Black Tie White Noise

I have issues with some of the reviews for this album, as I find them unqualified and misleading in reference to the work of David Bowie, when they criticize. I particularly wonder at the fans who didn't understand the DVD edits. Yea! Sound+Vision.First, I am a fan since Hunky Dory (1971 when I was 17 years old). And still, Hunky Dory is my favorite Bowie Album, because no matter what shape he assumes, this Bowie is always there in vocal styling and spirit. Other manifestations of the chameleon seem fragmentary by comparison. The simple melodies and strong lyrics (with the soul of an English bard) summarize all that I feel is best about Bowie. Hunky Dory may be considered primitive to some, but it is simply masterful to me.Now about soul: Is this a color? or heart? or feeling? This man's soul is as real as Eminem's, Kenneth Edmund's, Sinatra's, Puccini's, or Mary J. Blige's, etc., etc. None of these artistes are fakes, manufactured by a studio or management team.However, I believe David feels Black Tie/White Noise is his best work. He says it was inspired by the 90s L.A. riots. And that Caucasians deal with "people of color" by expecting them to "become" more white, or just completely ignoring them. I live in L.A., and I agree with this assessment. This city is very insular. In contrast, Tampa, Florida (my hometown) is predominately Republican, but has stronger, truer racial integration. Go figure. David is trying to give back to black music, which he credits as his greatest inspiration. Some "fans" who don't know that David's soul is not plastic but, rather, flesh and blood, probably have never accepted and can never accept his wife Iman, or their marriage. She is definitely his black tie and proof of his soul. He was wed to Angela for 12 or so months. Wed to Iman "forever."The DVD is edited in a way meant to seduce the viewer into the action, by means of rhythm, color, graceful elegance, and camera technique-----Performance Art. It may seem like a maelstrom, but give it time, and you'll go with the flow, and like it, or end with a migraine. This is considered the MTV style of video editing, (meant to emulate/stimulate the minds of precocious 13 year olds), and it works for me. Do you remember when you were thirteen (barring oppressed households). How the world seemed like your oyster? And you had imagination? Black Tie/White Noise videos have this quality. He is as good as or even better than Mick Jagger in being forever young. Watching this DVD makes me feel extraordinarily young.I find the package to be a work of art itself. It is a paper box that folds out and houses 2 jewel boxes. If you keep all your CDs in precisely measured slots, this box set will not fit. It is the same height and length of a regular jewel box, but the depth is about 2.5 times larger. Height, length, and width as follows: (126 mm x 143 mm x 25 mm) or (5" x 5.625" x 1"). I have a CD tower whose slots each house 13 standard jewel boxes standing upright, as if on a bookshelf. With this on the shelf, only 12 disks will fit in a slot. This set is roughly the size of 2.5 boxes combined, not a big deal. The set folds out in the center like a book, into 2-panels, with the original CD and liner notes (printed info on package) on the left, and the Bonus CD/DVD and liner notes on the right. Then, it opens yet again on both sides to reveal a 4-panel spread that looks like a banner advertisement of the words "David Bowie: Black Tie White Noise," in white/orange/black coloring. While closed and held right-side up, both disks can be slid out the right side of the package, as if it were a regular sleeve housing a standard jewel box. Hey, you can always just take the 2 regular-sized jewel boxes out of the paper box. In my opinion, the total package is as idiosyncratic as the action in the DVD, and both are well designed. Truly, a collector's item.To fans, Bowie is known equally a visual artist as a musician. I was almost expecting not to like this DVD/album set based on some fan's reviews. He is an artiste no matter what. Moreover, the DVD interviews cut from one to another rapidly so as to convey the mood of the album or the man himself, in a minimum of words. Did you ever think that maybe this is how he lives? Jet set, creative, international traveler; he is all this. His and Mick Jagger's lives have the vitality of teenaged boys.It's like Beyonce asking in "Lose My Breath" from Destiny Fulfilled, "Can you keep up?"I'm so sure this man is extraordinary, and no regular guy is ever going to figure him out. Maybe, we can study him, if our pride does not prevent this. I did not need for him to explain every detail to me. Thus, the style of taking sentences from several different topics and splicing them together as a whole, will force you into using all your senses to understand. Many will feel that he never quite "tells his story completely or clearly," and they never fully come to understand the man, his repertory, or what he is trying to say/show.I say this, then, just look, listen, and look again, if need be. Let your feelings do the explaining. And if you still need for Bowie to tell you what he had for breakfast on March 3, 1999 (an arbitrary date), then the chameleon successfully escaped you, according to plan. The nature of a chameleon is to escape danger.By accepting Bowie's art (practically unconditionally) without wanting to change anything, you might become a real Bowie fan, who can rock, swing, bump, and grind right along with him and never miss a beat.Fan, I say. Not patron. I'm forever a Bowie FAN-AT-IC. This Limited Edition album is like a "rush of blood" to my head, and it renews my spirit for avant-garde music.

David Bowie's unique brand of music is his gift to the Universe. He recorded many albums in his long career, albums which spanned a wide spectrum of genres. Every now and then I come across one that I have never heard, never even knew existed. That has always seemed like a gift to me, and now when it happens, it's like a gift from The Other Side. And what a splendid gift this 1993 album "Black Tie White Noise" is!When this album was conceived and recorded, Bowie had just emerged from his "Tin Machine" phase of loud guitar-driven rock. He had recently married supermodel Iman. Hip-hop was in full bloom. These factors shaped the contents and execution of the album, which turned out to be a collection of sophisticated dance-rock tracks, loaded with ear candy elements galore. Bowie's collaborator was Nile Rogers, who had produced "Let's Dance". "The Wedding", an instrumental track, opens the show with urban hip-hop clearly evident in the bass line and the beat. The last of the original tracks is "The Wedding Song", basically the same musical arrangement but including Bowie's smooth romantic vocal. There are 2 relatively slower R&B love songs, "Don't Bring Me Down & Down" and "I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday", and the latter features a strong bluesy guitar solo by Canadian guitarist Wild T. Springer. "Pallas Athena" is technically an instrumental, but spoken, chanted and/or whispered phrases can be heard. And yet another instrumental, "Looking For Lester", features prominent trumpet by jazz musician Lester Bowie (no relation), and Mike Garson's scintillating piano near the end. "Miracle Goodnight" is a bit brighter in mood than the other tracks, and it contains 2 spoken sections and an unusual guitar solo, difficult to describe. Bowie himself plays sax on many tracks, and also on several he uses the very low-pitched, sinister vocal similar to the one on "Cat People" from "Let's Dance". Several cuts feature dissonant tracked vocals or odd harmonies. "Nite Flights" has a darkly seductive and trippy arrangement. And what a total experience is the hot rockin' cover of Cream's "I Feel Free"! I mention these details of talent and diversity to make the point that this album should not be blithely dismissed as "just dance music".As always, Bowie puts himself into his music, with some significant life events to be found in these lyrics. Bowie and Iman were married in 1992, and this album was inspired by their wedding. In track #2, it is evident that he was not very happy before the marriage: "It's too many lonely nights...I can't pass you by...You've been around/But you've changed me". The instrumental "The Wedding" (track #1) opens with wedding bells chiming, and "The Wedding Song" (track #12) closes the same way. In "The Wedding Song" Bowie expresses his delight: "Heaven is smiling down, heaven's girl in a wedding gown/I'm gonna be so good, just like a good boy should...I believe in magic/Angel for life". He expounds further in track #8: "I love you in the morning sun, I love you in my dreams/I love the sound of making love, the feeling of your skin". The happy couple happened to arrive in L.A. on the day the Rodney King verdict was announced. According to Wikipedia, Bowie described this day, and the riots that followed, as "awesome and numbing...the most apocalyptic experience I've been through in my life". He addresses this issue in the title cut of the album, a duet with Al B Sure, first with horror ("I'm lookin' thru African eyes/Lit by the glare of an L.A. fire/I've got a face, not just my race/Bang bang I've got you babe"), and then with hope ("There'll be some blood no doubt about it/But we'll come thru don't doubt it...Lord just let him hear me/Let him call me brother/Let him put his arms around me"). Another lyric gem can be found in one of the 2 bonus tracks, the very manic "Lucy Can't Dance": "Did the world just explode?/Don't recognize anyone/But you've still got me under your thumb...So I'll spin while my lunatic lyric goes wrong/Guess I'll put all my eggs in a postmodern song".The album is jam-packed with goodies, too many to enumerate, or my review would be a mile long. So I'll just close with more poetry from "The Wedding Song", and you can discover the rest on your own: "These are silver wings/These are golden eyes/These are floating clouds...".

Bought this after Bowie's death - up till then I'd pretty well ignored his later work ("later" being anything after "Scary Monsters" in my mind, I didn't particularly like "Let's Dance" - and "Tonight" and "Never Let me Down" were dreadful), but after his death, I was keen to hear his voice again, and, after all he had recently been producing great stuff. I find all his later albums benefit from repeated playing and this is no exception, but it is a bit of a mixed bag, with some excellent tracks and some not so good. Produced by Nile Rogers, it has a dancier, funkier feel to it than many of his later albums, though thankfully less commercial than "Let's Dance". It also has an upbeat feel, being his "wedding" album, though it also deals with the sad issue of his brother Terry's suicide ("Jump they Say" - one of the great songs on the album) I also particularly liked "You've Been Around", a wonderful version of "Night Flights" and "Miracle Goodnight". Not so good was "Don't Let me Down and Down". Didn't particularly like his "I Feel Free" version either, though it was good to hear Mick Ronson's guitar - recorded shortly before he died. Overall a good album - and always good to hear Bowie's voice again.

When released back in 1993 this album got average reviews. It was a departure from Bowie's rock sound and sees him in quite a different, more mature mood. There's a mixture of acid jazz, soul, electronic and some rock styles on here. There are quite a few covers - I Feel Free, Nite Flights, the obscure Don't Let Me Down and Down, and I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday. Bowie puts his unique spin on them. It's worth tracking down the original version of Tahra's Don't Let Me Down and Down just to hear it.I really like this album because it's such a department from Bowie's well known style of more straight ahead rock. It does sound a little dated now, especially with the appearance of Al B. Sure! on there, but it's a great listen.

For a start I'm biased as I've loved David Bowie since my teens, more years ago than I care to remember. This album to me was never fully appreciated on its initial release, despite it hitting no. 1 in the album chart. Like all his recordings it was a progression from the last, I was always happy to follow where this amazing genius led me. For me this was an indicator of how his later material would take shape, the template that brought us to the quite staggering Blackstar. Despite some lesser views from others I find this album has a continuity and thoroughly satisfying. Highly recommended.

This is fascinating, overlooked at the time. Where were we all? Evidently David was making some of his most interesting experimental music just after his wedding. Now that he is so sadly gone we reconnect with his music in those 'unfashionable' periods when he was, we now see, making amazing music. love this album, full of surprises and delights.

Often referred to as Bowie's wedding album. A wide variety of styles which have echoes of other works in his impressive portfolio. Entertainment, no messages or masks.