The Rise and Fall of "Time takes a cigarette, puts It m your mouth/Then you pull on your Ziggy Stardust and the finger, then another finger, then Spiders from Mars your cigarette." But there is a way David Bowie out of the bleakness, and it's real­ RCA LSP-4702 ized with Bowie's Lennon-like BY RlCHARD CROMELIN scream: "You're not alone, giro­ Upon the release ·of David Bow­ me your hands/You're wonderful, ie's most thematically ambitious, gimme your hands." It rolls· on to a musically coherent album to date, tumultuous, impassioned climax, the record in which he unites the and though the mood isn't exactly major strengths of his previous sunny, a desperate, possessed op- : work and comfortably reconciles timism asserts itself as genuine, himself to some apparently inevit­ and a new point from which to able problems, we should all say a climb is firmly established. brief prayer that his fortunes are · Side one is certainly less chal­ not made to rise and fall with the lenging, but no less enjoyable from fate of the "drag-rock" syndrome­ a musical standpoint. Bowie's that thing that's manifesting itself favorite themes-Mortality ("Five in the self-conscious quest fo; · Years," "Soul Love"), the neces­ decadence which is all the rage at sity of reconciling oneself to Pain the moment in trendy Hollywood, (those two and "It Ain't Easy"), in the more contrived· area of Alice the New Order vs. the Old in sci-fi Cooper's presentation, and, way garments ("Starman")-are pre­ down in the pits, in such grotes­ sented with a consistency, a con­ queries as Queen, Nick St. Nicho­ fidence, and a strength in both las' trio of feathered, sequined style and technique that were never Ba rbie dolls. And which is bound fully reali1.ed in the lashing 771e to get worse. Man Who Sold the World or the For although Lady Stardust uneven and too often stringy Hzmky himself has probably had more to Dory. do with androgony's current fash­ Bowie initiates "Moonage Day­ dream" on side one with a riveting ionableness in rock than :my other-g ).;'~ l!ldiVIdual, he has never made h1sa: ' f ,: bellow of "I'm an alligator" that's sexuality anything more than a:t1 delightful in itself but which also completely natural and integral::;: has a lot to do with what Rise and part of his public self, refusing to , with the necessary depth, a verbal spot-light of a deserted theater in of' Bowie's more adventuresome Fall . .. is all about. Because in it lower it to the level of gimmick but acumen that is now more eco­ the darkest hour of the night. imagery, some of which is really there's the perfect touch of self­ never excluding it from his image nomic and · no longer clouded by "Star" springs along handsome­ the nazz: "So we bitched about his mockery, a lusty but forlorn bra­ and craft. To do either would in­ storms of psychotic, frenzied mu­ ly as he confidently tells us that "I fans and should we crush his sweet vado that is the first hint of the cen­ ·volve an artistically fatal degree of sic, and, finally, a thorough com­ could make it all worthwhile as a hands?" tral . duality and of the rather compromise. mand of the elements of rock & rock & roll star." Here Bowie out­ David !Bowie's supreme mo­ spine-tingling questions that rise Which is not to say . that he roll. It emerges as a series of con­ lines. the dazzling side of the coin: ment as a rock & roller is "Suf­ from it: Just how big and tough is hasn't had a great time with it. cise vignettes designed strictly for "So inviting-so enticing to play fragette City," a relentless, spmt­ your rock & roll star? How much of Flamboyance and outrageousness the ear. the part." His singing is a delight, ed Velvet Underground - styled him is bluff and how much inside are inseparable from that campy Side two is the soul of the al­ full of mocking intonations and rush of d ,omping guitars. When is very frightened and helpless? image of his, both in the Bacall bum, a kind of psychological backed way down in the mix with that second. layer of guitarroars in And is this what comes of our hap­ and Garbo stages and in his new equivalent of Lola vs. Powerman excessive, marvelously designed on the second verse you're bound pily dubbing someone as "bigger butch, street-crawler appearance that delves deep into a matter "Ooooohh Ia Ia la"'s and such that to be a goner, and that priceless than life''? that has him looking like some­ close to David's heart: What's it are both a joy to listen to and part little break at the end-a sudden David Bowie has pulled off his thing out of the darker pages of all about to be a rock & roll star? of the parodic undercurrent that cut to silence from a mighty cres­ complex task with consummate City of Night. It's all tied . up with It begins with the slow, fluid runs through the entire alhum. cendo, Bowie's voice oozing out as style, with some great rock & roll the one aspect of David Bowie that "Lady Stardust," a song in which "Hang on to Yourself' is both a a brittle, charged "Oooohh Whani (the Spiders are Mick Ronson on sets him a part from both the ex­ currents of frustration and triumph kind warning and an irresistible Bam Thank You Ma'am!" follow­ guitar and piano, Mick Woodman­ ploiters of transvestitism and writ- _ merge in an overriding desolation. erotic rocker (especially the hand­ ed hard by two raspy guitar. b4rsts sey on drums and Trevor Bolder er/performers of comparable tal~ For though "He was alright, the clapping chorus), and apparently that suck' you back into the surg­ on bass; they're good), with all the ent-his theatricality. · band was altogether" (sic), still Bowie has decided that since he ing meat of the chorus-will surely wit and passion required to give it The news here is that he's man­ "People stared at the makeup on just can't avoid cramming too many make your tllm do somersaults. And sufficient dimension and with a aged to get that sensibility down his face/ Laughed at his long black syllables into his lines, he'll simply as for our Star, well, now "There's deep sense of humanity that regu­ on vinyl, not with an attempt at hair, his animal grace." The per­ ma ster the rapid-fire, tongue-twist­ only room for one and here she larly emerges from behind the Star pseudo-visualism (which, as Mr. vading bittersweet melancholy that ing phrasing that his failing re­ comes, here she comes." facade. The important thing is that Cooper has shown, just doesn't cut wells out of the contradictions and quires. "Ziggy Stardust" has a But the price of playing the part despite the formidable nature of the it), but through employment of · that Bowie beautifully captures faint rihg of The Man Who Sold must be paid, and we're precipitous­ undertaking, he hasn't sacrificed a broadly mannered styles and de­ with one of the album's more di­ the World to it-stately, measured, ly tumbled into the quietly terrify­ bit of entertainment value for the liveries, a boggling variety of vocal rect vocals conjures the picture of fuzzily electric. A tale of intra­ ing despair of "Rock & Roll Sui­ sake of message. nuances that provide the. program . a painted harlequin under the group jealousies, it features some cide." The broken singer drones: I'd give it at least a 99. .