LIVE NASSAU COLISEUM '76

What a fun album! The most exciting DB live collection you can find, in my opinion. The man himself is in great voice & in an even better mood, and his band simply smoke. Thanks to master drummer Dennis Davis (who does wonders throughout) the climactic third part of 'Station to Station' sounds incredibly funky, and let's not forget lead guitarist Stacey Heydon, who joined Bowie just for this tour and was never heard of thereafter. Who needs Earl Slick when you can have Heydon? In the hands of this particular band, 'Stay' sounds about three times as exciting as the original studio version, and Bowie's performance of 'Word on a Wing' (which I always skip when listening to STATION TO STATION) finally acquires the depth it so sorely needed. It's a pity the 1976 live band never attempted 'Wild is the Wind'; I would have loved to hear Carlos Alomar's elegant guitar stylistics, which also dominated the delightful 'Golden Years' - another '75/'76 tune that's missing here... Alomar seems to be taking a back seat; during the set's highlights (such as 'Queen Bitch', 'Panic in Detroit' and 'Diamond Dogs') it's Stacey Heydon's heavily distorted guitar that stands out. Tony Kaye gets to play the piano part that was devised for 'Life on Mars?' by his eventual successor in Yes - wonder how he felt about that? As you can imagine, he leaves out most of Rick Wakeman's rococo flourishes, and generally speaking his keyboard accompaniments are subtle but highly effective.

Are there any problems with this collection? Well, I guess you could claim that 'TVC15' goes on for a little too long (though it features a splendid little bass solo by George Murray) and the same probably goes for 'The Jean Genie', the final number... (And if I have to be perfectly honest, I should add I could never stand 'Rebel Rebel'.) But let's be grateful for what we've got! Was Bowie still in the throes of addiction when this was recorded? If so, you just can't tell; he sounds like a man who's fully in his element.

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