You can, of course, tell when it’s a Bowie song you are hearing. On Reality there are plenty of little Bowie tricks to be identified. In fact, most of these seem to date back to the late eighties or, at the best, Low or Lodger – there’s very few echoes to be heard from the early seventies. All for the better, I suppose. (?)

I’ve tried to separate out some of the Bowie paradigms on Reality and where they come from. I’m sure you’ll jump on these and tell me they all date back earlier. (I have even given my opinions though you will tell me that you cannot rate a part of a song or a chord progression out of context).

the falsetto Woo-hoo! Reality – Day-in day-out
sounds fun when done in the right place.
the deliberately flat note Disco king, the loneliest guy - Amlapura
very effective and beautiful. Noone has control over his voice like Bowie.
the rising note progression Try some, buy some; queen of the tarts – ? (I’m sure he’s done that before but cannot think of a song)
Extremely daft, it gives an overly sentimental effect when used in TSBS.
The incessant bashing aka I’d like to beat on your drum looking for water – bus stop
It’s a very delicate thing to use – in almost all contexts, repeated snare bashing will be irritating, but on Bus stop it works. On LFW it’s not perfect.
the drone verse of Pablo Picasso - ? (again I’m not sure where he first did that)
Oh, I love this, with an efficient rhythm in the background that gives it a tremendous momentum
Cute voice Days – Shining star (makin’ my love)
I don’t mind him doing this when it fits into the song. It’s no secret that I love Wood Jackson which is given precisely the right mood thanks to a moderately cute voice – but I think moderately might be the keyword here!
the yelled chorus Never get old – all Tin Machine songs and New York’s in love
OK, perhaps not quite the same type of chorus in all those songs. At any rate, yelled choruses (chori? chorae? WW?) is a beast that should be extinguished from the Bowie songbook. Hardly sounds anything but contrived.

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the falsetto Woo-hoo!

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Or "woo-woo" from A Big Hurt.

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the rising note progression

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Loving The Alien is probably the one you're thinking of. It's hardly unique to Bowie, though: the same thing can be heard in Madness' It Must Be Love and even the opening theme from Red Dwarf.

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Cute voice

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Kooks?

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choruses

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I believe that is correct: like viruses.

Who sucks you while you're sleeping

The vocal styling and jazzy piano, and the spooky darkness of Disco King is, for me, reminiscent of something on 1.Outside.
It's bloody fabulous!


In 1910 I was so handsome and so strong
My moustache was stiffly waxed and one foot long

I'd nominate A Small Plot Of Land.

Who sucks you while you're sleeping

Yeah, it does smack of that song somewhat.
Imagine a whole album of a similar flavour......
Ohhhhh, I dream of something like that

I thought "Woo-hoo" was Song 2.

Cute voice:
See also "Never Let Me Down" - "Days" sounds very similar but I just love it.





Just because I believe don't mean I don't think as well

Yes, you're right the woo-hoo was done in Song 2 - and surely you can find tons of other rock singers who have yelled like that. So perhaps it's not correct to talk about a Bowie paradigm.

The piano on Disco king, yes, of course, it's Mr. Garson in full glory! He's played like that in Bowie songs since 1973 but I agree, a small plot of land is probably the closest to the piano style on this song.

Another thing, the filtered-sounding guitar effect (a guitarist please tell me what gadget has been used?) on New killer star (in the bridge, just after the line "All the corners of the buildings"), it sounds very familiar but I'm not sure where Bowie has used that before. I should listen through Let's dance-tonight-NLMD, I have a feeling we have the same sound there.

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the filtered-sounding guitar effect (a guitarist please tell me what gadget has been used?)

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Given that almost any effect can be created digitally through a PC now, it's hard to tell exactly what was used, but to me it sounds like a mixture of light overdrive, with a hint of compression and maybe some octaving effect.

Of course, I could be talking bollox.

The whole thing?

SHIN -a device for finding furniture in the dark!

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Given that almost any effect can be created digitally through a PC now, it's hard to tell exactly what was used, but to me it sounds like a mixture of light overdrive, with a hint of compression and maybe some octaving effect.

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I think it may be slightly phased, as well.