Thursday, January 10, 2013

Does it Rock? David Bowie, "Where Are We Now?"



Of course it rocks. It's David Bowie, you piece of...

Okay, maybe it's not quite right to take the quality of a David Bowie recording for granted like that. A couple of days ago when this clip was released, I played through the Best of Bowie, and while there's surely a lot not included on that disc, I've never quite heard a song from him as gorgeous, as forthright-sounding and uncloaked in identities and styles as this. It definitely sounds like the work of a 66-year-old artist and it demonstrates why that's not a bad thing. The way it swells toward the end and grows in intensity are not quite notes a younger man could hope to hit so genuinely. His voice lilts tenderly, vulnerably, the music swells, and we wonder if after all these years we're finally getting a real look at this often distant, disguised figure. Not a full picture, but at least a scrap.

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