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...

Reviews and stuff

Let's start off with the easiest one, Goat's Head Soup. I like it enough to buy a better copy... bam done.

Help!, and yes the American one. Let's see how pissed off I am by it's butchering (ha ha...) Well "I've Just Seen A Face" isn't here. Am I pissed off? Not really, Rubber Soul really benefits from it's inclusion. I don't really care for Ringo so "Act Naturally" isn't a big loss either. "It's Only Love" is also on Rubber Soul so eh... I don't care for old school r&b covers so "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" isn't bad either. It does hit me in the gut to know that "Yesterday" was taken away as well as "You Like Me Too Much" (another harrison joint but I am partial). However, I don't mind the Indian interludes so it's all good.

Stevie Wonder's Talking Book is great. It's just a classic motown record. That's pretty much all there is to say about it.

Hunky Dory by David Bowie's pretty bitching too. It's usually compared to The Man That Sold the World (because Hunky Dory is not heavy metal) and Space Oddity (because it's similar). But it's great. It's got classic bowie moments and it seems he's trying to taking on music hall and velvet underground stuff.

Ok well those are four yo.

10/1/10 Half Price and Exchange

Ok so I got a bunch of records from my friend and I also got some from half price clearance. I won't go through all of them (or most of them) in this one sitting but I will go over all of them eventually.

Lauren Records--
Hunky Dory by David Bowie --10
Low by David Bowie -- 10
Kimono My House by Sparks --18
Red Apple Falls by Smog --13

1/2 Price
Help by the Beatles -- 8
Goat's Head Soup by the Rolling Stones -- 6
Talking Book by Stevie Wonder -- 4
Edgar Winter's White Trash --1
Second Contribution by Shawn Phillips--1
Live Peace in toronto 1969 by the plastic ono band --1
Shaved fish by the plastic ono band -- 1

So I'll go through these as I get time... yeah

7/22 Antones

I felt bad because I walked there and bought a plastic 7' sleeve with pennies. They don't have any paper sleeves two weeks later.

Records
Odessa (again) by the BeeGees -- 20
Bringing It All Back Home by Dylan -- 13
Who's Next -- 8
Wild Honey by the Beach Boys -- 8
Young Americans by Bowie -- 15

How can you say no to a double album with a felt cover? yes felt! I got this one already but it was only a one album version. Who cuts down a double album on a reissue? Anyways, Odessa (with Blonde on Blonde and the White Album) is the essential double album of the 60's. Finished the 80's. Now I need to discover the 70's.

Bringing It All Back Home is sort of the start of bob dylan going electric. Sort of the first of the trilogy the other two being highway 61 revisted and blonde on blonde. So yeah... good stuff.

I feel like Who's Next is sort of the only who album I'm interested in. It's a classic. But I might feel like my desire to hear the garage rock genius that is pete townshend might endear me less to it.

I've been looking for Wild Honey ever since I heard a friend's and friends do a raunchy cover of it. It's a really good album though. This album was right after smiley smile. I mean by this time Brian had totally freaked out and you can tell by this album that there was going to be a huge difference in the beach boys.

I've recently discovered that since bowie changes styles so often that each album can be described thusly: Bowie does (insert genre here). For example, ziggy stardust is bowie does glam, alladin sane = bowie does glam, AGAIN, berlin trilogy=bowie does Kraut Rock (part 1,2, and 3), etc... Well young americans is bowie does funk/soul/r&b. Yeah... Fame was co-written by John Lennon and james brown ripped it off. Also it's got luther vandross (fo those in the know). So check it out.

later

7/14 End of an Ear

End of an Ear is awesome. They have a huge selection and a lot of rare records (they had music to eat by the hampton grease band and an original out to lunch by eric dolphy). So the question becomes is it better than waterloo? Waterloo is still your store if you only want reissues and that sort of thing, but end of in ear's used record selection doesn't suck like waterloo. What I'm saying is end of an ear is a great place if you looking for a record and you don't care if it's a reissue or not. Yeah... it's pretty much the best store in austin. By the way... I think Snake Eyes Vinyl and Friends of Music are gone... I drove by but I couldn't find them.

Oh if you spend about a 100 bucks they'll give you a tote bag.

Records--
Reissues--
Phonography by R. Stevie Moore --20
Double Nickles on the Dime -- 14

Used--
Heroes by David Bowie --7
New Tijuana Moods by Mingus -- 6
Brilliant Corners by Monk -- 8
Island of Living Puke by Zoogz Rift -- 5
Lola Versus Powerman and The Moneygoround part 1 by the kinks -- 10
One Nation Under A Groove by Funkadelic -- 6
Highway 61 Revisited--12


Ok.... Lets start off with the reissues.

During the 90's the term "lo fi" was thrown around alot, but have you ever wondered where it came from? R. Stevie. Moore is the answer. As early as 1976 he has been releasing home recorded albums and has shown no sign of letting up. Phonography is his debut. Check it out, the residents will recommend it to you.

What else is there to say about double nickles? I mean that along with zen arcade and daydream nation, it's a definitive 80's double album. Pick it up on record because some of the cd pressings leave off songs.

Now on to used stuff.

Really looking forward to Heroes. It's one of the three Berlin Albums. David Bowie originally was supposed to do the soundtrack to The Man Who Fell to Earth (starring David Bowie) but contractual obligations prevented him from doing so. He was hanging out with Brian Eno and thus Low was born. Heroes follows the same format (Pop songs on one side Instrumentals on the other).

The copy of New Tijuana Moods I got is interesting because it doesn't have the saucy hispanic wench leaning up to a jukebox (which I would prefer) HOWEVER it does have a shit ton of alternate takes and stuff like that. But it's one of mingus' better albums.

Usually when people play jazz piano there are two approaches: the first is attempting to play as many notes as possible in the time allotted, the second is choosing your notes carefully and sparsely. Theolonious Monk was sort of the founder of the second. This album is great, I mean dig that celeste on Pannonica. But the greatest part of jazz records such as these is that nothing's overdubbed but the music is still challenging. On the back it jokes about how much the musicians complained.

Anyways. On to Lola. What is there to say? It's the album that put the kinks firmly in the arena (har har) of stadium rock.

Zoogz rift is more interesting. I actually saw this one on the floor. From what I remember he's into zappa and beefheart... and apparently wrestling. Wikipedia says this "Keyboard Magazine ... described Rift's album The Island of Living Puke as 'moments of outstanding free-form rock, sandwiched between scrupulously obscene interruptions'" Yep.

The final one was a steal. They had this one with a "stuck" gatefold for 6 and another one that wasn't stuck for 12. I figured for 6 bucks I could unstick it. Parliament and Funkadelic are pretty much the same band on different labels. They eventually exploded to more bands than you can shake a stick at so I'm not going to get into that. Anyways if you're looking to get started into p-funk stuff go with this one or Maggot Brain.

Highway61.... bought it for a friend.