If medieval minstrels were given electric guitars by aliens,
from outer space, they would have recorded The Man Who Sold The World 1200 years
ago.
The fist side of this album is kind of run-of-the-mill weird
for Bowie. There’s some monsters and madmen, but then side two starts off with “Running
Gun Blues,” and I just wanna check out.
After Pet Sounds creeped me out yesterday, I can’t take it.
This ablum is a whole different kind of creepy. I picture Bowie floating in a
black room, with a strobe light flashing, he’s wearing some kind of tight or
loose blouse, or maybe a tight blouse under a loose blouse and he’s dancing
with his hands like a Liza Minnelli singing these songs.
I hate to say all of this, because I LOVE David Bowie. I do!
I guess it’s just tough to appreciate everybody’s full body of work. Speaking of full bodies, I almost forgot to mention he looks stunning in that dress on the cover! It's like lazy androgyny.
I
mentioned this earlier when I started this blog, but sometimes when you go back
to an album you don’t know, if you’re not familiar with that pocket of time it
came out or when you were younger and into it, the lack of nostalgia just
prevents you from really digging it. Ya dig?
Is this really a great record or is it as bad as I
think it is? I like to make fun of dickbag hipsters by saying they “pretend”
to like certain bands. You liked the new Grizzly Bear record? Yeah right! Is it
like that? I should track down everybody that loved Fischerspooner ten years
ago and ask them if they’re still loving Electroclash?
On a lighter note, it was nice to blow the dust off of Bowie’s
original take of “The Man Who Sold The World.” As sick and tired I am of the
Nirvana version, it is pretty spot on.
Jesus H. Christ! Bowie sounds like the Madame puppet on the last track
“The Supermen.”
I figure if I show a picture of Madame with Peter Griffin,
people will get the reference. Family Guy's endless array of pop culture
references has come in handy! Who knew?
My friend Eric Beris used to think the line “I was up above
it,” from “Down In It,” was “I was at the party” or he used to just sing that
anyway.
This record was out for about six months before “Head Like A
Hole” was released as a single and after I heard that sometime in the Spring of
1990, this album went straight into heavy rotation in my CD player and stayed
there for years. I was a big fan of a bunch of Industrial bands at the time, so
it wasn't a stretch to get into this album.
At the dawn of the 90’s this album was a true alternative,
before the world took NIN from “us,” when they belonged to the freaks, I would
have never guessed in a million years that this band’s music would find a
global audience.
Several years later when commercial Alternative radio stations were
signing on all over the county, it was a mind fuck that “Head Like A Hole” went
into all their libraries and they acted like “we've been playing this for
years!” Same thing happened with Jane’s Addiction “Jane Says.” Fucking Lollapalooza!
Way to go Perry Ferrell! Good job creating something so cool, the squares took
notice, co-opted it, sucked the life out of it, then murdered it, and now I’m stuck
with hipster doofuses churning out turd after turd! (Sorry, I got off on a
rant. It is and it isn’t your fault Perry. I still love you.)
Not much else I need to add here, this is a near flawless
collection of songs, couple of stinkers. If you haven’t heard anything other than
“Head Like A Hole, “Down In It,” or “Terrible Lie” from this album in a while, do
yourself a favor and throw it on right now! Or, the Devil will fuck you in the
back of his car! Maybe you are all messed up, Trent.
I’ve been looking for an excuse to listen to this record. I
am a huge fan of “Dominos,” from The Big Pink’s previous album, the dumbly
named, A Brief History Of Love. Still listen to that track a lot!
Future This starts off strong with “Stay Gold,” but sounds a
little too much like “Dominos.” “Hit The Ground” is pretty solid. It’s
definitely too dense to digest in a listen. I’m hoping I circle back around to
this one sooner than later.
I liked “1313” and not just because it used to be my ATM code,
until I saw a list of the most common ones and changed it. “Rubbernecking” is
fun and “77” stuck out with a nice quiet groove. Whatever.
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