015 – David Live by David Bowie

So Bowie Week got thrown off by really unfortunate circumstances, but we’ll finish it off strong today with my review of David Bowie’s first live album, David Live. Released in 1974, the various tracks were recorded at the Tower Theater in a Philadelphia suburb. Blackstar showed us a David Bowie transitioning into the final stage of his life, while Labyrinth showed us David Bowie the actor – a designation that necessitates transition. Interestingly, David Live chronicles a different kind of transformation for the artist, as he moved from one style of music to another. But how does that affect the product as a whole?

012 – Blackstar by David Bowie

My impromptu and ill-prepared Bowie Week kicks off in earnest today with this review of David Bowie‘s final album, Blackstar. It’s probably clear from my reviews of movies that I don’t have much applicable awareness of film theory. Well the bad news is that my music knowledge is equal to my cinema knowledge divided by… infinity. The good news is that I am a human being with emotions that allow for a visceral reaction to various forms of media. And really, what is a review besides a summation of such a response? And David Bowie’s moody, intense, and heartfelt last statement elicits just that.

029 – Random Access Memories – Daft Punk

For those who don’t know or don’t care (I count myself among the latter), the 56th Annual Grammy Awards took place this week. This is one award show that I just don’t really care about. I don’t want to sound like a snob (although I have a blog where I review things for my own conceited purposes, so the cat’s out of the bag on that one), but the Grammys don’t really seem to have much meaning. The Academy Awards are similarly meaningless, but at least there’s a level of prestige associated with them; the fact that there are approximately 1,000 awards given out at the Grammys each year kind of dilutes their purpose (There are actually 82 categories, which is crazy because it makes my hyperbole seem kind of reasonable). But at the very least the fact that some body came together to recognize achievement in some field implies there is media worth checking out. In this case I decided to take a look at Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, the so-called “Album of the Year.”