I don't think Bowie in his long and very eclectic career has ever released a single with such a striking difference between the a-side and the b-side. Sue is musically extremely sophisticated avant-jazz with top notch musicians, his vocals mixed very high up and his voice in great form. On this song the sound is very primitive, the music i loud and "obnoxious", the playing is very simple (obviously because no other musicians are involved), the vocals are mixed very low, and he actually sounds like he is almost 90 years old. Both tracks are great in my opinion, and both are very leftfield for a major artist like Bowie. It is impossible to imagine any of his contemporaries releasing something nearly as radical. It shows that Bowie is in a position where he does not care a bit what people think. It is almost as if he is saying: "This is what I want to make. If you like it, great, but I really don't give a damn." I love this attitude!
His attraction and 'something other' means that two songs are rarely the same never mind 2 albums/Cd's. Even now, when he should be 'playing it safe' he's knocking out wild and weird stuff. I love it and have done since the 70's. You can't put this guy in any mould ... he just won't stay there :-) Genius
Gazgandalf Since when has Bowie ever played it safe? I don't know your age but back in the 70's when I was a kid, Bowie was considered incredibly radical and off the map. So much so, many people just could not begin to understand where he was coming from. However his talent could not be denied and he was not only accepted by "underground" or "alternative" (for that era) fans, but the mainstream embraced him, for the most part, in all his wonderful androgyny. If anything, he was and still is a trailblazer. He predates people such as Prince and, obviously, Reznor and M. Manson basically making room for them to even exist in the manner they do. He is a contemporary of Freddie Mercury and a few other musicians who are not so well known now but who were huge and influential back then. He has always been an unabashed, unapologetic and honest artist of top caliber. And it's too late for him to turn back now. But, then again, why would he ever want to? Bowie has now inspired at least 2 generations of musicians and artists from other disciplines in such a way few will ever do. And, "safe" just isn't in his vocabulary.
Sera S I think you mis-read my point. I said, "When he 'should be playing it safe' in other words, he is at an age (67) when he should be making similar work to what he had previously made and therefore 'playing it safe.' That was my point. No two Albums are the same. Even now, his unusual style in lyrics and vocals as well as new sounding melodies make's him unique. I don't know your age, but back in the 70's I couldn't get 'Starman' out of my mind. I got hooked and have been ever since.
Gazgandalf I am in my 50s so I was a teen in the 70s and a budding musician. David Bowie made a huge and lasting impression on everyone in my peer group including those of us who went on to make a living as musicians. As a song writer, being influenced by Bowie and his contemporaries was priceless. Listening to his music is like free tutorials in composition and expression. I am still a working song writer and still a fervent admirer of The Thin White Duke.
The best musician Bowie ever worked with was himself, takes me back to diamond Dogs, a most brilliant piece of work, an album where Bowie played guitar sax and piano, it's about the pathos on your notes.
the best I've heard from him since Hearts Filthy Lesson. The chaos, the disharmony, the mess. And somewhere in there, that raw splendour. Every bit as good as whatever he wrote in the seventies. Hats off.
I think this is a pretty powerful piece of music and I find it much more interesting than almost everything Bowie's put out in the latter part of his career. It rings more authentic somehow. This is also a weird piece of music, which - depending on your tastes - is weird in a good way or weird in just a plain weird way. The video is an astounding and disturbing match to the music. I think Bowie SHOULD be making music this challenging. Why not just do what he wants to do at this point? Both this song and Sue are fairly brilliant.
Takes a whole new meaning now. Try listening to the song thinking that by "she" Bowie is referring to his disease, cancer. Man she punched me like a dude, Hold your mad hands, I cried. Tis a pity she was a whore Tis my fate, I suppose. That (the heart attack) was patrol This (cancer) is the war. shivers down my spine now.
+IJustHitTheFan You may be right, but I am not sure. It may also be about World War I as was originally stated. But I agree it is tempting to reinterpret it.
At first, the vocals made me want to immediately Van-Gogh both of my ears off. But like Van-Gogh, this is an artistic endeavor of the most ambitious of self-expressions. The second time I played this was much better, and while the synth caused my cat to repeatedly scratch and gouge my face, and I now require 8 stitches around my upper lip.. I know it's because she doesn't understand that this is not merely music. Rather, it's a peep-hole into the soul of Post-Contemporary Bowie. After listening to it 3 more times since, I can safely say that ladies and gentlemen, what we have here.. is the most important song of Two-Thousand Fourteen.
Seule chanson du dernier album que je peux écouter sans pleurer et dans cette version d'une puissance...... Et quelle chanson, magique, puissante....Le reste de ma vie ne suffira pas à me soigner de son absence.
at 67, he can do whatever the fuck he wants; you either go along for the ride, as fans like myself have done for 40 years running, or you get off...... and what a ride it's been.
I like that Bowie is giving us his home demo's - I've been wishing a long time, and hope its not the last. He is a real artist, like Picasso and Salvador Dali - his medium is not canvas, but noise.
This sounds like nothing he has ever done before.... I absolutely love it.... when you think he's run out of ideas he come s through again..... a beautiful vocal.....
***** I could. Bowie has never "given a fuck" and has always made his music and art just as he has wanted. His getting older or even richer has nothing to do with it. He is a true and honest artist as is evidenced by his large body of work both as a musician and actor. Do you really think Ziggy Stardust was concerned about either traditions or modern conventions back in the 1970's? If you do then you obviously were not alive during that decade and/or you cannot comprehend what history is clearing showing you.
***** I know this to be so true. I was a teen in the 70's and I remember turning up Yes and such anytime the local radio station played them. Lucky for me I grew up in Seattle which has always had a music scene wide open to new explorations no matter the genre. At least in my experience. There was a station that played whole album sides uninterrupted... no commercials for the entire side of the album! ... late at night. Yes was often featured as a lot of their music was one piece for an entire side anyway. Pink Floyd was also a regular late at night. People like Bowie, Kate Bush, Freddie Mercury, Prince and even Adam Ant in the early 80's hitting the mainstream was amazing to us back then. The whole Manchester music scene was incredible too, Factory records bands... changed our way of thinking about music on so many levels, as did the New York punk scene. And right in the middle of all of it, making tremendous music and movies for that matter, was David Bowie, the Thin White Duke himself. Was a golden age for music as far as I'm concerned.
***** I'll tell you when he did 'give a fuck':- in 1983 and 1987. He was trying to be mainstream and 'cool' then. Trying (Too hard) to break the kids in America. See -'Day in Day out' ...Ugh........Not taking anything away from him though-love him to bits
+David Mulqueen Well spotted. I felt that particularly on the last THE NEXT DAY album with the track HEAT and Bowie has given kudos to Walker even way back covering his cover of a cover(?!) of the Brel number 'My Death' Certainly as one gets older there is one hopes depth of experience that naturally is expressed in the music or any form of expression within or outside the art world for all of us.....Though still space for the fun Dad-Dancing-At-A-Wedding frivolity of recapturing youth on pop numbers just to see if we still have got it...I write as a 50 something writing and playing with a band here in Tokyo...Got an event this week which on that line has some catchy songs though impartial to something deeper or more introspective in the song catalogue....Got some videos up if you care to take a look and listen,David...Happy New Year,by the way!
LOL... I'm baked at this moment, too. But, I am ingesting this as if I'm rabidly starving for fresh meat, and am eating some now. Yepp, I'm a little stone-ed!! 3:)
This is real exciting. At first I'm like, "wtf, this is Bowie?". Then I notice the low aural quality of the instrument tracks. It all really starts to add up and make sense when you start listening carefully to the synth behind all that noise, how it start to work with the drums, sometimes even with that jarring horns going on in the back..
Dear Mr Browning, I have watched your video of Mr Bowie's excellent piece many times no and I am very delighted that over 425,000 people have appreciated it as much as I have (i luv your version more than all the others I have seen). Is it it true to say the vid has been endorsed by the Bowie aficionados officially? or is that just tittle tattle?... excellent.
Okay, the intro was difficult but I like this one! It's weird, indeed, but you could think of it as an Outside-track which I think was a really cool album! =) Not like Ziggy Stardust or The Thin White Duke, but just post-90's Bowie experimenting with sounds! He is a hero =D
You know I haven't noticed that before, but you are right. "Sue" also has a taste of Station to Station in the intro (the guitar) so these to _very different_ songs at least have that in common. Very clever.
Both this song and Sue are so fucking brilliant. It is almost surreal that Bowie can still come up with such masterpieces. The Next Day was unbelievably good on par with his best works, but these two songs are even better. Sue is extremely sophisticated and this song is extremely "primitive", but both are such bold artistic statements. And as with his very best work he clearly doesn't give a damn whether anybody gets it or not.
I think Sue is one of his best. I've been wanting Bowie to cover more Jazz and Acid Jazz. I'm getting tired of the industrial rock. Since I'm getting older. I wish Rush can also mellow Down there music since there fans from the 70's and 80's are getting older. I will be 50 in a year. I grew up since I was 7 years old listening to David Bowie. In the mid to early 70's.
I'm focken devastated by the news this morning 4:00am regarding the death of an I-con a Hero of mine since I was 15 yrs. old..1971- Another hole in my spirit. First " Ronnie James Dio" and now you David...David Bowie's music in this video fricken rocks - My first time to hear & see video - 01.11.16
Don't know what version I like best, this one or the newer ('Blackstar'). I think the 'Blackstar' version (oddly) is more clear as to the song itself, in spite of the saxophone on the latter heard more prominently. What can you say... this is the guy who produced 'Low' & 'Heroes'... We all expect the dense layers of David Bowie. RIP.
Dave Keener Hi Dave Threw this video together in five minutes over a cup of coffee.An old video of mine re-edited (chopped together quickly ;) ) with the sound of Tis A Pity She Was A Whore as the new soundtrack. An 'Anti war Song' or a 'Pro War Song'? The viewer can make up their own mind. ;) The break at 2.14. is to keep 'the copyright police' off my back but Bowie's people seem happy with my little effort. ;) Glad some folx enjoyed ! TBF
+Dash Riprock i love his music because of the dissonance. i've loved bowie for decades, mos def before it was cool to do, and i love this song. if i didn't like it, why on earth would i listen to it? nobody is going to give me a medal for being a loyal fan.
+Dash Riprock Actually, there's nothing wrong with context influencing people's reactions and becoming part of the artwork. With Blackstar, Bowie made his death part of the performance, and if that's the reason you're listening to the album - it's totally fine, you're still enjoying Bowie's work. I'm mostly in it for the music, though - it's stellar. Best one since Low, perhaps, too bad it's so short.
+mastersoftoday I've been listening to Bowie since 1974 and have seen him 7 times. The truth is this song is definitely not so 'stellar'. Truth is Truth!
***** Come on, isn't that called an opinion? You've got yours, I've got mine, and that's how people enjoy art. Personally I really like this track, both versions, and we don't have to agree, nothing wrong with that. But I don't think there's such thing as "Truth" when it comes to art.
+DerekKingLtd Maybe, and no one would ever know who David Bowie is. Ronson played an important part in the whole colaboration. So I'm pretty happy that he was around when Bowie needed to develop his ideas.
+DerekKingLtd And Mick went on to write how many songs after steering Bowie to stardom? Not meant to insult, or undermine Mick in any way but...Just saying !!!!
Absolutely Brilliant. Partly due to a mis-reading of your "Hi, Dave Threw this video together in five minutes over a cup of coffee." (adding a comma) I thought this the official video. Do you have evidence to suggest that Bowie's people like your effort? I am wondering about whether Blackstar was about Isis (the Egyptian God) or ISIS, as claimed by McCaslin in a Rolling Stone interview, and as might be suggested by this video.
i think when you are such a great artist , you have to be proud on your self because the music will help people also in the last fase of their live!! See movie inside alive. It's the greatest gift he got from above, and it gives hope for free.
Four years after this question, I've got to the point where this has become something to be wary of rather than embrace. An outtake, a demo, a sketch, bundled within a box set, limited edition of course at top price, slowly being trickled out over birthdays or record shop days. Milking the fans dry.
El gran David Bowie vuelve a sorprender con una nueva canción, en esta ocasión no se trata de jazz, sino que ha decidido mostrar su faceta más vanguardista, con samplers y sintetizadores disonantes. "Tis A Pity She Was A Whore" es el segundo adelanto de "Nothing Has Changed", compilación con rarezas y canciones inéditas del artista que saldrá a la venta hoy. Hace unas semanas, el Duque Blanco estrenó "Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)", primer single con la Maria Schneider Orchestra y este nuevo tema "Tis A Pity She Was A Whore", es la cara B de ese sencillo. El propio Bowie la define como el resultado posible de "los vorticistas componiendo rock rock" un movimiento artístico británico, que bebe del cubismo y del futurismo. El nuevo disco "Nothing Has Changed" abarcará toda la trayectoria de David Bowie, desde su debut en 1964 hasta este tema. En total, medio siglo de actividad musical. El álbum incluirá también el tema "Let me sleep beside you" perteneciente a las sesiones del disco «Toy» e inédito en CD, además de temas míticos como "Space Oddity", "The Man who sold the World", "Changes", "Ziggy Stardust" o "Heroes". Música independiente novedades.
Everybody is criticizing but what people don't take into consideration is that David is already 67 years old. You would think he would stop experimenting and start making more conventional music, yet he manages to keep pushing himself to the limit and beyond!
Uh... how is experimental music MORE conventional? In fact, how is experimenting conventional at all? I think you should maybe consult a dictionary and a thesaurus. Just sayin'. Nice comment I think I agree with... if I get what you intend to communicate.
Sera S Sera dear can you read what I wrote again? I said " You would think that he would stop experimenting and "start" making more conventional music" No thesaurus needed on my end
krizalidstayaway You are right, I read it wrong. You can cease any said searching for language tools. Well, now I just totally disagree with you. He should and will make whatever suits him. I would rather hear what he feels like putting out than what someone else does. No offense to you and your tastes. I just prefer it when an artist, musician, whatever shows me themselves and not a version of who someone else thinks they should be. Unless, of course, that is what they want to show me. ; )
I think this would have a more authentic lo fi audio experience if you purchased the 10" vinyl version which is styled like the old 78rpm records and listened to it on a genuine 1960's record player.
supersonicbird11Yesterday +Steven Griffin hes been on Howard Stern- his birthday show some years ago- did Hallo Space boy - but wouldn't be interviewed howard was hoping for. so they took his personal guitar as a ransom, then a person from camp bowie came and got it..pretty funny - howard was livid !!!
