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Underground > Radio & Music >

Bowie – "Heathen"

Boy in a Suitcase

05:00 / 12.06.02

Anybody got the new Bowie?

A return to form, I think. Seems to have gotten rid of that Reeves Gabrels which makes the music human again, but dear lord he covers the Pixies, Neil Young and the Legendary Stardust Cowboy (who the fuck is the Legendary Stardust Cowboy?) Some of it is quite exciting and seeing him on the talk show circuit in the US has been swell.

06:01 / 12.06.02

Just picked up the album to day, but in the helter-skelter haven't actually got through the whole thing. My impression is that it sounds far more like his work in the 70s than his more recent albums...the instrumentation and arrangement are suggestive of "Ziggy Stardust" and "Space Oddity" which is a return I welcome. And yes, track 2 is a Pixies cover...you the song with the refrain "take off your dress and send it to me" from Surfer Rosa? That's what he's doing. Nearly peed myself and drove off the road when it started up in the car on the way home...I love that song, and I love Bowie, although I'm unsure how well the two go together.
Caught his performance on Letterman, and was quite impressed: it was actualy clinched me getting the album.

ONLY NICE THINGS

08:14 / 12.06.02

The song is "Cactus" by the Pixies.

Haven't had a chance to buy the album yet, but I will. PArtly because I *do* have the George Lucas thing with Bowie where I will eke out any good points in his albums, partly because I do think his recent work has been a significant return to form, and partly because the snippets on the Tower Records site do actually sound kinda good.

Matthew Fluxington

11:02 / 12.06.02

Wow. Covering the The Legendary Stardust Cowboy is very strange, but if you read about his history, the reason for Bowie doing one of his songs is clear and sort of full circle...

The man has left his mark on at least one certified superstar. When David Bowie signed with Mercury in the US around 1970, the company gave him a stack of 45s as a welcome-to-our-label gift. Among those singles was "Paralyzed." "That was the one he liked best," affirmed Ledge chronicler Tony Philputt, who directed a 90-minute film biography of the Lone Star lunatic. Thus inspired, Bowie appropriated part of the singer’s name for his US breakout album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. "Apparently, Bowie was obsessed with this character, and never knew anything about him," Philputt elaborated. "This was up until 1998. A reporter in Chicago who did a story on the Ledge got ahold of Bowie through his management. Bowie still knew nothing about him. He was amazed the Ledge was even alive. On Robert Plant's first solo tour after Led Zeppelin split, before his set, he played the Ledge’s Rock-It to Stardom album over the hall P.A."

12:02 / 12.06.02

Saw Bowie perform the entire of Heathen live last night at Roseland. My favorite songs were "Cactus" (especially when he spells out D-A-V-I-D), "Slip Away", and the Neil Young Cover.

Before He played the entire of Heathen, however, he did something far, far cooler: He played the entire album Low. It was incredible to hear those songs live, sounding as good as or better than the album. Unfortunately, the crowd was talking through the instrumentals on the B side, ruining their loveliness. Nonetheless, it was an incredible show.

15:51 / 12.06.02

It's not the only Pixies connection either - the Neil Young song "I've Been Waiting For You" was covered by the Pixies themselves, with Kim Deal on lead vocals. It's available on the B-sides album, and pretty much rocks. I've been torn about getting the new Bowie album, but have accidentally ordered it from Amazon, so I guess I'll probably have come to an opinion pretty soon...

17:07 / 12.06.02

Boy in a Suitcase: I miss Reeves Gabrels. I remember watching live footage of him doing amazing and deeply wrong things to classic Bowie standards. But then I can't work out whether or not you were dissing him in your first post...

17:35 / 12.06.02

I'm only a couple of listens into Heathen, and while it's far better than Hours... it has yet to grab me. Seems that while some people, like George Lucas, pay far too little attention to criticism, Bowie's become a gent to attends to other people's too much, he's so consciously jettisonned everything built up between Black Tie... and Earthling. Granted, this is what he does, but I think Heathen is not as strong as Outside. No track has yet stood out to me, but I'll give it another play this afternoon...

Matthew Fluxington

17:41 / 12.06.02

I downloaded his version of "Cactus" and thought it was pretty good, which is more than I can say about most of the man's catalog. I've never been much of a Bowie fan.

The Natural Way

07:47 / 13.06.02

Flux, you weird pervert......

God, so many Bowie songs just hit me in all the right places. I just can't understand how someone could fail to be moved by the lovely 'Kooks', the cold, but funky 'Ashes to Ashes', the grooviness of 'Golden Years', the whole put-yr-ray-gun-to-my-headness of 'Moon Age Daydream'.... How? I know he's a ponce, but the songs are so sweet, and there's so many of them....there's something there for everyone, surely?

17:18 / 18.06.02

ERHEM. My then band actually supported Legendary Stardust Cowboy back in -85. Can't remember shit of his music, though.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

15:22 / 25.06.02

Only just heard this- whoah. And I say again, whoah. Best thing he's done since "Outside" (which I thought was the best thing he'd done since "Heroes"- incidentally, is he ever gonna carry on with the whole Nathan Adler thing?). Visconti seems to have reined in some of his... how shall we say this... crapper tendencies. In much the same way Eno did.

Bowie + talented producer (who, insofar as I can tell, does more of an editing job) = fucking excellent.

My god, it's like the 80s never happened.

Jack The Bodiless

17:56 / 26.06.02

But... I loved the eighties.

Not eighties Bowie, of course. That would be silly.

Goodness Gracious Meme

23:42 / 30.06.02

Not as bad as his appalling 80s stuff. Not great, couple of very good songs. Lots of very boring indieish sounding songs. Not, repeat not, a return to form.

Ho-hum.

14:00 / 07.07.02

I listened to Heathen for the first time a few days ago, and nearly died when I really listened to 'cactus'. I had never really listened to the lyrics before, and goddamn what a creepy song....in a good way, of course.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

19:31 / 07.07.02

I believe it was the Legendary Stardust Cowboy he got to play at this Meltdown Festival thing that's just been put on. He sounded to me to be rather crap and 'cer-razy!' rather than actually any good when I heard highlights on radio 3, but then, I don't see what everyone has against this Reeve Gabrels bloke either, I liked 'Earthling'...

11:58 / 10.07.02

David Bowie is on Radio1 right now talking about more or less everything above if anyone is interested

Jack The Bodiless

13:48 / 10.07.02

I was interested, O totemic one. But I didn't read your post in time... can you rewind it for me?

The Natural Way

14:02 / 10.07.02

Hmmmm, in my naffness I really like some 80's Bowie - Modern Love, China Girl, Let's Dance and Absolute Beginners really do it for me in a Telex suity kinda way.

14:18 / 10.07.02

i thought his cover version of the pixies > cactus is pretty bad. his vocals lack any of the desperation that made the original so amazing. to be honest, it sounds like a clueless rock make-over. haven't heard the rest of the album though.

18:03 / 30.07.02

Shortlisted for this year's Mercury Prize. Way to go Thin White Dook!

19:27 / 10.09.02

if anyone knows of an onbline interview where he discusses the song meanings could they post the URL here?

i have to say i thought this was an amazing album - perpetually changing perspective on the subject of existentialist angst. while his lyrics are occasionally ropey, they are for the most part highly prescient, and the mix of a sermonizing tone with scrambling in the first track and a lyrical style which switches between prophesy and despair is compelling.

he performed "everyone says "hi" and "slip away" in Britain. i think these are some of the prettiest tracks, but "the angels have gone" and "i would be your slave" are perhaps even cleverer for their understatement.