Bowie Back With "Reality"

"It rocks quite hard," says David Bowie, describing his new CD, Reality, due in September. Despite the laughter that follows, he's not kidding. Aided by longtime producer Tony Visconti, the ever-evolving rocker has turned up the volume on his twenty-fifth album, which includes a loud stomp through the Modern Lovers' classic "Pablo Picasso."

"I've always wanted to do it," Bowie says of the song. "It's just a treat. On Heathen (2002), I did a piece by the Pixies, called 'Cactus.' 'Pablo Picasso,' at least the way we've done it, occupies a similar place on the album."

There are a few departures -- "Bring Me the Disco King" is a spare piece performed by Bowie with keyboardist Mike Garson, and "Try Some, Buy Some" is a relatively faithful remake of an obscure Ronnie Spector/George Harrison collaboration. "At that time," Bowie says, "it was the only single by a solo artist that actually had all four Beatles on it. The Beatles had kind of disbanded, but they all loved Ronnie, and it was George Harrison producing it, so they all crept in and different times to put parts on it. We were pretty true to the original arrangement, but the overall atmosphere is somewhat different. It's a dense piece.

"[Reality] doesn't have any particular through line," he continues. "It's not a conceptualized piece in any way. It's very diversified. It comes from having an incredibly diverse fondness for so many different kind of musics. I've always tried to bridge different kinds of music -- or sometimes jam them together -- when maybe they'd seem uneasy bedfellows."

"I think it's a very good album," he says. "I don't want to talk it up too much, because it's immodest."

Bowie will support the album on a world tour that kicks off in Europe in October, and will also hit the U.S., Australia and Japan.

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'Great Gatsby' Is a Crushing Disappointment
• 
  TV Why You Should Watch 'Happy Endings'
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry | 1984

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter