David Bowie's Low (33 1/3)
by Hugo Wilcken
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Book Summary Information
Author: Hugo WilckenEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2005-08-30
ISBN: 0826416845
Number of pages: 138
Publisher: Continuum
Book Reviews of David Bowie's Low (33 1/3)
Book Review: 33 1/3 Bowie - Low, one of the best of 33 1/3
Summary: 5 Stars
I've read 7 or 8 of the 33 1/3 book series, which I consider to be a great idea for people to experience their favorite albums with deeper understanding. The 2 best, in my mind, are the Kinks Village Green Preservation Society, and David Bowie's Low.
This book sets the standard & should be the model for how the others in the series are written. It begins with background on where Bowie was in his career, leading up to Low. Then a detailed description of the early creative process, chronicling how they first recorded Iggy Pop's "The Idiot" as a way of fleshing out sonic ideas that would govern Low. Followed by the early sessions in France, as Eno entered the creative mix, soon followed by longtime Bowie producer, Tony Visconti . And then traveling to Berlin to finish mixing at Connie Plank's Hansa by the Wall studio.
Hugo Wilcken doesn't dwell too deeply on a technical description of the songs, and he definitely doesn't resort to one of those dry "at 2:37 into the song there is a bridge that pre-supposes the chorus structure while belying a sub harmonic tonality of the root level rhythm...." type texts that can creep into some other books of the series.
Instead, the author focuses on the life being lived by the artist as the songs were being created, and how it influenced and shaped the process. He describes conceptual ideas that manifest themselves into creative decisions, such as the merging of dense Germanic electronic sound with an American soul-based rhythm section. Plenty of description of the surrounding atmosphere in the whole process. You feel like you are there as it happens.
A thoroughly enjoyable experience for anyone who loves that album.
Summary of David Bowie's Low (33 1/3)
"One day I blew my nose and half my brains came out." Los Angeles, 1976. David Bowie is holed up in his Bel-Air mansion, drifting into drug-induced paranoia and confusion. Obsessed with black magic and the Holy Grail, he?s built an altar in the living room and keeps his fingernail clippings in the fridge. There are occasional trips out to visit his friend Iggy Pop in a mental institution. His latest album is the cocaine-fuelled Station To Station (Bowie: "I know it was recorded in LA because I read it was"), which welds R&B rhythms to lyrics that mix the occult with a yearning for Europe, after three mad years in the New World.Bowie has long been haunted by the angst-ridden, emotional work of the Die Brucke movement and the Expressionists. Berlin is their spiritual home, and after a chaotic world tour, Bowie adopts this city as his new sanctuary. Immediately he sets to work on Low, his own expressionist mood-piece.
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