Bowie Odyssey 75

With his first starring role in a feature film and his first number 1s on both sides of the Atlantic, 1975 ought to be David Bowie’s golden year. But away from the spotlight the suave soul boy of Young Americans is tumbling into a self-made hell of cocaine, witchcraft and the dark fantasies of his new fascist alter-ego, the Thin White Duke. As David goes berserk in the Hollywood hills, back in the Britain he’s forsaken there’s a Nazi-crazed murderer stalking the streets where he was born, a masked rapist at large and a power-mad grocer’s daughter on the rise, while sappy nostalgia grinds pop to a standstill. But there are also restless scamps hanging around a certain King’s Road clothes shop, and David’s own drug-fuelled genius daring him to make the album of his life. The Seventies are about to reignite with a bang. The sixth volume in Simon Goddard’s epic adventure through Bowie’s greatest decade, Bowie Odyssey 75 is an intricately plotted tour de force of rock’n’roll, crime, punishment, politics, punk – and a cautionary tale of tragicomic addiction. PRAISE FOR BOWIE ODYSSEY 74 “Almost hallucinatory in the telling, this book, like its predecessors, is unputdownable.” MOJO “Funny, poignant, intriguing, full of mischief, a brilliant piece of work. It might be my favourite Bowie book ever.” MARC RILEY, BBC 6MUSIC “It is Goddard’s exquisite writing style that elevates his story . . . massaging the facts into a beautifully written, transcendent tapestry embroidered with figures and events – political, societal and cultural – and examines the superstar’s place within them.” CLASSIC POP

Review

Praise for Simon Goddard's Bowie Odyssey series:

"The latest instalment in Simon Goddard's scintillating series of yearly David Bowie check-ins finds its subject at a crossroads... Goddard's exquisite writing style elevates his story. Bowie Odyssey 74 is an integral addition to the story so far" Classic Pop, 4.5*

"Funny, poignant, intriguing, full of mischief, a brilliant piece of work. It might be my favourite Bowie book ever." Marc Riley, BBC Radio

"Another year, another triumph for the author's vivid, provocative meditation on Bowie's '70s. Almost hallucinatory in the telling, this book, like its predecessors, is unputdownable." MOJO

"Bowie's high-wire act is masterfully drawn" Record Collector

"Bowie's lucid madness and wild ambition is in full effect . . . Absolutely unputdownable." Classic Rock

"Fantastic year-by-year epic . . . So devotional and healthily delirious you can smell the greasepaint and the hormones." Record Collector

"A full-on sensory immersion in Bowie's universe." Sunday Times

About the Author

Simon Goddard is the author of eleven books about pop music including the six volumes of his ongoing Bowie Odyssey series. His previous titles have made the Best-of-Year book lists of the Sunday Times, Mojo and Q magazine.