Poughkeepsie Journal - August 19th 2003

Bowie delivers again on latest release

Legendary rocker plays Chance tonight.

By John W. Barry


David Bowie's new release, 'Reality,' will please staunch Bowie fans as well as new ones.

Dancing downbeats and electric guitars that hiss like a blowtorch mark the four corners of David Bowie's newest album, 'Reality.' Co-producer Tony Visconti weaves bass lines in and out of melodies the way a spider might spin a web. And drummer Sterling Campbell strikes hard at the listener's heart and soul while managing to never pierce the surface of a song.

Delivering a cross between gospel and soul, rhythm and blues and rock 'n roll is Gail Ann Dorsey of Uptown Kingston, Bowie's longtime touring bass player who sings backup on five tracks on Reality.

Bowie's 26th studio album contains textures and maintains a direction that is quite different than Heathen, which was recorded at Allaire Studios in Shokan and released last year.

The new disc will be featured prominently tonight, when Bowie brings his band to The Chance in Poughkeepsie for a historic gig at a historic club with a capacity of just 588 people. Bowie's concert will offer both performers and audience members an up-close view of each other - quite a shift from larger venues that Bowie and his band have performed at in the past, including a 90,000 seat stadium in Sweden.

Tickets for tonight's concert are completely sold out. They were only made available to members of Bowienet, the online community that the British rocker operates from www.davidbowie.com

If you are a Bowie fan but weren't lucky enough to get a ticket to tonight's show, then keep an eye out for a Bowie concert that is likely to be staged sometime in the near future at Madison Square Garden. Or go buy Reality after it is released on Sept. 16 by ISO/Columbia Records.

"I love the new album," Dorsey, who will perform tonight with Bowie, said during a telephone interview last week. "It really rocks."

Rockers on Reality include 'Looking For Water' and 'Never Get Old,' on which a guitar is treated like a percussion instrument and the bass bleeds.

Bowie's cover of a George Harrison, song, 'Try Some, Buy Some,' is a genuine keeper that will immediately catch the ear of diehard Bowie fans and Bowie novices alike.

'Days' maintains an edge that is tender and trimmed with acoustic guitar and light percussion. And 'The Loneliest Guy In the World' and 'Bring Me The Disco King' are soulful songs that were built around the piano playing of Mike Garson and capture the bottom-line Bowie to which any music lover can stake a claim.


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