Tag: David Bowie

Bowie at The Proms

It’s all about opinions and the Bowie Proms night split the critics. An assorted collection of musicians, some well-known others not so, took part in classical renditions from David Bowie’s back catalogue. It’s not the first time the Starman has received this treatment. Phillip Glass wrote The Low Symphony based on the album of the same name.

This listener enjoyed some of the different versions while others didn’t quite shake it right. The point is though, they were different and these were the type of experimentations that Bowie did throughout his long career.

In a nutshell capsule, all rock songs can be covered many ways unlike traditional classical music. You goes to the concert hall to hear Beethoven’s 5th and you will hear, note for note, the 5th. Any impromptus would displease the purists. So well played, The Proms for this improvised Fantastic Voyage with all time lows and heavy swells.

Everything will be alright

The man of many disguises, David Bowie, has created more personas than there are characters in the Honoré de Balzac La Comédie humaine collection. Furthermore, the biblical proportions of Cecil B. DeMille’s extras are sparse in comparison with The Ziggy Aladdin Duke’s creations. He did the lot. He sang, he wrote songs, lyrics, performed live, he narrated, he mimed, he acted, he painted. He gayed, he ungayed. He married a model. He was a father, he pushed prams.

Bowie’s music spanned the whole universe of genres. While not many of us are like Midge Ure and love the complete Bowie cake, there are slices of it that taste beautiful. This little gem was released in beware the savage jaw of 1984. A song that always cheers me up.