There's nothing I can say about Bowie that hasn't been said already so I won't try. What I can do is comment on a few things I liked as a young fan.
Christmas and my Birthday, like today, always remind me of Bowie. My Mum and Dad always got me an album for years and I had all his first handful of LP's.
I was always interested in the more obscure material from Bowie's early output. The Port of Amsterdam was one such brilliant but unusual tune. I had it as a single and adored its maritime imagery of the old port. It was a B-side of the much more famous Sorrow in 1973. I preferred Amsterdam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WCZ1UGVR8E
Round and Round was another B-side, this time to the brilliant Drive-In Saturday. It was a fast rock and roller but it couldn't compete with the celluloid vision of the Drive-In A-side, which I adore. Still, Round and Round is a Bowie track rarely heard nowadays.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDzSys1fPok
John I'm Only Dancing was a 1972 single and I clearly recall this A-side on Top of the Pops. It was a strange video of dancers and I was entranced by the melody. The B-side was Hang on to Yourself, a rocky track that appeared on the Ziggy Stardust LP.
Another song I loved was The Laughing Gnome. I've been singing this since the early Seventies to anyone who'd listen, mostly my young daughter and my grandson! The gnome bits are just class! Hooray!
Some brilliant songs were recorded by Bowie before he was famous. With different bands he created amazing portraits of English life with magical hints of childhood and innocence. Many were captured on two LP's I had in the early Seventies, The Wonderful World of David Bowie and the incredible Images, neither of which I have anymore alas.
Picking two songs from this period I'm going for There is a Happy Land https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqNHo1gXKlo and Silly Boy Blue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkl1BfO5-1M, which I always liked a lot. There are countless more from this time and You Tube feature true promo videos like Sell Me A Coat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAybnKW1Djk
Moving forward I could pick tons of tracks from his first flush of LP's but I'll go for two of the more obscure ones.
Future Legend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q7ABB8h7KA opened the iconic Diamond Dogs album and I hung onto every dystopian word as a young Bowie fan. It's twisted world of decay appealed to me greatly. It merged into the title track Diamond Dogs perfectly and I can still feel the excitement I felt at the time.
Big Brother is also a track on Diamond Dogs but it's the David Live version, which sticks in my mind, on account of its heavy rock chops. This amazing live piece includes a truly amazing riff and even the most ardent older-teen rockers who I knew at the time were mesmerised by it. Here's the full track for your personal enjoyment I hope https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsLt0SFrap0
I could write all day about Bowie but I'll leave it there tonight.
What do you think?
It'll be you turn to take the mickey in 2022! Best wishes mate, hope you got lots of cool stuff!
Bill
