Rediscovering Mick Ronson
BESIDE BOWIE: THE MICK RONSON STORY. An Emperor Media Ltd production. Produced and directed by Jon Brewer. MVD.
Cover courtesy of MVD.
This new DVD spotlights the work of Mick Ronson – an often over-looked guitar master who played with a list of heavy-wights, including Bob Dylan, Ian Hunter, Lulu, Lou Reed, Morrissey and John Mellencamp. However, the legend of Ronson grew from his work with David Bowie. In turn, Beside Bowie tells the story from the beginning, interspersing riveting voice-overs from Bowie himself to show viewers how classics like The Man Who Sold the World, Aladdin Sane, and Hunky Dory and The Jean Genie found their footing by-way of Ronson’s unmistakable guitar lines. In retrospect, Ronson’s work has been largely forgotten by this new generation of rock fans – much like Michael Bloomfield, Ronson was a player of immense range who’s been stolen away by shadows (with Ronson’s untimely death in 1993 cheating him out of the chance to be recognized as one of rock’s great guitar voices). Nonetheless, Beside Bowie reverses the clock: via archival footage and snaps from photographer Mick Rock, we’re able to rediscover one of the genre’s unsung heroes whose work will forever stand as a personification of that “guitar sound” first refined by Duane Eddy, Link Wray, Eric Clapton and Robbie Robertson in the 1950s and 60s.
by John Aiello
Electric Review 