Ah, the ‘80’s, when tapered parachute pants, shoulder pads and wacky frizzed hairdos were celebrated as chic. The favored music was disposable pop to the extreme, exchanging disco for new wave while expanding on coked-out, amped-up power drum beats buffered by extended Van Halen-like guitar solos and catchy vocal hooks. David Bowie embraced this garish aesthetic and dabbled in its production value, yet somehow made lasting tunes and interesting music videos to go along with them. You’ll find on this release some of the most commercially viable hits of Bowie’s career, including, “Modern Love,” “China Girl” and “Let’s Dance” all coming from ‘83’s Let’s Dance album, also notable for the stellar guitar work supplied by the Lone Star State bluesman, Stevie Ray Vaughan. Bowie snobs often site this album as mere pandering to mass a market dance audience, but Let’s Dance was directly responsible for vaulting the cultish rock ‘n’ roll innovator to undisputed international superstardom. And what the hell is wrong with that?
Of course, it would have been irresponsible to not also include Bowie’s smash single collaboration with Queen, “Under Pressure,” which is given great visual treatment by filmmaker David Mallet on the supplemental DVD, showcasing his footage reversal techniques and striking assemblage of scenes ranging from exploding rockets and buildings, Great Depression soup lines, and urban commuters to street riots, early Hollywood horror flicks and a touching montage of black and white movie couples kissing. The entire DVD chronicles Bowie’s directorial music video work with Mallet and a host of others, including the Japanese cartoonist Jimmy T. Murakami on “When the Wind Blows.” Elements of Bowie’s staged musical theatrics found an obvious outlet in the burgeoning world of 80’s music videos. His harlequin getup in the “Ashes to Ashes” (great song and album) video is as creepy as it is effective, no doubt paying homage to the laughing/crying clown of Ruggero Leoncavallo’s opera, “Pagliacci.” Even if some of the late 80’s musical examples like “Time Will Crawl,” “Absolute Beginner,” or the forgettable “Underground” don’t really satisfy, it’s still cool to see Bowie wandering dark alleys in a Sam Spade outfit or cruising through a convenience store on roller skates (really).
There’s enough great material here, including a weird take on Bertolt Brecht’s “Alabama Song,” made rock famous by the Doors, (further covered by both Bette Midler and Marilyn Manson, respectively), to excuse some of the mishaps or less striking diversions into What the fuck is this? filler that will probably not be reissued in complete album form anytime soon. With this in mind, if you’re a true fan, you’ve got to accept the bad with the good and commend Bowie for his unrivaled ability to adapt to ever-evolving musical tastes, production techniques, marketing tools, and all the rest that comes with ultimate career sustainability. Put on your red shoes and dance the blues or sing “Blue Jean” dressed like a genie; hangout with Freddy Mercury or just strap on a cod piece to play the role of the “Goblin-King Jareth” in a puppet movie. Fun times, those ‘80’s.
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