Centered around one of many interviews David Bowie did with Russell Harty on
British television, Rare And Unseen is a DVD filled with the
kind of footage diehards live for. At the time, Bowie had just completed The
Man Who Feel To Earth, his first major acting role, and had announced a return
to live performing (one may recall that the singer has retired a few times in
his career). To put it all in perspective, he spoke by satellite with Russell
Harty in 1976. This is what you see on the DVD.
Interjected between portions of the interview are snippets of live performances,
stuff familiar in the Ziggy Stardust movie or video from the early 70s. There
are also two other interviews from different time periods: one during the 1987
Glass Spider tour and a 1997 interview where Bowie is quite frank about his
drug use, describes his then new album Earthling, his days in Los Angeles, and
his move to Berlin in the late 70s.
Rare And Unseen is a must for Bowie fans. Bowie admits to
being “out of his gord” about his life around the time he spoke
to Harty. Glimpses into Bowie rehearsals are priceless as well, with both Carlos
Alomar and Peter Frampton (guitarists on the Spider tour) throwing in their
two cents. At one point, Bowie talks about when Frampton’s dad was the
singer’s art teacher. Bowie would often hang around after class and listen
to Frampton play in the hallways of the school. Even then, he realized Peter
Frampton was a great guitarist who would go on to bigger, better things. In
retrospect, looks like things worked out pretty well for Bowie too.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
