During his scuffling days, David Bowie punted himself as a songwriter, his first big hit coming when Peter Noone scored with ‘Oh! You Pretty Things’, which kicks off this latest collection of cutting edge artists covering Bowie songs, Brooklyn trio Au Revoir Simone sculpting a gentle female-sung acoustic ballad version which stays true to the song’s melodic essence. Drew Brown does similar to ‘Sweet Thing’, highlighting one of Bowie’s more under-rated gems. Elsewhere, it’s a mixed bag from names including Mathew Dear [sounding like Tommy Cooper doing ‘Sound & Vision’], Richard Walters & David ‘Faultine’ Kosten [‘Be My Wife’], Chicken Lips’ Andy Meacham as Emperor Machine doing a great job of reconstructing ‘Repetition’ a low-flying night-crawler, Tokyo’s Susumu Yokata [‘Golden Years’] and the mighty Carl Craig teaming up with Zoos Of Berlin to make the welcomely-unexpected move of turning ‘Looking for Water’ from 2003’s Reality album into a deep electro-funk workout. This would probably appeal to Bowie, who has always stated his desire to be taken seriously on current work. What he’ll make of Milwaukee laptop lunatic Leo Minor’s manic take on ‘Ashes To Ashes’ is anyone’s guess. Possibly closest to Bowie’s constant desire for the new and unknown is The Thing’s free jazz assault around ‘Life On Mars’, which features snatches of the melody on double bass amidst a sea of dissonance and effects. Halfway through a mouse exposes himself.
4 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Kris Needs
