Libraness - Yesterday and Tomorrow's Shells
(Tiger Style)

Yesterday and Tomorrow's Shells spans from the very beginning of Polvo in 1991 through to last year, and all of the recordings were done by Bowie by himself on his four track. The songs range from odd experiments and throw offs to first drafts of Polvo songs to fully developed songs that would not have fit in Polvo's oeuvre.

The lyrics of this release seem to be almost stream of consciousness, like a first cut rather than something fully developed. The language in Bowie's Polvo lyrics was always vibrant and imaginative with interesting rhymes. Here, he is more personal and straightforward. He might rhyme light with night or you with too or one with one; he just seems more focused on capturing ideas than creating something grand, which again goes back to where these recordings come from. Some songs, however, transcend these limitations as Bowie constructs lyrics that are both more personal than his Polvo work but also well done, like in the song "Deformed Bridges" which features the lyric, "You cannot be found in the fables that you fantasize" (consider who this lyric could pertain to).

Unlike the lyrics, though, most of the music seems much more than just a "first cut." This is not the case when the solo artist gets a good riff and then presents that as the song; Bowie put some effort into layering the music and adding overdubbed backing instruments. Only a few songs seem undercooked, like the hand drum and sitar jam of "The Memory" or the joke song dedicated to 1996 Republican nominee for North Carolina Secretary of State, "Richard Petty." The songs that are unlike Bowie's other works are really only slight modifications. Several songs may be more like soundscapes than he is usually accustomed to, and he does use keyboards much more, but that sound Polvo is known for is present seemingly throughout. A good example of one of these slight modifications is "Toy Planetarium," an instrumental that starts off like Arabian carnival music but meanders into an odd, majestic, noisy keyboard anthem. The sounds are similar, the rhythms are similar, but the song is still a bit different. The Polvo-esque songs on the album, of which there are several, are of course nowhere near as developed as Bowie's Polvo input, but they are respectably good. The biggest detriment to these songs is actually the recording quality, cutting off and warbling the guitars.

As these recordings probably were not originally intended for release, the quality of the recording is low. There is a fine line; while it seems impossible to expect Bowie to go back and re-record nine years worth of taped sketches, the low fidelity of the recordings does hurt the end product. The majority of the music is good though. Despite any claims to objectivity I may have, the best part of this release is hearing new bits of that "Polvo sound," even if the music was poorly recorded and not terribly refined. These recordings are essential for all Polvo fans (and ultimately, I am very glad they were released--the album certainly hits more than it misses); they just do not fill what is really needed, a batch of new, current Bowie creations recorded hi-fi with Polvo engineer Bob Weston. Hopefully that album is just a matter of time.

jim steed 2000 oct 27