David Live

I almost forgot how good this album was having owned it as double vinyl over 30 years ago. One song haunted me from it ... Sweet Thing and this was the inspiration to order again. As a live album it's unusually brilliant an excellent recording at the height of his Philly Soul period!
Atmospheric.
Rod

Drenched in mystique, we will not see or hear the like again. [One star knocked off for the shockingly poor guitar solo on Panic in Detroit.]

Of everything I own by David Bowie -- which starts with vinyl I bought in the early '70s -- this double-album set, recorded on Bowie's Diamond Dogs Tour (at the Tower, Philadelphia) has been replaced more often than any other item. It was out of print for a long time, and I payed a king's ransom for a slightly-used CD set from overseas.

Now it has all been re-mastered. 'Here Today, Gone Tomorrow', a slower, pensive, theatrical performance of 'Space Oddity', and a barely recognizable 'Panic in Detroit', which were omitted from previous CD sets -- as they were from the vinyl -- are all there. This version of 'Panic in Detroit' has little to recommend it; perhaps it should have been left on the cutting room floor. I find it the dullest stretch of the entire concert.

In terms of concert-material, the tracks are mostly drawn from Diamond Dogs and Aladdin Sane, with 'some extras', such as Bowie doing an unmissable performance of 'All the Young Dudes', made famous by Mott the Hoople (but written by Bowie).

Everything in this concert has more 'musicality'; it comes across more melodic than the studio versions, in large part because of the orchestration for the tour. There is a lot of saxophone, and distinct soul-jazz-blues influences in the arrangements. The presence of a sax, and some funky percussion in the band brings a brighter, jazzier, or low-down-dirtier mood to many of the songs. Many of the flatter-sounding songs, from those two albums are performed here with much more depth and texture. Bowie's vocal style is at it's richest, most theatrical, and most musical. I have always rated this concert as the most consistently sexy music in any one collection by David Bowie. Both from his voice, and from the arrangements, there is a radiant (bi-)sexuality. 'Cracked Actor' sounds much dirtier -- more consistent with the actual words -- than the studio vesion. Aladdin Sane's 'Time' is dramatic, raunchy, and campier than the proverbial row of tents! The campy play needs no visuals, to create atmosphere. Such is the magic of modern remastering, that songs I have known as well as was possible, since 1974, are new and fresh again. I am hearing nuances which were too subtle to be picked up in the original mixes, for the first time.

Not everyone thinks sax solos are sexy. If you don't like a lot of saxophone, you will not like this performance. If a instrumental guitar breaks with too much distortion get on your nerves, or mannered 'voices', and campy posing seem silly to you, you will hate this. Bowie pulls out all his rowdiest gay-bar innuendos and drama on songs like 'Watch that Man' and 'Time'. (In the pre-HIV early '70s, gay bars were... risqué places).

Some might complain that they like the 'purity' of the studio versions. I do, too. They are the studio versions. That does not make them definitive.

This is not a studio version. This is David LIVE, obviously having a grand time! It is clear, just by listening, that he was having fun on that stage. No concert is ever enjoyable, unless the performer is enjoying him/herself. Well, this is a young, energetic David Bowie, playing with his music and his audience, and wrapping the audience around his little fingers. He flirts outrageously, in voice, in attitude, in the choices of music and how he constructed the concert, which is nearly impeccable.

In a live performance, getting off to an exciting start is important. Bowie delivers an electrifying version of '1984', followed by a rollicking performance of 'Rebel, Rebel', which slides into a high-energy version of 'Moonage Daydream', and carries on with a sexed-up, dirtied-down rendition of Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing which still blows my socks off. The middle section has some revved-up performances of everything from 'Suffragette City' to a heavily soul-influenced rendition of 'Diamond Dogs'. The concert pace moves along very well, and the songs segué smoothly. Other than 'Panic in Detroit', which is noticeable for its mediocrity, all the songs are energetic, engaging, sexy and fun. The performance of 'Big Brother' has tantalising shades of masochism. The finale of the concert is a passionate, fast, raw performance of 'Width of a Circle', followed by an unrepentantly outrageous 'Jean Genie' (on which the finger-snapping is audible) with a long guitar-break, and closes with a very pretty version of 'Rock-n-Roll Suicide'.

One could complain that the music is over-orchestrated. One might say they think it's lacking precisely the stark qualities that mark Aladdin Sane and Diamond Dogs. It is not, perhaps, 'dark' enough -- though I think that is wholly subjective, and find these versions very 'dark' in their own way. The open and cheerful sexuality of the performance might not fit with the Orwellian themes of Diamond Dogs, in everyone's mind. Those are all questions of taste.

Taste is really the deciding factor. 'David Live' made my mind up in 1974, and it has done so again. If you are really not sure, download one Mp3. I suggest something like '1984' or 'Big Brother', where the 'feel' of the record is very much present. If you like what you hear, you will enjoy this recording. Completionists may want to update their CDs, because earlier CDs did not include three of the songs present here.