Bowie: A Biography - JFK247

the instruments bleed, the background vocals croak
and David’s voice, still tentative and thinner than it
would soon become, strains and strains to sound
big, black and experienced. “Liza Jane” nonetheless
possesses a crucial rock ’n’ roll ingredient: swagger.
One begins to sing along with the “Hey … Liza”
chorus within seconds. The press release issued
with the single heralds it as a “beaty, action packed
disc.” Not far off, but, as history would soon bear out,
not yet enough.
Possibly much more interesting to Bowie-ists is
the B side, “Louie Louie Go Home,” recorded during
the same seven-hour session at Decca’s West
Hampstead studios in the spring of 1964. Although it
is technically a cover of an homage to a cover (the
King Bees doing Paul Revere and the Raiders
name-checking the Kingsmen’s totemic version of
“Louie, Louie”), it’s valuable, as you can actually
listen to David playing with his voice, experimenting
as he goes, hitting weird high notes that will show up
a decade later on “Young Americans” and “Golden
Years.”
For some odd reason all of David’s would-be hit
singles up until the very late sixties have superior B
sides. It’s almost as if they were chosen by people
who had absolutely no idea what he was truly
capable of creating … and they probably were. Still,
the press releases are priceless. One informs: “He
dislikes Adams apples, and lists as his interests
Baseball, American Football and collecting Boots.
Davie Jones has all it takes to get to the show