David Bowie Uncovered
Ok, I admit it. I have never been a huge fan of David Bowie's. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Bowie's music and Space Oddity and Ziggy Stardust are clealry classic albums. But, I just haven't connected with his music like I have with other 70's art rock groups like Roxy Music, Pink Floyd or The Talking Heads (my wife would add Brian Eno here if she had any editorial rights).
By the way, I know that I am in the minority here. In 1999, David Bowie was voted the most influential artist of the 20th century by his fellow musicians and Pitchfork named his 1977 album Low the best album of the 70's beating out The Clash's London Calling, Dylan's Blood on the Tracks and Led Zeppelin's IV.
So how is it that some of the most haunting and beguiling music I've been listenting to lately is Bowie's? The answer, interestingly enough, is that I've finally found my way into David Bowie's music by not listening to Bowie himself. Instead, I've been listening to mesmerizing cover versions of some of Bowie's classic songs by two very talented and very different contemporary artists: Seu Jorge and M. Ward.
Let me stop here for a second and say that I am generally not a fan of cover versions. Rare is the cover that is better than the original or that adds a new dimension to the music or the lyrics to warrant listening to the song being interpreted by another artist.
So, back to Seu Jorge and M. Ward. Seu Jorge is a Brazilian actor and musician. He has appeared in the movies City of God and The Life Acquatic with Steve Zissou. For the movie The Life Acquatic, Jorge also recorded acoustic Portugese language cover versions of fifteen Bowie classic songs, including Changes, Ziggy Stardust and Suffragette City. But my personal favourite is his version of Rebel, Rebel. Listening to these songs sung in a different language, in Jorge's throaty and romantic voice and totally stripped down to their bare elements reveals the narrative brilliance of Bowie's songs as well as the beautiful rhythm and tension within his music. I urge you to buy this album right away as well as Jorge's two original albums, Carolina and Cru (all are available on iTunes).
M. Ward is quite simply one of the best singer-songwriters and folk-blues acoustic guitar players on the face of the planet right now. As his record company says, "his voice sounds like it should come out of a 75-year-old Mississippi Delta bluesman." On his second album, The Transfiguration of Vincent, Ward takes on Bowie's 1980's song "Let's Dance". Listen to his stark, slowed down version of the song here and I am sure you will find it to be a revelation. Almost unrecognizable from the original, Ward manages to explore and highlight the deep sadness, fragility and heartbreak of this song, which is totally lacking in the Bowie original. Listening to Ward's version of this song will haunt you for weeks. Again, if you don't have this album, run as fast as you can to iTunes and purchase everything by M. Ward, including his most recent album Transistor Radio. You can also listen to both M. Ward and Seu Jorge on the Z-Axis radio station.
So, thank you Seu Jorge and M. Ward for uncovering David Bowie's music by stripping it bare, singing it in a different language and ultimately revealing the genius of The Thin White Duke.
By the way, I know that I am in the minority here. In 1999, David Bowie was voted the most influential artist of the 20th century by his fellow musicians and Pitchfork named his 1977 album Low the best album of the 70's beating out The Clash's London Calling, Dylan's Blood on the Tracks and Led Zeppelin's IV.
So how is it that some of the most haunting and beguiling music I've been listenting to lately is Bowie's? The answer, interestingly enough, is that I've finally found my way into David Bowie's music by not listening to Bowie himself. Instead, I've been listening to mesmerizing cover versions of some of Bowie's classic songs by two very talented and very different contemporary artists: Seu Jorge and M. Ward.
Let me stop here for a second and say that I am generally not a fan of cover versions. Rare is the cover that is better than the original or that adds a new dimension to the music or the lyrics to warrant listening to the song being interpreted by another artist.
So, back to Seu Jorge and M. Ward. Seu Jorge is a Brazilian actor and musician. He has appeared in the movies City of God and The Life Acquatic with Steve Zissou. For the movie The Life Acquatic, Jorge also recorded acoustic Portugese language cover versions of fifteen Bowie classic songs, including Changes, Ziggy Stardust and Suffragette City. But my personal favourite is his version of Rebel, Rebel. Listening to these songs sung in a different language, in Jorge's throaty and romantic voice and totally stripped down to their bare elements reveals the narrative brilliance of Bowie's songs as well as the beautiful rhythm and tension within his music. I urge you to buy this album right away as well as Jorge's two original albums, Carolina and Cru (all are available on iTunes).
M. Ward is quite simply one of the best singer-songwriters and folk-blues acoustic guitar players on the face of the planet right now. As his record company says, "his voice sounds like it should come out of a 75-year-old Mississippi Delta bluesman." On his second album, The Transfiguration of Vincent, Ward takes on Bowie's 1980's song "Let's Dance". Listen to his stark, slowed down version of the song here and I am sure you will find it to be a revelation. Almost unrecognizable from the original, Ward manages to explore and highlight the deep sadness, fragility and heartbreak of this song, which is totally lacking in the Bowie original. Listening to Ward's version of this song will haunt you for weeks. Again, if you don't have this album, run as fast as you can to iTunes and purchase everything by M. Ward, including his most recent album Transistor Radio. You can also listen to both M. Ward and Seu Jorge on the Z-Axis radio station.
So, thank you Seu Jorge and M. Ward for uncovering David Bowie's music by stripping it bare, singing it in a different language and ultimately revealing the genius of The Thin White Duke.
posted by Z-Axis at 11:32 AM
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