indeed, another vibes related post, and for good measure one pertaining to David Bowie once more, look you see. and why not.
the halfway stage of the possibly needless, arguably excessive "Brilliant Live Adventure" series of concert recordings of David Bowie from the second half of the 90s is here, then. and it comes in the form, as the title more or less indicates, of one that i was decidedly least looking forward to.
volume three, then, is LiveAndWell.Com, a sort of rehash or expanded variation of a previously released recording. no, i never had the original, as it was an "exclusive" for members of the fan club, or BowieNet, at the time, and i don't think it was possible or practical to either join or purchase it where i was in the world at that stage. sure, it (in an original variation) had been widely bootlegged since, but no, i had not had a proper copy. this was not something i considered to be a gap in my collection.
why the lack of interest, or little sense of loss of missing out? pretty much the setlist. it was, and still is in this "Brilliant Live Adventure" variation, dominated by Earthling and the more esoteric, jazz odyssey moments of 1.Outside. things that were, to be blunt, apparently amusing to do for Bowie, but ultimately very boring. just how boring? Michael Eavis described the Earthling era as boring. yes, i do mean that one, the Michael Eavis out of Glastonbury. if the man who willingly booked Coldplay six (6) times to play at his concerts, as well as the personifying dullness of Mr Kim Kardassian (or whatever) and Ed Sheringham (or whatever) calls you "boring", you know your satnav has let you down.
but yes, of course i bought it. there is a will, or wish, to "complete" this six disc set, and a sense of obligation to purchase nearly all the things what they put out with his name on, whatever they are. in this instance there was some gratification in that i was clearly and measurably far from alone in not being confident about the release. usually, due to the inane, making no sense decision to make these things all "limited edition", the volumes have been declared "sold out" within a couple of days of them being available on the website. not so LiveAndWell.Com, as you could still order it a good two or three weeks after it was made available. considering the fact that there is a hefty percentage of people just buying these to re-sell on the great car boot sale of the internet (at an inflated price), well, if even the opportunistic profiteers are having second thoughts about it, there's another warning.
my copy, perhaps inevitably, arrived in the post a good deal faster, or sooner if that is more correct, after the time they sent it than the other two did. cheers for that, do make sure i get the least interesting one as soon as possible. with a groan and a sigh, then, i eventually got around to playing it on the day that it landed, pretty much resigned to the idea that it would probably just get played once, then sit on a shelf.
some further, even more initial concerns were that it was so of being that not even the Bowie Estate was particularly interested in this. i mean, the font used for his name on the cover is sh!t, and the picture of Bowie on the cover is, so far as any picture of him could be, also sh!t. all on top of a sh!t dominated setlist. to avoid any allegation of sidestepping it, yes, even by his legendary sense of humour standards, i get that it was called this originally, but releasing something called 'Live And Well' so close to the fifth anniversary of his death also felt rather uncomfortable.
as it turns, or turned, out, this third volume of Brilliant Live Adventures by David Bowie is not quite as bad as i had come to fear, expect or accept. steady on there, no, it is not "brilliant" or great overall, but it is not quite so a sh!t experience as the fear of anticipation suggested. enough, at the least, for it to get played a couple more times (maybe) before it is retired to the shelf, likely never to be played again.
highlights? what makes it all seem not too sh!t is the performance of three of the first four tracks. the renditions of I'm Afraid Of Americans, The Heart's Filthy Lesson and Hallo Spaceboy were (or are) most impressive, and left me with a distinct sense that i had not blindly and completely jettisoned just south of £20 all in to become a custodian of this recording. with respect to the latter mentioned, with delight i say that Hallo Spaceboy is once more the proper version and not the Pet Shop Boys fiddle about variation. here it is even better than the two (2) versions we got on the previous release, and they were smart, like.
in sticking with positives from the recording, Battle For Britain (The Letter) sounds a good deal better than how i remember it off of the Earthling album, but no, not quite enough for me to break a vow and put that album back in the stereo. a, or one, possible and plausible reason for it sounding better is the cheeky use of the piano bit from Time which appears on the end. maybe just done to tease the fans in attendance that one of the better known (and more loved) songs off of Bowie could get played, but was not going to be. the unexpected inclusion of Little Wonder (again, more detail later) turned out to be fun, and the "rave" variation of V-2 Schneider, recorded or performed under the guise of the 'Tao Jones Index', actually works very well indeed.
that, taking it as a given my maths is correct, is six (6) of the twelve (advertised as 11) songs on the disc which i found to be ranging from good to most agreeable. you may well like the other six, they could indeed be songs off of Bowie you think are quite class. also, you could be swayed by his personal affinity for one of them, expressed prior to the performance. not me, though.
just another slight diversion, then. unlike the previous two 'Brilliant Live Adventures' releases, some semblance of effort has gone into packaging, as one gets a genuine, bona fide, high quality printed booklet with this one. of interest is the preface to it, a from the time of initial BowieNet / Fan Club release message from David, saying how much he enjoyed it all. the remainder of the booklet is comments submitted from fans who were at one show or another, and they are lovely to read.
yes, the dick disc. there is no way to describe it other than that, really. he, as in Bowie, really, really, really seems to have been quite taken and amused by the overty priapic logo he managed to make from the lower case initials of his stage name. add to this the massive "sex" earring he showcased wearing, and the various instances of "David Bowie sex noises" he took to adding to records (Telling Lies comes to mind, so to speak), and he was unequivocal about what he considered quite class at the time, and why not, get it and enjoy it whilst you can.
dull moments, then. if it is really so, as rumoured and reported, that Bowie had planned on 1.Outside being a Tin Machine project, then i totes get why Hunt and Tony f****d off out of it. overall the whole thing is, and i seem to remember Bowie acknowledging this, just too much of it. sure, there are some inspired and great moments on the record. but, it is the less so moments which seemed to make it on to the set for gigs. David introducing The Motel as being his favourite does not, with all the will in the world, make it any better or any less monotonous. the same goes for I'm Deranged and The Voyeur (as it is shortened to), they just serve to make a numb headache.
quite a poor thing was how sloppy the promotion, or advertising, of this release was. above is the given track information from the official Estate website (link here for you). except, the disc itself turns out to be somewhat different. for a start, as mentioned before, there are twelve tracks. no, not a hidden one, it is just that Little Wonder is indeed on it, despite not being listed. also, for some reason, they made a big deal of the provenance of the recordings. whereas the website gives a clear indication of where and when Hearts Filthy Lesson was recorded, on the CD itself it declares that they are "not sure" exactly where it was recorded. oh. never mind, it's good anyhow.
leaving aside the reluctance i and many others had (initially) to purchase this, it does indeed appear to be now marked as "sold out". meaning all of this in any "review" to persuade sense is rather pointless. unless, of course, you have a big a train set of a budget enough to purchase at an inflated price off of sellers on the net, or are happy to give the "streaming" version a spin.
how it compares to the "free" disc that was, is, Earthling In The City, then. and my apologies for what it turns out is a quite poor, blurry picture, but not too sorry as evidently i could not be bothered to go and get another, more better or clearer image.
where too next, then, for the 'Brilliant Live Adventures' series? good question. it was spoken that it is planned for two releases from 1995 (done), two from 1997 (one down) and then two from 1999. i had kind of hoped that the second from 97 would be an official release of the widely bootlegged Night In Loreley, which features both a great performance and a more fan friendly selection of songs. but, that was recorded in 1996, so i am not sure. considering he arranged the gig purely to record it for a release that eventually did not happen, surely the London Astoria gig will be one of the 1999 ones, maybe even including an official DVD of it, to replace the not bad bootleg DVD of it. one never knows what they might do, though. it would be nice to say "but it's fun to find out", but.........
unsure as ever, is how i find myself, in respect of whether all of this has been of any interest or use to anyone out there. a half brilliant live adventure, then. this could have been, and was expected to be, a great deal worse than it actually is. well, anyhow, anyway, thanks for taking the time to read, or just have a look at the pictures.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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