David Bowie RIP

The melancholy mood that has affected 2016 so far continues, with the death of David Bowie confirmed this morning.

David Bowie was an early interpreter of the work of Jacques Brel in English, at the height of his Ziggy Stardust pop star fame,  performing both My Death live and the track Amsterdam as a B side of a single from his Pin Ups album.

It would be impossible to imagine a comparable pop star from today even considering releasing material as startling as this.





Bowie was apparently influenced by Scott Walker, whose English language covers of Brel popularised his work to a massive anglophone audience, and for many these remain the definitive versions of the songs.

Where Walker may have been among the first, Bowie was certainly among the finest interpreters of Brel, his version of My Death to these ears surpassing the original. Bowie combines theatricality and vulnerability in the song, while never losing its bleak poetic heart.

Meanwhile, Amsterdam holds its bawdy charms in the hands of Bowie, its themes perfectly in keeping with his early 70s persona.

Ziggy Stardust was of course influenced by the troubled rock 'n' roll star Vince Taylor, who underwent an apparent messianic breakdown on stage, while at the time a massive star in France.



Prior to the commercial success of the early 70s, Bowie was heavily involved in contemporary theatre, studying mime with a teacher influenced by Marcel Marceau.

Berlin rather than Paris may have been the European city that Bowie was associated with the most,but even during the recording of one of his most famous tracks he kept his francophone fans happy, with a recording of the song Heroes in French.

Bowie was a massive star in France as he was elsewhere, his 80s style particularly influencing the Paris club scene. While very much the quintessential Englishman, Bowie's music and style left a massive influence on France.

Jac Berrocal: Rock 'n' Roll Station

The song Rock 'n' Roll Station really deserved to be regarded as a classic of the genre.

The track is by French musician Jac Berrocal, who said that he originally wanted to have Lou Reed performing the vocals.

Berrocal, a jazz trumpeter, has worked across the experimental fringes of a variety of genres from avant garde to rock and roll.

The vocals were eventually performed by Vince Taylor, a British rock 'n' roll singer who found success in France in the 1950s and early to mid 1960s.

Taylor was troubled by mental illness, his eventual breakdown in the mid 60s apparently inspiring David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust character.

Taylor continued to perform occasionally in the 70s and 80s, and his best-known song outside France is probably brand New Cadillac, as covered by the Clash on their London Calling album.

He recorded Rock 'n' Roll Station in 1976 with Berrocal, and it appears on Berrocal's Parallèles album. Taylor died in 1991, living in Switzerland.

The song was covered by Nurse with Wound, who included Berrocal on their list of influential (but for the most part unknown) artists on their Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella debut album from 1979. The list became something of a collector's guide to obscue and outsider musical acts, and included other French acts like Magma as well as more widely recognised acts like the Velvet Underground, the Residents and Frank Zappa.

The track itself comes across like a half-remembered dream about a 1950s film. Fragments and phrases, cut up and rearranged into new meanings.

Having Taylor on vocals is a perfect choice of vocalist.

Everything is possible. Chouette! Do you remember?