David Bowie - Musikladen Extra (1978)
A recent upload from the indispensable Nacho Video YouTube channel, which is absolutely stacked with impeccably restored moments in David Bowie history. This German television performance has been around the block and then some in the internet era, but it's never looked or sounded so good — and this version has a few un-broadcast numbers. Thank you, Nacho!
Bowie is positively radiant throughout, singing beautifully and seeming to be having a great time onstage. His band — the same musicians as on the Stage live album — aren't just extremely killer players; they've also got extremely killer looks, kind of like they've been beamed in from several different sci-fi flicks. Adrian Belew is a spaceship mechanic in an Alien sequel; Carlos Alomar a replicant from Blade Runner; Simon House in the Flash Gordon house band, etc. (Bowie himself is just a strange angel sent from heaven.)
The high-point comes early on, with an all-time-great rendition of "Heroes" — a then-brand-new song, but already every inch a classic. For me, "Heroes" never loses its weird tragic grandeur, no matter how many times I hear it (or have to hear a watered-down cover version).
Here's Bowie expert Chris O'Leary summing it up in his highly recommended Ashes to Ashes: "Until its last verse, "Heroes" is abstract, its setting could be anywhere, like the empty backdrop used in Bowie's promo film. Then the lovers are revealed to be by the Wall, the guns firing above them as Bowie sings in a sustained scream. Are the guards shooting at them, or are they so insignificant the guards don't notice them while trying to pick off a Wall jumper? (And which side of the Wall is the shame on?) The Wall verse is as much a fantasy as being king for a day or swimming like dolphins. It's the dream of someone wishing his empty days and tawdry love affair had nobility, looking for dignity under tyranny."
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