RIP DB

On this day last year I sat at this desk, with this computer, staring at something I had originally placed in this room for decorative purposes. The item in question was a gift many years ago from my twin brother and it was a vinyl record of David Bowies 'Low'. The previous Christmas our relatives had noticed my brother and I talk about (and act upon) our love of music with increasing frequency and as a result my auntie had asked me to give her the titles of two CDs which I might like to receive as Christmas presents. I spent days considering rare Japanese imports, box sets and bootlegs before deciding upon the two final candidates.

Vault (The Greatest Hits) - Def Leppard

Low - David Bowie

Now, before you say it, I won't hear a bad word against Sheffields finest boyband and besides, this is about Bowie so you may cease the head shaking.

I received the requested CDs gratefully. Def Leppard I loved but I devoured Low. Repeatedly. Then I found 'Heroes', 'Lodger', 'Scary Monsters' and 'Outside'. This, of course, all ties in with discovering Nine Inch Nails and at that point in time Bowie was just still in his industrial phase and from where I stood, he seemed to be Trent Reznors dad. Reznor learning it all, looking for approval and better still, finding it.

I was a budding bassist then, learning how to play by figuring out and listening to various records. Playing along to 'Appetite For Destruction', 'Slippery When Wet' and a bootleg of Bowies 50th birthday party gig is how I learned the bass. I was also in the midst of learning my rock history and was drawn to self destructive characters so Bowies Berlin phase and ultimate redemption fascinated me. That fascination still continues.

When 'Where Are We Now?' was released I formed an obsession all over again, finding a new depth in the nostalgic nature of it, a very un-Bowie thing to do. He wasn't trying to fit in or be radical, he was being David Bowie, someone he had never truly been. The rest of the record I could take or leave, it wasn't musically adventurous enough to be something other than a habitual release for Bowie.

Then 'Blackstar', about which there is nothing that I can add to what has already been said. It could well become my favourite Bowie album, if it isn't already. I devoured a Bowie album for the first time since 'Low' and my obsession reached new heights, or depths. Then I woke on this day 365 years ago to the news that he had passed. I won't use this as a way to make his passing about me, I'm more interested in celebrating his art and his mind.

He was always amazing, in the true sense of the word, to me at least. but to listen to his latter work now feels like I'm by his bed as he confesses everything. It's different. It feels more mine somehow. Posthumously, his work feels more like a gift to the world. Not that we deserve it.

I sat here, 365 days ago and I wept. Strange for me but perhaps, in a way, I was drawn to the sadness of it all. It was a grey day, weather-wise. No sun to be seen.

It was 7.30 am when I found out.

At 3.50pm that day the clouds lifted and the sun came out.

I figured Bowie had returned home safely.

RIP DB

Herb x