Dez's Top Rock/Pop Artists, #28: TIE, Stephen Stills and David Bowie

Ties are always kind of cheesy in these lists. But this is one of only two ties on this one, so I don’t do it too often.

Stephen Stills: So Little to Show For It

The majority of Stephen Stills’s work seriously sucks. It is uninspired, clichéd, lazy work. His voice has been shot for at least the last 20 years. At this point, it is little more than an incomprehensible grumble. Much more often than not, he phones it in. Yet his ego is monstrous, an ailment he shares with comrades Crosby and Nash. They only released two records of real significance, yet consider themselves amongst the elites of rock and roll. Stills has released entire albums that are embarrassments, ever listened to Illegal Stills? Thoroughfare Gap? Or the worst of all, Right By You? So…why is he here? For a brief span of time, the late 60’s into the early 70’s, he was as good as anybody. When he does hit the right stride, there is nobody who can get me more excited about what they are doing musically. Along with Lindsey Buckingham, Stills is the most exciting and talented acoustic rock guitar player I’ve ever come across. When his voice was right, it was one of the most expressive and earthy voices in rock. Stills is the poster child of my “80 Minute Test.” Give me one 80 minute CD, and I could fill it with 80 minutes from Stephen Stills’s career that would stand up against 80 minutes from anybody else. Stephen’s problem is what comes after those 80 minutes.


ABOVE: I may have posted this before, but it is worth repeating. Just listen and watch that f'ing guitar playing.

What to Listen To: Crosby, Stills & Nash’s reputation far exceeds their actual output. But debut Crosby, Stills & Nash deserves its status as a classic of the era, and Stills was primarily responsible for its construction and production. Follow-up effort Déjà vu (with Neil Young coming aboard) is also a must own. As far as his spotty solo career, it started off strong. Stephen Stills and Stephen Stills 2 both have some great tunes on them, and his double album with the shortlived band Manassas entitled Manassas is Stills at the peak of his powers, successfully diving into many genres, including rock, latin, country, bluegrass, folk and blues. While flawed, Live from 1975 features some stunning moments, especially on the solo acoustic side.

David Bowie: Dance the Blues



My friend ANCIANT is the real Bowie expert, but I count myself as a serious fan (obviously, if he graces my Top 30). Much has been written regarding his stellar 70’s output, and since I want these essays to address the less obvious, I’d like to talk about my favorite Bowie album, 1983’s Let’s Dance. (I recognized that it is far from his best record, but it is my personal favorite). It is an often dismissed record in his discography, but it was a huge hit when it came out. First and foremost, Bowie made a great dance record, fitting comfortably in the New Wave early 80’s but also with some shadings of his Young Americans blue-eyed soul persona. Even if you discard the three crappy tracks (“Without You,” “Ricochet” and “Shake It”), there is so much to love in the remaining five. “Modern Love,” “China Girl” (co-written with Iggy Pop, Bowie’s version blows away Iggy’s 1977 version…”I’m feeling tragic like I’m Marlon Brando” may be my single favorite rock lyric of all time) and the title track were all big hits at the time, and all are distinctive and memorable. His up tempo reworking of “Cat People” bests his original version from a year before, and the silky smooth cover of Metro’s “Criminal World” is also excellent.

But what makes the record so interesting to me is the collaboration with Nile Rodgers (of Chic) producing and playing rhythm guitar and Stevie Ray Vaughan playing lead guitar. Bowie had been impressed with SRV while watching him at what was a minor version of Dylan’s Newport gig, at least for the blues world. So he grabbed him for the record. SRV was a supercharged blues virtuoso, but didn’t really play much else outside of his comfort zone. Which is why his playing is so interesting here, because this is most definitely not a blues record (despite Bowie’s command to “put on your red shoes and dance the blues” in the title track.) Vaughan, usually so sure of himself in his own element, struggles to fit his playing into these songs. And that struggle is fascinating to hear. Then you throw in Rodgers’s funky rhythm playing under that. It is a rather disjointed but interesting guitar sound throughout the record.

What To Listen To: Again, ANCIANT will take issue with some of my claims here I’m sure, but I would recommend most of his 70’s output. Bowie boldly jumped genre to genre in the 70’s, and really mastered all of them. You can’t go wrong with Hunky Dory, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, Station To Station and ‘Heroes’ especially. For some reason, I am a huge fan of the coked-out Diamond Dogs. ANICIANT will tell you that Bowie’s collaboration with Brian Eno, Low, is the greatest record ever recorded. It is pretty awesome. Obviously from my essay, I love Let’s Dance. The two disc Best of Bowie does a great job collecting his most famous songs.