Reviews
 The Legends of Laurel Canyon
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
It’s So Hard To Tell Who’s Going To Love You The Best
Karen Dalton
Transfiguration of Vincent
M. Ward
Muswell Hillbillies
Kinks
Christmas in the Heart
Bob Dylan
Glitter and Doom Live
Tom Waits
Let It Roll: The Best of George Harrison
George Harrison
Secret, Profane & Sugarcane
Elvis Costello
Playing for Change
Songs Around the World
|
David Bowie
No less an expert on bad live albums than Mick Jagger once stated that David Live was one of the worst live albums he had ever heard. For the record, he voiced this opinion before the Rolling Stones released their own quite appalling disaster of a live record, the _ unlistenable “Love You Live” (I say _ because the side recorded in a Canadian nightclub is actually quite good. As for the rest, peee-yuuu). That said, I must admit that Jagger was spot on in his assessment of David Live. This is truly a miserable live album, with virtually none of the excitement or stage appeal that made Bowie famous in the first place.
The album’s worst fault is its timing. The album documents a period of transition in Bowie’s career that betrays a serious lack of focus in his direction. Coming on the heels of “Diamond Dogs” and just before “Young Americans”, the album attempts to straddle a line between the two, but instead falls gracelessly on its face. Face it, few people would claim “Diamond Dogs” to be one of Bowie’s most focused albums, and even fewer would claim his “Young Americans” phase to be his most provocative, and yet this live album relies on these, the worst features of these two records.
A very common mistake that most artists make when releasing a live album is relying too heavily on their previous studio effort, filling it up with less convincing versions of songs that the record-buying audience has barely been acclimated with. David Live includes no less than six tracks from “Diamond Dogs” - virtually the whole album (snore). Songs like “Rock and Roll With Me” and “Big Brother” weren’t so n: S the first time around, and here, they are rendered into something miserable. Even worse is the way that this quasi-funk band completely disassembles classic material like “Jean Genie” and “Moonage Daydream”, and then forgets to reassemble it into something recognizable, or even good. These reworked versions are beyond bad, they are disastrous.
Perhaps the shortcomings of this album are due to the fact that Bowie changed horses midstream, opting to strip down his futuristic showcase for the Philadelphia cheese of his next project smack dab in the middle of his tour. Confusion was the outcome, with a band that played a proficient (if unremarkable) version of Eddie Floyd’s “Knock on Wood” but absolutely butchered Bowie’s own “Aladdin Sane”. In summary, David Live is barely passable as pseudo-funk, and absolutely terrible as a glitter memento, making it perhaps the second worst live album by a superstar rock act in the seventies (sorry, Mick).
Grade: 
 
|
More Music Reviews
More Movie Reviews
More Book Reviews
More Concert Reviews
See more hits from the 1970's
