ALBUM REVIEW - DAVID BOWIE - DAVID BOWIE (1969)
Musician credits: David Bowie (Arranger, Composer, Design, Guitar (12 String Acoustic), Kalimba, Organ, Primary Artist, Stylophone, Vocals, Vocals (Background)), Paul Bruckmaster (arco bass, arranger), John Cambridge, Terry Cox (drums), Keith Christmas (acoustic guitar), Tony Visconti (arranger, bass), John Lodge (bass), Rick Wakeman (electric harpsichord, mellotron), Tim Rendiwck (flute, guitar), Mick Wayne (guitar), Benny Marshall (harmonica) / Producer: Tony Visconti, Gus Dudgeon / Label: Philips (UK), Mercury (US) / Recorded - Released: June to September 1969 - 4 November 1969
The first necessary evolution in David Bowie's chamaleontic career came about when, upon being dropped by his label Deram after his recording career started with a flop, he re-invented himself as a folk-rock storytelling songwriter with clear infusions of psychedelia. Perhaps the choice to originally self-title the album, much like his previous and first LP outing, was an attempt at starting from zero, scratching the misstep of his debut album, that was defined by vaudevillian, British traditional pop tunes. The choice could not have been more welcome. After all, some two years before "Space Oddity" was released as a single, had come "The Laughing Gnome".
While some tracks retain some Anthony Newley colour, it is Bob Dylan that arguably more than anyone has influenced the grittier sound of the album, but not to an overbearing extent that one should not have found, even back then, traces of originality in an artist that would soon there after establish himself as one of the greatest figures in modern music era.
The album is best remembered for its opening track, the immortal "Space Oddity", which is somewhat of an anomaly in pop music for its sophistication and experimentation in musical storytelling, defined by the complexity of its psychedelic sound palette encouraging the drug references suggested by its Major Tom lyrics, and sounds of lounge guitar and jazzy backbeats that erupt into an instantly recognizable pop ballad chorus.
"Space Oddity" would, of course, become one of Bowie's most beloved tracks, but Tony Visconti at the time deemed it a cheap attempt at capitalizing on the Apollo 11 mission, to the point of leaving its production to Gus Dudgeon. This does not to any favour to the cohesive structure of the album, itself made of various musical styles and influences that range from the Bob Dylan grit and Cat Stevens melody of its second track, "Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed", the modern blues Americana of "Janine" in which Bowie embraces the Elvis vibes to the point of mimicking the King's famed low falsetto and the full cinematic orchestration of "Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud". Of all the tracks in the album, "Cygnet Committee" particularly stands out as the first fully formed Bowie track. This is as evident in the musical structure of the song itself as it is in its lyrics, a precursor to familiar themes in which Bowie sings about a leader whose rise to power was a result of people's wish to exploit its influences and then kill him.
Aside from the way in which the sheen of the album, that nevertheless restrains from flashy instrumentals and falls under the introverted singer songwriter category despite the expansive sheen of the production, the lyrics contribute greatly to the film. It is Bowie's descents into the grotesque that stand out the most, with lines such as There are children in washrooms / Holding hands with a queen / And my heads full of murders / Where only killers scream" from "Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed" or "But if you take an axe to me you'll kill another man not me at all" in "Janine" that provide a tinge of darkness to already dark underlying contexts, sometimes juxtaposing the cheerful or sweet sounds of the music itself.
David Bowie then plays out on "Memory of a Free Festival" inspired by a Bowie organized arts festival that took place earlier that year. Its "Hey Jude" outro, which includes among others Marc Bolan as backing vocalist, makes it an ideal but outdated encore for Bowie's earlier career, but upon closer inspection, the seemigly obvious hippy anthem lyrics might contain tongue in cheek observation on the hippy community.
TRACKLIST: Space Oddity (★★★★★) / Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed (★★★★★) / Letter to Hermione (★★) / Cygnet Committee (★★★★★) / Janine (★★★★) / An Occasional Dream (★★★) / Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud (★★★) / God Knows I'm Good (★★★) / Memory of a Free Festival (★★★)