David Bowie - all the young dudes will always be trying to catch up

David Bowie - Superstar 07-01-16

Ever since I was 9, and the cocky red haired dude with a blue guitar sang about Starman on TOTP, David Bowie has been there in my consciousness. He embodied all that was new, cool, clever and different. Even after Let's Dance and his straight, money making years that followed the incredible 70s, a decade of untold creativity, he was still top of the pile. The number 1 dude. Mott the Hoople got lucky the day David gave them the song. As did so many
thers who benefited from his generosity of intellect. Iggy Pop, Lou Reed & Lulu, Reeves Gabriel, Earl Slick, Carlos Alomar and Brian Eno, Queen, Luther Vandross, Rick Wakeman, Tony Visconti. Do you see ? It's always the collaborator who benefits from working with Bowie, in reputation and financially.

No-one got more from David than Iggy. He was the washed up singer everybody in the music business avoided when David visited New York and found him in a mess. There was so much more to David Bowie than everyone else. A genius isn't just ahead of the rest, he creates what they've never even thought of. Other people's opinions are of no interest, the genius knows what he likes and what he values. Like Lou Reed, Bowie saw past the the drug habit to the talent that just needed help to be unleashed. Raw Power was the first output of the collaboration. But who could have ever predicted a record as innovative as The Idiot was in Iggy, as well as the amazing energy of Lust for Life, released on RCA - David's record label - just a few years after a sojourn in Berlin together. Watching them being interviewed on American TV by some middle aged ladies is a great joy, as is Iggy's performance of Funtime and Sister Midnight, with David on keyboards, backing vocals and a caring eye on the singer.

Another great joy to be found on YouTube is the Young Americans performance with Luther Vandross leading the super hard working backing singers. The second song performed is called Footstomping, which metamorphises into Fame by the time the LP is released, Bowie having spent a recording session with John Lennon. What a bizarre volte face this soul album seemed when released, following those three rock LPs that established him as a star; Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and Diamond Dogs. Us teenage boys hated it ! But now its my favourite LP. Same goes with Low and Heroes, those super masterpieces that were so far ahead of their time, most of us were just confused by them. Now the side 2s are my favourite ambient albums ever !

He gave us so much, the top 100 books list he did was fabulously eclectic, intellectual, arty and confusing. Like him, so far ahead us followers take years to catch up! Thank you David - from all Iggy, Lou and Eno fans .

Top Ten Bowie tracks
Golden years
Fascination,
Lady Grinning Soul / Aladdin Sane
Subterraneans
Warsawa
Ashes to Ashes
John I'm Only Dancing
Be My Wife
Changes
Queen Bitch

The Revenant - put your house on it winning Oscars

The Oscars 2016 - nothing can get close to The Revenant

They will need a supermarket trolley to cart them off to the afterparty

The Revenant is bound to sweep up awards at this year's Oscar ceremony. I really cannot see anyone beating Leo DiCaprio for best actor or director Alejandro Inarritu - already a Hollywood golden boy with Birdman, Biutiful, Babel and Amoros Perros in his cv. This movie grips you by the throat from minute 1 and rarely lets the pressure off the choke hold of tension and fear created by a brutal, merciless Native Indian attack on the white men gathering animal skins for profit in the wonderful, developing opening scene. The viewer's heart rate may be driven to critical levels when our hero makes the (near) fatal error of getting between a grizzly bear and its cub. This scene is a wonder of modern film making and new technology. The enormous grizzly has Leo in its claws and teeth and treats him like a rag doll. When the huge head investigates the tiny human's face you cannot believe this is not a real interaction and anything - probably gory - may happen next.

The suffering just goes from bad to dire in the new Frontier for the mainman,Hugh Glass played by DiCaprio. He even gets a hole in his throat which he self-cauterizes by lighting gun powder and burning straw directly onto it. The agonies go on and on. Needless to say the Native Americans (Red Indians in the old days) are merciless scalpers of most white men, although the French seem to have a better dialogue - go figure. Innaritu excels with his epic shots of snow capped mountains, icy rivers, rapids and waterfalls, and the wildlife as I have mentioned is superb. With a fabulously nasty performance by Tom Hardy as best support - bet on it - and Domhall Gleeson also excelling as the honourable soldier in charge of the American forces, Will Poulter also does good work in adverse conditions, The Revenant should be seen at the best screen you can find it at. The top 3 Oscars are odds on already won, best female it will not win; there are not many women in this one.