indeed i was hesitant, if not quite reluctant, to include this in my set of "random bowie" posts. this most recent of releases, The Shel Talmy Recordings, doesn't claim to be an "album", look you see, instead being as direct (or honest) enough to say it is very much a bunch of recordings taped together as a bit of a compilation. some of these have surface before, a few have not. besides, there is a (quite) strong likelihood this might be the last time we get a significant amount of "previously unreleased" Bowie material all at once. i dare say his taste for the subversive would be amused at a "final (mostly) new" release would feature his first ever recordings.
but, one may ask, are these recordings the first ones he ever gone done? probably, likely but no one is all that sure, really. one (you and i) have to remember that the unreleased until now ones were mostly all forgotten about. for the sake of simplicity, or an easier life, perhaps we should just say yes, the first recordings what he ever gone done are held in (on) this tape (disc).
and is it any good? does this release offer anything of remote quality, or interest beyond it being David Bowie (and a few others of note) on it, or is it simply a bit of a "cash grab", dangerously if not perilously close to scraping the bottom of a barrel? yes, no and maybe are all (oddly) not unreasonable answers to both extremes, which places a fair review in the middle.
who(m), exactly, is Shel Talmy? must confess i had not heard of him, so did a bit of research. whereas no, not quite a legendary figure as some producers of the 60s, a very decent track record (sorry for the play on words) with some musicians, notably The Who and The Kinks. also took a bit of a flyer, or if you will a calculated risk on a young David "Davie" Jones, who he felt might be quirky enough to produce a few hits but accepted probably not. so he signed him up, encouraged him to write songs and brought in musicians to play on some records. as has widely been reported, one of them just so happens to be (i think on 4 songs) a certain Jimmy Page, who(m) started off as a very much in demand session musician. beyond that, was interested to see Nicky Hopkins appears too. for the more casual fan it may well be so that the name doesn't immediately trigger a memory, but i promise you that you have heard either his organ (so to speak) or piano playing on some of the greatest rock songs ever.
this will sound terribly (and incorrectly) like i am damning with feint praise but the booklet, with extensive liner notes, is the treasure here. it tells the story of Shel, who was not, say, George Martin or, for better or worse, Phil Spector, but all the same was an integral component of that legendary era in the 60s when pop music well and truly became a thing. for anyone interested in rock history, or all of the mythology, it is fascinating stuff.
music, though? well, said booklet makes (abundantly) clear not to play it with any expectations whatsoever. no "lost classics" exist here, but there is also nothing "bad" and certainly not a song one could suggest is an "embarrassment" for either (as we came to know him) Bowie or the musicians that feature. you get decent mid-60s sounding pop and proper rhythm and blues (not the horrendous style which appropriated the the term in the 90s) for the most part. good, but not what one would realistically deem "great", and certainly nothing likely to challenge The Beatles, The Kinks, Gerry & The Pacemakers, etc, etc as being the toppermost of the poppermost.
once upon a time you could walk into shops and they would have tapes (actual) and then discs called things like "the best of the sixties". a more better (accurate) title was invariably "the best of the sixties songs that are either cheap to licence or free to use". invariably they comprised of "one hit wonders" or artists none but a few ever recalled. again it feels like i am unfairly slating this record, but being completely honest would be to say that any of the songs here would not feel "out of place" on such a set.
do we (at the least) get the distinctive David Bowie vocal on the songs? partially. impossible for me to say but i suspect that if you played it for someone without telling them it was Bowie they would be able to work it out. although there answer would possibly be "sounds like Bowie mimicking Roger Daltrey", or Eric Burdon, or even (not then but still) Sir Mick. entirely likely that this was what he was doing, really, since they were the popular vocalists of the day (well, outside of The Beatles). certainly the evidence here is his ability to hold a note and be a strong vocalist, but you have to temper that with the fact it was a 17 year old lad, famously with a lack of ego or self belief. were anyone foolish enough to let moi into a recording studio when i was 17 then i dare say i would have tried, in my own head if not actually, to sound like who(m)ever was popular. major difference is that Bowie (Jones) does a really good job of pulling off a vocal which could be marketed along the lines of "if you like The Who or The Animals you will love this guy".
stand out, or outstanding songs? closest to such will be the ones you are (possibly) familiar with, for they are the songs that he re-recorded for Toy, be it in the never released intended version or the ho hum variation that eventually got released. to that end the first track, You've Got A Habit Of Leaving, stands out somewhat. of the four (4) tracks featuring Mr Page (two songs with two different vocal takes) easily the best is the rather decent I Pity The Fool, with Take My Tip being resoundingly ok.
for the week (or so) that i have actually had it the tape (disc) has not been replaced by another on the stereo. not sure if this is due to it being peculiarly compelling, or if i am resigned to knowing that in week or so there is little, if any, chance of me playing it again. once more that is not quite the damnation of it that it feels like it sounds, more a reality.
were it so that someone said "oh yes, you can clearly tell his genius is present already in these early songs" they would be hard pressed to elaborate (or clarify). by the same margin, if one were to lambast this, saying it was rubbish (or just plain sh!t), then likely they are being far too harsh or exacting, or otherwise went into listening with far too many exalted expectations. ultimately it is a record way closer to pleasant curiosity than it is patchy cash in, which is fair enough.
should for some reason you wish to read just a fraction more of the (vast) acres of waffle i have managed to gone done on Bowie over the years, this link to a "bootleg best" has a link to all of the random bowie editions (i think).
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment