Brilliant
Bowie - Melody Maker October 20 1973
By M.W
DAVID BOWIE: "PIN UPS"
(RCA). It's one of those ripe coincidences that within a few weeks of each
other both David Bowie and Bryan Ferry, arch arbiters of current British
fashion, should put out albums composed wholly of nostalgic tributes to
previously fashionable eras in music - Ferry's essentially American and
orientated to the singer-songwriter tradition of the early Sixties, Bowie's
concentrated entirely on the years of mod British pop from '64 to around
'67.
....There's the
parallels end, because whereas Ferry set about it with his tongue stuck
firmly out and wound up looking exposed. Bowie keeps his well and truly
lodged in his cheek and scores points for wit and style.
....Possibly because
that period of the early Who, the Mersay's and the Pretty Things seems not
so long distant, it takes a certain amount of daring to revive the kind
of music that went with Lambrettas, Parkas, Carnaby Street and pill-poping.
Bowie returns to the age innocence and comes up with a pastiche that's as
funny as it's marvelously insightful. If Ferry tended to be po-faced, Bowie
moves towards irreverence, balancing on an acute knife-edge his enormous
relish for the songs per se and his desire to re-invent them. This album,
in fact, is a natural for him because it affords him the chance of his favorite
pastime: role-playing. His approach is to impersonate, and he's masterful,
not so much in his absolute fidelity to the originals as in his grasp of
phrasing, nuance and style. This is at its most overt in his treatment of
the famous Syd Barret opus "See Emily Play," where he employs
deliberately screwy use of electronics in a fond pisstake of the Pink Floyd;
and on part of the vocal he has a gruff, Cockney chorus, reminiscent of
"The Bewaly Brothers," but this time conjuring up the picture
of singing pugs down at the Thomas a' Beckett gym. I had to bust out laughing
at that. His ear is as sharp as his memory, and his taste is impeccable
on both counts. He judges exactly that rough, punk sneer of Phil May's on
the Pretties' "Rosalyn" and "Don't Bring Me Down" -
as good as any of the Stones early cuts - and he's best of all on the Who
("I Can't Explain" and "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere"),
where he very subtly slows down his voice in a great approximation of Daltry
("Anyway" has an even finer absurdist quality in Ansley Dunbar's
attempt to parody Moon's breaks). Then again, there's all the fun of Mick
Ronson trying to ape Jeff Beck on "Shapes Of Things," which I
suspect he urged Bowie to include. The laughter is that of recognition at
the accuracy of it all, and the humor is gentle. Though his production has
used every advantage he can think of, he's still got such an affection for
the songs that, with the possible exception of the Floyd number, they remain
virgo intacta in spirit. There's not one version that usurps the original
- maybe "Sorrow," the single - but interpretation is valid. I
suppose "Pin Ups," in the context of his other work, will be seen
as a triffle. I think it clearly emphasizes his brilliance as a stylist
and innovator of modes, which is where his true originality lies. Oh, and
it was a nice stroke to get Twiggy on the cover. |