At the very end of the recipe for Bowie’s magic are all the musical pioneers and avant-gardes that we couldn’t fit into any rock and roll basket we’re used to. Similar to the well-worn metaphor that Bowie is a chameleon, David Bowie’s famous inventiveness is also mentioned. And she, like everything else, came with additional wind in her sails. During Ziggy’s time, the arrival of Mike Garson (at first in performances, later in the studio) marked the expansion of Bowie’s music. Even then, Maestro Garson had a name as a stalwart of avant-garde jazz, which Bowie used better for the first album after “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars”, “Aladdin Sane“.
The title track is famous for the fact that in the second half Garson takes it over and ignites a literally unrepeatable atonal solo that could take up half a semester at Berklee. Although it’s not exactly “A Love Supreme” or “Giant Steps”, especially since it mostly takes place over two majors, Garson has talked about those twenty seconds more than anything else he’s done.
In addition to being played virtuosically and grandiosely, the solo also broke the last obstacle for Bowie’s music to gain the drama of big bands and music from the first half of the 20th century. The simultaneous ability of Garson’s parts to frighten and enthrall you was key to Bowie’s mid-seventies wading shoulder-deep into African-American music.
Further experimentation for Bowie meant listening to European bands and collaborating with a weirdo who had recently left Roxy Music. Brian Eno and David Bowie were brave and arrogant enough to challenge European artistic elitism like rock and roll and the world believed them. If we turn off the rhythm section from the album for a moment “Low” in our heads, we will hear two astronauts rushing into the unknown expanses of futuristic music production. The Berlin studio Hansa and the French castle Erowil were crowded with Ino’s synthesizers, and the two friends played with effects and made something out of the classic R’n’B sound that they didn’t know if anyone would like.
The result is Ino’s famous production method with “fuzzy strategies”, and the result is the famous riff for “Heroes“, the result was also “Achtung Baby!” fifteen years later, the result was also the entire post punk of the eighties. Although “Low” was met with a knife at first, the number of today’s legendary performers who swear by the sound from this album is not small. We often hear that Bowie brought electronica to rock and roll, and although that’s not exactly the most accurate statement in the world, his role in popularizing electronic instruments with the “Berlin Trilogy” is no small one.
The Berlin turn can also be seen as the inspiration for Radiohead’s middle finger to everyone alive when they released “Kid A” in 2000. By the time he recorded those albums, Bowie had already taken one successful, shocking turn in his career, but this was about sound. Even today, when the creation of music is absolutely democratized, big music names do not like to rush into the unknown when it comes to creation. True, it won’t work for everyone like Bowie or Tom York, but like Ino’s strategies, it brings a fresh perspective, and that’s always a plus.
After Berlin, Bowie was innovative only once more, at least for the next period. “Scary Monsters” was an album that wasn’t necessarily a sound revolution, but it was the sum of everything and a nice square up. Listening to the effects and production on that masterpiece, we can’t escape the impression that this mix of melody and chaos served as inspiration for bands like Nine Inch Nails or Pixies (Bowie’s thrashing in “It’s No Game Part 1” irresistibly associated with Francis).
That album also represented the last collaboration with Tony Visconti (at least until the new millennium), when they parted as friends for some reason. Visconti-backed Bowie albums have the wonderful quality of being perfectly rounded, and “Scary Monsters” is no exception. Bowie’s singing, production and arrangements also inspired a somewhat “softer” team, such as Blur or The Strokes. Tight riffs and rhythms that mix anxiety and dance floor. As if he was making it for millennials…
After the almost atrocious 1980s, Bowie desperately tried to reinvent himself during the 1990s. He almost managed to do that a couple of times, on the albums “1. Outside“ i „Earthling“. While the production of the first is signed by Ino, the second was produced by Bowie, Mark Pleti and Reeves Gabrels. As we said before, if he influenced anyone then, Bowie influenced himself. These two experimental albums have cleared the tracks that have been closed for some 15 years. “1. Outside” had a nice influence on Trent Reznor and his work in the second half of the decade, while on “Earthling” he even collaborated with Bowie.
When the millennium came to a close, the newly refreshed Bowie slowly began to filter his band from the nineties, and Visconti magically entered the story again. All albums from 2001 to 2016 have a remarkably similar sound. The mixture of modern clean sound with a couple of “dirty” tricks of the past has a pleasant effect on the ear. In the circuit of honor, Bowie tried not to be too difficult to listen to, but with musical tricks, arrangements and skillful production, he always managed to remain intriguing. “Sunday” and “Heathen” from the album “Heathen“; „Bring Me The Disco King“ i „Looking for Water“ sa izdanja „Reality“; title track and “Love is Lost” from “The Next Daya”; “Dollar Days” and “Sue” from the record “Blackstar” are just some of the examples where Bowie manages to sound dark and fun, emotional and cold at the same time, just like on the “Berlin Trilogy”.
As much as Bowie himself is responsible for it, so are the production and the performance. Bowie’s last years, especially the “New York tetralogy” (you heard this here for the first time), exude a specific chemistry that is an amalgam of everything that came before, with a new perspective of Bowie treading the fifties and sixties. Although we live in a world where music emanates from every corner, this sound is almost impossible to find outside of Bowie. At some point, Arcade Fire (“Reflector”, author’s note) tried it all, but there is no question of a successful replica.
How unique David Bowie’s musical world was, is also evidenced by the enthusiasm of his band in the last 20 years. A democratic dictator who carefully chose his army, judging by them, he was the best musician they worked with. They were saying that even before he left us, so we know it’s not courtesy. Six years after his death, various members of his line-up will once again celebrate the life and work of David Bowie, as they do every year. It is certainly the work of their order.
Without excessive pomp and fame, the musical pop geniuses behind the star man exist and it’s a real joy when they guest on someone’s albums. The members of the Apollo 11 crew were the pioneers of mankind when they set foot on the moon, but they, like Bowie, were most directly supported in this by a group of extremely talented and extraordinary people.
Source: balkanrock.com
