Best Of David Bowie 1974-1979, The - David Bowie > Reviews > Flawless Genius

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

Advantages:	Classic pop; hidden gems
Disadvantages:	No really big hits; lots of saxophone !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

WHO'S DAVID BOWIE?
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Along with Madonna, James Brown, Elvis and The Beatles he's probably one of the five most influential musicians of all time.

He started out in the mid-60's before finding fame with his debut solo release, Space Oddity - the one that goes: "ground control to Major Tom". It was re-released in 1972 and reached number one. He had a string of hits throughout the seventies and early eighties encompassing such styles as glam rock, pop and disco.

Unlike Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones, who all had an excuciatingly bad 80's, his popularity stayed high until the total turkey that was 1987's Never Let Me Down album. Subsequent dabbles in dance and drum n bass only bred apathy amongst his fans. In 1999 he rediscovered his form with the fine Hours album and two years later eclipsed it with the near perfect Heathen album.

WHAT'S THIS ALBUM ALL ABOUT THEN?
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Without sounding like a cliche, it does exactly what it says on the tin. Unfortunately, 1974 to 1979 was spent in Berlin with Iggy Pop getting mashed and producing farout albums like Low and Lodger. The tracks assembled on this album are possibly the best of this period, but if you're looking for Ziggy Stardust, Life On Mars or Starman or Changes, it's the preceding 1969-1974 Best Of that you need.

Bowie's output during this period was largely experimental (side two of the Low album was instrumental ambience). Thankfully, the compilers have tried to collate his most accessible tunes from the late 70s and I've found some hidden gems on this CD that you rarely get to hear.

THE TRACKS
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For anyone interested in David Bowie, I've included a description of each track along with the album that the original version can be found on. Marks are given out of five, too.

**1. Sound and Vision**
I think this is David's best ever song. It's so simple. The intro goes on for nearly two minutes and there's some brill echoey synths. Just when you think the track is going to be an instrumental, Bowie pops up and croons nonchalantly: "don't you wonder, sometimes, about sound and vision" with an awesome, arrogant baritone. The beat still sounds astonishingly fresh. A classic in every department.
From the album: "Low" (1977)
Chart position: 3
Mark: 5/5

**2. Golden Years**
Some finger-clicking and nifty bass starts this track off and once it gets going is actually a very pleasant little track. In about 1975, Bowie discovered soul and it's certainly rubbed off on this track. The horns are great and the whole feel is of something James Brown would have been quite proud of.
From the album: "Station To Station" (1975)
Chart position: 8
Mark: 4/5

**3. Fame**
Not one of his greatest tracks. I find the echoey vocals annoying and the slow pace rather boring. It's not a typical song in construction, ie there's no real verse/chorus/verse formula going on here. The "fame" refrain in the vocals sound slowed down and manipulated and it's not a good look!
From the album: "Young Americans" (1975)
Chart position: 17
Mark: 2/5

**4. Young Americans**
This is Bowie's all-out soul track. Everything plus the kitchen sink has been thrown into this. Black female backing vocalists, husky saxophone and his anguished vocals together with a huge, lush, sparkling production. The tempo is typically mid 70's soul and the overall effect is astounding. This is one of his best tracks.
From the album: "Young Americans" (1975)
Chart position: 18
Mark: 4/5

**5. John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)**
This is a reworking of his earlier song, John I'm Only Dancing. Quite plainly bitten by the soul/disco bug, it's straight out the text book entitled James Bown By Numbers. There's funky guitars, call and response vocals, a saxophonist going madder than a bucket of bananas in the background, all rapped up in a bizarre seven minutes of mayhem. Quite thrilling.
From the album: n/a
Chart position: 12
Mark: 4/5

**6. Can You Hear Me**
The first track on this album that I'd consider a hidden gem. It's almost a ballad as the tempo lurches at funereal pace to it's conclusion. There is much sax in evidence and I'm beginning to think that this was very much the "instrument du jour" for Bowie during this time. A great track that's rarely heard.
From the album: "Young Americans" (1975)
Chart position: n/a
Mark: 4/5

**7. Wild Is The Wind**
At six minutes, this is an epic and another slow paced track. There's a lot of play on the title and Bowie's voice flits in and out of the mix like real wind. A lovely piano riff pops in to say "hi" occasionally and that soul influence hasn't deserted him - there's languid, funky guitars all over the place. Pleasant track, if a bit too long.
From the album: "Station To Station" (1975)
Chart position: n/a
Mark: 3/5

**8. Knock On Wood**
This is a cover of the old 60's soul standard by Eddie Floyd. Talk about going the whole hog. There's New Orleans ragtime piano, mad guitar-picks, funky frums and, of course, more saxophone all over the place. Bowie's voice doesn't really suit this track and I prefer Amii Stewart's disco version from a couple of years later.
From the album: "David Live" (1974)
Chart position: n/a
Mark: 3/5

**9. TVC 15**
"Traaaaaaaaaaaansmission" wails our David on the chorus of this track. The soul influences remain and it's a good midtempo track. There's nothing here as glamorous or daring as Young Americans or Can You Hear Me, but it's stilll a catch little number all the same. A nice surprise.
(God knows what a TVC15 is though).
From the album: "Station To Station" (1975)
Chart position: 33
Mark: 3/5

**10. 1984**
Bowie sounds at his gloomiest yet on this album with this track that is by turns maudlin and joyous. The verses are macabre and downbeat but once the chorus kicks in, the increase in tempo and the spiralling, urgent strings make fantastic listening. A schizophrenic track.
From the album: "Diamond Dogs" (1974)
Chart position: n/a
Mark: 4/5

**11. It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City**
The song opens with the first sign that we've seen on this album of the old David: upbeat tempo with rock guitars and riffs all over the shop! He almost talks his way through the verses: "when I walk down the street/I can hear it's heartbeat", he says. In fact, the whole track is narrative-heavy and joy to listen to. This is the rarest of things on this album: a Bowie song without a sax break!
From the album: "Station To Station" (out-take) (1975)
Chart position: n/a
Mark: 5/5

**12. Look Back in Anger**
Oooh he sounds miserable on this one, kids! His voice has gone all deep and it's not a little menacing. But it's the best "undiscovered" track on the album and rattles along at a fair old pace. The sneering backing vocals of "waiting so long, I've been waiting so long" absolutely rock! This is David Bowie as we know him: rocky, experimental and awesome. A hidden gem.
From the album: "Lodger" (1979)
Chart position: n/a
Mark: 5/5

**13. The Secret Life Of Arabia**
"Secrets, secrets never seen" goes the female backing vocal on this track form the Heroes album. The pace is slower and bit more funky once again and Bowie's voice is back to normal after the scary shenanigans of Look Back In Anger. Halfway through, some natty little disco handclaps come in to play with the demented piano and Bowie wails in his best cockney accent: "Araaaabiarr". Priceless.
From the album: "Heroes" (1977)
Chart position: n/a
Mark: 3/5

**14. DJ**
There's been no saxophone for about four tracks now and this track is no exception. Weird violins and loopy Hammond organ, yes; but sax, no. - hurray! "I am a DJ I am what I play" goes the chorus of this super stop/start track. Near the end is a great 70's guitar solo that the Darkness would have been proud of.
From the album: "Lodger" (1979)
Chart position: 18
Mark: 3/5

**15. Beauty And The Beast**
This song, from the Heroes album, was released as a single at the height of punk in January 1978 and couldn't sound any different to that movement if it tried. Full of New Wave-style synths and thumping drums, it sounds like he's singing with a bucket over his head, or at least down a telephone with a bad connection. Bonkers and brilliant!
From the album: "Heroes" (1977)
Chart position: 39
Mark: 3/5

**16. Breaking Glass**
Don't listen to this track on headphones. After about 30 seconds there's a shrill piercing synth bit that sounds like a 1000 mice all squeaking at the same time. THe opening to the track suggest Lynyrd Skynyrd boogie until his monotone, robotic voice kicks in. Gary Numan may have been taking notes. It's short at 1:53 but then Bowie never overdoes things on this album.
From the album: "Low" (1977)
Chart position: n/a
Mark: 4/5

**17. Boys Keep Swinging**
"When you're a boy, you get a girl" he sings on the bridge to chorus. By this stage in the album, he's lost the need to pretend to be James Brown and go for the soul market and instead employ his original and best stance: guitars, guitars and drums. There's even a bit of feedback near the end and things drizzle out to a close. Bloody exhilirating stuff.
From the album: "Lodger"
Chart position: 7
Mark: 4/5

**18. Heroes**
This song is the blueprint for modern rock music. You can hear the nagging guitars of Coldplay and Snow Patrol, the pained but controlled vocals of the Manic Street Preachers and the drumming and tempo of Oasis. It starts of with a whisper but builds and builds with layers of emotion before Bowie final tirade of "we could be heroes, just for one day....". This song only reached number 24 when it was released. It should have made number one and still be there, mate! Just awesome.
From the album: "Heroes" (1979)
Chart position: 24!
Mark: 6/5

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
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As I said, he had a relatively good 1980s with two number one singles in the form of Let's Dance and Ashes To Ashes. He went a bit bonkers in the mid 80s, starring in Labyrinth and releasing the woeful Never Let Me Down. In the early 90's he formed Tin Machine and started playing all out rock numbers, which the critics hated but the fans liked.

After this album was released at the end of 1998, Bowie was reeling from the critical mauling his last studio album, Earthling, received. Made up of frenetic drum n bass rhythms and dance structures, the album was a commercial failure. He regrouped and between 1999 and 2003 plugged his guitar back in to deliver three back to form albums in the shape of Hours, Heathen and last year's Reality.

DAVID BOWIE DISCOGRAPHY
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1972: Ziggy Stardust, Hunky Dory, Space Oddity,
The Man Who Sold The World
1973: Aladdin Sane, Pin-Ups
1974: Diamond Dogs, David Live
1975: Young Americans
1976: Station To Station, Changesonebowie
1977: Low, Heroes
1978: Stage
1979: Lodger
1980: Scary Monsters And Super Creeps, The Very Best Of David Bowie
1981: Changestwobowie
1983: Rare, Let's Dance, Golden Years
1984: Fame And Fashion, Tonight
1987: Never Let Me Down
1990: Changesbowie
1993: Black Tie White Noise, The Singles Collection
1995: Outside
1997: Earthling, The Best Of 1969/1974
1998: The Best Of 1974/1979
1999: Hours…, Bowie At The Beeb - Best Of The BBC Recordings 68-72
2002: Heathen, Best Of Bowie
2003: Reality

OVERALL
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If you're looking for Space Oddity and Starman and all those other glam rock tunes, then pick up the companion release 1969-1974. Otherwise, if you're feeling adventurous and fancy a diet of Bowie and saxophone for 75 minutes, this'll do you a treat. Me? I love Bowie, so this is great fun for me and I really enjoy listening to it occasionally.

Thanks for reading.

Wayne