My Amazon Reviews: David Bowie "Low"

When Bowie Met Brian in Berlin
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Executing a course change that was extreme even by David Bowie's madcap standards, the first of his trio of albums with Brian Eno turned Bowie into a cold man-machine working against often dissonant electronics and half the time without even singing a note. "Low" gave Bowie the space to swing as hard towards an avant-garde as he could, with Eno more than happy to pave the way.

Bowie, when he does sing, operates more as a song-speaker than his traditional rich singing. Only "Low's" single, "Sound and Vision," has the shimmer of music that matches the voice, other times, like "Warszawa," he's just chanting. (Is it any wonder Phillip Glass based a whole album around "Low" and this song in particular?) Even "Sound and Vision" tests the limits of Bowie's audiences, the jangle of the guitar hook goes on for about 90 seconds before Bowie chimes in.

"Low" is definitely a collaboration and, of the 'Berlin' period of albums with Eno, the one that weighs heaviest towards Eno's solo album soundscapes. The second half of the CD is mainly that sort of sculpting, until the very end when Bowie coos for Shirley briefly on "Subterraneans." It's a chilly underground Bowie was searching for, and although "Low" doesn't hit the heights the following "Heroes" did (and that album is an unabashed classic), it still has the ability to evoke a deep resonance among those divided on how Eno and Bowie propelled each other towards a creative apex.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Various Artists "I'll Scratch Yours - A Tribute to Peter Gabriel"

Mutual Scratching Society
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Although it took him three years to pull it together, Peter Gabriel at last put his "Scratch My Back - And I'll Scratch Yours" out as a whole piece. Initially designed to be a collaborative project, Gabriel gets 10 of his "Scratch My Back" artists to add their voices to a select Gabriel song, with varying results. (You may also quibble about Bryan Eno subbing for David Bowie, but it does up the collabs; the missing links are Neil Young and Radiohead.) If you don't already have "Scratch My Back," I highly recommend getting the limited edition two CD issue.

One of the things that held my rating back of the initial album was that Gabriel had set all his choices to orchestral arrangements (he did the same to himslef on "New Blood"), which kept the album's pace to a crawl. Fortunately for "I'll Scratch Yours," the collaborators had no such imposition. It varies the album considerably and offers a few surprises. For starters is the realization that anything Randy Newman touches sounds like Randy Newman, from the dry wit of the vocals to the piano playing, and he turns "Big Time" from the ironically pop MTV hit into the biting commentary that the lyrics had posited all along.

My other favorite here is Lou Reed turning "Solisbury Hill" from Gabriel's gathering of courage in a pastoral setting into a dingy echo laden guitar look into the mean streets of New York City (and may be one of Reed's last recordings). The criminally underrated Elbow take one of my all-time favorite Gabriel songs, "Mercy Street," and do an uncanny sound-alike version. Stephin Merrit (Magnetic Fields) stamps the paranoia out from underneath "Not One Of Us" and makes it sound like a bubbly synth-pop record from the 80's. And finally, Paul Simon turns "Biko," a song I thought I was tired of, into an acoustic folk anthem.

Those are the hits. There are a couple of misses; Brian Eno doesn't do anything to make "Mother Of Violence" interesting. Bon Iver tries as hard as he can to sound interesting, but remains a bore to listen to. David Byrne uses his falsetto on "I Don't Remember" to make you remember what nails on chalkboard sounds like. But that's only three real duds. The remainder of the songs, from the likes of Feist, Arcade Fire and Regina Spektor at least show that Gabriel hasn't lost his taste for new artists and that his songwriting transcends formats. Taken together, "Scratch My Back and I'll Scratch Yours" is a good pair of bookends and a fine tribute to Gabriel's multi-decade career.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Coldplay "Mylo Xyloto"

The fire from my belly and the beat from my heart
4 Out Of 5 Stars.

If you thought "Viva La Vida" was Coldplay's big U2 move, wait till you hear "Mylo Xyloto." "I turn the music up, I got my records on/From underneath the rubble, sing a rebel song" moans Chris Martin in that awesome purely English voice of his. Brian Eno is on board to add even more cinematic flair, like instrumental brides between and before songs. Then, when you're listening to the guitar building up from below the bubbling base in "Charlie Brown," it's impossible not to be reminded of "Joshua Tree" moments.

However, this is Coldplay. Ambitions aside, Chris Martin still writes hooks and melodies better than most pop-rockers these days and as grand as he tries to be, songs like "Hurts Like Heaven" or "Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall" will lodge into your ear canals like wax. With Rhianna adding a sweetly seductive goodbye in the breakup song, "Princess of China," and you even get Coldplay swinging towards the RnB fences. Let's not forget the uplifting but sad single, "Paradise," maybe the best song here. Pop cascades flow from these guys to the point that they make it sound almost too easy.

Which may be why they have the Enoxifications (as they list them) of cinematic bridges and artiness. The electronic "A Hopeful Transmission" is the best of the three instrumentals here, and it calls Radiohead to mind before lunging into "Don't Let It Break Your Heart." Which is yet another anthem to lift you, and why Coldplay may try as hard as they want to prove their critics wrong and the haters will still deride them. Chris Martin seems to actually like writing big, melodic rock songs that give reinforcement to their listeners' lives without dramatic (and critical rave baiting) angstiness. That's why "Mylo Xyloto" is ultimately enjoyable and holds up as a real good album.