Earthling

This writing is bound to change as I get a chance to absorb Bowie's new album. Bowie's music inevitably grows the longer one listens. It's this characteristic of his music that gives it such longevity. Here are some quick first impressions:

Earthling is one ferocious mother. Easily Bowie's most consistent album since 1977's Low, or perhaps even since Station to Station, every track counts. Nine songs of meditation, superstition and prophecy tug the synapses and maybe the sins as well. If you haven't been keeping up with the Jones lately, you'll be surprised. This "jungle" sound that Bowie's been playing with amounts to tinny amphetamine percussion, bass-heavy bottom end and occasional jazz strains. A reductionist point of view, perhaps, but one that works.

Bowie's most powerful album in ages kick starts with the first single, Little Wonder. Telling Lies, as mixed here, sounds like a cross between the versions available on the CD single. I'm Afraid Of Americans, which originally appeared on the Showgirls soundtrack a couple years ago, pops up again, new and improved. This outing is less hyperactive and metallic than the initial version. Echoing the mindset of the legions following Big Brother on Diamond Dogs, the closing track Law (Earthlings On Fire) slurs the chant, "I don't want knowledge, I want certainty."

More to come, film at 11.

Update (it must be 11 by now): It's been a year since Earthling came out, and as time passes this one becomes more satisfying. Little Wonder has gone from being one of those "dammit I can't get this hook out of my head" songs to "uh yeah, Bowie classics? You've got Panic In Detroit, Diamond Dogs, Fame, Little Wonder.... Songs like the smoldering Seven Years In Tibet creep under your skin. Bowie performed a burning down the house rendition on the '97 tour. What really works for this song is the verse; the chorus could use a little better melody.

Every time I hear the opening chords of Battle for Britain (The Letter) I still think "Mr. Worf, engage thrusters!" Dead Man Walking still comes across as a reworked Lucy Can't Dance (the bonus track from Black Tie White Noise), but it comes with some of Bowie's best lyrics. The seemingly random synthesizer sequences of The Last Thing You Should Do ferret themselves into your brain more and more over time; I wish Bowie had done this tune when I saw him on the Earthling tour. Next to Little Wonder, it's my favorite.

Unlike Earthling's predecessor, the more surreptitious Outside, what you hear is pretty much what you get. As Laurie Anderson says, X pretty much equals X (if you miss the reference you'll want to check out her wonderful WB debut, Big Science. It includes O Superman, which Gayle Ann Dorsey covered on Bowie's '97 tour).

Earthling is an energetic, kick-ass release. It's not as thematic as other Bowie albums, it seems more a collection of songs in the same style. The only regret I have for this album, one year out, is that there were no killer singles that drew major attention to Bowie's latest. Consider what a honeyed connivance like the delightful Golden Years did for the masterwork Station to Station. One or two seductions on each album to lure in the casual buyer who only listens to the media. The weakness of Bowie's '80's period was not his pop singles, it was the remainder of each album. What we've got right now are deadly-good albums just dying for that one unstoppable single that rocks the radio and MTV Casbah.

	Telling Lies

What's this about David Bowie being the first to release a single on the Internet? Find out right now by downloading Telling Lies from the official David Bowie home page. It's free! And it's not available in stores (sounds like a genuine Ginsu bargain, eh? Talk about cutting edge....). If, due to long download times, you only want to try out one version of the song, a quick rule of thumb is that the Feelgood Mix is the most energetic, the Paradox Mix is more pensive and spacy, and the Adam F Mix is reminiscent at times of the song This Is Not America. My favorites among the three would be the Feelgood Mix and the Adam F mix.

Update: Telling Lies was released as a limited edition for Bowie fans, with rumors that only 3500 copies were uncorked to the public, but this may have been the number released in the UK. That would explain why the US packaging is minimal, a drab blue with grunge text, no photo or artwork.

If you're concerned that a CD single could be mighty expensive for three mixes of the same song, calm your jowls, the three mixes are all so different from each other that getting this single is like getting three completely different songs. All three versions are different from that which appears on Earthling.

Up-update: It's been a few years since the internet release of this song; although it may still lurk somewhere on Bowienet available for download, I couldn't quickly track it down.

Telling Lies
Telling Lies (Feelgood Mix) (5:07) Telling Lies (Paradox Mix) (5:10) Telling Lies (Adam F Mix) (3:58)

CD1 cover

Little Wonder

CD2 cover

The opening track from Earthling appears in a gazillion different versions on these CD singles. The two jammers shown are UK imports that'll run you about $10 each stateside. The US single, which has the same cover as the purple CD1, offers the full-length original, two Junior mixes and one dance remix by our favorite Danny Saber. If it's good to ya, it's gotta be good for ya!

If you must choose between the three, it's a close call, but you might like the variety of songs on the limited edition CD2 better. The extended Jump They Say is stripped down and lovely. The Danny Saber Remix has a nice bite to it, my Little Wonder of choice among the eight available. Foreboding, with a percussion echoing through sonic canyons of fret. Danny Saber also does a likable dance remix on the US single.

If you've already got the CD single of Telling Lies, from which comes the Adam F Remix, you'll probably do better to go for CD1, which offers five versions of Little Wonder, and a running time longer than most albums from the 1950's.

Update: You Merkins are lucky. The US version of the Little Wonder CD single rounds out its foursome with a stompin' Danny Saber dance mix that can do no wrong. If you've already picked up another version of this CD single because you're an ardent Bowie fan, sure, try to find this in the used section if you can, but if you can't and you like dance mixes, this is one you'll want. Bass lines that almost remind you of moments from Superfly are buried amidst a subtle guitar track that toys with your ears while a persistent ch-ch-ch-ch synth seduces you onto the dance floor. That ambient Junior mix is still as spooky and cool as it ever was.

Little Wonder
Little Wonder (Edit) (3:40) Ambient Junior Mix (9:55) Club Dub Junior Mix (8:10) 4/4 Junior Mix (8:10) Juniors Club Instrumental (8:10)
Little Wonder Ltd Edition
Little Wonder (Edit) (3:40) Telling Lies (Adam F Mix) (3:58) Jump They Say (Leftfield 12" Vocal) (7:40) Little Wonder (Danny Saber Remix) (3:06)
Little Wonder US
Little Wonder (Album Version) (6:02) Junior Vasquez Ambient Mix (9:55) Junior Vasquez Club Dub (8:10) Danny Saber Dance Mix (5:30)

Dead Man Walking

The peppy dance number from "Earthling", in a few different formats. These singles are UK issues; the US is still shopping the Little Wonder CD single.

If you like the song, jeez, just spring for the whole album, it's worth it. Unlike most of Bowie's recent CD singles, these remixes aren't particularly compelling. Even the remixes of the tunes from "Outside" are only so-so. You'd think that an extended version of I'm Deranged would storm the friggin' embassy, y'know?

Instead, this one evokes the collective unconscious, the one that's unconscious in a bean bag chair in a dimly lit room filled with incense; tangled up in beads and loaded up with designer chemicals. Cool persian rug, though. At least that's what this remix brings to my humble mind.

Dead Man Walking
Album Version(6:50) Moby Mix I (7:31) House Mix (6:00) This One's Not Dead Yet Remix (6:28)
Dead Man Walking Ltd Edition
Dead Man Walking(edit) (4:01) I'm Deranged (Jungle Mix) (7:00) The Heart's Filthy Lesson (Good Karma Remix) (5:00)

Seven Years In Tibet

The hook here is the Mandarin Version that recently went to number one in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong release was retitled A Fleeting Moment, but this release for the western world retains the familiar name.

The pulsing throb of the brooding Seven Years In Tibet presents a wonderful contrast: with the sultry beat sounding like, how shall I say it, the naughty percussion records that one puts on the stereo at the moment of consummation? Bowie's filtered voice scratches across the top with a devastating lyric that has everything to do with the limbo of other lives (and deaths) and little to do with the libido lambada. Then the chorus comes crashing down on the listener, beseeching whoever will listen that "nothing ever goes".

The CD single opens with an edit of the album version. This key moment from Earthling will come in handy if you're making a tape for a friend and want to keep the song at four minutes in length. You know how attention spans are these days.

An 8:18 version of Pallas Athena, recorded live in Amsterdam on the Earthling tour rounds out CD single number four from Bowie's latest album. I haven't had the opportunity to listen to this with the speakers fully cranked yet, so there may be some subtleties I'm missing.

Right now it looks like the primary differences between the live version and the version from Black Tie White Noise are a couple extra samples thrown into the stew, the first word of the main sample "Goooodddd... is on top of it all" is extended and distorted a little bit as though the DJ had a thumb on the side of a vinyl platter, and the clock runs to over eight minutes.

If you're curious, you might check out the URL on the inside of the gatefold, www.tibet.com.

Seven Years In Tibet
Seven Years In Tibet (edit) (3:59) Seven Years In Tibet (Mandarin Version) (3:58) Pallas Athena (live in Amsterdam) (8:18)

I'm Afraid Of Americans

"God is an American", isn't He? And it's a good thing too. Otherwise we'd have to kill Him.

A half dozen versions of this highlight song from Earthling, remixed by Trent Reznor. The remixes range from funky and fierce to afloat in a wash of synthetic delirium.

V2 reminds me a bit of Sweet Thing in the way the swirling synths draw you in. From time to time a percussive instrument taps in like an evil woodpecker chipping away the seconds. V2 pulls you deeper and deeper into a wind tunnel of sound that overwhelms your senses until you're spinning into a whirlpool that refuses to let go until the mix ends.

V3 opens with Ice Cube stammering through the opening of the Pledge of Allegiance, reminiscent of Bowie's stammering of the words, "and I'm trying to be a part of s-s-socie-society" from the Scary Monsters album. The appearance of Ice Cube fits right in; this mix doesn't turn into a rap number but Ice Cube's bites, "TV got your brain", "Get Up and Be Happy", and "Super Bowl Sunday" are sure to be sampled and stolen in the future.

The Photek mix, V5, is stripped down and offers a prominent staccato "wah WAH wah, wah wah wah WAH" synth as the primary auditory landmark.

V6 is 11:00+ of hypnosis-inducing seascape with a prevalent white noise fog settling into those vacant cracks of your consciousness that you'd left unattended. As the mix ends and you awaken, you realize that you've lost all sight of the shipping lanes and you're not even sure you can find the GPS any more. This number has undergone quite a metamorphosis since its original appearance on the Showgirls soundtrack, hasn't it?

Update: After much listening, my favorite version of this song is the album version. V1, V2, V3 and the Showgirls soundtrack version have also found their way to various mixed tapes that I listen to around the house.

I'm Afraid Of Americans
I'm Afraid Of Americans V1 (5:31) I'm Afraid Of Americans V2 (5:51) I'm Afraid Of Americans V3 (6:18)     - special guest Ice Cube I'm Afraid Of Americans V4 (5:25) I'm Afraid Of Americans V5 (5:38)     - additional production by Photek I'm Afraid Of Americans V6 (11:18)

Earthling In The City

Appeared only as a freebie with the November '97 issue of GQ. This six song CD includes all three tunes from the Seven Years In Tibet CD single, plus two otherwise unavailable live tracks recorded on the Earthling tour. The Paradox mix of Telling Lies by A Guy Called Gerald rounds out this bonus CD.

The two live tracks unique to this release are similar to their studio versions, the only noticeable difference being the "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea" rhythm effects in The Heart's Filthy Lesson. You know, the same effect used in Marvin Gaye's Mercy Mercy Me? These are two of Bowie's best songs from his last couple of albums, but it remains to be seen whether they will make fans of GQ's poodle boy target audience.

One word of warning - the CD and the cardboard slipcover are riddled with advertising, which isn't so bad considering it subsidizes the cost for us. But when you pop this monkey into your CD-ROM player, rather than your CD player software firing up and kicking in with a fiesty live version of Little Wonder, the autorun feature of the AT&T online software splashes onto your screen instead. Aren't you glad that Preparation H doesn't come with an autorun feature?

Earthling In The City
Little Wonder (live 1/9/97) (3:44) Seven Years In Tibet (edit) (3:59) Pallas Athena (live in Amsterdam) (8:18) The Heart's Filthy Lesson (live 1/9/97) (5:03) Telling Lies (Paradox Mix) (5:12) Seven Years In Tibet (Mandarin Version) (3:58)

 
 

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