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Rating: Fourteen hours.
Fourteen hours straight of listening to the new shining gem gifted to me by the Regal White Duke. Monday this week is a little less gloomy, the Duke's sound will accompany me along my weekly journey and will sweeten my daily struggles.
Time seems to have different speeds when embraced by perfect sonic creations that rhythmically mark the beats. Not the sound, but time is forced to conform to the dynamics that emerge from the speakers.
The ideal of elegance and perfection that has always accompanied the Divine David, never interrupted in his attention not to be swallowed by the jaws of the "Goliath-Sound" as the only reference, but determined in aiming at the architecture of the song as a desire to exalt his artistic ability, elegance - as was said - is alive and present and inlaid in the structure of the songs, it shines, it magnifies them.
The light of the stars is still visible in his words, in the tension his voice generates.
The acoustically perfect and commercially targeted "New Killer Star," the first single extracted from the album, is a perfect cross-section of the entire, yet another, astonishing work by Bowie: the poetry of the lyrics deliciously marries the notes recited by his band.
The creative and self-celebratory "Never Get Old" continues the discourse, amiably suspended by the homage to Pablo Picasso performed with a cover of a piece by Jonathan Richman. If for a moment one pauses to read the introspective lyrics of "Never Get Old" (which means something like "I will NEVER get old"), one can grasp a new characteristic of my Idol: the fact of accepting and respectfully mocking his own fears. We read indeed: "The sky splits open to a dull, red skull And my head hangs low 'cause it's all over now there's never gonna be enough money there's never gonna be enough drugs I'm never, ever gonna get old There's never gonna be enough bullets There's never gonna be enough sex And I'm never, ever gonna get old The moon flows on to the end of the world because of you". Do you realize? Romanticism and Realism at the highest reachable value. "I will never grow old even if there would not be enough drugs, sufficient money, incessant sex sessions, endless echoes of bullets fired in the distance".
Compared to the verse (taken from "Looking For Water") reciting: "But I lost God in a New York minute I don't know about you, but my heart's not in it I can't breathe the air, can't raise the fight 'Cause all we've got left is a beat in the night, and I'm Looking for water" we can appreciate the artistic and spiritual maturity achieved by Our Master.
Do not think it's a "simply" decadent album: liveliness, perspectives, the desire for revenge and the arrogance dictated by the will to improve the world are nevertheless present: the malice echoing from the title track "Reality" is an altar of celebration. In this track, after reviewing the roaring behavior held in his life, the Duke ends up telling us approximately: "I've been right and I've been wrong - Now I'm back at the starting point - I've never held reality in high regard" with a brazenly goliardic tone that well lets us understand what he has in his sights with those words.
I finish by remembering that with "Try Some, Buy Some," Bowie's heart full of scars wanted to remember the Beatles' guitarist George Harrison, tragically deceased, due to an incurable illness, last year.
A great album, no doubt about it. And may God forgive me if I have not been able to give it the luster it deserves. I wrote that Bowie is not a musician but a "state of mind". Now I am here to shout it even louder.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Pablo Picasso (04:05)
- Album: Reality
- Lyrics and music by Jonathan Richman
Swinging on the back poarch
Jumping off a big wall
Pablo's feeling better now
Hanging by his fingernails
Swinging on the back poarch
Jumping off a big line
Pablo's feeling better now
Hanging by his fingernails
Well, some people try to pick up girls and they get called assholes
This never happened to Pablo Picasso
The girls would turn the color of a juicy avacado
When he would drive down their street in his El Dorado
He could walk down your street, girls could not resist his stare
So Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole
Not like you
Wow!
Swinging on the back poarch
Jumping off a big wall
Pablo's feeling better now
Hanging by his fingernails
Swinging on the back poarch
Jumping off a big wall
Pablo's feeling better now
Hanging by his fingernails
He could walk down your street and girls could not resist his stare
Pablo Picasso never got called an asshole
Well, the girls would turn the color of a juicy avacado
When he would drive down their street in his El Dorado
Well, he was only 5'3" but girls could not resist his stare
Pablo Picasso never got called an asshole
Not in New York
Wow!
Swinging on the back poarch
Jumping off a big wall
Pablo's feeling better now
Hanging by his fingernails
Swinging on the back poarch
Jumping off a big wall
Pablo's feeling better now
Hanging by his fingernails
03 Never Get Old (04:24)
Better take care
I think I better go, better get a room
Better take care of me
Again and again
I think about this and I think about personal history
Better take care
I breath so deep when the movie gets real
When the star turns round
Again and again
Looks me in the eye, says he's got his mind on a countdown(3,2,1)
Forever
I'm screaming that I'm gonna be living on till the end of time
Forever
The sky splits open to a dull red skull
My head hangs low cause it's all over now
And there's never gonna be enough money
And there's never gonna be enough drugs
And I'm never ever gonna get old
There's never gonna be enough bullets
There's never gonna be enough sex
And I'm never ever gonna get old
So I'm never ever gonna get high
And I'm never ever gonna get low
And I'm never ever gonna get old
Better take care
The moon flows on to the edges of the world because of you
Again and again
And I'm awake in an age of light and living it because of you
Better take care
I'm looking to the future, solid as a rock
Because of you
Again and again
Wanna be here, then I wanna be there
Living just like you, living just like me
Forever
Putting on my gloves
And I bury my bones in the marshland
Forever
Think about my soul
But I don't need a thing
Just the ring of the bell in the pure clean air
And I'm running down the street of life
And I'm never gonna let you die
And I'm never ever gonna get old
And I'm never ever gonna get...
I'm never ever gonna get...
And I'm never ever gonna get old
And I'm never ever gonna get...
And I'm never ever gonna get...
I'm never ever gonna get old
04 The Loneliest Guy (04:11)
- Album: Reality
- Lyrics and music by David Bowie
Streets turn from walls
Empty smell, that's all
Weeds between buildings
Pictures on my hard drive
But I'm the luckiest guy
Not the loneliest guy
Steam on the floor
Shots by the mirror's frame
Clouds green and old
No Sign No nothing Now
But I'm the luckiest guy
Not the loneliest guy
All the pages that have turned
All the errors left unlearned, oh
But I'm the luckiest guy
Not the loneliest guy
In the world
Not me
Not me
09 Try Some, Buy Some (04:24)
- Album: Reality
- Lyrics and music by George Harrison
Way back in time
Someone said try some
I tried some
Now buy some
I bought some
Oh, ho
After a while
When I had tried them
Denied them
I opened my eyes and I saw you
Not a thing did I have
Not a thing did I see
'Till I called on your love
And your love came to me
Woh, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho
Woh, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho
Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho
Through my life
I've seen gray sky
Met big fry
Seen them die to get high
Oh, ho, ho
And when it seemed that I would
Always be lonely
I opened my eyes and I saw you
Not a thing did I feel
Not a thing did I know
'Till I called on your love
And your love sure did grow
Woh, ho, oh, ho, ho, ho
Woh, ho, ho, ho, oh, ho
Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho
Won't you try some?
Baby, won't you buy some?
Won't you try some?
Baby, won't you buy some?
Woh, woh, woh, ho, oh
Woh, woh, woh, ho, oh
Woh, woh, woh, oh
Woh, woh, woh, ho, oh
10 Reality (04:23)
- Album: Reality
- Lyrics and music by David Bowie
Tragic youth was looking young and sexy
The tragic youth was wearing tattered black jeans
Bearing arms and flooring all her mischief
The tragic youth was growing down on me
And I swear
Hoo, hoo
Yes, I swear
I feel the wall of silence separate us
I hear the morning junk, her wretched highs
I spin from Planet X to Planet Alpha
Struggling for reality
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
Woo, hoo
Ha, ha, ha, ha
Woo hoo
Hey, now my sight is failing in this twilight
Duh duh duh duh duh-duh duh-duh-duh
Now my death is more than just a sad song
Da duh duh duh duh-duh duh-duh-duh
And I swear
Hoo, hoo
Yes, I swear
Hoo, hoo
I still don't remember how this happened
I still don't get the 'wherefores' and the 'whys'
I look for scent and I get next to nothing
Hey, boy, welcome to reality
Ha, ha, ha, ha
Woo, hoo
I've been right, but I've been wrong
Now I'm back where I started from
Never looked over reality's shoulder
Ha, ha, ha, ha
Huh, ha, ha, ha
Woo, hoo
Huh, ha, ha
Woo, hoo
Wooh
12 Waterloo Sunset (03:27)
Dirty old river, must you keep rolling
Flowing into the night
People so busy, makes me feel dizzy
Taxi light shines so bright
But I don't need no friends
As long as I gaze on Waterloo sunset
I am in paradise
Every day I look at the world from my window
Chilly, chilly is the evening time
Waterloo sunset's fine
Terry meets Julie at Waterloo Station
Every Friday night
But I am so lazy, don't want to wander
I stay at home at night
But I don't feel afraid
As long as I gaze on Waterloo sunset
I am in paradise
Every day I look at the world from my window
Chilly, chilly is the evening time
Waterloo sunset's fine
Millions of people swarming like flies 'round Waterloo underground
But Terry and Julie cross over the river
Where they feel safe and sound
And they don't need no friends
As long as they gaze on Waterloo sunset
They are in paradise
Waterloo sunset's fine (Waterloo sunset's fine)
Waterloo sunset's fine (Waterloo sunset's fine)
Waterloo sunset's fine (Waterloo sunset's fine)
Waterloo sunset's fine
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Other reviews
By Dune Buggy
A star who wants to stop being a chameleon and wear the clothes of a valid musician eager to play and have fun.
In conclusion, Reality is a transitional album towards a future rock that hopefully will be less dull and cold.
By GrantNicholas
"A record of great class, something the White Duke has always accustomed us to."
"An example of how one can continue to write beautiful music even after many years of a glorious career."
