And so yet another edition of Random Bowie for those of you who like that sort of thing, look you see. With the number of those who seem to like it somewhat diminishing, to be sure. No matter, I will carry on and see, if my time here permits, if I cannot get them all done. Well, the official releases.
This time out, for no particular or deliberate reason, it's Heroes, or "heroes" or indeed "HEROES", but, to be honest with you, I am going to stick with "heroes" as my usual blog posts normally display a passion for all lower case all of the time.
Please note that a most splendid, open to all but one only giveaway is included with this particular post. And it does involve post. You will need to be able to leave a comment or in some way connect to me to claim it, and yes, why not, open across all of the planet so all of the Bowie fans of earth can have a crack.
Fantastic facts to begin with? Well, sure. This is album 12 by David Bowie, according to the standard agreed method of counting them, even if that does mean some great albums are excluded as being official releases. To this end, according to the standard agreed methods of counting, this is the second or if you like middle part of the legendary "Berlin" trilogy, distinguished by the fact that of the three it is, so far as I am aware, the only one to be 100% written and recorded in Berlin. In terms of sales and that, the album was a moderate success, with of course the title track, or if you will titular tune, going on to be firmly established as one of Bowie's most celebrated, iconic and popular songs of all time.
Right, where to begin. Actually, I should possibly have only tackled this after doing Low, for some comments will refer to that album. But, I have started now. Much like Low, then, "heroes" contains a blend of instrumentals and "standard" songs, with the balance in this instance being slightly more towards ones what have words.
I may well be robbing myself of stuff to write for Low, but as I said I have started now. There are all sorts of theories about the two "more experimental" records. Some just consider Low and "heroes" to be the maturity of Bowie as an artist; his pushing for and pursuit of creative excellence rather than being overtly concerned of all matters commercial success. Erm, yeah. A less discussed or raised issue was that Bowie was known to be frustrated with exactly how much money others, particularly record label types, were making off his efforts, and so he quite deliberately sought to make music as uncommercial as possible for the remainder of his record deal. The truth is probably between the two; it does not really matter as what the conclusion is for us, the simple, humble fans, is some astonishing music.
Of the titular tune, then. Most casual listeners to Bowie will be quite familiar with "heroes" in its 3 minute single format. Here we get the "original" version which clocks in at north of 6 minutes. I say "original" and not full, for no version of "heroes" ever feels complete. No matter what version you play, there's a sensational dislocating sense that you are just catching a fragment of a far longer, perhaps perpetual, work.
In isolation, and of itself, the song "heroes" is a work of beauty. As in, if David Bowie had done nothing else but this song, he would still be spoken of. Yes, there are many, many, numerous and many songs by David Bowie that you can say "if he only ever did this one" and the true would be still the same, quite the same. Things around the song, though, tend to disrupt the pleasure, and indeed subvert it, to reference a common theme in these posts and Bowie's career, with the latter being far more important. But this could just be me.
Firstly, the sound that makes it beautiful. To my ears the magic of the song is the wonderful, hypnotic, captivating rhythm guitar. When played live, though - with the exception of a truly inspiring quasi acoustic take for a Bridge School charity performance - David elected to have that drowned out by a far too highly elevated screeching lead guitar.
Secondly, the "context" and that. Quite a few would know that he song was inspired, according to Bowie, by the sight of two lovers meeting apparently in secret by the Berlin Wall every day. He was clearly affected by this, the will to love despite knowing the risk and doom ("we're nothing, and no one will help us"), and that in itself just adds to the beauty. Alas, in recent times, corrupted and perhaps subverted. Producer Tony Visconti has elected to make it known that the secret lovers Bowie saw were in fact him and a lady, and it was all Mr Visconti having an affair, behind the back of the lovely Mary Hopkin.
This is rather like Never Let Me Down, then, when an at face value beautiful song gets spoiled somewhat by knowing the background. On the one side I can understand Visconti's public admission, for if Bowie wrote a song that even by accident referenced you or I we would shout about it too, but on the other side the implications just spoil it. Well, for me, anyway. That said, perhaps Bowie did know that he was spying on his producer, and that's why the song was qualified and called "heroes" rather than Heroes.......
Yes, there was always a risk that this post was going to be dominated by talk of the title track. Which, I think, is fair enough - it is that good and it is almost the best thing on the record. But, allow me to try and be fair and speak of what's on the rest of the album.....although there will be a return to "heroes" later on.
My favourite off of the album, and it's a close call between this and the title track, is one of the instrumental numbers. Although it is an instrumental with some words. So those familiar with the record will know I am speaking about V2 Scheider. Whereas the song and its title are widely regarded as a nod to the band Kraftwerk, whose sound very much influenced this, to me it sounds like an extension of the rhythmic train motion sound found on Station To Station. And that is probably why I love it as much as I do.
The other songs on the record? An interesting thing with them. Most - Joe The Lion and Blackout in particular - feature what one might call "shouty Bowie". Again there are ways of interpreting why the album, on all bar "heroes", features far from standard Bowie vocals. Perhaps the blend of 40% shouting, 40% narrating, 20% singing, matches the disconnected, desolate and desperate tone of the "Berlin" trilogy, emphasising the plea to be heard, the wish to reach out and connect. Or, maybe he responded to the record label asking for "some words please" on Low with adding words, but not necessarily singing them. We, I suspect, shall never know.
And it's not that there is anything wrong with the "lack of singing" on this record, far from it dear reader. The tone of delivery very, very much suits the subject matter and lyrical content. It just makes it a rather more confrontational listening experience than you might have expected if you went to it on the basis of the titular track alone. Which many, I suspect, in fact did.
No, I have not mentioned anything at all of the great Brian Eno and his involvement in this record, have I? Well, whatever, you know. To be honest, I think it's difficult to read any Bowie article on this album or the "Berlin" trilogy without extensive references of Eno. Credit where it is due, then, but my focus tends to be on things other than the "technical", mostly as I do not understand it all. I just know what I like.
Over on my early 90s CD reissue we have two extra tracks, a "remixed" rather than re-recorded version of Joe The Lion, which successfully sounds the same as the album version, and an instrumental called Abdulmajid, which it says was recorded between 1976 and 1979. Hmn, yes. Whereas I do not dispute the provenance of the recording dates, I do question when it got that title. My view would be that it got named that in the late 80s or early 90s. Why? Well, Abdulmajid just so happens to be the surname of Iman, or if you like Mrs Bowie (that was not Angie). Anyway, it's a lovely instrumental tune, and well worth having a listen.
Missing from the extras on "heroes" on this CD then are the variations of "heroes". No inclusion of the single edit (which features on most "best of" sets", the German version "helden" (which is on the magnificent, 3 or 4 CD version of the SoundAndVision box set), the English/German "heroes / helden" mix (which is found on the Christiane F soundtrack) or the French version, "heros" (which is an awful version and I have only ever obtained via one of them iTunes purchases). Avoiding including any such variations must have been deliberate; perhaps David did not want the focus of the reissue to be just all about that one song. So he would probably not have been too impressed with this post, then.
And listen to this record is what Bowie wanted us to do. I mean, after the fact. Some nearly 40 years after release. Why do I say that? Because it was the artwork for "heroes" which Bowie ultimately elected to subvert for his "comeback" of sorts with The Next Day. We know, thanks to documentaries and displays, that Bowie went through variations of distorting nearly all of his previous works before setting on a crossing out of the name and a big white box on the cover of "heroes" for The Next Day, but why? The records share a producer, in the form of Tony Visconti of course, but that's it, maybe. Unless it was only around then that Bowie found out the truth of the two lovers who in part inspired the title track.
GIVEAWAY SECTION. I know some may well be just interested in this, so I put that bit in bold and a lovely colour, just for you. Right, a couple of years ago, to celebrate Bowie, Royal Mail issued stamps and postcards featuring some of his records. Yes I bought them all. As it happens, the one postcard I have left from it is "heroes", along with a "heroes" stamp.
Should you want it, first come first served. Please, however, DO NOT leave personal details on the comments section. I am not so difficult to find - either on that Google+ off of this, or I can be located on that there Facebook thing. Over the years I have made contact with others before via all of this, so it can be done. My preference would be to send non-UK, for those of us here can order them easy enough off of Royal Mail, but whoever gets in first gets it. Good luck, if required.
One of the most famous quotes about "heroes" is John Lennon saying, in an interview not long before he sadly left us long before he should have, that he wanted to make his next album like it. Whether he was referencing how good it is, or maybe how his mate Dave was doing it to pull the chain of his record label, is unclear. Perhaps both, but that just makes it a double compliment, does it not.
As for the more casual, non-Beatle person who listens to Bowie, is this album, "heroes", worth your time getting? Yes, no, maybe. Many in this world can get along just fine with the single version of the title tune, but I would argue that "the longer the better" is the way to go. Also, the two instrumentals highlighted are on that All Saints instrumental compilation, which came out either in the late 90s or early 00s. But these days, in the UK at the least, you can buy the CD of "heroes" (versions without the two extra tracks, at least) for just north or south of £5. So instead of yes, no, maybe I think my answer to that is yes.
For an interesting "in-between" buying and not buying "heroes", there is the previously mentioned Christane F. soundtrack. The nine tracks on it are, accidentally, a most smart "as short yet as perfect as you can" sort of "best of" covering Station To Station all the way to Lodger. From "heroes", one gets V-2 Schneider, Sense Of Doubt and the English/German mix of "heroes / helden". In respect of the latter, the English aspects are the opening and closing verses from the album version of the song.
Also, those of you who like to have a live recording of a specific era by a band or musician are fairly well covered here. Kind of. There are two live albums (two official, I should say, countless bootlegs flow) which ostensibly cover a tour kind of in support of "heroes".
The first of them is Stage. Perhaps the most memorable thing for me about this one was a slight article in a newspaper announcing its release on CD back in the early 90s. It said something like "David Bowie's celebrated 1978 live album is being released on CD". So, of course, me and Woodsie drove around in his car with a sign we made which said "I own a copy of the celebrated 1978 live album Stage by David Bowie".
Next, and as recent as this year, is Welcome To The Blackout. This was released as a double vinyl for Record Store Day 2018 in April, I think, with the CD release coming in late June.
Both have their merits and faults. The merits would mostly be that you get to hear David Bowie. Also, the live version of Station To Station - trimmed by about two minutes from the album cut - is superb. But, as I have mentioned up above somewhere, here you can hear "heroes" done live in a way which suggests that Bowie didn't quite agree with me on what were the most beautiful, to be cherished elements of the song. I just don't like it live as it sounds on these recordings.
Where to next for Random Bowie articles? For those still reading, I am not sure. Actually, perhaps I am. There is one fairly obvious title to do after "heroes", which no doubt you have worked out from the above. Should you have been reading carefully.
Anyhow, many thanks indeed to all of you what stop by and read these Bowie things, as well as whatever else I elect to post here.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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