Can't Decide What to Listen to? Try Bowie.

Played me some Bowie this weekend.

#32 David Bowie: Changesonebowie

Ever had one of those weekends where you have a long list of things you want to accomplish, but no two things are entirely similar? I had one of those weekends. I want to destroy the benches on our deck in the backyard, set fire to the remains, practice three songs on violin, play drums, play guitar, clean the kitchen, move the china cabinet two inches to the left...no, right, go to the driving range, read a few chapters of my current book, and of course, listen to a record.

But what record? I need one that is as varied and scatter-shot as my weekend has been. A soundtrack maybe? They seem to pull together a lot of tunes and just throw them on a record in whatever order seems almost appropriate. I have a few good soundtracks, Top Gun, Juno, Starlight Express....wait...Starlight Express? What the hell? Oh that's right, I've taken Beth to the record store a couple times, I gotta watch out for that. AH HA!  Here we  go. If you want randomness, look no further than David Bowie. Even better, its a compilation album: Changesonebowie. This should offer everything I need for a good album to cap off the weekend.


The compilation starts off in grand fashion with the track "Space Oddity." The song finds Bowie wandering space as a character known as Major Tom. Most of the song is a conversation between Tom and ground control. Released in 1969, the song has some pretty interesting stylistic moves. While people are always quick to heap praise on the Beatles and Beach Boys for their amazing production (yes, guilty as charged), only two years after their epic albums, here's Bowie going way out on a limb with this one. The song is all over the place, slow acoustic, big orchestral sounds, jazzy electric guitar, a mellotron, and a stylophone. So, what the hell is a stylophone? I had to look it up myself cause I wasn't familiar with this little toy. Check it out for yourself if you so desire. Each of these songs is unique in its own Bowie way, and I'll make my best attempt at comparing them to something else. This I'd say would have to fall into the space rock sound of early-mid Pink Floyd. "John I'm Only Dancin" starts with a solid beat based in the blues and leads to a nice walking bass line. The instrumentation is fairly straight forward, its definitely a rock song. Guitar, bass, drums, vocals, yup, that's rock. Its also under three minutes, the shortest on the album. If I had to put a style to it, I'd say its very Queen, which of course Bowie did collaborate with them so its no surprise.
"Changes" starts out with yet another new instrument, piano. I hate to admit, but I came into this album thinking I would find the one binding element among all of Bowie's work. I'm so tired of hearing the standard 'musical chameleon' cliche, but I just can't come up with anything else, its true. So what's different here? Bowie plays the saxophone on this one, so that's yet another instrument added to the mix. The song lyrically seems to convey a lot about youth going through a time of change, which can make it easily comparable to some of the Who's rock opera songs about youth in revolt. Musically its not quite as sonically explosive as the Who, but hey, its not easy comparing Bowie to anything. Next up is some straight up garage style rock. In "Ziggy Stardust," the fuzzed out guitar is right out front, while the rest of the band has a nice unpolished feel to it. If I had to guess, this song was done in one take. However, we know better than that, things don't happen by accident with Bowie, he's planned this out perfectly. Why? Because this isn't David Bowie, this yet another alter ego, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. Maybe this guy just has a massive multiple personality disorder and his doctors decided this is the only to cope with it. Well it sure beats the hell out of going on some mind altering wonder drug. Stylistically the song reminds me of, hmm, Lou Reed? Velvet Underground? Maybe, Bowie has a little more fuzz in this one, but I'd say some sort of garage style late 60's band would be a solid comparison. I bet your in the mood for Arena Rock now? Well you're in luck, cause here comes "Suffragette City," another track from the Ziggy Stardust days. During these times, Bowie had a fantastic guitarist playing alongside, Mick Ronson. Ronson's playing is featured very prominently on this and the previous track as well. Arena rock always demands a great guitarist standing out front collecting the various undergarments being thrown on the stage. This song feels very E.L.O. with its use of synthesizers and wall of sound production. Now I know, E.L.O.'s first record was only a year before this song came out, but whatever, I stand by my choice. "The Jean Genie" is a song with a great pulsing and bluesy beat, very 60's British Blues, but with that extra Bowie gloss on it. Oh by the way, another new instrument, harmonica, mark it dude. Since this song is just steeped in 60's Brit Blues I have to go with The Yardbirds. I doubt you'll argue too much with that choice of comparison, it fits. FLIP!

Side two starts with "Diamond Dogs" and our new instrument of the track is: cowbell! Actually there's some slide guitar on there as well, which is a nice addition to the track. It has a very Rolling Stones kind of feel to it, think Exile on Main Street or perhaps Sticky Fingers. I just see Keith Richards doing his junkie swagger on stage right now.  The very primal drumbeat keeps the song very much alive and helps to maintain bluesy feel of the whole thing. Near the end of the song I could swear we are listening to "Brown Sugar" by the Stones. Next up is "Rebel Rebel" and the old garage rock guitar is back. Its another fantastic riff that dominates the song, much like Ziggy Stardust. The rest of the band is really just there to support that guitar, that beautifully fuzzed out guitar. Lyrically the song seems to be about transsexual rock stars. I'd say there's a little confusion in the air for this one, though I'm not sure if its Bowie, his mother, or us that's confused, since its Bowie, we won't ask questions, we'll just enjoy the song. This song seems to harken back to a simpler time in Bowie's career, back when he was known as Ziggy Stardust. I guess that means I'm comparing him to himself, can I do that? Yes I can do that, this song came out in '74, after Bowie had decided to break up the Spiders and put Ziggy to rest. Ready for another change? Well here comes a big one in "Young Americans," a song that seems to be in the style of 70's soul music. Its relies on the bass to set the pace, and the saxophone to provide the compliment to the vocals. Lyrically it dives into socially conscious soul music subjects of oppression, racism, politics...you know, what's going on, it just makes you wanna (turn on falsetto high) break down and cry! Very nice touch. Look out near the end of the song for the lyrical sampling of some Beatles. I'll give a nice comparison of Stevie Wonder for this song, I'm not entirely sure why, I don't have a specific Stevie song to go with, but it seems to be accurate. "Fame" is a song that uses a great lyrical delivery that done poorly, would probably make for a very cheesy sounding song. However, Bowie does it flawlessly. With an extreme emphasis on the word FAAAAAAME Bowie kind of laughs in the face of the word itself. Along for the ride on this song, and very much inspiring the whole production, is John Lennon. Yes, that's Lennon who actually delivers the outrageous line Faaaaaame in the song. Its a pretty cynical song about being famous and the pressures that come along with it. I'm gonna go out on a limb for this comparison and throw out The Cars. I know, I know, the Cars came after this era of Bowie, but go listen to a few of the less radio friendly Cars song, and you will see. Maybe its a stretch. The album concludes with "Golden Years." This is another interesting track by Bowie, again in the 70's dance kind of style. Unfortunately for me, CBS ruined this song for me years ago. In 1991, those bastards at CBS developed a TV series with Stephen King called "Golden Years." Guess what the theme song was? Twenty-one years later I still can't shake that connection from my brain. Thanks CBS and Mr. King. A VHS Quality Gem

Well there it is, the highlights of Bowie's first 15 years on the scene. Its a solid example of just how often he was changing things up, and you can see him adjust to the times as well. You get Stones, Cars, Stevie Wonder, Yardbirds, ELO and a cameo by John Lennon. I usually like to avoid compilations on vinyl because I prefer to here albums in their entirety. I made an exception for this one, because its so fun to listen to Bowie this way. Its a musical tour-DE-force, and by the end you really appreciate just how different all his song are.

Strongest Song: ALL
Weakest Song: Its a best of, if there's a weak song, something ain't right.
Song You Know: Again, its a best of.
Why You Might Hate It: You prefer your band to play the same 3 chords, in the same style, with the same instruments, with the same clothes and the same lyrics FOREVER.
Buy It? Its a good one to have, and for a whole 99 cents, its a bargain!