Best Of Bowie [DVD]

I am simply going to say - BUY THIS DVD - fan or not.

At last, one of music's most innovative stars performances have been condensed onto a 4 hour plus double DVD set, and the creators have bothered to scour BBC archives to fill some of the essential missing earlier spaces that Bowie's previous "Greatest Hits Video" (video only) ignored.

I am referring to Bowie's earliest TV appearances on UK TV to promote Hunky Dory and the soon-to-be -released classic, Ziggy Stardust.

Here, Bowie is presented in his Ziggy-persona infancy, tight jump suit haircut spiky but not yet the flame red that was to be his earliest trademark, he comes across as young, fresh, hungry, incredibly polished and is a clear pre-cursor for the legend that Ziggy would eventually evolve into 6 months later.

The first three Old Grey Whistle Test performances are a wonderful insight into how the former awkward, unsure-of-himself youngster, was quickly able to weave himself visually into his wonderful songs and adapt a cult-like image in front of cameras and crowds. The musical performance is simply breathtaking.

The next video, Starman - his classic Top of the Pops debut, underlines what a few months of motivation and self-belief can do. This performance literally changed thousands of people's lives in the UK and while watching, you'll understand why. A tall, attractive male (or is he a female ??) in a glowing jumpsuit, flirting with the crowd and camping it up with his supremo guitarist Ronno, gave countless people in the UK a reason to feel that they were not the only people who were "different". Not only did the man look great, he had fantastic songs and suddenly it was OK to be unusual - the BBC had endorsed this by including Starman on TOTP.

This performance more than likely launched Bowie into the mainstream and rapidly took the man away from his loyal underground following, and made him available to the public. His image was quickly copied by many (fans and others groups alike, although he wasn't the first man to wear make up.) Oh, the power of TV and a benchmark about the importance of being seen as well as heard.

The next three videos ( Mick Rock directed) are RCA promos to cover the public demand and momentum whilst Bowie was touring and have been widely available, but again are a visual feast, allowing us to witness how Ziggy's metamorphosis takes shape over a period of a few months. Bowie now bristles with confidence, pouting, standing and gyrating like a weird Elvis - making love to the camera.

Another bonus, the Russell Harty performance of "Drive In" shows Bowie at a newfound peak, right in the middle of his new fame and adoration, and is probably worth the cost of the DVD alone.

The next bonus is the Young American performance from the Dick Cavett show. Showing Bowie in his first new image for 3 years, the clear signs of [...] abuse are as transparent as a sheet of glass and help transform this American TV appearance into a skeletal and once seen, never forgotten performance.

Bowie, RCA (his label) and his management Mainman fell out for about four years and this is reflected in the lack of investment for videos to promote Station to Station, Low and Heroes - hence 2 performances represent nearly 4 years of work, but Bowie clicks into the MTV video age from hereon ( another 32 videos)and the majority of his other singles are represented here from 1979 to 2000.

In all, a must buy product for three essential reasons:

This man has influenced so many artists, this dvd allows you to benchmark who and how.

No music artist has ever been so able to adapt, adopt and improve his or her visual image over a 40-year career span and remain so cool.

The man is a legend and has presented excellent value for money if you are a fan or not.

So here it is at last, the greatest collection of Bowie promos and clips to date. It is a chronological journey from 1969's 'Space Oddity' (although the promo was not made till 1972 and that's why it appears as track 7. I dare say that a lot of us will own the "Video Collection" but this DVD wipes the floor with it.

Before I start I should just say that Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is generally regarded as the first video. That was made in 1976. Up till that point promo clips had been the norm. Bowie's first real venture into video did not come until 1979's 'Lodger' album, (Tracks 15 / 16 & 17).

Oh! You Pretty Things / Queen Bitch & Five Years are performed on The Old Grey Whistle Test. Starman is from Top Of The Pops. TOGWT, for those who don’t know was a classic BBC2 rock/pop show. (By the way, 30 years of TOGWT DVD is an excellent buy to). John, I'm Only Dancing / Jean Genie and Space Oddity are promo clips of a fairly basic nature. A performance of Drive-in-Saturday is taken from Russell Harty's Plus Pop. Life on Mars is a very basic promo and due to the way it was filmed it is difficult to watch. Ziggy Stardust comes straight from the concert of 1972. Most of these forementioned clips also feature The Spiders From Mars and it is a pleasure to watch the late Mick Ronson in action. (His last TV appearance was Freddie Mercury's Tribute Concert playing with Bowie). Rebel, Rebel is from a Dutch TV TopPop mime but features Bowie in one of his legendary costumes and sporting just one eye. Young Americans is a live performance on American TV. The sound quality is awful so alter your amp if you can. We now jump to 1977 for Be My Wife. A great song but did the video have to be minimalist to. The same goes for Heroes (single version).

So this is where the "proper" videos start. Boys Keep Swinging / D.J. & Look Back In Anger from 1979. My fave video, Ashes To Ashes with Fashion from the brilliant Scary Monsters… album. Then we jump back to 1976 for Wild Is The Wind from Stationtostation. The song was released as a single to promote Changestwobowie in 1982. Now many years ago Bowie was a mime artist and throughout his videos he uses props, and images which at first look weird. For example, the white gloves on Let's Dance. My interpretation (which is probably wrong) suggests it is Britain keeping her hands clean of the plight of the native Australians in one of our largest members of the Commonwealth. And the red shoes are just 80's capitalism. China Girl was made at the same time as Let's Dance and at the time (1983) were the most expensive videos ever made. Modern Love and Cat People are filmed on The Serious Moonlight tour. It's the short version of Blue Jean. Loving The Alien is about the fights between religions. Dancing In The Streets is a cover recorded and filmed very quickly for Live Aid (1985). Take it for what it is: a bit of fun.

DISC 2: Absolute Beginners was released to promote the film. This 12" version beats the film which is more of an art movie than a film. Underground & As The World Falls Down are both from the hugely entertaining Labyrinth movie. Day-in, Day-out is one of Bowie's most controversial and could only be screened after 9pm on release. He even had to learn to skate for it. Time Will Crawl and Never Let Me Down are both dance style videos but totally different. Again, Bowie's mime training comes in. Fame '90 should be watched about 15 times (watch smaller screens on the edge). Jump They Say deals with Bowie's brother's suicide and from here to the end of the disc it is uncomfortable listening, but thoroughly enjoyable. Black Tie, White Noise deals with racism and Miricle Goodnight is a love song for Iman (his wife) but the video deals with sex. I kicked myself when I finally saw Buddha Of Suburbia video as I missed the tv series, it looked very interesting. (Nice samples to). The next 3 come from 1.Outside. There is not the room here to go in-depth with that album. It's Eno and Bowie together again but with something new. If you know the story fair enough but it's about murder as art. The videos are not graphic but could be disturbing. These songs are Heart's Filthy Lesson, Strangers When We Meet and Hallo Spaceboy (Pet Shop Boys softer remix). I will just list the remaining tracks Little Wonder, Dead Man Walking, 7 Years In Tibet, I'm Afraid Of Americans, Thursday's Child and Survive. All of these for me are very "arty". That takes us up to 2000. All that is left are the credits. These are nicely presented and you can flick thru them at your leisure but can be viewed in the booklet. The packaging is colourful but basic. A synopsis of each song would have been useful so you'll just have to go searching the net for info.

Thanks for reading.

PS reading the credits there could be another DVD video collection released Easter 2003.