The June 8, 2018 UMe vinyl (including a limited-edition version), CD, and digital releases of the soundtrack of "Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson [a.k.a. "Romo"] Story" does great justice to the man and the documentary. The soundtrack follows the Hulu, Amazon Prime, and DVD and Blu-ray releases of the movie.
The basic Ronson story is that he is working a depressing day job and dreaming of stardom in the early '70s when word of his mad guitar skills reaches the ears of David Bowie (a.k.a. Ziggy Stardust). The rest proverbially is history.
The CD combines the best of both worlds by allowing a chance to hear rock classics and lesser known songs from a fresh perspective while reading liner notes that provide great context. The bigger picture it that we once again see that those who truly achieve "idol" status earn that accolade.
The soundtrack follows the grand tradition of music releases by starting out strong with a hit. We get Bowie, Ronson, Ian Hunter (early band mate of Ronson in Mott the Hoople), Queen, and Joe Elliott and Phil Cullen of Def Leppard jamming on a live performance of "All the Young Dudes." The awesome result sounds like a mutual admiration society doing a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. A similar track of Bowie, Queen, and Ronson doing "Heroes" is more true to the original tune but equally thrilling.
The very Ziggylicous "Craccked Actor" by Bowie is a special treat for fans of that era of his career. The beat is the same, and the well-deserving target is aging egotistical Hollywood movie stars. The chorus line "Crack, baby, crack" is as memorable as the lyrics "I'm stiff on my legend; the films that I made; forget that I'm fifty; 'Cause you just got paid." Few could argue that "The Ballad of Tom Cruise" would not be a good title for a rerecording of this one.
Another rarity on which Romo does his thing is the Elton John track "Madman Across the Water." It is very clear that this melange of ballad and rockin' tune is from the "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" era.
A highlight of the tracks from the solo career of Ronson is his cover of the Bob Dylan tune "Like a Rolling Stone." The vocals and arrangement particulalry achieve the ideal of putting the stamp of the homager on the song while staying true to the spirit of the homaged. This includes a solid variation of the unique voice of the father-in-law of Paul Westerberg of "The Replacements."
The following YouTube clip of Ronson performing his solo recording "Hard Life," which is a track on "Beside," from the album of the same name provides a perfect sense of Romo. The extended guitar solo at the beginning provides a chance to hear him play without any background noise. His voice, lyrics, and tone highlight both his very user-friendly schizophrenia and how he became a spider from Mars.
The good folks at UMe provide an encore in the form of a bonus track in the form of a piano performance that honors Ronson.
The "Behind the Music" element of this recording makes "Beside" more than a collection of songs with a leitmotif. The seemingly unanimous opinion of Ronson by the rock gods who also were is his nearest and dearest is that he always was the same guy who used to be a groundskeeper. Listening to his music with the additional perspective that the source is a guy who literally works and plays well with others while presumably keeping stipeing to a minimum greatly enhances the enjoyment of the tunes.
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