More from the Road

Barring something truly unusual or unfortunate, I should finish up another 5,000+ mile road trip later today. If you’re so inclined, wish me luck.

On the road, there’s not much to do besides the boring and the necessary: e.g. keeping it between the lines and avoiding idiots. (As an aside: I swear, the old saying that God must love idiots because he made so many of them certainly appears true on the road. But did DMV have to issue all of them drivers’ licenses?)

As I’ve said before: one of the few relatively safe things you can do while driving long distance is listen to music. So yeah – I do that. And yeah, that means you’re about to get another, albeit short, segment of Hondo’s Classic Rock Commentary. Consider yourself forewarned. (smile)

. . .

The late David Bowie was a towering, singular presence in modern rock music. But because of his immense talents as a songwriter – and, in his early days, his outrageous persona – it’s easy to forget just how damn good of a singer and performer he was.

Here are three tunes that span 10 years, and which IMO show that greatness. They also chronicle his development from a young star hitting full stride to a mature, developed singer. All showcase his immense vocal and performance talents. And two of them are tunes that even diehard Bowie fans might not have heard recently.

This first tune introduces and sets the tone for the work that made Bowie a true star: Ziggy Stardust (full title: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars). If you haven’t listened to this one in a while, do so – and really listen to the vocals. They don’t IMO showcase his vocal talent as well as the two tunes which follow – but they are absolutely spot-on for the tune nonetheless.

(Sidebar: if you are a Bowie fan – or just a fan of great classic rock and roll music – you might want to give the album Ziggy Stardust a listen, particularly if it’s been a while; it’s truly exceptional. How exceptional? Most “Top Ten Bowie Songs” lists include literally five tunes from this album: the track which follows; “Moonage Daydream”; “Starman”; “Ziggy Stardust”; and “Sufragette City”. The album really is truly a classic.)

The second song is a duet Bowie performed with Bing Crosby (apparently Bowie’s mom was a huge fan of Crosby, so Bowie agreed to do this duet for that reason) – on a modified version of “Little Drummer Boy” – for a Crosby Christmas TV special in the late 1970s. It’s a truly fine vocal performance by both. Bowie’s about 5 years older, and plays this one straight. His vocals are exceptional.

The final track is one Bowie recorded as a joint effort with Giorgio Moroder, who’s been called the “Father of Disco”. As the following track shows, Moroder was far more than a disco composer and producer; he was also a talented rock music and film soundtrack composer as well. (In this track, Moroder wrote the music; Bowie composed the lyrics.) The tune has been called perhaps Bowie’s finest song of the 1980s as well as his best vocal performance of that decade. I might disagree regarding the former – but IMO the track may well be Bowie’s finest vocal performance of that decade.

FWIW: if you’ve heard the same track on Bowie’s album “Let’s Dance”, this is NOT the same version. This version was produced for the 1982 film “Cat People”; however, Moroder and Bowie were under contract to different recording companies at the time of their collaboration. The two recording companies could not come to an agreement that allowed this version to appear on Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” album, so Bowie re-recorded it for that album. The version on “Let’s Dance” IMO is simply nowhere near as good – even though it did feature a guy named Stevie Ray Vaughn on guitar.

. . .

Well, that’s all for now. Hopefully by mid/late afternoon I’ll be home.

Y’all take care, and have a great weekend.

Category: Pointless blather, Who knows