well, this is unexpected. i had reasonably expected, look you see, to add no more episodes (or editions) to my random bowie series. the truth, if truth be told, is that i am not, at time of writing, certain that Is It Any Wonder?, the 2020 "compilation" of a highly limited release nature, should be included. but, well, my blog, so there you go. but yes, they are calling the six track release an EP rather than an album. however, Station To Station "only" had six tracks too, so i am counting it. also, the running length exceeds 20 minutes (just), so it would not be allowed in any "singles" chart, if we still had such.
so, the usual provenance and fantastic facts? a bit tricky here, since it isn't officially an album as it has been defined or categorised, and certainly does not feature music recorded with the intention of all of it all being one record. but, here we are.
the six tracks here (which i might as well go one by one with) were initially available by "streaming" only, with one track being "dropped" every week for six weeks. of the six tracks, approximately 66% are re-recorded versions of songs, with a claim that a further (roughly) 16% (as in one more) is also a re-recording of sorts, and a possibly telling 33% of the album entire are songs made famous previously by tin machine. most, if not all, of the material here has been available before, although in some cases only via "fan club" releases.
a range of Bowie opinion exists. one end, but of course, sees Charlie Watts of The Ro££ing $tone$ stating that he was "not some sort of genius". at the other are the zealots and the acolytes "horrified" by the large commercial operations underway with Bowie's music, getting "offended" on behalf of David and saying there is "no way" he would ever have wanted or authorised the exploitation of his music for money.
let us get something cleared up. there is no secret that i love Bowie's music, hence all these posts. but the latter group mentioned in the previous paragraph are being absolutely absurd. under no circumstances whatsoever would Bowie have wished, after his passing, his family to "fend for themselves" and not bring in money off his work. also, anyone who thinks Bowie was shy about financial ambitions have not paid attention. your attention is thus drawn to that 70s film Ziggy Stardust, where Bowie is sat studying the receipts from the gig just moments before going on stage. further, the 80s documentary Ricochet, in which Bowie happily includes a scene outlining how much money he will make. and finally, well, for the 90s you just google "Bowie bonds".
being perfectly honest, the arrival of Is It Any Wonder? is a very, very welcome break, or respite, from the absolutely relentless re-issuing of Space Oddity. whilst the "anniversary edition" released late in 2019 was really good, another re-issue is happening now, this time a "limited" 12" vinyl picture disc. enough now, we all have as many copies of that record as we can carry, and, well, he did do other stuff.
to cut to the chase, so to speak, and do the bit that normally comes at the end, is it worth getting Is It Any Wonder? at all? well, i believe the cd is now sold out and the vinyl too probably, so is it worth doing a "streaming" or buying a download? objectively no, subjectively yes.
yes, that is the cd of Is It Any Wonder which i was fortunate enough to get, and also yes, indeed, that is the overtly and highly (to say the least) priapic db logo what he had on the go from 1995, in and around all that 1. Outside business. which makes sense, as the period (or era) covered here is 95 - 97. you know, that "hey kids, i am down with this drum and bass thing" era, and a time when he was very keen to let all know that he was still most enthusiastic about that sort of thing, which is to say doing a sex.
for every Bowie fan that will say 1987's Never Let Me Down was the low point of his career, there is another who will say no, not so, 1997 with Earthling was, with many finding the whole "drum and bass" variation to be dull, monotonous, tedious and boring. ultimately, there is no such thing as "bad Bowie", though, for he did it so there must be something of interest in it.
how about that track by track that i mentioned earlier? well, sure. for more "factual" or information based stuff on each song, i would say head off to the official Bowie site, for they have extensive notes on each tune. what follows here is just me being a simple fan.
Baby Universal 97 - a re-recording of the Tin Machine single off of Tin Machine II. it sounds not unlike the Tin Machine original, which is hardly surprising as it features 50% of Tin Machine (just Tony and Hunt missing). the reason for re-recording it seems to be an idea of maybe including it on the Earthling album after playing it frequently on Outside tours (refer to the splendid bootleg A Night In Loreley).
the main issue, or gripe, with this version of the song is that it is a little bit too polished and produced. one of the things i love about the Tin Machine original is the Hunt Sales backing vocal, which is best described as being off a key and out a step. here Gail Ann Dorsey does a perfect backing vocal, which is great, but not what my ears are used to. also, at the end Bowie adds some of them "gordon bennet cor blimey guv i done a sex" grunt noises which he beautified certain aspects of Earthling with, Telling Lies in particular.
Fun - i was led to believe that this was a "quasi" re-recording of Fame, which is presumably why we get a lyric from Fame as the title. sorry, but (alas) i do not hear any remains or remnants of Fame in this song. perhaps that is because it is a "clownboy mix", whatever that may mean.
neither good nor bad, really, this one. mostly it just is, i guess. the most distinct thing about it is all that "wobbly bass" sound, which echoes aspects of Outside and some of what Bowie's mate Trent was doing with Nine Inch Nails.
Stay 97 - starts off really, really well, peters out, ends quite badly. not really a fate i would wish upon a song taken from my all time favourite Bowie album (if i was forced to pick), and one that David was perhaps reluctant to see come, hence this being generally unreleased up to now.
there is absolutely no fault with the Bowie vocal on this "new" version (it is now 23 years old), and Reeves Gabrels absolutely nails the devastating guitar on. my (for want of a better word) problem is that this polished re-recording has stripped away the desperate, desolate isolation of the original. the backing vocal, for instance, feels supportive and inclusive rather than a lament.
i think (or suspect) the purpose of re-recording this would be to see if it would go well live. that would explain the nature of the lengthy instrumental at the end. it feels like it was done to allow David to go off stage for a bit, either to do a costume change, have a cigarette or two, or maybe do a sex, or probably all three.
I Can't Read 97 - perhaps the real gem on this release, although it was released as a single at the time, most of us (i am guilty) just ignored it or were not aware of it. anyway, originally this was a particular highlight on the debut Tin Machine album (self titled), but here we have a version re-recorded for a film called The Ice Storm. with respect, there was another re-recorded song by a different artists released at the same time which kind of got all the attention.
this stripped down, acoustic take on the song is really, really good. brilliant, perhaps. Bowie takes the haunting, slightly disturbing original and turns it into something all the more haunting. a few of the lines have changed, perhaps to suit the song or simply to remove the swear words, but it all works. very much worth having. if you were unable to get the Is It Any Wonder? CD, and are not prepared to pay north of £10 for the CD single second hand, then you can find it on the soundtrack CD for The Ice Storm, with prices for it normally south of £5.
Nuts - the only bona fide, genuinely "previously unreleased" song to feature on Is It Any Wonder? which immediately means this has some interest, but (alas) that is some interest which fades away quite early on. unless you are a big fan of Earthling, and always wished for more.
over on the official David Bowie website this is generously described as being a "semi instrumental". my interpretation of this would be that it was a song David was fiddling with, working on, threw a few words on that felt as though they might fit, decided that the song wasn't really going anywhere interesting, and so just left it unfinished.
again, i state, or confess that Earthling is the one David Bowie album i am pretty sure shall never ever taste the laser of my stereo equipment ever again. had Nuts ever got finished off as a complete song then it would have sounded absolutely perfectly in place on the record. that is as diplomatic as i can make my thoughts on this repetitive, droning tune.
The Man Who Sold The World - this is the studio recording billed as the "live Eno mix", meaning it is a rehearsal (of sorts) of how David and the band would do it live, what with the song being made all of a sudden (at the time) tres popular via Nirvana's version. previously this was to be found on the Strangers When We Meet single.
it's ok and it is all right, this. a good, solid enough version, but all in all my preference would be for the original album version, or the Nirvana take. yes, surely, this re-recorded take is better than the one what Lulu did.
right, well, that's that. four familiar songs re-recorded in a mostly agreeable or at worst not too objectional way, two previously unreleased (well one, the other might as well be classed as so for it was difficult to find) tuned that would not have been all that a great loss had they remained so. but nice to have them, all the same.
what next for Bowie releases? i believe a "highlights" edition of his (very heavily bootlegged) 50th birthday concert is due quite soon. after that, the next two years will see the 50th anniversaries of The Man Who Sold The World, Hunky Dory and a certain The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars. it would be quite a surprise if re-releases of these did not turn up.
do i, as a simple Bowie fan trying to make his way in the world, feel like i am being exploited or ripped off with these releases? not really. under no circumstances have i ever bought a Bowie release against my will. some of them, like a couple of the live releases and compilations, i have very easily skipped over, thanks. but i do like having the choice, so long may they keep releasing them.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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