I realize I’ve already posted my largely-complaint-driven review of the soon-to-vanish David Bowie Is exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum (read that here, should you care), but I heard something a few days ago that reminded me of something I’d forgotten to mention. So, I’m going to mention it now.
But let me preface this by first saying that I have a pathological distaste for the term “mashup.” I can’t tell you why, but it bothers the Hell out of me. Montage, Collage, Hybrid, Amalgam, Bouillabaisse, Fusion… there’s a veritable glossary of terms one could employ before resorting to fuckin’ mashup. Like mic drops and slow clapping, it really needs to be retired with all speed. Help me with this.
Anyway, while I believe I suggested that the amount of information on offer during the course of David Bowie Is frequently bordered on the overwhelming, one aspect I was particularly struck by was the music. Now, obviously, an exhibit devoted to David Bowie demands discerning representation of the great man’s work, but trying to divine what select tracks to cull from the sprawling Bowie canon (let alone what to omit) would surely be a Sophie’s Choice. To present the widest spectrum of music to serve as interstitial content between specific points in the show, longtime Bowie producer/collaborator Tony Visconti was recruited to compile a montage of suitable Bowie songs, a task which turned from a spartan three track concept into a --- WAIT FOR IT -- mega-“mashup” that featured elements from 49 different compositions, meticulously woven with reverence and subtlety into a single, compelling piece.
More sophisticated that simply a “Stars on 45”-style medley, Visconti’s Bowie Bouillabaisse (hear how much better that sounds?) discreetly wove together different lyrics, refrains, riffs, choruses, middle-eights and flourishes that touched on virtually every point of the catalog. The end results exuded the same reverent reimagining as on the Love remix album from 2006 for the Beatles. Both enjoyable as a single work and as spot-the-ingredient puzzle, it really intrigued me.
Evidently, I was not alone in the is appreciation. Studio 360 devoted a segment, sitting down with Visconti to walk listeners through the process of compilation. You can hear that compelling podcast here:
I was truly hoping that end of it, they’d say the montage would be available for separate purchase somewhere, but so far… no dice.
Also, I couldn’t help but think about this, the whole time…
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