The Words & Music Of David Bowie
by James E Perone

Extended essay on Bowie’s musical relevance

Though clocking in at 200 pages, only 150 comprise criticism of Bowie the musician and wordsmith. The rest is given over to notes and a selected discography ignoring the singles “difficult to find in their original format in the digital age”, which is surely the very reason such things should be detailed; but then to be fair, this isn’t Perone’s task, and it’s been done before. In giving Bowie’s original recordings the critical theory approach, Perone has an odd reliance on All Music Guide reviews, when there’s a wealth of source material available to draw from. Granted, it’s usually just to show opposing views from the author’s own but, in limiting himself this way, Perone’s book comes off more like an extended dissertation, rather than a scholarly, in-depth look at Bowie’s words and music. The author obviously has a good grasp on his subject and offers many interesting insights. A slightly repetitive writing style (opening most new sections with a reference to the fallacy of calling Bowie “rock’s chameleon”; constant reminders of Bowie’s avoiding the word “love”, especially in relation to Low album track Be My Wife) presented as a one-voiced monologue doesn’t make this essential, though it’s an enjoyable crash course for the ravers.

ISBN 0275992454

Reviewed by Jason Draper
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