The Starman blew our minds alright. Bowie and
Ronno burst onto our screens like comic book
heroes with something to say. in the drab
humdrum post flower power turn of the decade,
they were saying. "It's okay. Be weird. Be you."
In the Spiders from Mars, Bowie had assembled
a band of musicians that in ability rivaled the
likes of the great Alice Cooper band that
recorded the triumvirate of classics 'Killer',
'School's Out', and 'Billion Dollar Babies', but
what Bowie had that Alice did not, was Mick
Ronson.
Mick's innate musical skill, his incendiary guitar
playing - was only eclipsed by perhaps his most
important talent: that of an arranger. It is my
belief that he helped propel that early canon of
Bowie's glam rock era to even greater heights.
As a young musician, what Bowie brought to
my eyes and ears was a sense of wonder. It is
almost impossible now, so many years later, to
convey the extraordinary sensory journey his
songs would take you on. 'Time', 'John', I'm
Only Dancing', 'Rock'n'Roll Suicide'... they were
magnificent, cinematic, seductive. There was
nothing else coming out that came even close
to this level of creativity and experimentation,
certainly not in the mainstream. Just a line, like
"jet brakes are snarling, as you stumble across
the road", would set my mind into overdrive
with imagery. Bowie's gift to us was to free our
minds.
Bowie, of course, had an ear for the perfect
flavoring when it came to bringing people in to
help the songs shine. Be it Linda Lewis, Rick
Wakeman, Stevie Ray Vaughn, or the surreal
Mike Garson, he always seemed to know the
right move to make. It is incredible that in a
career spanning so many decades, he barely put
a foot wrong. Even when it might have looked
like he had, time would normally prove him to
have been right all along, merely a year or two
ahead of everyone else.
His sharp career turn that led to the Berlin
trilogy was simply stunning. Once again
choosing a wonderful sounding board in Brian
Eno, he pushed the boundaries as never before,
yet still charting, relentlessly, finding the