Bon Anniversaire, Paul Gravett!
Right now, Paul is celebrating his big day overseas, so let’s send him all the best. Below is the portrait I drew for him as a birthday gift (Paul is a fellow Stevie fan), mailed & safely received last week.
Right now, Paul is celebrating his big day overseas, so let’s send him all the best. Below is the portrait I drew for him as a birthday gift (Paul is a fellow Stevie fan), mailed & safely received last week.
For this, my top ten Bowie songs picks, it’s my third rodeo! As the blog’s made a bit of a comeback (for now, who knows?!), it seemed like a fun thing to reprise.
I did this the first time on November 9th 2003. I took a second shot on August 20th 2013.
But first, a pic. That’s how we do it, isn’t it?!
And here’s the list…
Read More »The Return of the Thin White Top Ten
So, folks, should this be the first in a series? Ranking albums by a particular artist? What do you think? Maybe I’ll do it again! First up, it had to be BOWIE. Of course. Who else?
So: I’m ranking what I take to be the THIRTY studio albums by David Bowie. Some people might exclude the Tin Machine albums or the Labyrinth soundtrack, but I think they’re significant enough to count as canon. Okay?
(IOW, the worst Bowie album!)
The infamous “Phil Collins” period of Bowie, as some fans call it. “Day-in Day-Out” and “Time Will Crawl” are pretty strong singles, but the overwhelming ’80s production and lack of conviction make this undoubtedly his worst album.
Read More »Ranked: David Bowie Albums
Not only is today Fred the Elder’s 30th birthday—on the day he was born, the first of Johnny Cash’s final six-album run with producer Rick Rubin, American Recordings, was unleashed.
I am bit of a Johnny Cash fan (ie. I own 30+ of his albums!), so I didn’t want to pass this without a mention…

The dogs are named Sin and Redemption, BTW.
Read More »American Recordings
Was reminded earlier that it was Aretha’s 80th birthday yesterday.
Speaking of the passing of greats, I was not actively blogging last December when Richard Corben died unexpectedly, after heart surgery. Very sad loss—I was certain he had another ten years of great stuff in him. He was one of those artists whose work never really bowed to the passage of time.
Most people would only know his work because he did the iconic cover for Meat Loaf’s 1977 classic album Bat Out of Hell. And, sadly, a lot of those folks doubtless don’t even know his name.
I am aghast to realise it was ten years ago (almost) that I tried to make a Bowie Top Ten list.
Thought I’d try similar, with the same reckless abandon, and see what comes out.
Oh, okay. A pic of Bowie first (a la last time).
Nice scarf, Dave. And you do rock the odd gray streak in that awesomely luscious hair. 😉
Here goes the new Top Ten…
Read More »Best of Bowie (Ten Years On)
Or so it says on an old badge I still have. Which I used to wear a lot. Being absent from the blog so much this year means no Bowie Talk about the new album, The Next Day. (Buy it from Amazon.) Yeah, I liked it; yeah, I’ve had my ups-and-downs with it. In the end I made peace with it fully—I actually love some of it intensely.
See, I thought he was gone for good. And I was more or less okay with that. It might seem odd but the whole thing was very emotional for me. I had to go through a wide spectrum of feelings. On the other side, I’m really happy the new album exists. The world is a better place with DB in it.
And hey, he’s still a fine-looking man at 66, ain’t he?
Well, the whole damn world’s posted about it already now, but I need to hammer it home anyway. I’ve just about stopped reeling. Mr D Bowie celebrated his 66th birthday today with the release of his first single for aeons and an album coming in March—his first since Reality in September 2003.
