Splinters

An American Dream

Back from NYC and seeing Mr Bowie at the Roseland Ballroom - a truly tremendous gig because a) it's a 3000 capacity venue which isn't seated and where you can smoke and b) because he played Low in its entirety, including the 4 instrumentals which make up the second half of the album, followed by all of his new opus Heathen. Low is one of my favourite Bowie albums, so to hear it played live from start to finish was absolute heaven. It was a truly brave move too, as playing a 70s miesterwerk directly before previewing his new material is not necessarily the best way to keep an audience's attention. Certainly my heart sank a little when he announced he'd be playing both albums all the way through as it meant there would be little room for any other of his classics and no element of surprise either. But then, this is a man who could come on playing the spoons and he'd keep the crowd enthralled - the word charisma just doesn't do justice to Bowie's stage presence.

He was uncharacteristically quiet between songs which he put down to nerves and certainly he looked a lot more relaxed when he returned for a staggering encore of Hallo Spaceboy, Ashes to Ashes, Fashion and the closing, awe-inspiring I'm Afraid Of Americans, which left a few of the New York audience looking a little non-plussed. Not even a mention of Ziggy Stardust, let alone any of his songs, despite the 6th June being the 30th anniversary of Ziggy's release - but then, Bowie's not renown for his love of nostalgia. There's more reviews of the Roseland gig on Teenage Wildlife and some amusing whining on the messageboards too.

It'll be interesting to see what Bowie does at his Meltdown festival appearance, which he's also curating this year. It's only a couple of weeks away, and the Dandy Warhols are supporting, so I'm hoping there might be a few surprises. Certainly I'll be in the queue for Senor Coconut, who are playing the night before Bowie - a Chilean ensemble who do Kraftwerk cover versions in South American style, complete with cha-cha-cha's.

Heathen is a curious album - all the reviews are saying it's a real return to form, the best thing Bowie's done since Scary Monsters, but they've said that everytime he's released an album in the last 10 years. (Let's not even bother to mention the musical atrocities he perpetrated in the 80s).

This is also something of a slight on Hours, Earthling and Outside, all albums which boast numerous fantastic tracks. Perhaps Heathen has had such a good reception because it's less experimental than those previous albums - there's none of the art-rock industrial mayhem of Outside or the Earthling's drum'n'bass cacophony. This time round, Bowie's opted for a more stripped down, classic guitar sound that allows him to give full flight to his ever-improving voice. Quite how he manages this when he's still smoking 2 packs a day is a mystery, but then, how he manages to look younger with each year is also equally peculiar - there's a painting stashed in an attic somewhere, I'm sure.

The fairly faithful cover versions of the Pixies' Cactus and Neil Young's I've Been Waiting For You indicate the sort of territory that Heathen inhabits. Like every Bowie album, it takes quite a few listens to get into and favourite tracks continually change. These are always the best sort of albums because they get better with each hearing rather than going for the sugar rush of being immediately addictive and then wearing off equally quickly.

The artwork for Heathen is also the best packaging I've seen on an album for a long time - black and white photos of religious Renaissance paintings which have been vandalised and which have a truly disturbing shock value to them. Not entirely sure about the front cover picture of Mr B. though - it's a bit "i'm an alien, me". Yes Dave, we already knew that...