as much as i love the work of david bowie i have to be honest, i was totally out of the loop with the whole glass spider era, and since the man has returned to the human race, this is still the one album i have yet to pick up on cd.
so it was with some trepidation that i dropped this epic set of one full length dvd and 2 cds into their respective machines.
and you know, its pretty bad.
no wonder the press slated this stuff.
the stage set is ludicrous, even taking into account the cocaine excess of the 80s, made to look like the band/performers (more about them later!) are playing amongst the neon lit legs of a giant spider, down from which david is lowered in a chair talking some cobblers into a phone as the show starts, all of which is preceded by an awful screaming guitar solo by a man dressed up in mad max styled cyberpunk leather, while he battles with outcries of ‘shutup’ from a unseen bowie. not exactly a start to get the blood pumped is it.
ok, now i realise bowie always had a theatrical streak, but the costumes and role playing are frankly awful, and the incessant interplay throughout the show is just annoying and detracts from the actual music, and the set piece where a supposed thrilled crowd member is brought up on stage to sing with the loving alien, is plainly tacky, and rapidly descends into an embarrassing farce.
so let’s avoid all that and check out the music, shall we ?
nah. that’s pretty rough as well.
too many nasty hair rock guitar solos from pete frampton, who carries none of the style and individual quality that this mans golden catalogue demands, and the plastic 80s funk reworkings are often too painful to endure. in fact, the guitar solos are so painful, you wonder if they have been set up as some kind of twisted revenge for the old shool days when legend has it pete frampton walloped david bowie, thus giving him the dual eye colour thing.
having said all that, i totally recommend this fascinating historical audio-visual document to anyone who thinks the 80s was all quality electro-pop and such like, as the current media whitewash seems to be implying, because to be honest, a lot of the decade involved this type of over the top, badly produced entertainment rubbish, and good riddance i say.
still, i’m very glad that this has been made available (in a limited edition form), as this proves that since the rejuvenation of the mans talent via the much maligned, but needed, tin machine, and then via his post hours .. records, he has definitely wiped the slate clean of this visual and aural hiccup, and so in that respect, this set is essential viewing/listening.
more detail : here