| Heathen |
| As my two readers probably know, I bought Heathen on the first day it came out, like the sad little child I am. It wasnt a "Oh my God, Bowies new CD comes out today I have to buy it!" it was "I really hate maths, so Im going to stop revising now, go all the way to romford on the bus and buy a new cd. O yes I could buy Heathen. Ok, maybe it was somewhere in between these two ideas |
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| Well here is a completely exclusive. You will not find this anywhere else in the multiverse! My review of Bowie's newest album. Brutally honest, unbiased opinion of this new and exciting creation. |
| Well track 1 is called Sunday. Tis by Bowie, and its quite a nice surreal yet tuneful one to start with. It has this sort of monk-like chanting backing vocals, as well as drums etc. Good producing and well written, soft, melodious yet strange. Dreamy I feel is a good way to describe it. You can hear the influence Brian Eno has had on Bowie over the years. Lots of synthesisers etc.Bit miserable, but I dont know whether thats a compliment or an insult. The ending is a bit dissapointing, it just fades out. Track 2 is by someone else, cant remember who though sorry. Its called Cactus. Its pretty kool. Well I love it. They lyrics are fantastic. I wont go into them but they are greast. It starts off with a small feeling of Andy Warhol, acoustic guitar type sound. Then the distorted guitar enters, and it gets interesting. Then there is the instrumental bridge, with they synth + (synth) choir. which continues into the next verse. Now that's cool. Im not sure about some of the words, and the letter shouting is a bit strange. One problem is one of the lyrics "sitting here wishing on a cement floor." The problem with this, with Mr Bowie's diction, is that it sounds a bit like "semen." But, well, that doesnt matter, its just interesting. At the end is the sound of someone dropping drumsticks. That's quite amusing. I am obsessed with track 3. Its called "slip away." H played it on Jonathan Ross. Its really beautiful. It has a small amount of low-fi feel. Sounds a bit 30s, but I suppose that is the dreamy feel. The timbre of the piano is beautiful as is the minor synth chords at the beginning with something that sounds like a xylophone. It sounds a bit like a wind in the background, behind the piano, which sounds a bit honky tonk. It's amazing the difference just the timbre of a piano makes to the sound. The bass sounds a bit like something from the labyrinth at a certain piont. I love the strings and vocal harmonies in the chorus, it makes me want to cry without even reminding me of anything. "Twinkle twinkle uncle Floyd," and "How I wonder where you are." It's straight from twinkle twinkle little star, but that is one of the beauties of it. The piano is wonderful though, and I dont think its even Mr Garson. I dont know who/what uncle floyd is, or generally what this song is about, but I love it. I keep having to listen to it again because it's really very beautiful from a purely musical point of view ignoring all strange meanings of the lyrics. Track 4 most people know by now. Slow burn, featuring the fantastic Pete Townsend on guitar. I have to say he does a fantastic job. I have to say the lyrics make a lot more sense now I've figured out its "tight like a fist" rather than "tight like a fish." The lyrics are quite cool, though Im sure Mr Bowie in his present pretentious state has many other meanings that I am yet to understand. I have to say I like the little brass chords, they are really cool. It is probably the most "poppy" from the album; the most people friendly etc. Again I like the vocal harmonies and keep singing them. I also love the guitar part, and I wish I could play guitar like that. I wish I had an electric guitar actually. The fifth track is called "Afraid." It is really what the album is about - he's afraid of dieing etc, but says he can cope with being old. Hmm, a likely story. This also has some good guitar parts. I also love the string runs. Generally the strings on this album are great. This song includes the fantastic line "I believe in Beatles" which is great. Again great use of synths, and I have to ask Abi what that effect is called. I also like the backing vocals in this, "I used to walk on clouds" especially. The chorus is quite uplifting, though strange. The last bit is pretty cool, with repeatition of I wont be afraid etc, with other synth parts. Its pretty cool. The sixth track I believe is by Neil Young and is called "I've been waiting for you." The guitar (broken chords) in the chorus is pretty cool. There is some delay on the vox in the verse which is quite effective, and some double tracking in the chorus. It has quite a good beat, and includes some sound effects of bells which are quite intresting and exciting. Track 7 is intersting. I love the string parts and their contrast with the drum part, the style of which has a name I can't remember. I have theories about this song. Though it may be a straight from the heart song to some single person, possibly his daughter or wife, I feel he has discovered the incredile internet comunity dedicated to his part in the labyrinth. Well, I would be your slave is a line taken directly from the text. "Fear me love me do as I say," compared to "open up your heart to me." Mmmm, think about it. Choz did say, on seeing a picture which is on the inlay of the album "o my God he looks like Jareth." Well, big "der!" and yes he does a bit. If he is as obsessed with the internet as people make out, then I am sure he has discovered this small thing. The general feeling of this song is nice, and I do love the strings and synths etc. Well the album goes downhill from there I feel. Well bang down then slowly back up maybe. Gemini spacecraft. Quite interesting. Quite catchy, start trek sounding strings with augmented second, and the synthesisers are quite effective, again some good production. But somehow it doesnt work. Its just a bit, well crap. I shot my space gun? What? That's crap! I know you like space Mr Bowie, but surely you've done enough of those songs already? Funny growl is quite funny. You have to buy it to find out what I mean. But sorry, not my favourite song. Track 9, 5:15 the angels have gone. Again some fantastic procuction techniques, hats of to Mr Visconti. Nice bass line, gentle feel again. Quite nice, lack of something (in my opinion) between verse and chorus. I quite like the repeated tune for "5:15, angels have gone" well the ascending "5:15" pattern. Again some great vocal harmonies, but I have presently got a thing about vocal harmonies as you can probably tell. Great textures, but a bit slow, you have to be in the mood. Its fantastic when you are in the mood though. This song now reminds me of Harry Potter, because of the train thing, and I kept reading while listening. Everyone says Hi. He's doing a silly voice, trying to be childish. Im not completely convinced. I think it has something to do with "toy" which is supposed to come out soon, remaking all the old 60s singles. Trying to sound young and interesting. Again some nice string and vocal arrangements, and fills. A better future. Again about stuff. I demand a better future - blah blah blah, hes basically threatening God to make the world nicer for his daughter. Im sure God cares if a pretentious musician stops "wanting him." I bet Zowie's jealous, he got 1 litle song and his little sister gets a whole album and her father staying home to be with her. Well with Bowienet people paying $5.99 a month + I dont suppose he really needs the money. Nice scalic passages, if again a bit silly, pretentios, arrogant and boring. The final track, "Heathen, (the rays.) I do believe this is about Sep 11th, but Bowie lies a lot. "Sky made of glass." He said he didnt want to write it, but it kept happening. I do like this one significantly more than the last two. Some beautiful textures again (mainly homophony) and some lovely brass/strings and synth mixes. The lyrics are probably quite deep if you bothered to analyse them. Again it just fades out, too soon I feel, and little seems to have happened. A less good ending to an album than some of his (eg strangers + even the last song on hours) but again a great piece of music, with interesting effects, and, protentious and arrogant as he is, he is still a genious. Well done David, not that you will ever read this or anything absurd like that |