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Black Tie White Noise
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| Touches of jazz influence with horns, sporting his best cut in a long decade and we ain't talking hair. We're talking the great instrumental Looking For Lester performed with Lester Bowie and Mike Garson. The funky title track duet with Al B. Sure is okay but better tracks include |
Lester Bowie |
I Feel Free is fat all right, squashing atoms in the basement while mom's away at the grocery store raiding the dairy case for more delicious freeze dried samples. You've Been Around opens with a great moody rumbling like God's giant angry mosquito just landed on the roof of your house and your ass is in deep pillsbury now, pilgrim. Nite Flights, another highlight, comes from the pen of Scott Walker, known as a member of the Walker Brothers (their biggest US hit was The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore).
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The Wedding and The Wedding Song, both reflecting David's marriage to Iman, are also strong contenders. The only duds in the bunch are a nails- on-blackboard Morrisey cover and a bonus track |
Update: The original album included two "bonus tracks" Jump They Say (alternate mix) and Lucy Can't Dance. The first was quite similar to the album version, the second is included on disk two of this reissue package.
The DVD is a reissue. For comments on the original release, scroll down to the next entry on this page.
Like any disk of remixes, CD2 has moments both sublime and marginal. With these remixes a good rule of thumb is, if you like the original you'll like the remix. Leading off with Real Cool World gets things off to a deliriously good start. Track two, Lucy Can't Dance, sounds better in this context than it did as a bonus track on the original album.
Bowie keeps the momentum going and raises the ante by rolling right into one of the all-time best remixes of Jump They Say, the Rock Mix. Only thing I miss is that it leaves out some of Lester Bowie's great work that really made the original cook.
CD2 then starts to lose steam; Black Tie White Noise has always had a strong funky music bed but the remixes don't improve upon its difficulties - verses that at times wander search of a melody ("there'll be some blood no doubt about it"). The remix of Miracle Goodnight still features the song's wanky, almost whimsical hook.
For the remainder of CD2 the highlight is the remix of Nite Flights, a strong song with an enjoyable remix that doesn't diverge too far from the original.
| Black Tie White Noise | |
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Disk 1 - Original Album:
The Wedding
Disk 2 - Remixes CD:
Real Cool World
Disk 3 - DVD:
Introduction |
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Black Tie White Noise
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| The videos all have a similar look and feel to them, so much so that it might occur to you that they may have been on a budget, recording all of them on the same soundstage. That trifle aside, both the videos and interviews will keep your attention. As the camera |
DB with Al B. Sure |
Memorable clips for old fans include the late Mick Ronson in the studio with Bowie for their final hurrah together as they recorded this album; new fans will enjoy the performance with Al B. Sure on the title track. Hey, that Lester Bowie takes off on You've Been Around! Well done, makes you wish that every Bowie CD single was released as a music + video CD. Makes you wish that every Bowie album was accompanied by a CD ROM of the videos from that album. Also available on videocassette.
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Black Tie White Noise CD ROM |
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You've Been Around Nite Flights Miracle Goodnight Black Tie White Noise Featuring Al B. Sure! I Feel Free I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday Miracle Goodnight (clip) Jump They Say (clip) Black Tie White Noise (clip)
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Jump They Say
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If you're not a collector and none of the above means a thing to you, then chances are you're not chasing down out of print CD singles anyway. Let's talk about the music. Jump They Say is a highlight from the Black Tie White Noise album. Musically upbeat, lyrically downbeat.
When this was released my roommate at the time, who was not a Bowie fan, really talked up the song saying it was one of the best Bowie songs he'd ever heard. Danceable with jumpin' horns and a
| thick, stifled swirl to it, the song has a really cool effect that makes it sound like the drums were mixed in backward. |
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The seven minute plus Leftfield remix is the best "extra" here. It features an insistent neural pulse and a thumping 4/4 beat that offers a more disco flavor and a cleaner, more austere sound than the album version. My own rule of thumb for a remix is that for it to be worth a damn, it's either got to add to a song or it's got to reinvent it. The Leftfield remix does the latter.
The Club Hart remix is one I would call "the homeboy mix" since it's got more hip hop appeal than a neighborly easter bunny. I wouldn't include this mix among my favorite Bowie remixes but it's not bad. Better than having extra space on the CD single, doncha think?
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The Don't Stop Praying remix of Pallas Athena which closes out the CD rhythmically samples an electronic voice that says, "don't stop". The sample sounds incredibly familiar but I can't quite place the source. Some disco dance floor smash no doubt. This mix |
Sounds like there's a chorus of hairy men chanting, "Perrier", with intermittent wailing from what might be a middle eastern singer, and a sample of some dude saying, "all right". Makes me wonder how all these samples fit together. Maybe a middle eastern singer just crawled across the Sahara to a truckload of strong hairy men listening to don't-stop-hip-hop. As they raise their voices in song to praise sparkling water, the driver hands her a refreshing bottle and says "all right!". Of course, such life-saving miracles wouldn't happen in the middle of nowhere if God weren't on top of things. Miracles happen in busy places. But I regress....
Thing about remixes in general is, it seems like they say more about the guy working the turntables and tape and less about the performer. In that way samples and remixes are kind of like most videos, little to do with the performer or the performer's vision and everything to do with the director's style and the marketing department's survey results. As Bowie says, "Tits and explosions" indeed. Mind if I sample those tits? Just for the remix of course.
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Jump They Say CD Single |
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Jump They Say (album version) (4:22) Jump They Say (radio edit 1) (3:58) Jump They Say (Club Hart remix) (5:05) Jump They Say (Leftfield remix) (7:41) Pallas Athena (album version) (4:40) Pallas Athena (Don't Stop Praying remix) (5:36)
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Jump They Say
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See above. If you're actually considering buying this many incarnations of the song there's no point in me even providing info about it; that's not an anthology, that's a pathology!
| Jump They Say - CD 1 | |
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Jump They Say (7" version) (3:35) Jump They Say (Hard Hands Mix) (5:40) Jump They Say (JAE-E Remix) (5:32) Pallas Athena (Don't Stop Praying Mix) (5:36) |
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| Jump They Say - CD 2 | |
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Jump They Say (Brothers In Rhythm Mix) (8:26) Jump They Say (Brothers In Rhythm Instrumental) (6:22) Jump They Say (Leftfield 12" Vocal) (7:40) Jump They Say (full album version) (4:22)
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Jump Interactive
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I'm sure this must be a fine product from a small but earnest Los Angeles multimedia firm. It's just that the Windows version of this CD kept bugging out on me before I had a chance to use it. My PC is RAM-heavy and tuned to perfection so it's not the hardware. I'm a certified PC tech (among other things) so I doubt that it's user error.
After the program crashed a few times, I was finally allowed to
Miracle Goodnight video |
mosey through the halls of what its makers claim would be Bowie's studio, business office and so forth. Visually it pretty much looks like your run of the mill multimedia experience. Click on this, click on that, go here, go there. No particular hooks for the mind, heart or soul. |
Looks like there are some video interviews with The Man. According to the packaging this shiny trinket also includes full videos for Jump They Say, You've Been Around, Black Tie White Noise and Miracle Goodnight. The VCD for Black Tie White Noise contains videos for these four songs and two others.
The videos were the real attraction but the user interface didn't allow for an easy menued selection to quickly take me to the features I wanted to see. After meandering back and forth between a few rooms at the end of various hallways with the program crashing intermittently I decided that I had more pressing things to take care of than doing an easter egg hunt on the Titanic. Eventually I found a manual to compensate for the lack of intuitive design but when I tried to fire up the program again it crashed on me twice. End of story.
One other thing: Word comes via email that the Mac version of this rugnugget is just as buggy.
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The Buddha Of Suburbia |
UK cover
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Sex And The Church might as well be an instrumental. It throbs and broods, carried by the bass and frosted with distorted statements that are hard to make out. The first version of Strangers When We Meet, included here, is fairly similar to the excellent cabaret style song that closed Outside. In spite of the "cabaret" label, Strangers When We Meet is an instant classic. What a line, "All my violence raining tears upon the sheets". No wonder Bowie decided to record Strangers When We Meet for two albums in a row.
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Buddha Of Suburbia is Bowie's closest brush with a true solo album. Most of the performances on this record are by David Bowie and Erdal Kizilcay. My own favorite owes to the contribution of Mike Garson on the keys; his one appearance brightens |
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| The Buddha Of Suburbia | |
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Buddha Of Suburbia Sex and the Church South Horizon The Mysterie Bleed Like A Craze, Dad |
Strangers When We Meet |
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