David Bowie, Shawn Philips, and other observations

Ok... This is sort of strange. I'll be doing a cd review. I don't always like spending money so I get cds from the library, fun stuff right. Well the cd I want to talk about is David Bowie's Diamond Dogs. I sort of feel bad smack talking it because this album, along with Pin Ups, are sort of a low point for DB. These are very much of a period in between abandoing Ziggy and becoming the Thin White Duke. This much seems apparent: if Pin Ups saw Bowie looking back on his days as Davy Jones with such groups as the Mannish Boys, Diamond Dogs shows him trying to grasp what he will become. Simply put, Bowie doesn't know what alter-ego he wants to be. The theme of the album (i.e. Orwell's 1984) and the disturbing dog penis point to that glam rock persona we are all familiar with. However, after Aladin Sane, which cannot be denied as a very small and safe step away from Ziggy Stardust, this option seems tired. The increase of strings and saxophone, in my humble opinion, do point towards a Young Americans. The result is a "concept album" showcasing Bowie stretching himself. There are, however, a couple of good tracks, but if you own this album, you probably do so for one song: "Rebel Rebel". It's everything that's right about Bowie and it's not surprising that it is still a staple of his live shows.

The other Bowie album I want to talk about is Low. First off, the cover is great: it's otherworldly (a still from the movie "The Man Who Sold the World") and it's a visual pun (Low Profile ha ha...). On side A he takes the sound of Station to Station and ups the ante. The songs here are more bizarre and, oddly enough, more poppy. Side B finds Brian Eno helping create various song-scapes which fit in nicely after side a. Largely this album succeeds in all the places diamond dogs fails: Bowie takes on ONE alter-ego intensely, he focuses on the sound more than a concept, and there is new territory being explored.

For my last record of the post I want to talk about Shawn Phillip's Second Contribution. I bought this record because it has a guy in a CAPE with a 12-string guitar. The review on AMG says the sound is dated but that is an understatement. It starts off with a couple of songs that sound like the sort of stuff Frank Zappa loved to parody (see we're only in it for the money). Also the title for the first song is "She Was Waitin' For Her Mother At The Station In Topino And You Know I Love You Baby But It's Getting Too Heavy To Laugh"... what the hell... If you have to abbreviate your song title on the record it's probably too long. Who would guess what the hell "SWWFHMATSITAYKILYBBIGTH" stands for. But he is from Fort Worth and the record is a grower. At the end I found myself enjoying it despite the dated sound.

Michael Cera is the new dandy. I know it's weird but check it out... He's Twee as shutyomouth. He tries to wear nice clothes. And he's really sexually awkward. He's so stuck in this role, it's weird. He needs to get out of it or else people will be like "Hey, you're the same in every movie so that's who I think you are. We're Cousin's... Marry Me." yep...