Bowie is content with his `Reality'

Songs reflect singer's lifestyle

September 18, 2003|By Howard Cohen, Knight Ridder/Tribune news.

Reality for David Bowie: He's a contented -- but busy -- family man. "Reality," his new CD, arrived in stores Sept. 16, a year after his last one. The man who fell to Earth and gave us Ziggy, the Thin White Duke and a plethora of personas is also gearing up for the October start of his first major world tour in a decade at age 56 -- 30 years or so after vowing to retire from the concert stage.

He's also going to perform many of his hits despite another pronouncement he may wish he never made: that one about never playing familiar songs such as "Modern Love," "Rebel Rebel" or "The Man Who Sold the World" again in concert.

So much for believing a rock star.

Despite a pretty decent present spent living in style with wife Iman and their 3-year-old daughter, Alexandra, in New York City, Bowie is no longer running from his past.

"I feel more confident in the writing now," he says on the telephone from their home. "In the early '90s, I didn't feel that confident about doing the old stuff again because it would be measured against whatever it was I was going to be writing and I didn't know if I still had it in me."

In the early '90s Bowie was in a rut that had lasted for at least 10 years. The '80s yielded only one critical favorite album, "Scary Monsters" (1980), and only one legitimate commercial smash, "Let's Dance," a 1983 collaboration with producer Nile Rodgers. Yet Bowie devotees and the critics recognize that this mainstream effort was the start of a dreadful run marked by forgettable projects such as "Tonight," "Never Let Me Down" and "Black Tie, White Noise." Even worse, the two ill-advised metal excursions with his offshoot group, Tin Machine.

Music from '70s landmarks such as "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars" and "Alladin Sane" would put that other stuff to shame, of course.

Revival began slowly

Bowie's revival began slowly with 1995's difficult, but oddly compelling "Outside," a reunion with Brian Eno who had collaborated on Bowie's acclaimed Berlin-era trilogy "Low," "Heroes" and "Lodger" in the late '70s.

His next release, 1997's "Earthling," found Bowie trend-hopping on the drum-'n'-bass bandwagon but it suggested that the artist was interested in remaining competitive. "hours ...," his final album of the 20th Century, proved he could still bait a convincing pop hook.

And then last year came "Heathen." The CD cracked the top 20, brought producer Tony Visconti back into the fold for the first time since "Scary Monsters," and earned Bowie his best reviews since "Scary Monsters."

With each listen, "Reality" feels stronger than "Heathen." That's two good ones in a row.

"As I've gotten more into the '90s and [now] I'm so happy with the way things have been going for me as a writer," Bowie says. "I now have no problem going back to the old stuff and featuring it. Honestly, I feel the new material, in its own way, with its own character, has a strength that balances well with the old material. Even though I seem to be the one that changes all the time, actually there is a signature style to my work and I think it does come through in the writing. That is definitely the case with `Reality' and `Heathen."'

If "Low," "Heroes" and "Lodger" represented Berlin, "Reality" is Bowie's New York record. Lyrics touch on Battery Park, Ludlow, Grand and Riverside streets and the Hudson and the album resonates with a big-city drive. New York is home for this British rocker; it's where he says he now has spent more time living than in any other city.

Downtown New York affords a sense of "anonymity" Bowie says he relishes. "It's so easy to be a person here, a regular guy. The family and I have no problem going out and eating."

"Downtown was always mythological," Bowie says. "This is where the beatniks were and the Beat poets and the early songwriters and the Dylans and jazz started here as well. It's a musician writer's dream to go and live in the Village."

"Reality" is ultimately the realization of that early fascination. "Reality" is also a departure from much of Bowie's work in that there is no underlying concept.

"I see it as nothing more than a collection of songs I wrote immediately after leaving the road after doing the Five Boroughs Tour last year," he explains.

Reflects lifestyle

The songs' upbeat outlook is also a result of Bowie's current lifestyle. His son, born Zowie Bowie (and now answering to the more reasonable Duncan Jones), is 31 and a filmmaker in England. The two are close but Bowie acknowledges that he wasn't able to take "full responsibility" in rearing his son at the time.

Playing the rock star game, especially in the '70s when major artists released two, sometimes three, albums per year and toured behind them, didn't afford Bowie much time to play papa. Personal excesses also acted as a distraction to traditional child-rearing.

Somehow, Bowie came through. He looks younger than his years, his deep voice sounds clear. He's giddy about being a parent again.

"One measures everything by the events of the last couple years in New York City, but it behooves me to keep an optimistic bent because of my daughter more than anything else. I brought her into the world and want her to have the most fulfilled life possible and there is no point in having a dad talking only in negatives. So there's a sense of responsibility."

Bowie will reveal a secret, though.

"To be quite honest, I don't feel particularly positive or optimistic about things," he says, "but I try to redirect that energy."