Customer Reviews

Glass Spider Tour (Special Edition DVD + CD)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In 1987, David Bowie was a superstar - pop icon and movie star. 1980 saw the critically acclaimed album 'Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)' followed up by the mega-selling 'Let's Dance' in 1983 and the subsequent Serious Moonlight Tour. With the distractions of filming movies and managing a vast empire in the mid 80's, Bowie's next two albums suffered artistically: 1984's 'Tonight' and 1987's 'Never Let Me Down'. And its the latter album that spawned the Glass Spider Tour of 1987 that has been filmed for this DVD release.

Originally criticised for it's over-the-top theatricality, with Bowie abseiling from the top of a 60 foot spider at the beginning of the show and later being strangled by ropes amongst other things, the concert isn't as bad as the critics would have us believe. It isn't particularly arty, but it certainly isn't camp; it's just worth seeing (especially if you are a Bowie fan) and revelling in a Bowie moment captured on film.

There are a number of players in the cast, including Peter Frampton on lead guitar and the dependable Carlos Alomar on rhythm guitar along with five dancers/actors who provide the artistic foil for Bowie. The Glass Spider concerts showcased a rock musical on a fairly grand scale with loads of choreography and charisma. As with the tour, this DVD and CD really just concentrate on Bowie's 80's material especially the 'Never Let Me Down' album, but there are odd songs from his earlier Ziggy Stardust and "plastic soul" periods also.

Filmed in Sydney over two nights, the 7th and 9th of November 1987, this DVD is a cut and paste of 22 songs that flows as if it's an actual concert over 104 minutes. You may recall the video that this has been remastered from.

Song list on the DVD:
1. Intro / Up the Hill Backwards
2. Glass Spider
3. Day-In, Day-Out
4. Bang Bang
5. Absolute Beginners
6. Loving the Alien
7. China Girl
8. Rebel Rebel
9. Fashion
10. Never Let Me Down
11. 'Heroes'
12. Sons of the Silent Age
13. Band Introduction
14. Young Americans
15. The Jean Genie
16. Let's Dance
17. Time
18. Fame
19. Blue Jean
20. I Wanna Be Your Dog
21. White Light / White Heat
22. Modern Love

The soundtrack is "up-mixed from the original stereo tapes" in Dolby digital and the film is DTS 5:1. The picture format is 4:3. However, there are no added features except for a photo gallery of 29 stills and an audio choice between PCM Stereo, DD Surround and DTS Surround. A single page insert with the credits accompanies the DVD.

The CD's are the recording of the Montreal concert at the Olympic Stadium on August 30th, 1987, and so a different song list is performed.

The song lists for the CD's:

CD 1:
1. Intro / Up the Hill Backwards
2. Glass Spider
3. Day-In, Day-Out
4. Bang Bang
5. Absolute Beginners
6. Loving the Alien
7. China Girl
8. Rebel Rebel
9. Fashion
10. Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
11. All the Mad Men
12. Never Let Me Down

CD 2:
1. Big Brother
2. '87 and Cry
3. 'Heroes'
4. Sons of the Silent Age
5. Time Will Crawl
6. Young Americans
7. Beat of Your Drum
8. The Jean Genie
9. Let's Dance
10. Fame
11. Time
12. Blue Jean
13. Modern Love

Overall, to get both a DVD and CD of the tour makes this product value for money. As a snippet of Bowie's career, it is rewarding to watch this master entertainer at work. The CD suffers slightly compared to the DVD as these concerts were quite a visual experience with the music supplementing the choreography. If you're expecting a simple rock concert, this is not the product for you. Nor was it ever what Bowie was about. But if you want to be entertained by a master that puts on a musical show, you'll be rewarded.

I've been a huge Bowie fan since 1973 and still am, but this DVD/2CD package is a disaster. The staging and choreography are both pretty good, but the camera stays so tightly focused on Bowie that the size of the stage and the constant action around the star are rarely taken advantage of. This was a fun show when I saw it live in 1987, but I was able to shift my focus to the three-tiered 'wings' on either side of the stage when I got bored with the center stage action. The DVD viewer of course doesn't have that option.

The music CD's are much worse. A bland mix takes robs the music of whatever fire or enthusiasm might have survived the lazy arrangements, and little does. Blandly strummed electric guitars and plodding drum beats that sound like they were created by early-generation beat boxes (wasn't the drummer allowed to play the cymbals?) castrate some mighty fine songs here (Rebel Rebel, Scary Monsters, All The Mad Men, Big Brother, etc.) and make it painfully clear how crappy much of the newer stuff is (Day-In Day-Out, China Girl, Bang Bang, etc.). The real crime here is that obviously very little thought or energy was given to the music or how it was to be arranged or mixed or recorded.

My recommendation: if you're a die-hard fan like me and feel you must have this DVD in your collection, DO NOT was any exra money on the audio CD's. If you want a great Bowie DVD - both musically and visually - buy 2004's "A Reality Tour." Great staging and camera work, extremely clever arrangements, and a band that can sound chillingly sparse or roar like hellfire unleashed. Less intense but still fun - both musically and visually - is 1983's "Serious Moonlight" concert video. Another great band enhanced by a good mix (the guitars are consistently given a good share of the mix and have a real grit to their sound) and the addition of a horn section that adds bite to songs that fall rather flat in their "Glass Spider" incarnations ('Let's Dance' and 'Fame' among them).

Despite all the above, I'd still like to see other archived Bowie concerts. But in the future I'll probably rent first. As this DVD clearly proves, putting on a good show is both a musical and a visual task, and that show must be captured well sonically and visually in order to make a satisfying product. "Spider" fails more often than it succeeds.

This dvd confirms what I long suspected: The conventional wisdom has always been that Bowie had creatively dried out during the mid to late 1980s, and, though there's some truth in it, this dvd confirms that there was still a lot of passion in him. Certainly "Tonight" and "Never Let Me Down" rank among the lowest in his full catalog, but Loving the Alien and Blue Jean are classics, and "Never Let Me Down" (the album for which Bowie was touring at this time) has always struck me as underappreciated. Given the time-period and Bowie's propensity for theatricality, some of this concert veers too far to the bombastic and, at times, the cheezy, and sometimes the 80s synthesizer comes in when it really shouldn't - but get past that (or appreciate it as part of the package), and there are some real treats here.

I particularly enjoy watching the dvd alongside the Spiders from Mars, Serious Moonlight, and Reality Tour dvds, as it's great to hear these songs played in different eras, with the arrangements reflecting the time period.

Of interest with this version of the Glass Spider dvd is the inclusion of two cds of concert material. A number of the songs on the cds do not appear on the dvd (Scary Monsters, '87 and Cry, All the Mad Men, Time Will Crawl, Beat of Your Drum, and Big Brother). A pair of songs from the dvd do not appear on cd (White Light/White Heat and I Want to Be Your Dog). In truth, those songs aren't missed. White Light/White Heat was done better on other of Bowie's live albums, and I Want to Be Your Dog just doesn't quite work for me. So, trading those songs for Scary Monsters and Big Brother suits me just fine.

If you're not already a big fan, there are probably better places to start out (like the Spiders from Mars or Reality Tour dvds). For those who like Bowie's 80s output, though, I certainly recommend this.

The infamous "Glass Spider" tour was the first time I saw Bowie live. The popular myth is that it was a grandiose and overblown. To be honest, this is true. What is not true, however, is any claim that the musical element was somehow lacking.

Even if you don't love the songs from Bowie's then-current album "Never Let Me Down," though I do quite like many of them), there were more than enough gems from the deep in the Bowie canon to satisfy all but the most curmudgeonly. Rarities like "All the Mad Men" and "Sons of the Silent Age" mesh surprisingly well with (what were then) newer songs like "Loving the Alien" and "Time Will Crawl." Throw in strong renditions of favorites like "Heroes" and Young Americans," and the fact is you've got quite a show.

The great thing about this release is that it's a CD and DVD set. If you don't like the visuals of the show, pop in the CD. If you're a Bowie fan, you're sure to find at least a few reasons to be glad you did. Now, if they'd only release something from his 1995 tour with Nine Inch Nails.

Ah... the infamous Glass Spider. My very first Bowie show back in 1987. This tour's stage production took a lot of knocks back then: over the top, too many dancers, Bowie's hair and the ridiculous costumes... but hey - it was the 1980s...

If you can get past all the criticisms, however, you can enoy a pretty good career overview of Bowie's music... all the hits are there but we also get great version's of 'Absolute Beginners' (rarely played live)... a wonderful duet with Peter Frampton on 'Sons of the Silent Age'... a funky 'Young Americans'... a dramatic version of the Bowie classic 'Time'... and 2 smoking cover tunes Iggy Pop's 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' & Lou Reed's 'White Light/White Heat'...

Enjoy this dvd as it appears that Bowie might have started his retirement and all we have to enjoy is what he has done in the past.

The CD part of this is great thanks to Bob Clearmountain.

But to sum the DVD part of this up. What a mess. It's a wonder that no one listened to this back before it was released.
They forgot Peter Frampton In the Mix. Peter Mew credited, WHAT HAPPENED HERE?

By the old DVD version period, (It's great compaired to this) I was hoping for an upgrade! Sorry.

Will EMI fix I don't think so.

If you didn't like Bowie in the 80's, you probably won't like this video. However, if you liked 80's Bowie, particularly 'Never Let Me Down,' you might find this an interesting walk down memory lane. I always thought 'Never Let Me Down' was better than the critics and Bowie claimed it was. Peter Frampton rocks throughout, and, if you get bored, fast forward to 'White Light / White Heat' and turn it up. You won't be disappointed.

I saw this show pre-topur at the US Festival in 1982 (?) where it headlined after Stevie Nicks (another great show). Bowie was at his creative best and brought so much energy and fun to the entire show. I especailly love the songs with Charlie Sexton, "hite Light, White Heat" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog" (both Iggy Pop tunes. A must have for the Bowie fan's library

Check out my newest Thriller - Bound By Birth - by Randall R Wheeler
Bound By Birth

The mid-80s were not a strong period for David Bowie. After the critical success of Scary Monsters and the commercial success of Let's Dance and its resulting tour, things went downhill fast. Bowie couldn't be bothered to write more than half an album's worth of new material for Tonight, and consequently the album is not only mostly forgettable in his canon, but even downright awful in places ("God Only Knows"). Never Let Me Down [ECD] at least had Bowie writing original material again, but it had -- at best -- 3 songs worth hearing (the title track, "Day-In, Day-Out", and "Time Will Crawl"), and most Bowie fans would trade all three of those for a relatively undistinguished but more compelling Bowie track like "You've Been Around" or "African Nite Flights" in an instant. Or, frankly, "Blue Jean".

Following Never Let Me Down [ECD], Bowie mounted the Glass Spider tour. While the tour is (in)famous for its overblown sets and choreography, neither of those issues are the chief problem with this DVD. Instead, while the show is filmed well enough for an 80s tour video, and the choreography is goofy but not overly distracting, the mix (as noted by other reviewers here) is bland and flat, and the setlist doesn't help. Too many songs from Never Let Me Down [ECD] is one problem; another is Bowie's renditions of many of his classic songs are performed in straightforward, FM-friendly, vanilla arrangements that hew relatively closely to the studio versions. As in previous tours (1974, 1976, 1978, and even 1983), Bowie again has rearranged much of his back catalog material to match his current sound. Unfortunately, unlike the soul-inspired efforts of '74, the Eno and Krautrock inspirations of 1978, or even the bright, semi-soul, horn-backed arrangements of 1983, Bowie's sound of 1987 is synth-heavy, compressed, and... completely unexciting. Even an unusual song choice or two ("I Wanna Be Your Dog", "Sons of the Silent Age") can't change this dynamic. Unlike other Bowie tour documents (albums or videos), it's unlikely you'll find your definitive, favorite version of any Bowie song in this DVD. Even if, by some miracle, your favorite Bowie album is Never Let Me Down [ECD], the studio versions still beat this tepid performance.

Ironically, while the Glass Spider tour was probably Bowie's least essential live outing (although the 1990 tour comes close), it's packaged in by far the best treatment a Bowie tour has ever received -- which is why this review gets 2 stars rather than 1. For starters, the DVD presents essentially a complete concert; unlike the 1983 Serious Moonlight tour video, the end of the setlist hasn't been truncated. Only a handful of tour staples are omitted, and they seem to mostly be Never Let Me Down [ECD] tracks. Even better, the Special Edition DVD is packaged with a "bonus" concert -- a complete 1987 concert spread over two CDs, taken from a Montreal radio broadcast in excellent quality. While this Montreal show is no better than the one featured on the DVD, it is complete, and features a few songs that don't show up on the DVD.

In the end, the Glass Spider DVD -- Special Edition or otherwise -- is essential only for completists.

(I gave a much more favorable review to the David Bowie - Serious Moonlight DVD (drawn from the 1983 tour), even though it features a truncated show (omitting the last few tracks) and doesn't include a "bonus" show. In an ideal world, I'd be able to combine these two releases into a single, comprehensive, 1983 tour document. Finally, the 2004 David Bowie - A Reality Tour DVD is a huge improvement over both 1980s tour DVDs, both for technical and artistic reasons).

i first picked this concert film up YEARS ago on vhs...(since lost to the churning tide of time)

this is bowie at his best. from the production of the concert to the songs...

i only wish i could have seen it live.

nice bonus...the 'special edition' comes with an AUDIO cd of the concert from a different date...so you get varying versions of the songs (and some songs not in the concert film, tho the 'charlie sexton' and 'iggy pop and the stooges' numbers are not on the cd)

if you are a david bowie fan. GET IT!

yep