pristine and clinical

howdy pop pickers

quite delayed this post is, look you see, but here we are now. with volume five (5) probably already here and, at time of publishing, the sixth (and final) volume likely to be announced soon, here's a look at volume four (4) of Brilliant Live Adventures off of David Bowie. in a double compact disc format, although vinyl and "streaming" things were / are available. 

this one, Look At The Moon!, is the second (of two) set to celebrate Bowie's live, well, adventures from the year 1997. it is taken, culled or was recorded at something called the Phoenix Festival; an event i can vaguely recall being a thing. so as to (more or less) present the entire set from a gig this time around, we are treated to a double disc set (as mentioned above), which of course came at a slightly increased cost. 

it is, for a brief overview sort of thing type review, pretty good. at, or by, this stage, though, there is a sense of if not saturation then exhaustion. releasing a more or less previously unreleased Bowie recording once a month for six (6) months seemed like an exciting and class idea, but a sense of complacency in listening appears to slowly drift in. for this, and one or two other reasons, it was so that in truth when this one landed it was placed aside for a couple of weeks, perhaps three. 

and so the set itself. quite a mix of OK David, as in we are treated to six songs from Earthling, to wonderful, thank you David, with several much loved fan favourites all of a sudden appearing in the set. classics such as Fashion and indeed Fame, as well as a delightful filled with Jean Genie feature. to make this even better, it is so that the more esoteric, jazz odyssey moments from Outside are no longer getting played by this stage, just the two solid hits greats from that whimsical excursion (Hearts Filthy Lesson and proper Hallo Spaceboy, not the Pet Shop Boys fiddle). 

my single biggest issue with this edition (or episode) of Brilliant Live Adventures is the title. oh, no doubt the actual title, Look At The Moon!, has some relevance to the event itself, but i just refer to it as Beware The Moon! i think it would have been quite class to call it that, but then the makers or rights owners of An American Werewolf In London may well have wished to have a word with Iman or similar. 

on a more sound related side of things (which is kind of important to music), it states on the cover somewhere or other that this is a recording off of the sound deck, or mixing deck. as such, it is much, much better than the first volume, which suffered from seeming to be taped off of one side of the stage alone. but, the cost of this is right there in the title of this post. 

you may consider this to be a good thing or a bad thing, but the sound here is pristine, clinical and precise. there is virtually no crowd sound at all. for me, or to my ears, it makes it all somewhat, or a bit, eerie, really. i mean, yes, you want to hear the artist. but, hearing them (in this instance him) performing to a crowd and the crowd is effectively absent in presence is, somewhat, strange. very, or quite, 2020 and bits of 2021 i guess.

certainly, i think (know) i probably have added too many pictures to go with what little text i have to add around them. here, have a look at this one, then. 

for the outstanding moments of the set, they virtually all come in the form of the classics included. it's not so much that any huge pop hits are included as such, but all the same well loved ones. what makes them great is that David is clearly relishing playing them again, doing so as he wishes to, and not out of a sense of obligation of giving the audience what he thinks (or suspects) they might be after. 

beyond, or if you like other than the songs already mentioned, a highlight for me was very much in the form of the inclusion of Stay off of Station To Station. what a sterling performance it is, too. and yes, it remains that Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) just gets better every time you hear it.

negatives in the set all circulate around and then land on Earthling, alas. someone out there somewhere most probably thinks that this album was the best what David ever done, but it is not one i include in the top twenty (20) albums he did. being fair, once again Battle For Britain (The Letter) is a revelation here, a song far too good to have been (to be harsh) wasted and lost in the muddle of that record. 

with regret, though, most of the Earthling songs here prove exactly what Michael Eavis off of Glastonbury said. he considered it "boring", and once again this is a man whose tolerance for boredom is legendary, what with him hiring Coldplay 6 (!!) times, and Mr Kim Kardassian (or ex now i think). things like Looking For Satellites just go nowhere, and whereas Bowie appeared amused by Little Wonder i can't say i ever have been. 

a big thanks, and well done, to whoever made the decision to preserve the set entire (so far as i can tell) to the extent that we get the Gail Ann Dorsey performance of an obscure cover (i had to look it up) of a song called O Superman. lovely, it is, to be sure.

right, then. that's two sets from 1995 (one so so, one excellent) and two from 1997 (both better than anticipated or feared). on to 1999. next up with be one off of France, and the expectation is the last shall be the London Astoria gig, possibly including a DVD or video since Bowie set it all up (the gig) just to film. we shall see. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!