Return of a thin white duke

At first glance, the newly released boxing "David Bowie. Who can i be now? (1974-1976) " may only be interested in the obsessed Bowie-collectors-fees. 250 dollars for 13 vinyl records (or $ 120 for 12 compact drives), and what fans receive in return: three classic albums of the American period (which they already have)- “Diamond Dogs” , “Young Americans” and “Station To Station” , two concerts (which are most likely also)- “David)-David) Live ” and “ Live Nassau Coliseum '76 ” and a collection of singles “ Re: Call 2 ” . Nothing that they have not heard, albeit in a restored sound and attractive packaging.

Oh yes, and also "Gouster" . The main bait in the Boxing Set advertising campaign was precisely he-an unrelated album, which David Bowie subsequently converted into the Young Americans . But Gouster does not open new pages in the heritage of the great artist-it has only three songs that did not fall into the Young Americans : the fank version of John, I'm Only Dancing (AGain) and the ballads “Its Gonna Be Me” and “Who Can I Be Now?” - And they were previously lit up in reprints. The Gouster drafts include several more demo-known songs by David Bowie, but this time they did not receive attention for some reason.

“Gouster” , which sounds like a sketch to “Young Americans” , does not pull the Holy Grail from pop music, no matter how enthusiastically the British press is confused about his account . Is the audiochrestomatia " Who Can I Be now? (1974-1976) ” - another role. Do not discover knowledge, but systematize. Its compilers took up the systematic edition (pity, incomplete) of the works of David Bowie, whose songs written 40 years ago must be in the collection for the same reason why you need to keep Pushkin and Tolstoy on the book regiments. The classics must be re -read regularly, re -discovering words and thoughts in tune with today.

In 1974, David Bowie was one of the main rock stars of Britain and was at the crossroads of his career. Saying goodbye to Ziggi with an old Dast, a character who made it a superstar in his homeland, and even his homeland, the singer, who was selected for the 30th anniversary, moved to the United States and was in search of new inspiring stories and sounds. For three years spent in the conquest of America, David Bowie recorded three unlike each other studio albums that determined his further discography. At this time, he was occupied by the manipulative power of TV, the mechanisms of totalitarian regimes, the attractiveness of dictators and the danger of the return of fascism. These topics are still painful - not only because they are eternal, but also because this decade looks like a mirror reflection of the seventies. Take a look at the newspaper leaders of that time: the political crisis in the United States (Nixon impeachment), the global energy crisis and the economic recession, the USSR behind the deaf iron curtain, a wave of terrorist attacks in Europe, the wars in the east, the activation of Islamic radicals and nationalist movements. After the utopian 1960s, passionate about various revolutions, the crisis seventies became an era of the crash of hopes, and David Bowie became a powerful voice of disappointment, Orpheus, who discovered himself in hell.

"This is not rock and roll, this is genocide!"

The album “Diamond Dogs” , drawing the surrealistic paintings of the decaying civilization, begins with the heartbreaking dog howl and the singer’s crush: “This is not rock and roll, this is genocide!” The conceptual record, which was not understood and accepted in Britain at one time, appeared after, having looked at the real life of the USSR from the windows of Trans -Siberian express , David Bowie decided to compose and put a musical on the romance of George Orwell, which describes the gloomy way of totalitarian society, which was banned in the USSR. The idea was ruined by the widow of the writer, who did not give a rock star resolution, and he had to compose his own anti-utopia, in which the Orwell’s motives are obvious. In all ways, convincing the listener not to obey the power of power, David Bowie remains the pessimist: like “1984”, “Diamond Dogs” ends with the fact that the system breaks the rebel ( “Rebel Rebel” ). In the final of the record, a solemn ode to the older brother ( “Big Brother” ), developing into a terrible mechanistic march of physical cultures “Chant of the Ever Circletal Family” , which is an audio refresis of the Orwell two -minute of hatred .

David Bowie - "Big Brother" (Live 1976)

David Bowie will return to the favorite theme of the nature of power and glory and on the next album “Young Americans” , in which he fulfilled his childhood dream to become an American, trying on the Chicago look (the very “Gouster” ) and the Philadelphia sound. In the ecstatic ballad “Somebody Up the Likes Me”, the older brother is before humanity in the image of an attractive politician “looking like you and me”, “hugging children and whole women”. The singer again sends a warning that a new Joseph Stalin or Adolf Hitler could hide behind a shining face from the television, and they were not slow to appear - just the time when the songs were recorded, Idi Amin and in Cambodia went to the bloody kingdom.

David Bowie - "Somebody Up there Likes Me"

On the album “Station To Station” , inspired by cocaine, occultism and music by Kraftwerk , David Bowie himself turned into a seductive superman named a thin white duke. Despite all the grotesqueness, the next image of the Hameleon artist was perceived as a threat to society. This was helped by the scandalous statements of the singer that Hitler was the first rock star, and fascism will soon return to Britain. The accusations of the propaganda of Nazism and Racism were rained down by David Bowie. Subsequently, the master of metamorphosis explained that the thin white duke was a caricature of the Fuhrer, which he wanted to ridicule dangerous ideas and symbols that remains attractive to many.

David Bowie - “Station To Station” & “SuffraGette City” (rehearsal in Vancouver, 1976)

It is funny that the latest historical research testifies: David Bowie Charg coincided with a historical prototype even in the most implausible details-just like a thin white duke, Adolf Hitler was an unhealthy ego manica, who was divorced from reality and imagined the lord of the world of living and spirits . It is much less funny that the warnings given by the musician-visitor 40 years ago are still topical. One of the current US presidential candidates looks like an aged and flashed thin white duke who smartly earns a rating, juggling with nationalist ideas and skillfully using TV magic in the magnetization of his charisma. And besides, he entertains his voter, performing the very songs of David Bowie - and this is no longer suitable:

Station To Station performed by a group at the RNC House Band.