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David Bowie once complained that the Bowie biography books were "a bloody cottage industry". Recently, there have been several major fantastic books of photography devoted to him from Sukita, Mick Rock and a compilation "Moonage Daydream". If you are a fan, you will want to have this one.
Currently, at the Victoria and Albert Museum is an exhibition which is the basis for this book. I have not seen the exhibition, and I will probably not, so ordering this in advance was the way to go. It is spectacular. Much of the beautiful photography is a chronology of the 50 years of Bowie's stage clothes dressed on various headless mannequins. Interspersed with this are various sections devoted to the album covers, original penned lyrics, proof sheets of different photo sessions and a long running commentary, with quotes from Bowie. Filler pages of one white lyric on a black background, or one phrase in black type on a white background occur, but we must leave the book designer with some discretion.
I have not read the whole thing, and may not. Having been a die hard fan since I first passed a record store in Upper Darby, London in August, 1972 and was dazzled by about 50 copies of Ziggy Stardust hanging by threads in the window, I have kept pretty close to everything Bowie for 41 years now. So most of what other people have to say about Bowie, I most probably already know. And sometimes, the history is not always accurate. As for the various interpretations in this book, the more words are written about someone, the more fascinating they may become. But, if you weren't there watching Bowie for the last 41 years, you missed something tremendous.
Ultimately, however, this book is really a fashion book. The photos allow you to accurately measure how many pleats were in the 1978 Sailor costume , or how zigzag stitching with white thread on black vinyl created the lines in the famous Aladdin Sane opening costume . This book will supplement any good collection of Bowie photo books, especially the recent "Bowie Style" which is superb. If you love Bowie, you'll get it.
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