Rant #1,630: Let's Dance

Well, not really. I am not a dancer, although I will get up on the dance floor when my wife wants me to.

But this Rant has little to do with that. It has to do with David Bowie.

Let me digress.

Several weeks ago, when he passed away, it gave me--and probably millions of others--a reason to go back into our records, tapes, and CDs and listen to his musical mastery all over again.

Coinciding with the release of a new album, Bowiemania, if you will, lasted about as long as it will take to read today's column from beginning to end, but it did wield him his first No. 1 album in America, "Blackstar," which got to its lofty perch probably because people felt they were almost obligated to buy the CD with his death, almost to pay him back for the great music he had put out over the years (the CD is so-so at best).

Anyway, I decided to dive into the Bowie catalog once again, too, and recorded, from record, his two greatest hits LPs, "Changesonebowie" and "Changestwobowie," or at least, in my mind, the only greatest hits albums of his that really counted.

But if you just record those two LPs, you are missing a wealth of other music, primarily the early 1980s period when he became perhaps his most successful persona, the hitmaking singer, the guy whose singles rocked the airwaves. led, of course, by "Let's Dance," which hit No. 1 in 1983.

So I decided to make my own "Changesthreebowie," including all the hits from that era, plus other music that I liked that had been left off the previous two LPs.

I was well into doing this, but my computer died, and I lost those tracks that I had recorded.

Now, on the Mac that I am using until it, too, goes to computer heaven--this iMac has more lines on its screen than I have on my brow--I revved it up once again, and now, I am well into putting together my own Bowie collection of material mainly from that era where he truly ruled the airwaves.

There is lots of great stuff on this makeshift collection--"China Girl," "Blue Jean," and even some material from earlier on that never made it to the first two LPs, such as "TVC15," my personal favorite.

And where possible, I am using the original singles, not the LP tracks.

David Bowie made some great albums, but his singles were immaculate. He came from an era where the 45 was king, and he knew how to pack in everything he wanted to say--or sing--into three minutes.

During the early 1980s, as king of the airwaves, those singles were songs you could not escape, whether on the radio, on your turntable or on MTV, so I figured it was reason enough to record the singles rather than their album tracks, so that is what I am doing.

And I have just about every Bowie single from that era from him, so really, it is a no brainer.

Anyway, I am progressing well, and I am now up to the Live Aid period, so we're talking about "Dancing in the Street" with Mick Jagger, another fine single from that era.

But I will also delve into the later years in this collection, where Bowie's music became much darker, through the end, with a couple of tracks from "Blackstar" that were handled as "singles" by pop radio.

I hope to be done with this by the end of the month, and it is fun to hear those singles once again, and more importantly, to see just how talented this guy was.

I love his early era too, but that has been covered by the two original greatest hits LPs. I am sure Bowie purists look down upon his hitmaking years, but I think those records solidified his as a pop icon, bringing him an entirely new audience who didn't know what "Space Oddity" was.

So when I say "Let's Dance," I don't necessarily mean to get up on the dance floor; I mean to listen, really listen to David Bowie's music from that period, and take it all in.

We lost a really huge talent when he passed, but his legacy is forever in these grooves.