David Bowie: A life By Dylan Jones

 David Bowie: A life
 By Dylan Jones



Least Favorite: This is my least favorite type of biography. You know the kind, the author attempts to tell a story through interviews with various folks. Then you end up with names in bold followed by a sentence or maybe a paragraph of what they had to say on an issue then on to the next person whose name is in bold.


Least Effect: To me, this is the least effective way to tell a story and Bowie has a story to tell. I find reading this so disjointed it ends up ruining the flow of a book and its story.


Enjoyable Stuff: Sure there are some fun stories to read but as I said, it’s all disjointed. Start and stop. It was fun to read Thomas Dolbys’ recollections of backing Bowie at Live Aid. It seems Bowie wasn’t concerned at all when he walked onto the Wembly stage following Queen.


Rockin Wembly: It’s true that Bowie and the band, led by Dolby, rocked the house that night. It’s also true that Queen produced the most historic set of music and the crowd was already hot when he took to the stage.


Notable: Yup, there are many famous names in this book and you can’t miss them because they are all in BOLD! If you are someone who reads liner notes on album sleeves, or maybe you read the wiki, you might be familiar with some of those names. There are also plenty of names no one has ever heard of, except their loved ones of course.   


Mick Ronson: Ronson might be as responsible for Bowie's early success as Bowie was. There are some nice insights here but just as I begin to read a story it gets broken up by someone else whose name is emboldened. Sure they might have something cool to add but it always throws me off.

 

 I’m not sure Ronson gets enough credit for Bowies’ early sound and development as an artist. Is there a Mick Ronson biography?


I Get It: I understand why they write books like these but I hate them. Sure there are often great nuggets of information but the stories being told could be done better. It could have been done better by having it be a more traditional biography. Let the stories talk.

 

Agreed: Sure there will be plenty of folks who love this style of writing a story. For some, it might even be easier to read in that manner. 


I tried that style of having bold “names” if you will prior to each of the paragraphs thinking it might prove my point. Nope. I think it actually looks good. Go figure.


David Bowie fans should buy this book. Fans should love it and find lots of great info in it. I don’t dislike the information just the style of the presentation.

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