David Bowie's "Space Oddity”

Music Talk Radio

    This is one brilliant song. It was released on July 11, 1969. And, not coincidently, the 1st moon landing was on July 16, 1969. A perfect release time for the song. It's so different from anything else at that time. You really go on the ride with Bowie's imagery. Imagine being in the tin can. You feel lonely with "Here am I sitting in my tin can. Far above the world." Of course, this evokes the whole NASA thing with the picture of Earth from out in space. Not to mention the urgency of "Ground control to major Tom, your circuits dead, there's something wrong...". Bowie plays the characters well and nails the role of Major Tom and Ground Control. You don't have to guess who is who. Can you hear me, Major Tom.." We have listened to it a million times. 

    There are many songs about space, but to me, this reigns supreme: "Rocket Man" by Elton John and "Space Truckin" by Deep Purple, to name a couple. Because of the timing of this tune's release, it caught on. Everything after that was a copy of Bowie to me. Great songwriting.

Check it out on Spotify: A Space Oddity.

Popular posts from this blog

The Rolling Stones Mick Taylor

Music Talk Radio
Image
     Mick Taylor was a great replacement guitarist for Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones. His keen sense of melody and ability to jam were fresh for the Stones. Think of the end of "Sway." Taylor joined the Stones in 1969.       Taylor played on the following albums from the Stones: Let It Bleed (1969), Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out (1970), The Rolling Stones in Concert (1970), Sticky Fingers (1971), Exile on Main Street  (1972), Goats Head Soup (1973) and It's Only Rock 'n Roll (1974).       When Taylor was in the Stones, he fostered the best and most creative writing and guitar playing. Mick Taylor challenged Keith. They worked well together.       Keith is one of my favorite songwriters, and he upped his game, as did Mick Jagger when Mick Taylor was in the band. Taylor challenged them and intimidated them a bit. They got bluesy, too. Mick Taylor was a great slide player. If you haven't considered him a Rollin...
Read More - Your Two Cents!

Tony Iommi, Black Sabbath

Music Talk Radio
Image
    Did you know that Tony Iommi, guitarist of Black Sabbath fame, lost a couple of his fingertips on his right hand? His index and middle fingers, to be exact. Being left-handed, this would have been his fretboard hand. He worked in a sheet metal factory and accidentally cut them off. Ouch! It almost stopped Iommi from playing guitar, but a friend, seeing Iommi's depression from not playing, played Iommi a record of Django Reinhardt.  A guitarist of Jazz fame. Iommi didn't know until after hearing Reinhardt that Reinhardt had severely burned his ring and index finger on his left hand but kept playing. Iommi was impressed by the jazz great. His friend then revealed that Reinhardt could only use two fingers on his fretboard hand.       This got Iommi inspired and back on the saddle again. Tony used light guitar strings and even banjo strings , dropping the string tension to make them looser.  He dropped his tuning to C# Standard and D# Standard...
Read More - Your Two Cents!

Cream's Disraeli Gears Album Cover

Music Talk Radio
Image
     The album art for Cream's  Disraeli  Gears doesn't get any more '60s, does it? 1967, to be exact. Talk about psychedelic! It's always been one of my favorite album covers because of its pure insanity. The artwork was done by a gentleman named Martin Sharp. A fine job he did.   From Wikipedia, " Martin Sharp was attempting to capture the sound of the music in the cover, which he describes as a "warm fluorescent sound"   The colors are outrageous in their combination. This had to be the boldest album cover known to man. To me, it represents the 1960s more than any other album cover. Including Sgt. Pepper and Their Satanic Majesties Request. Peacocks, horses, flowers. Who's the green chick in front of Jack Bruce? Anyone? Oh, and the trio in there too. Gotta love it. Check out more on  Classic Rock Magazine . Album Art by Martin Sharp, 1967
Read More - Your Two Cents!