Bowie as a cover artist?

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Superb songwriter and performer he may be, Bowie has always struck me as being more than averagely crappy at choosing and performing other people's material. The worst song on an album is often enough the cover version: It Ain't Easy on Ziggy, Let's Spend The Night Together on Aladdin Sane, Across The Universe on Young Americans. My Death and Amsterdam are good, but they're really Bowie pretending he's Scott Walker doing Brel. Pinups is easily his worst 70s album. And then there's his version of God Only Knows.

Wild Is The Wind is the exception that proves the rule.

― Susan (Susan), Monday, 4 August 2003 14:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Supposedly, he's covering Jonathan Richman's "Pablo Picasso" on the next record.......which is incongruous as fuck.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 August 2003 14:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I beg to differ, Susan -- "Kingdom Come," for a start. And I do love that version of "Cactus" that he ended up doing.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 4 August 2003 14:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Don't forget "Dancing in the Street"

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 4 August 2003 14:09 (twenty-two years ago)

But Bowie's version of White Light, White Heat was pretty damn fine and Pinups did turn me on to the Pretty Things and Syd's Pink Floyd. And I loved Sorrow too.

― Jeff K (jeff k), Monday, 4 August 2003 14:11 (twenty-two years ago)

He did China Girl better than Iggy. Ducks!

― Jeff K (jeff k), Monday, 4 August 2003 14:13 (twenty-two years ago)

"Kingdom Come" and "Cactus" are OK, nothing more, nothing less, and far from being the best things on the respective albums. He rarely seems to add anything to the originals, which is really the only reason to do covers. You listen to Pinups and think: are any of these better or significantly different from the originals?

― Susan (Susan), Monday, 4 August 2003 14:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, but people can listen to covers for different reasons. I agree that complete reinvention is often the best but that doesn't take away from more straightforward takes, and often all it takes is a really good voice.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 4 August 2003 14:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I wasn't implying anything on Pin-ups was better than the original versions but it made me go and find out more about groups like the Easybeats, Pretty Things and early Kinks and Who which was Bowie's intentions.

― Jeff K (jeff k), Monday, 4 August 2003 14:21 (twenty-two years ago)

And there's also the cover of "Cactus" -- which is genius if only for the changing of "P-I-X-I-E-S" to "D-A-V-I-D"...

― person#0 (person#0), Monday, 4 August 2003 14:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Oops, didn't notice Susan's reply: change mine to read, "further to the cover". Will be more observant in the future.

― person#0 (person#0), Monday, 4 August 2003 14:25 (twenty-two years ago)

In fact, I appear to have been reading an entirely different thread where no one mentioned Cactus. It seems the heat and the end of the working day are taking their toll. My apologies go to Ned also.

― person#0 (person#0), Monday, 4 August 2003 14:26 (twenty-two years ago)

"I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday" to thredd!

Otherwise, yeah, he's been pretty rum at times. I can't even bear to mention "D****** I* T** S*****"...oh, I just did. God it makes my skin crawl.

I'm still waiting for him to do "The Drowners" so he can segue it into "Starman" and have done with it.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Monday, 4 August 2003 14:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Shit, I mean "Metal Mickey" of course. Bloody hot weather, melting my head.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Monday, 4 August 2003 14:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Good to know I'm not the only one...

― person#0 (person#0), Monday, 4 August 2003 14:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorrow, Alabama Song, Wild Is The Wind... there have been a few good ones. And yes, an awful lot of mediocre ones. It's strange that he's felt compelled to do so many - I think it's because he himself is the ultimate fan. Those Velvet Underground covers - they're not too bad but then again his voice is all wrong for them - I think he was simply motivated by liking VU. But it's true that almost nothing would be lost if he'd never covered a song. Unlike his hero Scott Walker, whose post-Walker Bros career was basically saved by his Brel interpretations.

― H., Monday, 4 August 2003 14:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Again, the Doors got in there first with a "rock" stab at Alabama Song, I don't find Bowie's radically different to theirs, only a little more histrionic.

One thing I've never heard is an EP (I think) he did of Brecht songs in the early eighties. Has anyone heard this?

― Susan (Susan), Monday, 4 August 2003 14:57 (twenty-two years ago)

**Unlike his hero Scott Walker, whose post-Walker Bros career was basically saved by his Brel interpretations**

That might be overstating the case... his own songs on his first solo outing are easily as good as any of the Brel covers: Montague Terrace, Always Coming Back To You, Such A Small Love - they have stood the test of time.

― Susan (Susan), Monday, 4 August 2003 15:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Night Flights from Black Tie/White Noise is also a cover, and odd as it may seem this one is one of my all time faves of his.

Criminal World is very good too, much better than Metro's original.

― Tijn, Monday, 4 August 2003 16:35 (twenty-two years ago)

"Fill Your Heart" from Hunky is nice, and the little changes that he makes to it are major improvements over the original.

― dlp9001, Monday, 4 August 2003 17:21 (twenty-two years ago)

dlp9001 beat me to my sentiment by two minutes!

― Paul Eater (eater), Monday, 4 August 2003 17:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I agree with Susan,Scott Walker's songwriting is superior to Jacques Brel IMO

― Paul R (paul R), Monday, 4 August 2003 17:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, I have the Brecht Baal EP, it's good for that sort of thing.

I agree that his covers have been of varying quality, but must put my support solidly behind Pin-Ups. The band rocks wildly, the song selection is fantastic, and Bowie shrieks, screams and over-sings like a madman.

― Sean (Sean), Monday, 4 August 2003 18:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't explain
this one plugged straight into my spinal cord when I first heard it (I didn't know the original and after hearing it, I found it couldn't stand in the shadow of Bowie's version). That sax sounds so great.

― willem (willem), Monday, 4 August 2003 19:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorrow, Sorrow, Sorrow!!! And Criminal World, absolutely. Let's Spend is pretty great by way of divinely bad/silly. (The "woo" after he's gotten his or whatever is priceless.)

I'm not sure if China Girl counts--one of many essentially coauthored Bowie/Pop pieces that Dave ends up doing his own version of--but I think the Iggy version is superior. A deeper shade of blue ...

Does Peter and the Wolf count? His narration is the best!

― brian nemtusak (sanlazaro), Monday, 4 August 2003 20:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Sean's right, Pinups is absolutely fantastic! It features his best singing ever, I think. Yeah, I know, I know, the crooning is incredible on "Wild is the Wind", but it seems like he lost that queeny glam shriek after Pinups, I really miss that. I really miss the Anthony Newleyisms, too.

I pretty much agree with Susan about the individual songs on the albums, though. Except "Fill Your Heart". I used to hate "Let's Spend the Night Together" but now I think it's really cute. And that version of "Knock on Wood" on David Live is the best thing on the album.

― Arthur (Arthur), Tuesday, 5 August 2003 02:31 (twenty-two years ago)

His 'Knock On Wood' was pretty good......

Love 'Pin-Ups' in general.

― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 00:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I think without fail his cover songs are always the worst on his albums. (with the only exception of any of the Scott Walker covers: "Nite Flights," "Amsterdam,")

I think his covers are more used as a tribute to artists he likes.

― A Nairn (moretap), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 04:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Let's Spend the Night Together is a lot colder than the Stones version, a lot more artificial. This is a good thing.

― James Ball (James Ball), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 12:13 (twenty-two years ago)

"Sorrow" is probably one of the best things he's ever done. Pin-Ups may not be his best album of the seventies, but I would have to argue it is one of his most enjoyable. I'd have to agree with Arthur that it has some of his best singing.

― Larcole (Nicole), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 12:23 (twenty-two years ago)

It Ain't Easy on Ziggy

wha? this is a cover version? Duuuude.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 13:11 (twenty-two years ago)

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