Suffragette Shitty
I love David Bowie's work. I still miss him, hate that we live in a world where he's gone. In a world jam-packed with people, and tons of people imitating one another, there'll never, ever be another David Bowie. He was a true original and an originator, which is an amazing accomplishment.
When he died, I actually cried, which shocked my sons, who'd only very rarely ever seen me cry, and sweetly tried to comfort me. Not like I'm a Stoic or anything (remember, I'm an Epicurean!) I've often said to my sons "It's always fine to cry; just make sure what you're crying about is worth the tears you shed!"
For me, Bowie's death was well worth every tear, and the shock of it, and (of course) his careful choreography of his end was quintessentially Bowie, which I admired, even as it gutted me.
That said, I have a weird quirk regarding Bowie -- I absolutely love "Suffragette City" -- easily one of my all-time favorite Bowie songs (although I love so many of his songs, so, there's that). I can listen to it (and have) a zillion times and still feel the propulsive thrill of it every time.
However, I *only* like the original studio recording of it (ironically, 4 February, 1972, so, 51 years a few days ago!) The pitch-perfect power of it, Mick Ronson's stellar guitarwork, everything -- it was perfectly captured in-studio. Mick Ronson is, for me, an unsung rock & roll guitar god -- he did such glorious work with Bowie that's a perennial revelation.
And, for me, that's part of my thing with it. I love live tracks of so many bands (I'm a huge Who fan, so I know the decibel dance of live performances outdoing studio recordings), but for "Suffragette City" I always feel like nothing's ever as good as the original studio track, and never will be.
This rendering is about as close as it gets to a live version that does the original justice.
Either they tend to play it too quickly, or, when Bowie would play it with non-Spiders from Mars backing bands, they didn't get it entirely right -- the hard-rocking glam-swagger of it that Bowie & the Spiders had with it. For me, they nailed it in that studio when they recorded it, captured pure magic in a track, and the original outshines every other attempt to reproduce it (even by Bowie himself!)
This quirk only applies to this specific song -- there are plenty of live performances of Bowie tunes that I savor, and which are enhanced by the live performances. Just not "Suffragette City". Like I said, it's a weird thing for me, as a lifelong, diehard music lover. But I know it when I hear it -- what passes muster and what falls flat.
And another part of my aesthetic is that the song has to be played loudly, with a raw, powerful feel that's not too clean. I've heard various remasters of the song over the decades and they're too sanitized and scrubbed for my tastes. The original had glittery dirt under the fingernails that is part of the sonic spell it casts.
Further, the umpteen covers of it I've heard, nobody ever matches the original. It's not even possible. Amusingly, only "Weird Al" Yankovic ever came close, and that's really only because he did a very faithful rendering of the original.
Anyway, long live "Suffragette City" -- one of the many rock & roll jewels in Bowie's opulently festooned crown, and a musical treasure that has no equal.
Give it a listen, and crank it up until your speakers melt!
When he died, I actually cried, which shocked my sons, who'd only very rarely ever seen me cry, and sweetly tried to comfort me. Not like I'm a Stoic or anything (remember, I'm an Epicurean!) I've often said to my sons "It's always fine to cry; just make sure what you're crying about is worth the tears you shed!"
For me, Bowie's death was well worth every tear, and the shock of it, and (of course) his careful choreography of his end was quintessentially Bowie, which I admired, even as it gutted me.
That said, I have a weird quirk regarding Bowie -- I absolutely love "Suffragette City" -- easily one of my all-time favorite Bowie songs (although I love so many of his songs, so, there's that). I can listen to it (and have) a zillion times and still feel the propulsive thrill of it every time.
However, I *only* like the original studio recording of it (ironically, 4 February, 1972, so, 51 years a few days ago!) The pitch-perfect power of it, Mick Ronson's stellar guitarwork, everything -- it was perfectly captured in-studio. Mick Ronson is, for me, an unsung rock & roll guitar god -- he did such glorious work with Bowie that's a perennial revelation.
And, for me, that's part of my thing with it. I love live tracks of so many bands (I'm a huge Who fan, so I know the decibel dance of live performances outdoing studio recordings), but for "Suffragette City" I always feel like nothing's ever as good as the original studio track, and never will be.
This rendering is about as close as it gets to a live version that does the original justice.
Either they tend to play it too quickly, or, when Bowie would play it with non-Spiders from Mars backing bands, they didn't get it entirely right -- the hard-rocking glam-swagger of it that Bowie & the Spiders had with it. For me, they nailed it in that studio when they recorded it, captured pure magic in a track, and the original outshines every other attempt to reproduce it (even by Bowie himself!)
This quirk only applies to this specific song -- there are plenty of live performances of Bowie tunes that I savor, and which are enhanced by the live performances. Just not "Suffragette City". Like I said, it's a weird thing for me, as a lifelong, diehard music lover. But I know it when I hear it -- what passes muster and what falls flat.
And another part of my aesthetic is that the song has to be played loudly, with a raw, powerful feel that's not too clean. I've heard various remasters of the song over the decades and they're too sanitized and scrubbed for my tastes. The original had glittery dirt under the fingernails that is part of the sonic spell it casts.
Further, the umpteen covers of it I've heard, nobody ever matches the original. It's not even possible. Amusingly, only "Weird Al" Yankovic ever came close, and that's really only because he did a very faithful rendering of the original.
Anyway, long live "Suffragette City" -- one of the many rock & roll jewels in Bowie's opulently festooned crown, and a musical treasure that has no equal.
Give it a listen, and crank it up until your speakers melt!
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While I enjoy live performances of it, I *don't* like the super-long versions of it that they did. It's a stellar song, but any extended meanderings with it loses the perfection of the original recording. There's an unequalled purity of the studio recording.