Rediscovering an old friend

I watched this PBS special on Lou Reed the other day. (HERE at Amazon if you want) It was really good and really really taught me a lot more about Lou and the Velvets, which was nice. They had, among other people, David Bowie giving interviews, and, eventually, got to talking about Lou's Transformer album. David and Mick Ronson produced the album, so it was pretty neat to hear him talk about it. (And extremely said that Mick is no longer around :( They didn't even mention him!)

That crappy little paragraph does not do that video justice, but it should provide what I need at the moment... just go watch it if you can. If I could be anytime/anywhere right now, it would be in Warhol's New York. So... after watching that video and becoming completely enthralled by the situations and surroundings from which the VU came and created their music, I really wanted to listen again. Stupidly, the only real VU album I owned was the first one with Nico. So I hit ebay looking for the rest of them. Tried to win the four studio albums on colored vinyl, but I lost out at the end. I did, however, get a Mint copy of the '72 pressing of Transformer and, even better, I got a stack of 11 original Bowie records for TEN DOLLARS. The sleeves are a little beat up but, so far, all the records play just fine...

Now for the point of all this.
I, wrongly, considered myself a pretty big Bowie fan. Even though I had never listened to Space Oddity all the way through. I listened to this album and recognized some of the songs from Live at the Beeb, but getting to hear this album for the first time was a GREAT feeling. I'd forgotten what it was like to hear Ziggy Stardust for the first time, and this was, perhaps, even better. Space Oddity itself is, obviously, a great song, and I'd never heard the studio version... Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed is another song that I had only heard live (from the Beeb), and it really blew me away as well. The rest of Side 1 was, for all intents and purposes, completely new, and it was amazing to listen to. Side 2 starts out with Janine... I really liked this song before, but, again, I had never heard the studio version. Very pleasant surprise. The way he says "Janine" is SOOO cool. :) But, really, the stand-out on this side is, far and away, Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud. I wasn't a huge fan of this on the Beeb, but now I'm in love with this song. And, now, I'm in love with this album too. I'm stupid for not having owned it before, but I'm glad, cuz I got this awesome experience of hearing it for the first time just recently. (and the most recent reviewer on Amazon is an idiot... "Far From a classic---but important for its title track." Dumbass.

And to continue my musical sojourns, I next popped in Stage. I hadn't ever heard this before either and, seeing as how I like live music and I like Bowie, it was exciting... The first half was mostly stuff i had heard before just played a little differently... including the most awesome version of Soul Love ever. (This is the only track I listened to more than once) The second half of the show was stuff that was completely new to me and pretty far out. Lots of instrumental runs that were just really spacey. But I was cleaning the kitchen, and it was fantastic music for that, and I liked every bit of it. Little different feeling with the second half b/c I really wasn't familiar with those songs at all. They were all good, but I missed that I-sort-of-know-this-but-damn-it-really-kicks-ass feeling. It was more of just wow-this-is-awesome-why-haven't-I-heard-this-before? Stage is good. I had never heard or heard of it before, and I really can't believe I got it for, like, a dollar. Even weirder? I just checked amazon, and they don't carry the CD. You can, however, buy it used from anywhere between $65 and $100. Wow. Unfortunate b/c it's awesome, and everyone should be able to hear, at least, that version of Soul Love...

On to the next record: Low. I've been wanting to get the Berlin albums for a while now, but I just haven't gotten to it. It was kind of lucky that Low was in the mix. (and, btw, Ziggy and Aladdin were there too, but I skipped them b/c I've heard them 8 million times each) So, after cleaning the kitchen, I sat down to waste away in front of NBA2K4 whilst increasing my value as a human by listening to unheard Bowie. I'm not going to be able to point out much about specific tracks except for Sound and Vision. I had heard that before, and it was actually really funky on this album. Great song, and I just didn't realize it. Most of the rest of the album, however, was actually on Stage. So I, again, got the feeling that I got from Space Oddity. I vaguely knew these songs... I had heard them live, but not in the studio. And, wow, I really love this album too. Brian Eno is, apparently, also a genius. I need to listen to this one again and again... which I will do. And, I suppose, this also catapults Lodger near the top of my CD want list.

I still have multiple more to go through including Young Americans and Scary Monsters. (and Let's Dance, but I'm kind of scared of that one) Anyway, thanks, David... it's been a GREAT couple of days getting to hear this new (but not-so-new) music. And, if you've got a favorite artist with an album stuck out there that you haven't heard, I implore you to listen to it. It'll be new to you. What a great feeling.

Oh. And I did finally find the rest of the VU albums... they should be here on Friday, so, perhaps next week, I can run through Nico, White Light/White Heat, VU, Loaded, Lou Reed, Transformer, and Berlin. (although it might be nice to end with Rock 'n' Roll Animal...)

The late sixties were great...
e.g. 1967: Bowie's Deram releases, Velvet Underground - VU & Nico, The Doors - The Doors, Beatles - Sgt. Peppar's, Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced, Pink Floyd - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Chuck Berry - Live at the Fillmore 1968: Velvet Underground - White Light, White Heat, The Beatles - White Album, Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland, Pink Floyd - A Saucerful of Secrets 1969: David Bowie - Space Oddity, Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II, The Beatles - Abbey Road, The Who - Tommy, The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground

ok, so I may have some of those dates off, and I've definitely missed some stuff, but, good lord... there was really some amazing stuff going on then. I need to make myself a timeline of my favorite albums and listen to them in order at some point... of course, I also need to actually buy all of those... ugh... at least I can fill my Christmas list easily. :)