David Bowie - "Look At The Moon! (Live Phoenix Festival 97)" Parlophone, 2021

 

David Bowie - "Look At The Moon! (Live Phoenix Festival 97)" Parlophone, 2021

What surprises me about the discography of David Bowie is the albums released after his death. Sometimes when an artist dies and record companies release material, it's often the Earth's dregs. Bowie, on the other hand, had some exciting and superb album releases. My favorite of the bunch is his live album from 1997, "Look At The Moon!" There are many fine or even excellent live albums from Bowie, but "Look At The Moon!" is superb. At this time, Bowie got his groove or poison out, and he was coming with influential albums at the time. Especially 1995's "Outside," and the next album, "Earthlings." Bowie made the conscious choice not to rely on his older material but focus on his new interest in electronically orientated dance music that still rocked. 

Bowie had consistently surrounded himself with great musicians. Lots of distinctive players throughout the years give the Bowie sound that special kick. It strikes me that he was a great collaborator and knew how to be a proper band leader by having his musicians offer their unique talents to the mix.  When I listen to "Look At The Moon!" I get the impression I'm listening to a band and not an artist with a backup band. In all the other albums, I feel the presence of Bowie and whoever is playing behind him. But here, I'm hearing a band's effort, and this is what makes this live album exceptional. Four musicians are playing with Bowie, and each one has the space to fill out their instruments. The guitarist Reeves Gabriels plays like the combination of Eddie Van Halen and Robert Fripp. His guitar is in your face, but he also adds textures to the soup that are important to the overall sound. Bassist and singer Gail Ann Dorsey play aggressively as well as having a voice of a fallen angel. Tender, soulful, and a perfect compliment to Bowie's vocals. Their version of Laurie Anderson's "O Superman" is pretty spectacular. The harmonizing of Bowie and Dorsey's vocals are matched perfectly. The drums of Zachary Alford, throughout the album, you can feel it in your gut. You can say that about the bass as well. This has to be, on a sonic level, the best live album I have ever heard. 

Mike Garson doesn't do small backup piano, he's up there in the mix, and his playing is a combination of Monk and Liberace. I heard his excellent work throughout the Bowie decades, but here you can really hear the magic that he makes. Another beautiful thing about the recording is that one can clearly hear each musician and their contribution to the song. These musicians have played with Bowie for years. Still, this particular recording or show comes off as a singular unit.  

There are surprises here, even on the songs you know.  The old Blues standard "Driftin' Blues" introduces a driving "The Jean Genie."

This is not a variety show by Bowie. Five of the songs are from "Earthling," his current album at the time. Two tunes from "Outside," and every other piece is a reloaded, remodeled, re-texturized version of his deep cut hits. Garson puts slight touches of Gershwin in the song "I'm Afraid of Americans." The songs from "Earthlings "are more fleshed out than their studio versions. But still, it's almost like a techno garage rock band arrangement. This is music being performed than staying close to the studio version—an aggressive and muscular approach to these songs. There are traces of "The Man Who Sold The World" era sounds, but with the addition of the jazzy Cecil Taylor touches by Garson. Come to think of it, that album does have a band sound as well. 

"Look At The Moon!" in a manner captures Bowie's entire music life at that point. There are many references to classic soul music throughout the album/performance. Bowie sings the faint traces of Chic and The Commodores "Brick House" in the song "Fashion." The "Where do we go from here" line in "Looking For Satellites is like a great song from a forgotten Broadway musical. Bowie has the riff going, and then there is a beautiful melody behind the riff. I never get bored with his music because the layer of melodies/textures/word fragments makes the listener's brain go with the groove. Still, also a lot of brain food is here as well. Reeves guitar playing on a melody is noise but never losing the beauty of the music. When he's good, he's great. And the song ends in a classic piano motif one can hear in an elegant piano bar in Manhattan. On "Scary Monsters," Bowie does Anthony Newley.  It is really a Newley-based song (at least in style) than anything else, at least in the live version. "Hallo Spaceboy" quotes the Everly Brothers "Bye-Bye Love." Bowie gives a James Brown tip-of-the-hat in "Little Wonder" by putting in "Night Train." 

Criminally this is released as a limited edition of 6,000 copies. By luck, I pre-ordered the album for $39.95.  Now it's going for over $100 in the second-market places and sites. The album is too good to be left in the hands of the few. And as I mentioned, the recording itself is so vivid and wonderful. I rarely call a live album a masterpiece, but this is true in that category and the case. 

David Bowie - "Ouverz Le Chien (Live Dallas 95) ISO Records

 

It was not exactly a redesign of David Bowie, but of a re-think, or a new charge of energy and thought into his career and music in 1995.  For me, this is when Bowie got back his groove, and he became fascinated with the world around him.   After hitting a creative (and perhaps commercially) dead-end in the late 1980s, he started up with a band, Tin Machine. A guitar-driven band that reminds me at times of a rave-up era of The Yardbirds. All that is missing are songs by Graham Gouldman. Still, Bowie actually filtering the great British hitmaker in supplying or co-writing songs with fellow band members that are retro in the sense of the importance of being in a band.  In a manner, it is very much Bowie losing himself as a brand being part of a band.  The truth is, Bowie has always been a collaborator with every musician he has worked with in the past. 

"Outside" (1995) was the album that gave him an entrance back to the avant-garde, and re-invent a new approach in recording that album.  For example, almost every song is written by all the musicians during the recording of that music.  If not, co-written by Eno.  It's a late Bowie masterpiece, and when he went on tour to support "Outside," he put together a new band, except for his guitarist (and co-writer) Reeves Gabriel, Mike Garson, and Carlos Alomar.  The new star of the show is bassist and backup singer Gail Ann Dorsey, who is amazing. Lucky us there are live tapes of the shows.  "Ouverz Le Chien" is a show that took place in Texas, and it's a refreshing listening experience. 

For one, Bowie does only a handful of his older songs, and they are usually not done live at the time or deep cuts in his excellent catalog of material.  What is remarkable are the live versions of music from "Outside."  In the studio, it sounds very much like work produced in a laboratory.  Here, they come off as songs of great force and grace.  He does a re-work of "The Man Who Sold The World" without the major guitar riff until the end as a quiet reminder that is faint as a loving memory.  This must have been a remarkable show to witness, but at least we have a great recording, for those who weren't there, or a few that lives with that evening as a ghost-image of a wonderful performance.