Customer Reviews

Bowie: A Biography

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I think there is more than enough heretofore uncovered biographical material in BOWIE to call it one of the best modern rock books of the decade. It's not your standard linear bio and for good reason. One of the strongest sections covers the silence of Bowie over the last few years. It's an unusual way for an author to approach his subject, but I think Spitz has some very intelligent things to say about this silence and the most serious of Bowie fans will find a lot of new ideas here.

An thoroughly researched and refreshingly even-handed treatment of the subject matter. Most other Bowie biographies resort to sensationalism or come across as half-baked indictment's from begrudged hangers-on or jilted ex-collaborators (see Edwards' and Zenetta's "Startdust" or the absolutely horrid "Backstage Passes" by Angela Bowie). While this book quotes from these two dubious sources (amongst many others), it does so only in good taste and with objectivity rarely found in the source material. This is the only fault I could find in this otherwise outstanding book. Importantly, full historical vignettes accompany the introduction of each important collaborator (Pitt, Ronson, Alomar, Garson, Visconti, Eno, Pop, Kemp, Bolan - the list goes on.) Buy this along with Thomas Seabrook's "Bowie in Berlin: A New Career In A New Town" and you can't go wrong. Very highly recommended.

This is a very good book. It may not be the best as your First Bowie Book, but it is a wonderful piece of musical literary journalism in its own right. It is written with tact, respect, and sincere love for the subject, which is David Bowie's music, first and foremost. As far as the curious anecdotes about Mr. Jones himself, as well as sexy gossip and other juicy bits - this is probably not the venue, although it's hard to avoid (to this reader's great delight). I believe it was the author's choice to write a philosophical piece concerning the nature of creativity, using the beloved icon as a shining example. Personally, I would appreciate more photos, but, again, I didn't buy this book for illustrations.

This is the first biography of Bowie I've read, although now that I'm reading earlier ones, some descriptions are very similar (although at least Spitz provides an extensive bibliography). Overall, it's a good read, although in the acknowledgments the author is far too effusive in his praise for his editor given the flaws that are present. Examples: The McCoys did not do "Sorrow"; Jim Gordon did not play the piano coda on "Layla"; if you say on page 349 that a 1992 show was the first time Mick Ronson had appeared on stage with Bowie since 1973, don't say on page 325 that "Mick Ronson sat in with the band during a tour stop in Canada" in 1983. In several places paragraphs are repeated almost verbatim a few pages later. Nevertheless, I give an extra star for the author's comment on Bowie's most recent (and last?) album: "Rock 'n' Roll seems to be tacitly acknowledged on Reality as one of the youthful things that grow more and more true as one gets old, not a simple pleasure, but its pleasures a simple truth." As a 61-year-old fan of the 63-year-old Bowie, that's a thought worth keeping.

The author's effort here is uneven, at best. The book moves at a logical pace but becomes more chaotic and loses focus as it develops. Too much time spent on Bowie's sexuality (who cares?) and his place in history, though gargantuan, comes off portrayed in increments and glimpses - no real framing of his place in total. It becomes a tiresome listing (Bowie did an album, then Bowie did a movie, then Bowie made another band successful... ) lacking in framing, summary or the historical perspective required when looking at such an accomplished person. The occasional injection of the author's self-perspective is inappropriate, egoistic and boring (who care's). When it comes to the music of David Bowie, Spitz is shockingly light on insight, as if he were describing each album and a few of it's songs from eight blocks away after looking at them through a telescope. Finally, the overall presentation feels like he started the project and then, at a point, determined he neither had the time to complete it right or lacked the research to provide a close-up picture of the remote one. Either way, the metaphor of someone who has nibbled at his sandwich for 90% of his lunch hour and then, to complete it on time, slams the balance into his mouth resulting in a painful and ugly completion process describes my feeling reading the book. I have read biographies of Roman emperors that were more intimate than this read on David Bowie. If you really want to know Bowie, you better hang on to your scratch until someone with better sources and sense of project structure steps up.

Given all the David Bowie biographies out there, this one presents little new information, but it does manage to present much of it in a way that feels fresh. The author, who is clearly an über-fan and refers to Bowie fans, including himself, as "Bowie-ists" interjects his voice and experience into the story, and this is exactly what sets it apart. The experience of Bowie via the die-hard fan's perspective is to truly experience Bowie. His creative talent for writing music and creating personae is legendary and well-documented, but this bio provides the additional perspective of how Bowie affects PEOPLE, with a glimpse into just how profoundly Bowie does affect many of us. I found Spitz's writing to be respectful and sincere, clearly reverent but also providing criticism when appropriate (the "Tonight" album and the Glass Spider tour). True Bowie-ists will of course want to read more than one Bowie biography, and this one should be on the short list. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

There has arguably never been a more sexually charged performer in the history of rock than David Bowie. When he first appeared on the world stage, Bowie was shrouded in an image of sexual ambiguity as well as being seen to promote an image of bi-sexuality. Yet, according to Spitz's biography, ultimately, nothing could have been further from the truth.

Spitz details the musical career of Bowie, that was admittedly flagging until his reemergence on RCA in the Hunky Dory/Ziggy Stardust era (probably Bowie's most important period of musical output.) Relying on the guidance of manager Tony DeFries, Bowie was promoted as an accomplice of other post T. Rex, punk and style progenitors like Iggy Pop and Lou Reed that played along with the image in order to gain fame and publicity (like being on the cover of the UK mag rags every other week for a period of time.)

The excesses of Bowie's lifestyle and business dealings finally caught up with him after his `decade of decadence' leaving the singer with a series of busted deals and trying to find himself after having been one of the biggest musical pioneers of the rock era.

Though not the first (or even the best) book on the enigmatic singer (check out previous biographies by Charles Shaar Murray, Nicholas Pegg and Thomas Seabrook's excellent `Bowie in Berlin' for a detailed account of his electro-techno trilogy with Robert Fripp and Brian Eno), Spitz's book (despite a lack of much direct contact with the singer) covers a wide range of DB's career and is a decent compliment to the already existing works on the subject. -[...]

This book is a bit inconsistent in some areas, especially with how it portrays Bowie's relationships and sexuality. In one line, the author will casually mention Bowie sleeping with Lindsay Kemp or Ken Pitt as if it is an undisputed fact, but a few chapters later will say that his claims of bisexuality were only for sensationalism. Also, the author's personal anecdotes were a little annoying and pointless, but that's probably a matter of taste. It's the first Bowie biography I've read so far and it did have some good information though, so it wasn't a complete waste. It just could have been better.

A confused book, with too much unnecessary information without mention directly about life and songs the singer. A lot of vacuum relating to focus of the book. Too little information about bowie. On the contrary we can find many facts not concerning about his life and career.

I have finished the book, but I know too little about David Bowie... Frankly, I am very disapointed, because I couldn't find the information I needed to know about the singer. I have to buy other book. Too much mixed issues at the same time.

I'm not a Bowie fan, but this book is so interesting, and takes us on such a sustained ride as we follow the details of Bowie's life. A really soulful effort.