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.
Argh. So Bowie was suffering heart problems. I had a nasty feeling the rumours were true.
Just as I was wallowing in the sadness of not seeing Bowie on his current tour—probably his last full world tour—I heard he’d cancelled the final month of dates due to an injury. A trapped nerve. I hope it’s nothing worse than that; I’m still hoping to see him one of these days. (Though I do have a habit of missing these chances…)
Fact: Bowie, 57, has done around 110 shows in the last nine months, all running to two hours or so (25-28 songs, approx). I feel tired just thinking about it.
I made another Bowie purchase. HMV has a lot of Bowie on sale at the moment, so what the hell. 1997’s Earthling is that rare Bowie oddity: an album I’ve never heard before. Well, now I have.
Before I get on to that: yes, I did really enjoy the new Bowie album, Reality. It seems to me it’s a notch or two better than Heathen, which I liked a lot, but felt was a little flaky around the edges. I appreciated the way most of it had a much harder, colder edge, which recalled Scary Monsters at times. No, I don’t think it’s that good; but it’s closer than most of Bowie’s recent work.
I need a few more listens to decide for sure how well I rate it. So far, very positive.
Read More »Not a Starman
I have some comments on the Bowie album, but they’ll wait.
I finally got a digicam today. With a timer. This enables me to jump in front of it and take shots like this:
I haven’t mentioned it before, so… in case you didn’t know, Mr. David Bowie is putting out a new album, Reality, in September. Well, I’m excited, anyway! His last album, Heathen, was really good. Not a classic, but a nice piece of work. (Here’s what I thought back then.)
Read More »The Real Thing
