The twitter and youtube goes a buzz this morning as David Bowie's first recording in 10 years suddenly appears on the net on the day of his birthday. Well Bowie always did know how to dramatise his life.
Of course all the glam, glitz stars and press line up to make their smug or weepy comments on Bowie's reappearance.
Yet no one seems to actually say what Bowie has done with the song and the typically clever video, that seems to be set in an artist studio (actually shot in the auto repair shop underneath the apartment where he lived in Berlin in the late 1970s) with himself and artist Jacqueline Humphries depicted as puppets with only their faces animated. There's a clever twist at the end of the video to the assumption that the faces have been superimposed onto the dolls.
The song subject is set with Bowie back in Berlin. The place that inspired the late seventies period albums, although in 'Where Are We Now' the mood is reflective and less confident to his vision of life back in the days of 'Low', now he seems to be looking back in time with a black and white projected film of Berlin behind the small figures.
There is just one real life camera shot of the him standing quite still in the studio next to a sack of goods printed with the slogan *thank you for shopping with us" that archly explains itself, but the most interesting part of the shot is Bowie wearing a T-shirt on which is printed simply 'Song Of Norway'
The Song Of Norway being an operetta written in 1944 by two Americans, Robert Wright and George Forrest, it's relevance to the song and Bowie should again, explain itself.
"The play tells of the early struggles of Edvard Grieg and his attempts to develop an authentic Norwegian national music. Grieg dreams of being a great composer and these dreams are shared by his friend Nordraak and Grieg's sweetheart, Nina. Grieg is lured to Italy by the great prima donna Louisa Giovanni, but he finds he cannot create amid all the glitter and excitement and so returns to Norway and his beloved Nina to write his music".
The music itself is a melancholy and impersonal backdrop without a soloist or discernible personality. A soundtrack more reminiscent of the 'Low' period as Bowie returns to Berlin to find his muse.
Update: The video has since been taken down by Sony Music Entertainment who have "blocked it on grounds of copyright" but is more likely to be that Sony want to make it pay. This Bowie video can still be found on YouTube but now has a 30 second advert before it begins. What a bunch of Sony assholes.
