That David Bowie managed to release a video for a brand-new track, the first in a decade, with neither fanfare nor flamboyance places him ahead of and above the pack. The downbeat Where Are We Now? debuted on Jan. 8, his 66th birthday, and finds the English rock icon looking back on his days in Berlin 30 years ago, when he wrote many of his most admired songs. Tony Visconti, a producer who has worked with Bowie since 1970’s “The Man Who Sold the World,†told the BBC that they’d been working in secret on the accompanying album for two years. “The Next Day†will be out in March.
Admittedly I’m fairly new to the man born David Robert Jones and his brand of limitless, mercurial charisma. I only recently downloaded a portion of his discography and I have yet to play every track in order, as advised by those familiar with his canon.
Berlin-era triptych
When I mentioned to a co-worker — a devoted fan who hails from the singer’s birthplace of Brixton, South London — that I had begun my education by plunging headfirst into Bowie’s Berlin-era triptych, I can tell that he wanted to pat me on the back, the way a father would his son after winning a soccer game.
But when he found out that I listened to “Low,†“Heroes†and “Lodger†on shuffle, and that to me Breaking Glass sounded like something by Franz Ferdinand, one of my all-time favorite bands, a sickly expression of dread spread across his face. It was as if I had just drowned a bunch of kittens. I’ll never forget that conversation and I suspect that neither will he.
But what can I say? I may be fascinated by figures from the past, but I am foremost a product of the puzzling times in which I live. I probably stumbled upon Young Americans, Fame and Rebel Rebel because they were used as fashion show music somewhere, and I’m perversely attracted to Little Wonder, I’m Afraid of Americans and Jump They Say because of their electronica and jungle elements.
My latest Thin White Duke-related discovery is Bowie 2001, a collaboration between Fritz von Runte, a Manchester-based DJ, and the estate of Stanley Kubrick. The hypnotic re-creation is an uncut account of the visionary science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey with a score of remixed Bowie songs. And yes, I found this by searching SoundCloud.
From March to July, London’s Victoria & Albert Museum will be home to “David Bowie is,†an exhibition that “will explore the broad range of Bowie’s collaborations with artists and designers in the fields of fashion, sound, graphics, theatre, art and film.†It’s the first international retrospective of the genre-jumper’s extraordinary career.
To prepare for it, I’ve picked up Stardust: The David Bowie Story, by Henry Edwards and Tony Zanetta. It may be an account of his betrayal of a variety of people who helped build his career, but there are a lot of anecdotes about his development as an artist. I also plan to rewatch The Man Who Fell To Earth, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and Labyrinth. While there is no word yet as to whether he will consider live appearances or even interviews, “David Bowie is†and “The Next Day†will most likely place him at the center of things once again. For a newbie fan such as myself, that is more than enough.
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