Space Oddity, The Man Who Sold The World, Starman (Single Mix), Moonage Daydream, Rebel Rebel, and of course, Heroes! They're from the 70s, and they're all on another level. They take me to places few songs do. The great thing about Bowie is his catalogue is so expansive with diversive sounds that it takes a while to get through it all. I'm still quite new to Bowie and haven't listened to many albums yet. He's had quite a few songs that I didn't 'get' at first, but then I come back some time later and it just simply 'clicks' and I question how I didn't like it in the first place  So yeah, if you find any songs recommended here aren't really your thing, no biggie! Maybe try coming back to them in a while when you've explored more of his catalogue. You should definitely check out Blackstar, the album is incredible. Truly a work of art. It's more experimental than his 80s work, but still very good. For context, Blackstar was Bowie's final album and he worked on it having been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Almost no-one knew, minus his very, very close friends/family. He released the album on 69th birthday, only to pass away 2 days later. The album was doing well before he died and looked to be a #1 in a number of countries, but it was only once he died that people began to realise all the hints and references to death in the album - references that few people picked up on in those first two days. A great example is the opening line of Lazarus - one of my favourite songs off the album. Look up here, I'm in heaven. That line took on a whole 'nother meaning when Bowie finally passed. Never mind the music video for it, his final ever. The whole video is filled to the brink with symbolism for death, and Bowie finishes the video by retreating into a dark wardrobe - never to be seen again. I also highly recommend the video for Blackstar. No other artist went out like Bowie did. He turned his death into a hauntingly beautiful work of art and frankly, it's nothing short of incredible. A legend through and through, to the very end and beyond. |
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Post by MattyJam on Jul 30, 2017 13:50:08 GMT
it was only once he died that people began to realise all the hints and references to death in the album - references that few people picked up on in those first two days. A great example is the opening line of Lazarus - one of my favourite songs off the album. Look up here, I'm in heaven. That line took on a whole 'nother meaning when Bowie finally passed. Never mind the music video for it, his final ever. The whole video is filled to the brink with symbolism for death, and Bowie finishes the video by retreating into a dark wardrobe - never to be seen again. I also highly recommend the video for Blackstar. No other artist went out like Bowie did. He turned his death into a hauntingly beautiful work of art and frankly, it's nothing short of incredible. A legend through and through, to the very end and beyond. Beautifully put. Blackstar was nothing short of incredible. The fact that he was writing such high quality new material as evocative and powerful as anything that had come before, when he was quite literally on his deathbed, just goes to show what a creative force the man was. I was lucky enough to see Lazarus on the West End during last years run, and the show was fantastic. I never got to see Bowie live in his lifetime, and this show felt like the next best thing. I knew it wasn't going to be some cheap, tacky tribute (like Thriller Live). I knew because Bowie had a hand in its creation, that it was going to be a classy affair and that it'd be really creative and a avant garde. If anybody ever gets a chance to see it, especially with Michael C Hall in the lead role, I would thoroughly recommend it. |
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Post by Russg on Aug 2, 2017 7:21:36 GMT
Just ordered Blackstar and Station To Station on Amazon. Thanks for the tips guys! |
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Post by HIStoric on Aug 2, 2017 9:52:05 GMT
Woo enjoy!!
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Post by Cloudbuster on Aug 16, 2017 21:05:27 GMT
Hunky Dory
The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
Aladdin Sane
Station To Station
Low
"Heroes"
Scary Monsters
Heathen
The Next Day
Blackstar
All brilliant albums.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2017 5:20:50 GMT
I would go for some deeper greatest hits stuff next. Bowie seems to have a lot of hits collections. My favourite are a series of 3 albums released in the late 1990s.
The best of David Bowie 1969/1974 - with Purple Head of Ziggy
The best of David Bowie 1974/1979 - With blue head of Heroes era Bowie
The best of David Bowie 1979/1984 - Green head, lets dance era
These have some of the album cuts of classic albums and out takes (Velvet Goldmine, Can you hear me live, Saint in the City) and they are just great.
Going into Studio albums, I always go for Hunky Dory, Ziggy of course and then my favorite 3 albums StationtoStaion, Low and Heroes. Bowie's sound was just so sparse, yet complex at the time, there is no way to describe this music unless you listen to it.
I would avoid anything past Lets Dance for new fans, particularly the Tin Machine era, I warn you, avoid Tin Machine. Believe me , Never let me down and Tonight are the works of genius next to Tin Machine.
His 90s/00s alternative stuff is hit and miss, the best of it is the 1999 Hours album, but it is really for seasoned Bowie enthusiasts rather than new fans, especially of you gravitate towards his 80s pop phase. Entering Bowie through his early 70s heyday is a good sign mostly.
I agree Darkstar is excellent and I would also not go past the Next Day from 2013 - Mature sexagenarian Bowie is a real treat.
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Post by mjjfan810 on Aug 29, 2017 7:01:29 GMT
As the World Falls Down from Labyrinth is my favourite Bowie song.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2017 21:12:07 GMT
Buy them all. Quick.
But seriously, if you are looking for a journey through your soul, both equidistant between depressing and uplifting, then you need to give Low a try.
Low will teach you things about yourself.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2017 11:34:04 GMT
Buy them all. Quick. But seriously, if you are looking for a journey through your soul, both equidistant between depressing and uplifting, then you need to give Low a try. Low will teach you things about yourself. I am in agreement, Low opened my eyes, without drugs, deep and prophetic, a man stuck in a world of darkness and yet complete vision. Heroes does the same too. To be in Bowies head at the time. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2017 11:38:17 GMT
Buy them all. Quick. But seriously, if you are looking for a journey through your soul, both equidistant between depressing and uplifting, then you need to give Low a try. Low will teach you things about yourself. I am in agreement, Low opened my eyes, without drugs, deep and prophetic, a man stuck in a world of darkness and yet complete vision. Heroes does the same too. To be in Bowies head at the time. Are you a fan of The Idiot? Blasted it in the car last night for the first time in ages. Its barely even an Iggy album! |
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So yeah, if you find any songs recommended here aren't really your thing, no biggie! Maybe try coming back to them in a while when you've explored more of his catalogue.
