David Bowie’s “Sound and Visions” and Beck’s reconstruction, both have their own uniqueness. On one hand, the original had simplicity and felt like it was straightforward and easier to follow, while the reconstruction, despite being beautiful, was extremely overwhelming. However, I felt a lot of it was because of the visual recording. In other words, because one knows that there are 160 musicians and one can see them in the video, it becomes overwhelming. If there wasn’t a visual and it was just an audio, then it would have been harder to figure out how many musicians were there. And in that case, I would focus more on the audio alone (Try listening just the audio, might change perspective). When I did so, I found out that the music wasn’t overwhelming anymore. At some points there were multiple instruments being played so I had to backtrack it and listen to it again. I felt like it was very melodious and easier to follow without the visual. At that point since the size of musicians wasn’t available, it felt very soothing. I personally liked the reconstruction better than the original. Nothing to take away from the original, it’s a beauty in itself. But it’s very simple. It’s too easy to follow. It doesn’t force me to think much. Doesn’t push to use my thoughts. However the reconstruction being a complex one, pushes me to challenge myself at every point, because now I am not watching the video, but rather just listening to the music.
From what I recall, Jazz had a lot of improv in it which means that they make things as they keep on going. There is no strict rule. This shows Jazz’s freedom aspect. If we keep this in mind, then we realize that the reconstruction might have not contributed anything to Jazz. The reconstruction having so many instruments and melodies being played simultaneously couldn’t have been done on the spot. It had to be strictly pre-planned. This takes away the freedom aspect from it as now one is strictly following rules. However, on the other hand, when I hear the original piece, I felt like that could have contributed more to Jazz. This is because in the original piece the melodies and components are very easy to follow and most likely, there was only one drum and one guitar and only one of any instrument used. So, at that point you don’t have to worry about 50 drummers having 50 different melodies, on top of all the other instruments having different melodies as well. It become just way too complicated. To pull off something like the reconstruction, one can’t improvise. So, simplicity can be the origin and can create new things, and complexity can take one idea to a whole new different level. Similarly, if one was trying to create new ways of music, then it’s always better to start with just a few instruments like in the original piece. However, if one wants to take that original piece and make it majestic, then complexity is recommended but not required.
