February 16 - I Can't Read

So I sat up watching the Grammys last night, and I watched Lady GaGa's tribute to David Bowie. I was very excited about this, partly because I had watched her rendition of the Star Spangled Banner before the Super Bowl, and I was blown away. However, her tribute, while having its moments, was disappointing. Nile Rodgers is a great guitarist for pop and funk, but he struggled with more traditional rock, and GaGa herself was great when she inserted her own personality into the music, but fell completely flat when she tried mimicking Bowie. Ziggy Stardust and Suffragette City pretty much sucked, but her soulful rendition of Heroes could have been very interesting had it been a little more fully formed (and maybe with someone other than Nile Rodgers on guitar, who shone on Fashion, Fame, and Let's Dance, but fell flat on Heroes).

All this made me want to post yet another Bowie song. They will keep coming this year, but this one is from one of the Bowie eras that are kept more quiet: His stint in Tin Machine. It was in Tin Machine he really developed the relationship with Reeves Gabrels, who played guitar with him for about a decade. The song I Can't Read is an underrated gem from the first Tin Machine album, and I like it even better on the soundtrack to Ang Lee's movie The Ice Storm. I believe it is a very fitting song for a great visionary artist!