NEUPÖLLN - ILM Artist Poll #14 - David Bowie (POLLS ARE CLOSED)

Submitted a ballot, hope it came through!

grandavis and kornrulez, got your ballots.

Thanks! Good luck with the tallying ...

Bump in case there are weekend-only ILXors who haven't seen this yet. Last couple of days to vote -- get your ballot in!

okay gonna do my ballot tonight, pretty sure i'll have to include This Is Not America and Magic Dance.

i wish i could vote for "sweet thing"/"candidate"/"sweet thing reprise" as all one track...
― ciderpress, Monday, February 27, 2012 1:07 PM

I agree...

I wish I could vote for his ghastly-awesome guitar solo.

that solo is so amazing--you're right, it is an awesome solo. the lyrics of sw/cand/sw-reprise are also among his best

hmmm looks like will probably vote for everything on station to station here and almost all of low.

Early tabulation notes:

The early trendline I mentioned a couple of days ago has been wiped out in later voting.

Album ranks will be the same as Led Zeppelin (at least I think I did it this way):
1st - 10 pts
2 - 7 pts
3 - 5 pts
4 - 3 pts
5 - 1 pt

18 different albums have received votes.

this poll will finally reveal that ilm is actually a David Bowie fan site

nay, the world

i wish i could vote for "sweet thing"/"candidate"/"sweet thing reprise" as all one track...
― ciderpress, Monday, February 27, 2012 1:07 PM

I agree...

― Iago Galdston, Saturday, March 3, 2012 5:03 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I completely agree. If that whole suite had been one track I would have undoubtedly voted for it, and I didn't just want to vote for one part of it, so it sadly lost out when it came to putting my ballot together.

i wish i could vote for "sweet thing"/"candidate"/"sweet thing reprise" as all one track...
― ciderpress, Monday, February 27, 2012 1:07 PM
I agree...
― Iago Galdston, Saturday, March 3, 2012 5:03 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I completely agree. If that whole suite had been one track I would have undoubtedly voted for it, and I didn't just want to vote for one part of it, so it sadly lost out when it came to putting my ballot together.
― Turrican, Saturday, March 3, 2012 1:12 PM (57 seconds ago)

I actually put SW and Candidate in there, love that suite enough to warrant two votes

Every time I listen to that suite I'm bowled over by Bowie's vocal performance on it.

Everything about "Sweet thing" is so fucked. Vocals are all over the place. Orientalism-piano on "I'm glad that you're older than me".
I don't like the album version of "Candidate"

Demo version has an all-time Bowie lyric, though:

I make it a thing when I'm on my own to relieve myself
I make it a thing when I gazelle onstage to believe in myself
I make it a thing to glance at windowpanes and look pleased with myself
And pretend I'm walking home

It's definitely my highlight of the Diamond Dogs album alongside the title track and 'Rebel Rebel'. I have a real soft spot for the disco-ness of '1984' as well!

owen OTM. the "Candidate" demo is one of only a handful of essential extras on those Rykos ("Sweet Head," "Velvet Goldmine," and two of the YA outtakes are the others).

is that the outtake where "inside every girl is a fountain / inside every boy is a mountain" or is that the ultra-rare "Zion"...that's quite a lyric!

yep

to the first part

It's "Inside every pair of pants is a mountain" iirc; not my favourite line. There are a couple of clunkers in that demo (another line about predicting a monsoon?) but still one of my favourites.

@ Alfred, true, lots of filler. I like the demo versions, "Crystal Japan", and actually "Some are" is one of my favourite Berlin-era tracks

I like the Arnold Corns version of "Hang On To Yourself"; the take of "Moonage Daydream" not so much.

I think the AC versh of Moonage Daydream has a desperate quality to the vocal that makes it in some ways more interesting than the ZS version.

AC = Arnold Corns, not An*l C*nt
ZS = Ziggy Stardust, not ILXor Z_S

1. Thank you Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera) for that Dick Cavett "Young Americans" clip. I am now certain of YM for my #1 choice.
2. Will someone explain to me how "Too Dizzy" - reportedly left off of CD reissues of Never Let Me Down due to its inferior quality as a song - is worse than the other songs on this album? Seriously, please give some explanation. ILM members Never Let Me Down. Har har. But true!

Yay!!

2. Will someone explain to me how "Too Dizzy" - reportedly left off of CD reissues of Never Let Me Down due to its inferior quality as a song - is worse than the other songs on this album?

I've made these points for years. In fact, the two songs on either side of "Too Dizzy" are far worse.

I've never done karaoke, but if I did, Young Americans is what I'd do

I've done it many times -- it's in my repertoire. I even drop down on my knees during the "Ain't there one damn song" part.

It has some of the best lyrics of any Bowie song:

Have you bee the un-American?
Just you and your idol
sing falsetto about
leather leather
everywhere and
not a myth left from the ghetto

I actually put SW and Candidate in there, love that suite enough to warrant two votes

― Iago Galdston, Saturday, March 3, 2012 1:16 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Haha, I regret not putting Sweet Thing reprise on there with the other two parts! Good job, Cider, I stand with you in protest...

Re: "Too Dizzy", seems to me to be a simultaneous mea culpa and "re-listen to the rest of the tracks, guys, they're not as bad as you remember"

"Too Dizzy," yes, not the rest.

Confession: I've never listened to "Never let me down"

So. Does the roll out - the results - start on Monday?

No -- the voting deadline is Monday night, midnight Eastern. I'm thinking about blasting through the results in two days -- all of the albums and part of the tracks on Tuesday, then the rest of the tracks on Wednesday. Fooey on long reveals. No youtubes until we get to the top 10 tracks.

Or, maybe the youtube URLs that don't auto-embed until the top 10 tracks.

less youtube is good. It breaks my laptop.

Confession: I've never listened to "Never let me down"

― an elk hunt (Ówen P.), Sunday, March 4, 2012 1:20 AM

Well, if your curiosity gets the best of you, please share your reaction here!

the sound of the drums on side one of Low... that's the greatest sound in the universe

70 ballots or bust

― Steamtable Willie (WmC), Sunday, February 26, 2012 4:58 PM (6 days ago)

hmmm...

How many ballots have you got? I'm almost done with my listening and should have mine ready tomorrow.

xp I'm gonna follow along with wordpress I think

Got two more this morning -- puts us at 53. Seventy would be a stretch, but 60 wouldn't surprise me.

I'm getting seriously excited now. Can't wait for the poll results!

i can submit a couple more ballots if it makes you happy

Sent (typed up while lisening to...T.Rex).