Many artists over the years have decided it would be
a wonderful idea to collect some of their favorite songs, cover them,
and then release them onto their fans for consumption. Some have done
this with great success. Joan Jett’s ‘Hit List’ from 1990 put a
great new spin on some of her favorite tunes, and Bryan Ferry’s
‘These Foolish Things’ gave Ferry the perfect outlet to show off his
lounge lizard thing.
Other times it does not work so well. The desperate
attempt by Mettalica to get back some street credibility after losing it
with their two terrible albums ‘Load’ and ‘Re-Load’, their
horrific collection of covers called ‘Garage Days Re-visited’
(1996), more or less went straight from the sales racks to the second
hand stalls for those who were unfortunate enough to have bought it.
‘Pin Ups’ was one of the front runners of this
vogue, and really, with the results perhaps it should have been the
last. In between the albums ‘Alladin Sane’ (1973) and the
magnificent ‘Diamond Dogs’ (1974), David Bowie split up his backing
band, although he used them to record this motley collection of music.
Why? I have no idea.
The talents of the ‘Spiders from Mars’ are so far
put down in the mix, they are hardly audible. The one thing that this
record screams out for is some fiery guitar licks from the platinum
haired ‘Spider from Mars’ Mick Ronson; instead he is so far down in
the mix he is barely audible.
The same applies to the rest of the band. The rhythm
section that was so solid on ‘Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from
Mars’ sounds as though they have had their amplifiers stolen. Mike
Garson’s piano is used only to help fill out the chorus. The only lead
instrument that blares forward at the front of the mix on almost every
song is David Bowie’s saxophone, blowing up a very amateurish storm.
What a waste.
Maybe the biggest problem with ‘Pin Ups’ is that
these ten songs, probably David Bowie’s most favorite songs from the
early sixties, may not necessarily suit his style? And can he pull it
off? (Don’t forget, David Bowie and ‘The Spiders from Mars’ did a
marvelous cover of the Stones classic ‘Let’s Spend the Night
Together’ on the band’s previous album ‘Alladin Sane’). The
answer to both questions is definitely “no”.
The song selection is second to none, but with the
instruments pushed so far down in the mix, all the songs rely upon
Bowie’s voice. In parts it works. The re-hash of the Merseys
‘Sorrow’ is a lovely little love song, which gave David Bowie a Top
Ten hit and much needed writing royalties to the ‘Merseys’
songwriters Feldman/Konrad/Stavely/James/Karlson. Bowie even manages to
out weird Syd Barret on Pink Floyd’s ‘See Emily Play’.
But these are the only two songs in the positive
column. When David Bowie tries to sing the songs of some of Britain’s
finest vocalists like Roger Daltrey of the Who, Phil May of the Pretty
Things, and the great Van Morrison, who in the sixties led ‘Them’,
then there is no doubt, Bowie just has not got the chops for it.
The two Who songs should have Bowie up in musical
court for murder. The Pretty Things anthem ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’
does bring you down in Bowie’s hands. One wonders ‘Where Have All
The Good Times Gone?’ when Bowie launches into this Kinks classic,
such is the lack of enthusiasm of all those involved. And this was the
song left to close the set before two wretched bonus tracks were added
for the CD release. If you are a Bruce Springstein fan, please do not
listen to Bowie’s version of ‘Growin’ Up’.
The ultimate disaster, though, is reserved for the
Yardbirds classic ‘Shapes Of Things’. The song sounds as though,
having lost the services of Eric Clapton, the rest of the Yardbirds
decided to replace Clapton with not Jeff Beck, but the Camp Kenneth
Williams from the Carry-On series. Has to be heard to be believed.
The artwork for the cover says a lot, a nice picture
of David Bowie with Twiggy on the front cover. Then inside more pictures
of the man himself mostly with the offending saxophone or wearing the
most ludicrous pair of trousers. But - tellingly - no mention or picture
of any other musician connected to the album. Probably they did not want
to be associated with it.
The following year Bowie came out with the
magnificent ‘Diamond Dogs’ and all was forgiven, but ‘Pin Ups’
was a positive disaster. Best to avoid this little bump on Bowie’s
rise to superstardom.
This
week’s book review looks to be very local with the title of Tuk-Tuk
(ISBN 1-4137-3716-1, PublishAmerica), but it was written by American
Thomas W. Konkol, a first time author. Konkol has visited Thailand many
times over the past few years and states that he now has many close Thai
friends, and it was this that gave him the inspiration to write this
novel. Having been treated as ‘family’ while over here, he felt that
by writing Tuk-Tuk he is giving something back to these people.
Mott’s CD review: David Bowie - Pin Ups
Maybe
one Star
