The Map Ahead

A few things of note.

1. The blog will resume publishing after Labor Day, with the “last 10″* entries, and with the hope (but no guarantee—come on, you should know me by now) of finishing before year’s end. I hope that commenters who’ve drifted off during reruns will come back for the endgame. It would be good to hear from everyone, one last time.
2.  Ashes to Ashes, which will cover every song from The Idiot through Blackstar, should be completed by next summer and Repeater should publish it sometime after then. Progress is going okay, with five of 15 chapters in decent shape.
3. At some point in 2017, I’ll start a new project. It will be about, among other things, temporal architecture, television, the American business voice, art school, the religion of work, disco, public relations, guitars, sanctioned bohemias, talk radio, American cities, and the songs and performances of Talking Heads.

Have a good summer: I’ll put up a few more reissue posts now and then.

CO

* I think there’ll be 10 but possibly more, possibly less. Haven’t decided whether to break the 3 Lazarus songs into separate entries—much will depend on whether the soundtrack album comes out this fall.

The Bowie Cover Catalog

The most substantial writing on Bowie that I’ve done since his death is, fittingly, not for this site. You can find it at Aquarium Drunkard today.

Starting with Kenny Miller’s “Take My Tip” in 1965 and ending with Jason Lindner’s “Dollar Days” from January 2016, it’s a look through the Bowie catalog, as sung and played by others. There’s likely something for everyone to enjoy in the set. A wonderful discovery for me was the synth trio Anōmy and their take on “TVC 15.”

Top: “What have they done to me songs?” 1977.

It’s No Game (Part 3): The David Bowie Poll

So, how do we end a blog that’s been running since July 2009? With a reader poll, that’s how.

(“But what about Blackstar, Chris?” Well, Blackstar can wait. Maybe late summer or fall 2016, whenever it works out.)

I’d like to ask you for your favorite Bowie songs and albums. Your top 30 songs, top 10 albums, to be precise. You send them in; I compile them; the ones that get the most votes wind up in “Bowiesongs’ Top 50 Best Bowie Songs” and “Top 10 Bowie Albums,” which I’ll put up in January, once the song entries are done.

You’ve plenty of time. The deadline is Monday, December 7, which does mean that there will be time to put the “Blackstar” single into your top 30. Sure, bump “Sweet Thing” for a song that came out like a week ago; it’s your call.

Any song that was sung, written or performed by Bowie qualifies, from “Liza Jane” to, yes, “Blackstar.” Bowie’s James Brown covers? Fine. “Rupert the Riley“? Hell yes. The songs he wrote for Ronson? Yes. The Leon suites? Absolutely but be specific about which one(s). The fragment heard in a documentary? Why not? Peter and the Wolf? OK, you sentimentalist. A song that the blog didn’t even cover (but book 2 will)? Sure. Here’s an incomplete list of Bowie songs. Here’s another. Also check out all the categories on the right-hand side of the blog. The “Chapter Ends” entries might give you some good tips.

What doesn’t qualify: songs that Bowie only produced (Lou Reed’s Transformer, Mott’s All the Young Dudes LP, the non-Bowie-written Iggy Pop songs (yeah “The Passenger” is borderline, given DB’s prominent vocal, but for the sake of consistency it doesn’t qualify)), songs that Bowie only played saxophone on, and misidentified bootleg songs he actually had nothing to do with.

It’s simple enough. Send me an email at bowiesongs@gmail.com. Put in the subject line: POLL. Then list, either as an attachment or in the email itself, your top 30 Bowie songs and your top 10 albums. Each song will receive one point except for your #1 song, which will get 5 points. So choose your #1 wisely. Same with albums: 9 albums get 1 point, the #1 gets 5 points.

Please don’t do the thing where you can’t decide, and so you send in like 53 songs with a bunch of “ties.” Be brutal, people. 30 songs, 10 LPs only. The 50 songs and 10 albums that get the most points as of the deadline make the cut.

Even if you’ve dropped off reading this blog but come across this post—send something in. It’s my way to honor the readership that’s built up over the years. To misquote Chrissie Hynde: “you call the shots, and I’ll follow.”

Additional stuff that came to mind after I wrote this:

* Multiple versions of songs that weren’t fundamentally changed in their remakes count as one “entry” (“China Girl“, “Space Oddity,” the Toy remakes of “London Boys” et al). All versions of “Memory of a Free Festival” and “It’s No Game” and “Cat People” etc. get totaled up in one entry per song.

* Songs that were substantially rewritten count as different entries. “I Am a Lazer” and “Scream Like a Baby,” the two Candidates, ” “Tired of My Life” etc.

* “Sweet Thing–Candidate–Sweet Thing” is one song.

* “John I’m Only Dancing” and “John I’m Only Dancing (Again)” are two different songs.

* The Iggy Pop rule: if an album by another artist is produced, performed and majority-composed by Bowie, you can list it as an album. Why you’d want to include an Iggy Pop album in your Bowie Top 10 is another story.

End of Chapter Nine (1996-1999)

That time again. Note for newish readers: these “chapter end” posts are a chance to sit back and assess the most recent period we’ve gone through in Bowie’s life. They’re also, blessedly, a means for me to not write the blog for a week. So say goodbye to the Nineties: list your favorites from the Bowie/Nine Inch Nails duets to Reeves Gabrels’ “Jewel” (so, all of Earthling and ‘Hours‘).

A tough period to assess (the toughest?). My top 10, as of this morning:

Something In the Air.
Dead Man Walking.
I’m Afraid of Americans.
Little Wonder.
Suite For a Foggy Day.
Looking For Satellites.
Survive.
Battle For Britain (the Letter).
Truth.
Seven Years in Tibet.

Top: Ted Barron, “South Third Street, Brooklyn, 1997.”

End of Chapter Eight (1992-1995)

Wrap-up time for early-to-mid Nineties Bowie, from “Real Cool World” to “I Have Not Been to Oxford Town,” a solid run encompassing Black Tie White Noise, The Buddha of Suburbia and Outside (& Leon). List your favorite songs of the period in the comments (for new readers, this is a semi-regular thing; see the “Chapter Ends” category for past entries). Below is my top 10 1/2: mercy, it was tough to choose a “winner” from the top three.

I Have Not Been to Oxford Town.
Untitled No. 1.
Thru’ These Architects Eyes.
The Hearts Filthy Lesson.
Strangers When We Meet.
Dead Against It.
Miracle Goodnight.
The Mysteries.
Outside.
No Control./ Lucy Can’t Dance.

Top: Ted Barron, “Hazel and Amy Rigby,” Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, 1994.

End of Chapter Seven (1988-1991)

As the Tin Machine era doesn’t play well with others, it seems best to keep its rankings separate. So list your top ten or whatever you can muster from 1988-1991: choose the cream of the Machine. Mine are below (“Stamford Hill” is a stretch, as it was mainly recorded ca. 1995).

I Can’t Read.
Pretty Pink Rose.
Goodbye Mr. Ed.
Bus Stop.
Shopping for Girls.
Prisoner of Love
Exodus.
Baby Universal.
You Belong in Rock ‘n Roll.
Amlapura.
The King of Stamford Hill.

Top: Stefan Sahlander, “New York, 24 July 1991.”

End of Chapter Six (1980-1987)

An explanatory note for (relatively) new readers: these very infrequent “chapter end” posts began back in 2009, when about eight people read this thing. They are a means to give me breathing space so I can write an overlong introductory piece for the upcoming phase of Bowie’s career, and to allow readers to praise and fight over their favorite songs from a particular period.

Problem is, I think it’s been too long since the last one (which ended with Lodger), so mercy, there are a lot of songs to go through. For this period, however, a lot of them aren’t great, so your list will likely narrow quickly. The inclusion of Scary Monsters utterly skews the ranking in my case. So have at it: list your best songs of the 1980-1987 period (Monsters to Never Let Me Down). Here’s my very Monsters-heavy list, extended to 15 because SM was such a dominant force:

Ashes to Ashes.
Up the Hill Backwards.
Modern Love.
It’s No Game (No. 1).
Under Pressure.
Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps).
Cat People (original).
Crystal Japan.
Blue Jean.
Fashion.
Let’s Dance.
Isolation.
Absolute Beginners.
The Drowned Girl.
Without You.

Top: Paul W. Locke, “Paul’s coworkers at Ferranti-Dege in Harvard Square, 1986.” (RIP Ferranti-Dege.)

End of Chapter Five (1976-1979)

It’s been ages since I’ve run one of these key summaries (cough, place-fillers) (which have no correlation to any actual chapters in the upcoming book). Anyhow, here’s a chance to list your top 10 favorites from the “Berlin” era—The Idiot to Lodger.

Here are mine. List extremely subject to change, except the first two:

Sound and Vision.
Warszawa.
“Heroes.”
Boys Keep Swinging.
Joe the Lion.
Be My Wife.
Lust For Life.
Subterraneans.
Look Back In Anger.
Funtime/Some Are.

Top: Regent St., London, 1979.

End of Chapter Four (1973-1975)

Haven’t done one of these in a while, so here are my top 10 faves from the Diamond Dogs to Station to Station era. Very epic-heavy, this lot:

Station To Station.
Word On a Wing.
Win.
Rebel Rebel.
Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (Reprise).
Young Americans.
Golden Years.
1984/Dodo.
Who Can I Be Now?
Diamond Dogs.

So: Pushing Ahead of the Dame is going to become a book, eventually, thanks to the interest of Zero Books. It most likely will be two volumes, the first (probably) ending with “Station to Station,” hence the grandiose climactic tone of that recent entry. More details to come when I have ’em.

Why buy a book consisting of stuff that’s already on the Internet for free? An essential question of the 21st Century. As an enticement, the song essays in the book will be substantially rewritten, many will be expanded (though a few gassy overlong essays will get trimmed) and, mercifully, all of them will be edited by professionals. The new essays will be more informative, less digressive, funnier and more coherent; they will be far better looking and will have better manners than their ancestors. So consider picking the book up, whenever it arrives.

Top: Normko, “Regent Street, 1975.”

A (Mercifully) Brief Self-Notice

It turns out that my post on “Space Oddity” has, bizarrely enough, made the cut for “Other Notable Music Writing of 2009” in the Da Capo Best Music Writing 2010.

I’m very honored. Thanks very much to whoever submitted the thing, if it was submitted, and thanks to whoever decided on it (Ann Powers? Daphne Carr? we’re not worthy, in any case).

Happy Thanksgiving!