Week 67 | The Manish Boys/ Davy Jones and the Lower Third (1982)

One would think that a David Bowie/Jimmy Page collaboration would rank up with Bowie’s famous collaborations with Queen (“Under Pressure”), John Lennon (“Fame”) and Mick Jagger (“Dancing in the Streets”).  Or at least Bing Crosby (“Peace on Earth/The Little Drummer Boy”).  Yet not only are the two songs Page played on with Bowie’s early band, the Manish Boys, among his most obscure recordings, but you pretty much have to research the songs to learn that Jimmy Page is playing guitar on the songs.  

In any case, Bowie and Page were a long way from their future status as titans of rock when they recorded “I Pity the Fool” and “Take My Tip” in January 1965 as the A and B sides of a single for Bowie’s band, “the Manish Boys” (name derived from a Muddy Waters lyric).  In fact, Bowie wasn’t even Bowie yet— he was still Davy Jones (this was before the Monkeys propelled another Davy Jones to fame).  These two songs, as well as two songs by Bowie’s next band, The Lower Third, make up this brief collection.

I think of this album (I’ll call it an album) as more of a curiosity than something I listen to for enjoyment.  Bowie wrote three of the songs— in fact, “Take My Tip,” is the first song he wrote  to be recorded and released.  But the cover, “I Pity the Fool,” is far and away the most enjoyable.  It is a simple, straight-up blues song.  Bowie’s voice is barely recognizable.  I can imagine this song popping up in the background in a coffee shop and thinking, “Wait, that voice sounds familiar…” Knowing it is Bowie adds to the song’s appeal.  You (I) listen more carefully.  It belongs in the same family tree as “The Jean Genie,” but that latter song reflects Bowie’s creative reconstitution of the elements of a blues song, whereas in this earlier performance doesn’t demonstrate much interpretation.  But its not horrible. 

Sadly, the other three songs on the album, though authored by Bowie, are not as good.  As inaugural efforts go, “Take My Tip” could have been worse.  Here, Bowie still hangs on to a blues influence but infuses the song with what I think he thought was a pop, or mod, sensibility.  The good news is that Bowie had not yet hit his hippy period, which I think was his worst in terms of musical quality.  But for the most part, the very young Bowie seemed to make songs he thought were consistent with the pop styles of the time.  He had not yet become an innovator.  As a result, none, or very little of what he made prior to “Space Oddity” came close to being as good as whatever he was imitating.  

All that said, the guitar playing on both songs is pretty good (ya think?)

The two Lower Third songs are also not very good.  “You’ve Got A Habit of Leaving” is forgettable.  “Baby Loves that Way” has a catchy refrain, but overall leaves me wanting. Interestingly, Bowie included both, “Baby Loves that Way,” and, “You’ve Got A Habit of Leaving,” on the unreleased (but easily located) 2001 album, “Toy,” which largely featured new versions of his oldest, least well-known songs.  The 2001 version of “You’ve Got A Habit of Leaving” also appears on the 2014 compilation, “Nothing Has Changed.”  In many respects, the newer versions of these older songs are better than the original versions, but the the problem is not Bowie’s voice, whether younger or older (while his voice changed over time, both the older and younger voice had their virtues).  Nor was the problem with the the virtuosity of the backing bands.  The problem was that the songs themselves just don’t approach the level of quality that would become characteristic of Bowie.

That said, as an artifact of Bowie’s history, this four-song collection is at least interesting.  And some day someone is going to release a compilation of Bowie collaborations, and finally highlight the fact that he did two songs in 1965 with Jimmy Page!