Bowie Project #1: David Bowie

April is over, and I have spent it with Bowie’s first album, David Bowie (1967).

According to many sources, this is the album that Bowie would rather forget. It was omitted from modern reissues, and was both a commercial and critical flop on release. It’s fairly common knowledge, I think, that Bowie was channelling British crooner and actor Anthony Newley on this album, and that the singing voice Bowie used was pretty artificial.

In truth, this voice is the one I always used to use when impersonating Bowie in the past, the result often drifting inexorably into Bruce Forsyth. He particularly emphasises his trademark zed sounds in many of the tracks (such as Zell Me a Coat). It is odd, but it’s fun and I like it a lot.

As for the experiment of only having one album to listen to, it wasn’t easy. I sometimes found myself longing for something different but, apart from the odd furtive lapse into another artist, I did stay true. It also meant I got to know the tracks intimately.

Here are some of my thoughts, along with the songs themselves.

Uncle Arthur

This first track, along with much of the album, is a very English tale of a peculiar character. Uncle Arthur is a small-minded man who can’t escape his mother’s apron strings, despite the attempts of his girlfriend (“Zally”).

The song sets the musical standards of the album, featuring little or no electric instruments, instead relying on folky sounding wind instruments (an oboe?), hand claps and acoustic guitar.

I had heard this before quite a few times, so I knew what to expect. It’s a bit of twee fun.

Sell Me A Coat

Reminiscent of the Mamas and the Papas, this is a piece of flowery melancholy. As it is less comical than the rest of the album, it seems to be an attempt at serious pop. It has some Beatle-esque strings (this album was released on the same day as Sergeant Pepper) and isn’t half bad, I reckon. I found it to be a bit of an ear-worm for a lot of this month.

Rubber Band

More little-England weirdness with lots of brass (including tuba and trumpet). Features our first bit of Bowie acting, as he interjects with spoken lines (“I ‘ope you break your baton!”), and a strange end. Odd.

Love You Till Tuesday

This was already one of my favourites. A proper pop song about a chap who appears to be a stalker. The feel is similar to the later Laughing Gnome single. A slightly reworked version was also released as a single, and Bowie performed it on the BBC’s Top Gear show in December 1967. I know, I was gobsmacked too, until I realised that this is not the TV show about car-loving arseholes, but a BBC radio series about pop music.

Even more baffling is the German version which switches to English in the second verse, before returning to German for the finale. Mind-blowing.

There Is A Happy Land

Another solemn song. Is it about children playing out? Summer holidays? Who knows? I like all the bits where he describes what the kids are doing: “Charlie Brown has half a crown, he wants to buy a kite”, though his tone of voice did stray towards Jimmy Savile at times. Then there’s the odd scatting part in the fade.

We Are Hungry Men

Nope. Don’t like this. It sounds like a terrible musical being performed at the student union bar by a bunch of pretentious media studies students. It features a clunky message about global overpopulation and the restrictions on personal freedoms that would, it suggests, inevitably follow. But it’s delivered in such a heavy-handed way, it’s embarrassing.

I can sympathise. I was responsible for some pretty awful things like this when I was a student. But that doesn’t make it any easier to hear coming from one of your heroes.

Little Bombardier

This is more like it! Another sad story about a man who doesn’t have a lot of friends, but finally manages to form a bond with some children, until he is warned off by the police who suspect him of paedophilia. What a cheery topic! More tuba, more Newley. Keep it up!

Come And Buy My Toys

A faintly sinister slice of old England. Millers, marketplaces, threshing corn, sugar mice. This one creeps out my kids. I think it makes them think of the child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Delicious, really.

Join The Gang

A not very complimentary study of the sorts of people (presumably) that Bowie observed when he would make his trips from the suburbs of London into the night spots of the capital. Various vacuous personalities are described, and the whole culture is made to feel father pointless. The critique eventually descends into just fart noises.

She’s Got Medals

A fine stomping track, about a girl with uncertain gender identity who pretends to be a man in order to join the army. This was stuck in my head for days so it’s a winner as far as I’m concerned.

Please Mr Gravedigger

We’re in the strange bit of the album now (if that’s possible, given what has gone before). A cockney bloke watches a gravedigger, forgives him for pocketing the valuables of the people he buries, confesses child murder and promises to kill the gravedigger to keep him quiet. I love the sound effects and the silly acting.

Conclusion

A great album, really. I have had a blast singing along and joining in with the silly voices. My poor family. Having said that, I am very much looking forward to getting the brand new album (well, new to me anyway). It’s like getting a Christmas present in the middle of Spring. Let’s see what the next album is…

Space Oddity! Well, at least I know one track already.

See you in a month.