Paris or maybe hell…
Naïve records in conjunction with compiler Béatrice Ardisson are due to release the 16-track Bowie Mania next month. I would tell you all about it, but why bother when the superbly French Jérôme Soligny can do it instead.
Over to you Jérôme baby…
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“Time – He’s waiting in the wings” sang David Bowie in 1973, someone who had, with reason, never bothered to wait patiently. Nor is the musical arranger Béatrice Ardisson the sort of person who rests on the laurels that her recent work has earned her. She presses on in the myriad of jingling songs that are linked to the memories, which that are not just collective, that she has amassed: audacious and often improbable choruses for which she has become, day or night, the head talent scout.
We knew that sooner or later Béatrice would become interested in Bowie, a crucial artist-musician with such a rich discography that it can justifiably sound like an anthology of songs sung by the different characters that he has incarnated throughout his long career of over four decades. The rocker with a thousand and one faces discretely celebrated his sixtieth birthday in 2007 and we imagine that, somewhere, the music lover with sparkling eyes and ears that twitch as soon as a musician from this planet or another (Mars?) borrows a familiar chorus in a unique way, wanted to do homage to him. In her way.
That means only bringing together real masters of things melodic, creators who consider songs as more or less domesticated raw material that they blend and tame with the admitted aim of being teleported elsewhere and certainly not following in the still fresh tracks of the wise madman who has conquered them.
The contributions abound with a sense of the rebellious eclecticism that has already made the charm and reputation of a series of discs initiated by Béatrice.
We should mention that the album design is also a success. To find cover versions that merit this name is one thing, to present them in a coherent way is a real triumph. A bit like ‘Pin Ups’, the mythical album of cover versions released by David Bowie in 1973 (the same year as “Time”!), “Bowiemania” merits being listened to in one sitting and gives the impression of strolling through the master’s works but only using the paths that cross them.
Strongly recommend for rebel rebel souls. Jérôme Soligny / 2007
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Here’s the Bowie Mania tracklisting…
01 Emilie Simon Space Oddity 04:23
02 PacoVolume The Jean Genie 02:57
03 Yann Tiersen & The Divine Comedy Life on Mars? 03:03
04 Medi & The Medicine Show Rebel Rebel 03:07
05 Microsillon feat. Eugénie Alquezar This is not America 02:50
06 Los Chicros Changes 03:14
07 The Gourds Ziggy Stardust 02:41
08 The New Standards All The Young Dudes 03:25
09 Ask The Dust John I’m Only Dancing 03:19
10 Rhonda Harris China Girl 04:17
11 The String Quartet Ashes To Ashes 01:59
12 Botox Fashion 03:12
13 Cocosuma The Man Who Sold The World 04:20
14 Sacha Sieff & Manuel Armstrong Heroes 07:21
15 Arno & Beverly Jo Scott Jean Baltazaarrr 4?57
There’s also a secret ‘hidden’ track of which I’m sure the majority of you are familiar with anyway. Either way, it’s a track that David Bowie himself was moved to say this about:
“The backing arrangement is astounding. Coupled with the earnest if lugubrious vocal performance you have a piece of art that I couldn’t have conceived of, even with half of Colombia’s finest export products in me.”
Bowie Mania is released through Naïve on April 24th, and obviously we plan to offer contest copies well before that date.