Carl Ewens - David Bowie 1964 to 1982 On Track: Every Album, Every Song

  by Lisa Torem

published: 8 / 7 / 2025

intro

Lisa Torem finds Carl Ewens’ book about David Bowie for the On Track series to be a well-detailed and illuminating read.

First time, 'On Track' author Carl Ewens leaves no stone unturned in this smartly detailed book. Right off the bat, the Lancashire writer alerts the reader to Bowie’s exhaustive love of “gruesome horror stories,” his penchant for all-things saxophone and his odd, old-school fascination with crooner Anthony Newley. These passions, which will find footing in subsequent chapters, provide clues to Bowie’s distinctive drive and unabashed ambition. In the introduction to the first chapter, Ewens speculates that Bowie’s “disillusionment with the psychedelic era” led to his alignment with “the light program,” a U.K. show biz style in the early 1900s. We’ll see even more flagrant examples of Bowie playing hot potato with musical genres as the story progresses. He morphs into “Ziggy Stardust” with the Spiders from Mars, embraces “the thin white duke” and gets star struck with glam and gospel. The black and white and color photo section reveals a host of dramatic characters, including guitarist extraordinaire Mick Ronson, a youthful Iggy Pop, triple-album guest Robert Fripp, ‘Fame’ co-writer John Lennon, Berlin era accomplice Brian Eno, along with a lineup of related, sometimes controversial album covers, such as ‘Diamond Dogs.’ The author favorably tributes Bowie disciples: session guitarist Carlos Alomar, producer Tony Visconti and vocalist/arranger Luther Vandross (who worked with Bowie prior to forming a successful, solo career). But he also delves into Bowie’s dark, drug-addled days. He underscores moments when the artist’s addiction caused an American talk show host to feel concern and emphasizes Bowie’s downward spiral in Los Angeles. The book is littered with curious references. For example, I hadn’t realized that ‘The Jean Genie’ was inspired by an avant-garde French kleptomaniac, although it appears to be common knowledge that Bowie was an avid fan of mime Marcel Marceau. All in all, we see David Bowie’s persona evolve from many different angles, album to album. While content-wise, we see him spell-out everything from political angst to pop splendor, we also watch him experiment with instrumental intensity and vocal variation. I learned a lot about David Bowie, and I believe, you will too.

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