David Bowie, the king (or queen) of glam-rock. Before he was belting out Jean Genie, however, he was recording some really soulful pop-folk-rock stuff. If you are a David Bowie fan (I'm talking Ziggy and Hunky Dory) go listen to his second studio album, the album that Letter to Hermione is off of. Space Oddity the album is one of my personal favorites, as is Letter to Hermione.
The song, as well as the entire album, is an acoustic act of brooding with lots of echo and little to no percussion. Bowie is "reading" a letter to, well, Hemione, declaring his love for her, but the song feels more than that. The lyrics, the emotion, that Bowie pours into this track surpass much of what passes as quintessential Bowie now.
This song and the entire album (this is now an album recommendation) is a poetic statement by Bowie: he is a true artist, not just a glam-rock eclectic. The lyrics in Letter to Hermione demonstrate this quite nicely, as a typical love poem transforms before your very eyes into a philosophical statement on the difference between happiness and love. Who though Bowie could do that?
Listen to the glam-rock trash Bowie here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXq5VvYAI1Q&noredirect=1
(I can say that because Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars is my favorite album of all time)
Listen to the artist Bowie here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIBO7XS7pe8&noredirect=1
