I’m a huge Bowie fan, and love almost everything he does, but the track listing for Storytellers as well as the performance is less then stellar. The DVD features four additional songs that could have been included on the CD ("Survive," "I Can't Read," "Always Crashing the Same Car," and "If I'm Dreaming Life"), since it only clocks in at 44 minutes. Even with the inclusion of the extra songs, the DVD doesn't offer anything different, only the images of Neo-Bowie fans bobbing their heads. In fact it shows a Neo-Bowie, caring very little for the music that made him famous.
At one point when Bowie tells a joke about the Small Faces you think the microphones can’t pick up the laughter from the audience, but then you realize there is no laughter because those present probably don’t know who the Small Faces are.
Storytellers is a great idea on paper, but it rarely delivers up to expectations. Many of the artists tend to trivialize their earlier work as if the music that brought them recognition is now irrelevant and unimportant. Many times the songs are good but stories behind them forgettable. One of the few times Storytellers worked well was with Bruce Springsteen. His song choice was excellent and the way he shared them was as if we were all sitting around his kitchen table and he was truly moved that we were interested, much like a loving grandfather remembering his glory days.
I highly recommend that edition of Storytellers over this one unless you want to hear about Bowie meeting Marc Bolan for the first time or of him having to pee in a sink at a club early in his career. That’s about as interesting as it gets. I give this two and a half stars out of five.
Article comments
1 - Music Bigot
Thanks for weighing in on the David Bowie VH1 show. I agree with you. Interestingly, don't you think Bowie has the highest profile of any musician not producing these days? Seriously, when was the last time he released relevant music? I guess it doesn't matter, because all we have to do is put on Ziggy Stardust and he's right back in the game.
2 - Cody Conard
I totally agree with you, I don't really care too much about his career after Let's Dance, but it doesn't matter, because Everything before that is just perfect