"David Bowie: VH1 Storytellers" Out CD & DVD - A Classic Lives!
Bowie follows up this elegant performance of "Life On Mars?" by taking a stab at Barbra Streisand. Just another reason why this man is a legend.
Loyal subjects of The Thin White Duke have something to celebrate in the long-awaited CD/DVD release of David Bowie's 1999 appearance on VH1 Storytellers. Fans wondering what's next for Bowie will be pleased with the aptly titled DVD, David Bowie: VH1 Storytellers, getting released tomorrow!
The CD/DVD combo features 8 audio performances mixed with storytelling, and the same 8 performances in video form plus four more bonus video performances. The brief stories married to the tracks include wry tales of Bowie's darkest days including everything from the first time he met Marc Bolan to a reveal of who annoyed Bowie so greatly he got drunk and shaved his eyebrows off.
Bowie's rousing performance of "China Girl."
None of the tracks will disappoint, and quite a few of them are strong. "Life On Mars" (that's right kids, it was a song before it was a canceled ABC TV series) is particularly nice; an elegant and simple rendering that manages to deliver on the same epic level as the original track.
On Storytellers Bowie describes "Can't Help Thinking About Me," the first song he wrote and recorded as a solo artist, as "a beautiful piece of solipsism;" not untrue but we prefer to say it was rousing and fun. "Drive-In Saturday" gains a fun jangly sound that wouldn't be out of place on a David Lynch soundtrack, and his delivery of "Word On A Wing" is simply gorgeous, but then it is one of Bowie's most passionate and beautiful works.
David Bowie: VH1 Storytellers is out tomorrow, July 14th, on Virgin Records. Hey, isn't that Bastille Day? Then perhaps the album should've included "All The Madmen..." ("Zane zane zane, ouvre le chien...")
--Marc Leonard
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