Bowie’s original version of “Sound and Vision” was concise. Even though the song consisted of many instrumental and vocal parts, the piece was stripped down to the essentials. Beck’s version of “Sound and Vision” contained the same lyrics and vocalization as Bowie’s original, but Beck’s version expanded on Bowie’s theme which gave the audience a more intense experience of Bowie’s concept.
When I listened to Beck’s symphonic version of “Sound and Vision” I was struck by how incongruent all the parts making up the piece seemed. I never thought of a gospel choir, a singer/guitarist, and an orchestra all performing the same music before. The multitude of performers in Beck’s version of “Sound and Vision” was overwhelming, but somehow all the discordant parts worked together to form a harmonious whole.
When we attended the Latin Jazz concert at Lehman, I noticed how the performers often just “did their own thing,” or seemed to be playing whatever they wanted to during their solo. At first, all the solos seemed separate from one another, like they were not even part of the same song, but eventually all the parts came together in unison during the chorus. When I noticed how all the parts of Beck’s version of “Sound and Vision” joined together, it reminded me of the musical connections I heard in the Latin Jazz concert.
