For those who don't own a copy of the original edition - and even for those who do - Chris O'Leary's excellent song-by-song Bowie book Rebel Rebel is about to be published in a considerably revised and expanded version.
Based on his blog Pushing Ahead of the Dame, Rebel Rebel originally appeared in 2015. I haven't yet read the refashioned tome but with ten years to amass more information, drawing on memoirs published after Bowie's death as well as the posthumous release of so many outtakes and demos, there will be a lot of new stuff to enjoy - and in addition to analysis of newly unearthed songs there has been an all-round revision.
Nor was the first edition of Rebel Rebel a simple transfer of blog to book; there was more detail, in print, about how the songs worked musicallly - though not so technically phrased that the non-musical reader might feel alienated.
On a more personal note I have hopes that the imminent edition of Rebel Rebel will Right a Great Wrong. Pushing Ahead of the Dame allowed readers to add their comments to the posts and I was one of many who added their two penn'orth. Imagine, however, my dismay when I sighted a copy in Foyles in 2015, turned eagerly to the acknowledgements only to experience a surge of Pooterish dismay.
Readers of Diary of a Nobody will remember that among the humiliations heaped upon its lowly hero Charles Pooter is a newspaper's response to his complaints about being omitted from a list of guests in attendance at a social event:
When my name is finally returned to me on July 8th (publication date) I have every expectation that I shall be filled with a creative zeal the likes of which I have never known before and make rapid, almost startling, advances on my own project ...
In the meantime, if you want to read the musings on Bowie's early musical influences cited by Mr O'Leary you can find a guide to them here.
No comments:
Post a Comment