Chris O'Leary

The legacy of David Bowie is roughly 450 songs, which he recorded or performed over half a century. They range from cabaret to psychedelia to folk rock to glam rock to Philadelphia soul, from avant-garde instrumentals to stadium anthems. Cataloging Bowie’s songs from the dawn of his career in 1963 to his Hollywood stardom in 1976, examining them in the order of their composition and recording, and digging into what makes them work, Rebel Rebel and its sequel Ashes to Ashes have become standard references for Bowie fans. The new edition of Rebel Rebel is a fully-updated revision, taking into account Bowie demos and alternate takes released in the years after his death. It’s enhanced by a decade’s worth of new information about Bowie’s recording process, his influences, his contemporaries, and his live performances, all of which shed light onto the evolution of his songwriting. It shows how Bowie exploited studio innovations, and delves into the roles of his supporting musicians, particularly major collaborators like Mick Ronson and Tony Visconti. This book aligns Bowie’s music with his times, planting his work in the context of its era. You’ll see what Bowie’s work owes to novelists like Keith Waterhouse, Jack Kerouac, George Orwell, Ray Bradbury, and William S. Burroughs. To films like Performance, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and A Clockwork Orange. To rival songwriters and performers like Marc Bolan, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Scott Walker, Elvis Presley, the Bee Gees, Isaac Hayes, James Brown, Pete Townshend, and John Lennon. With guest appearances by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Cher.

Chris O’Leary looks afresh at the reasons for prosocial work choices in the first substantive critique of Public Service Motivation (PSM). With critical analysis of theoretical and empirical research to date, this book explores the pros and cons of PSM and interrogates the reasons why people choose to work in the public and third sectors. It proposes an alternative theory for the pursuit of service, rooted in rational choice theory, that shows public servants are expressly motivated to confirm their values and identity through their work. For those involved in public policy, administration and management, this is a constructive and stimulating review of an important but often neglected aspect of the sector.

In 2015 Chris O'Leary published the first folume of his two-volume exporation, Rebel Rebel, of every song David Jones / David Bowie ever wrote, in chronological order. This is the second volume. Ashes to Ashes covers every single Bowie song, whether it was sung, written, or produced by him, from 1976, when he first recorded with Iggy Pop on "The Idiot," to his last masterpiece "Blackstar," released just days before his death in 2016. Each song is annotated in depth and explored in essays that touch upon the song's creation, production, influences and impact. It hits everything from "Heroes" to the Labyrinth soundtrack, from his 1985 camp duet with Mick Jagger on "Dancing In the Street" to "Where Are We Now," his comeback single in 2013. Along the way we encounter a vast cast of characters, weaving in and out of Bowie's life and his music: Brian Eno, John Cale, Nile Rodgers, Lou Reed, Freddie Mercury, Scott Walker, Marc Bolan, Arcade Fire, John Lennon, Mickey Rourke, Gary Oldman, Iman, Hanif Kureishi, Julien Temple, Giorgio Moroder, Neil Young and many others. And we range across the globe from Bowie's years in divided Berlin to his "exile" years in Switzerland through his final years as a New Yorker, recording within walking distance of his home.

As public services budgets are cut, the ‘Payment by Results’ (or Pay for Success) model has become a popular choice in public sector commissioning. Social Impact Bonds are a variant of Payment by Results also promoted by proponents of social (or impact) investing. But how effective are these approaches? This short book asks whether the Payment by Results model is an efficient way to unlock new capital investment, help new providers to enter the ‘market’ and foster innovation, or whether the extension of ‘neoliberal’ thinking, complexity and the effects of managerialism undermine the effective delivery of social outcomes. Synthesising lessons from the UK and US for the first time, the book draws on published work in both countries together with insights from the authors’ own research and consultancy experience to offer a balanced and bipartisan overview of a field where the evidence has been weak and there are strong ideological agendas in play.

David Bowie: every single song. Everything you want to know, everything you didn't know. David Bowie remains mysterious and unknowable, despite 45 years of recording and performing. His legacy is roughly 600 songs, which range from psychedelia to glam rock to Philadelphia soul, from avant-garde instrumentals to global pop anthems. Rebel Rebel catalogs Bowie's songs from 1964 to 1976, examines them in the order of their composition and recording, and digs into what makes them work. Rebel Rebel is an in-depth look at Bowie's early singles and album tracks, unreleased demos, session outtakes and cover songs. The book traces Bowie's literary, film and musical influences and the evolution of his songwriting. It also shows how Bowie exploited studio innovations, and the roles of his producers and supporting musicians, especially major collaborators like Brian Eno, Iggy Pop and Mick Ronson. This book places Bowie's music in the context of its era. Readers will discover the links between Kubrick's 2001 and "Space Oddity"; how A Clockwork Orange inspired "Suffragette City". The pages are a trip through Bowie's various lives as a young man in Swinging London, a Tibetan Buddhist, a disillusioned hippie, a rock god, and a Hollywood recluse. With a cast of thousands, including John Lennon, William S. Burroughs, Andy Warhol and Cher.