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Rating: 
Summary: This book does not live up to its title
Review: As a Bowie fan, I know quite a few stories behind Bowie songs. Unfortunately, this book tells very few of them. The title is a misnomer for what is actually another annotated discography to rival with Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray's "David Bowie, An Illustrated Record" (which, having been published in 1981, covers exactly the same period) and David Buckley's "The Complete Guide To The Music of David Bowie". Also, why did the writer choose to draw the line in 1980? As much as I agree this is the most important period of David's output, twenty years have gone by which shouldn't have been ignored. By the way, what the author describes as "intake of breath" at the beginning of "The Bewlay Brothers" has always sounded like David smoking a joint to me!
Rating: 
Summary: It makes you think....for good or for worse
Review: Before I even owned this book, I knew it didn't deserve 5 stars. A David Bowie book written in 1999 should go a little further than 1980's Scary Monsters! Many Bowie fans will argue that Scary Monsters was his last good album. This statement is prejudice and wrong. Chris Welch needs to realize that 3 pages covering nearly 20 years of music does not earn a book 5 stars. If the publishing would have been delayed a few months, Welch could have written another sentence about "Hours...". However, Welch makes the reader think about things that would usually be overlooked by other biographers. Yet sometimes Chris can get carried away. (My main reason for giving it 3 stars.) For instance, the review of "Fame" is out of control. Now, "Fame" is a great song and deserves a lengthy review since it's David Bowie and John Lennon together. Unfortunately, this certain review is filled with garbage and nonsense. That's the only real bad review in the book that I can recall. Every Bowie fan should still buy it, and there are some quite enjoyable pictures in there as well!
Rating: 
Summary: Chris Welch...Super-Creep
Review: David Bowie is a largely mysterious subject to begin with. That being, an author can be given some semblace of room in narrowing down on such a difficult subject. However, the hatchet job Mr.Welch perpetrated on Bowie is an obvious offense to Bowie fans and literate society in general. With a wealth of misinformation and glaring oversights, it would be a misnomer to call this book anything approaching a biography...it is a work of fiction, and a very poor one at that. This book is going straight to the bargain bins.
Rating:
Summary: WORST BOOK EVER WRITTEN
Review: Nothing more to say. Braindead author dribbles lame incoherent excrement across pages of library photos. Shoot him please so his sad rock laments are stopped now. Contradicts himself within same paragraph, tells lies, clutches at straws. Made me really really angry. Burn in hell fool.
Rating: 
Summary: Something all Bowie fans should get...unless you're a purist
Review: Now this is a great book, similar to the equally great Beatles book "A Hard Day's Write." However, while "Write" covered all of the Beatles' albums, "We Could Be Heroes" only covers his albums from 1970-1980 (The Man Who Sold The World to Scary Monsters... And Super Creeps) with in great detail (the only exception is the cover album Pin Ups). Now I know that very few Bowie fans may care about his debut album, Space Oddity and especially his other '80s albums (especially since they apparently had no background besides a search for money/mass popularity), but it also cuts out his '90s albums (Black Tie White Noise, Earthling, etc). I personally, consider myself to be a Bowie purist (in other words, I'm one of the people who is mad that they cut out Too Dizzy), and I would've liked to see ALL of Bowie's albums, no matter how unpopular or how little there is on them. So, the choice of subject matter gets a 3/5. However, the book itself gets a 5/5, because I've always wanted to see a book like this gets published, and along with A Complete Guide To The Music Of David Bowie, it is something every Bowie fans should have. BUY IT!
Rating:
Summary: sucks
Review: So the concept of this book is pretty cool. I know I'm always wondering what the meaning is behind a song's lyrics. *Especially* Bowie's songs because the guy is such an intellectual that a lot of his stuff is filled with crazy references to random philosophers and artists, and a fan like me rarely knows what he's talking about. Jean Genet anyone? Kahlil Gibran?Unfortunately, this book does a really crappy job of telling the stories behind the song. The author really doesn't know much at all; basically I learned nothing new in this book that I didn't know already. You can find out the same kind of information by browsing around FAQs on the net, or going to alt.fan.david-bowie and asking a question of the people there. The only thing saving this book from a 1 is that it has pictures, and it takes you along the whole discography path (well, up until 20 years ago at least), and what can I say, Bowie's had an interesting life. If you buy this, though, be prepared to return it... it doesn't do much of a job of serving up the stories.
Rating:
Summary: sucks
Review: So the concept of this book is pretty cool. I know I'm always wondering what the meaning is behind a song's lyrics. *Especially* Bowie's songs because the guy is such an intellectual that a lot of his stuff is filled with crazy references to random philosophers and artists, and a fan like me rarely knows what he's talking about. Jean Genet anyone? Kahlil Gibran? Unfortunately, this book does a really crappy job of telling the stories behind the song. The author really doesn't know much at all; basically I learned nothing new in this book that I didn't know already. You can find out the same kind of information by browsing around FAQs on the net, or going to alt.fan.david-bowie and asking a question of the people there. The only thing saving this book from a 1 is that it has pictures, and it takes you along the whole discography path (well, up until 20 years ago at least), and what can I say, Bowie's had an interesting life. If you buy this, though, be prepared to return it... it doesn't do much of a job of serving up the stories.
Rating:
Summary: Appalling
Review: This book is a complete travesty. No-one asks that an author worship his subject but this guy is downright mean in many respects. Not only that, much of the information is inaccurate and the passgaes on Bowie's life and writing very poorly written. Song titles and names of people and musicians are at times wrong, which is unforgivable. Obviously a pastiche of existing sources and featuring photos of dubious relation to the subject, I wasted my money on this book. Don't do the same...This guy is a hack writer who should have some feeling for what he's writing about.
Rating: 
Summary: Could be heroes--Bowie IS a hero
Review: Well, not every David Bowie song, despite what the title says. No, this covers Bowie's RCA period, from Space Oddity up to Scary Monsters. Each section is done per album, and before the song-by-song analysis and description, there is a detailed history of Bowie's life at that point. Bowie's better-known collaborators are given decent print, especially Mick Jagger, Marc Bolan, John Lennon, and Tony Visconti, as are influences such as Kraftwerk for his three Berlin albums, Stanley Kubrick's 2001 for Space Oddity, and George Orwell's 1984 for the Diamond Dogs album. Bowie's inter-album projects, such as his movies and plays are also included in the history. And there's a good deal given about his early life before Space Oddity. There are certain insights into Bowie concerning his art. He even said, "I don't like a lot of my albums... I like bits and pieces. A bit of it works exceedingly well and a lot of it only works." This mirrors somewhat my feeling on his lesser albums, such as Diamond Dogs and Young Americans, but not on his spectacular ones such as Hunky Dory, The Man Who Sold The World, or Low. Many of the stories behind the song are revelatory for those not in the know. I wasn't totally aware of the 1984-theme that pervaded Diamond Dogs apart from the "1984" song, but "We Are The Dead" (in 1984, Winston Smith's words to Julia before they are caught by the Thought Police) and "Big Brother/Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family" are two other songs that contribute to that. To take an example from my favourite 1970's Bowie album, Hunky Dory, I learn that Bob Dylan wasn't exactly happy with the playful tribute "Song For Bob Dylan" because Bowie referred to him by his real name and described his voice akin to "sand and glue." Ouch! However, as I learned, the song was actually calling for Dylan to go back "to writing songs for the 'revolution' and to scour his scrapbook for inspiration if the muse is not upon him." And it's peppered with colour and black-and-white photos. At the end of the book, a chronology from 1947 to 1980, and a singles and album discography are included, with song listing and album issues and reissues included, as was done under Ryko for the albums being explored in this book. In the end, Bowie is revealed as a great songwriter, wordsmith, and artist whose creativity knows no bounds, even if he did alienate many of his fans with his shifting musical directions.
Rating:
Summary: Could be heroes--Bowie IS a hero
Review: Well, not every David Bowie song, despite what the title says. No, this covers Bowie's RCA period, from Space Oddity up to Scary Monsters. Each section is done per album, and before the song-by-song analysis and description, there is a detailed history of Bowie's life at that point. Bowie's better-known collaborators are given decent print, especially Mick Jagger, Marc Bolan, John Lennon, and Tony Visconti, as are influences such as Kraftwerk for his three Berlin albums, Stanley Kubrick's 2001 for Space Oddity, and George Orwell's 1984 for the Diamond Dogs album. Bowie's inter-album projects, such as his movies and plays are also included in the history. And there's a good deal given about his early life before Space Oddity. There are certain insights into Bowie concerning his art. He even said, "I don't like a lot of my albums... I like bits and pieces. A bit of it works exceedingly well and a lot of it only works." This mirrors somewhat my feeling on his lesser albums, such as Diamond Dogs and Young Americans, but not on his spectacular ones such as Hunky Dory, The Man Who Sold The World, or Low. Many of the stories behind the song are revelatory for those not in the know. I wasn't totally aware of the 1984-theme that pervaded Diamond Dogs apart from the "1984" song, but "We Are The Dead" (in 1984, Winston Smith's words to Julia before they are caught by the Thought Police) and "Big Brother/Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family" are two other songs that contribute to that. To take an example from my favourite 1970's Bowie album, Hunky Dory, I learn that Bob Dylan wasn't exactly happy with the playful tribute "Song For Bob Dylan" because Bowie referred to him by his real name and described his voice akin to "sand and glue." Ouch! However, as I learned, the song was actually calling for Dylan to go back "to writing songs for the 'revolution' and to scour his scrapbook for inspiration if the muse is not upon him." And it's peppered with colour and black-and-white photos. At the end of the book, a chronology from 1947 to 1980, and a singles and album discography are included, with song listing and album issues and reissues included, as was done under Ryko for the albums being explored in this book. In the end, Bowie is revealed as a great songwriter, wordsmith, and artist whose creativity knows no bounds, even if he did alienate many of his fans with his shifting musical directions.
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