| Product: |
David Bowie - David Bowie |
| Date: |
30.09.05 (70 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Fun little ditties
Disadvantages: Nothing too memorable
The thin white duke’s debut album failed spectacularly to catapult David Bowie to stardom in the manner of his subsequent releases, the more accomplished Space Oddity and his seventies works, but as such it remains something of a novelty. Fourteen folky songs dominated by Bowie’s sense of humour and take on life, almost everything offering a taste of what is to come without becoming too impressive in its own right.
Had this been produced and released at the height of Bowie’s glam rock stardom it would have been viewed as some kind of oddball vanity project (though I’m sure many hold this opinion of his expansive discography as a whole), but as such it’s an almost forgotten relic of the past that manages to avoid putting the artist to shame due to its sheer unadulterated fun nature.
1. Uncle Arthur
2. Sell Me a Coat
3. Rubber Band
Bowie’s musical career unsurprisingly begins with a character observation in the enjoyable and brief ‘Uncle Arthur,’ the rather pointless tale of a man who craves childish pleasures. ‘Sell Me a Coat’ and ‘Rubber Band’ both plod along to similar unoriginal rhythms, neither offering anything too entertaining but maintaining the flow adequately.
4. Love You Till Tuesday
5. There is a Happy Land
6. We Are Hungry Men
Bouncy and sentimental, the album’s first (small-time) hit ‘Love You Till Tuesday’ couldn’t be described as classic Bowie but begins the most impressive and fun part of the album. ‘There is a Happy Land’ is uplifting and becomes fairly energetic in the middle, although sadly this isn’t taken to a more rocking conclusion. A strange, Hitler-esque voice opens the horn-led ‘We Are Hungry Men,’ sounding similar to some of the artist’s later ballads (Bowie, not Hitler, obviously), this song is the first on the album that would benefit from lasting longer.
7. When I Live My Dream
8. Little Bombardier
9. Silly Boy Blue
10. Come and Buy My Toys
The slower pace of the subsequent songs spoils the simplistic fun slightly, the dull orchestration on ‘When I Live My Dream’ causing the song to outstay its welcome, especially in comparison to the two-minute openers. The same goes for ‘Little Bombardier’ which, although lasting under four minutes, is undeservingly the longest song on the album. ‘Silly Boy Blue’ and ‘Come and Buy My Toys’ sadly fail to bring out the emotions they seek through being too quiet and plodding.
11. Join the Gang
12. She’s Got Medals
13. Maid of Bond Street
14. Please Mr. Gravedigger
A classic rock-n-roll organ rhythm pervades ‘Join the Gang,’ the first song in a while to have fun with the format and somehow collapse into itself in its conclusion, while ‘She’s Got Medals’ is a classic Bowie tale of transvestism with typically annoying unison chorus, but nevertheless one of the album’s highlights. ‘Maid of Bond Street’ is a short but enjoyable romp and the album closes with the sinister, black humoured vocal solo ‘Please Mr. Gravedigger,’ with great lyrics.
There is essentially little to place this early collection of songs above anything performed by a bloke with an acoustic guitar in a bar frequented by weirdoes and arty types (I love those places), but it’s a fun late sixties folk album done well. A time before Brian Eno, before Mick Ronson and the Spiders from Mars and even before Space Oddity, it’s a quirky piece of rock history that eccentric Bowie fans are going to own and pretend to enjoy, and that everyone else of a light hearted disposition can appreciate if they want to.
Difficult to come by in its original version, these songs appear with various re-workings and demo tracks on the more available Deram Anthology. Nowhere near Bowie’s best, but not his worst.
Summary: David Bowie's first, folk-inspired album
|
|
