Metamatic Forums Socialising The Green Room David Bowie

..well couldn't have an Alex Harvey / Gary Numan / Zaine griff thread without a David Bowie one eh guys and gals?
As a bit of a DB 'ignoramus' (see what are you listening to' thread) I'd be interested to read anything you'd care to throw in on the subject of the Thin White Duke / Ziggy Stardust / Zowie's dad etc., good or bad of course...

Some good albums, some bad films, nice wallpaper!

I've probably mentioned my various Bowie favourites numerous times elsewhere.

But I'll say it again. There's a David Bowie song for everyone. So few artists can boast such a diverse body of work. And although there are a couple of turkeys in there (Tonight anyone? Peace on Earth?), the Bowie back catalogue is vast and fascinating, fusing rock with electronica, to jazz, soul and pop.

I often feel at my most creative when listening to Bowie. Some of my favourite David Bowie albums include Station to Station, Lodger, The Buddha of Suburbia (an overlooked classic) and what I regard as his creative masterpiece, 1995's concept album, 1.Outside.

I've seen Bowie twice - on the Reality tour in 2003, and on the 1995 Outside tour - for me that was the ultimate Bowie experience and a concert that exceeded my every expectation.

Bowie's music has been a great inspiration to me on many levels. Like John, David is an artist at heart, and sculpts sounds into shapes, the same way he does with his paints. There has always been a huge visual side to his work that can't be ignored. Every aspect of Bowie's work is an inspiration.

But I stand my ground when I say that I don't like Ziggy Stardust. That whole Ziggy thing never worked for me. I'm much more in tune with David from his Thin White Duke period onwards.

That said, the Ziggy album contains many Bowie classics - why I don't play it more, is beyond me, given the songs on there. But my general disliking of glam rock probably has something to do with it, plus it's one of those albums you are almost brainwashed into believing you must love to bits (a bit like Scary Monsters really...). I also find that the production is very much of its time though, nowadays sounding like a dusty, muddy old glam record, compared to the way in which many of the songs evolved when played live.

I don't think anybody can truly appreciate the impact of Ziggy Stardust, unless they were around at the time (I know I can't!). From today's perspective, I find that there is much more to David Bowie than a catsuit-wearing pasty white guy with spiky red hair. So while Ziggy may not rank among my personal favourite David Bowie albums, there's no denying the impact this record had at the time of its release. Bowie's Ziggy Stardust character was exactly what rock music needed – not only did he push all boundries at the time, but that persona provided inspiration for whole new generation of artists, without whom rock music would have been a very boring place indeed.

I am however, quite a fan of Aladdin Sane and Hunky Dory.

It's a shame he lost it in the mid to late 80s, but then again, he wasn't the only one. The 1980s screwed up a lot of musicians. For Bowie the success of Let's Dance threw him right off course. he needed the Tin Machine period to get back to basics, and he was firmly back on track from 1993's Black Tie White Noise onwards.

My Bowie top 15:

1. Outside
2. Station to Station
3. Buddha of Suburbia
4. Earthling
5. Hours...
6. Lodger
7. Low
8. Let's Dance
9. Live at BBC Radio Theatre
10. Heathen
11. Black Tie White Noise
12. Hunky Dory
13. Aladdin Sane
14. Heroes
15. Scary Monsters

Bowie, comes and goes with me. Sometimes, I think he has such greatness, but when I listen to the mid-80s songs, I just can't help thinking he's human like all of us.

My favorites:
Station to Station, Low, Heroes, Scary Monsters, and Diamond Dogs. Those albums changed rock, no doubt. As influential as the Beatles, possibly.

To this day, I still can't believe all the grief about the Diamond Dogs cover and the dog's thingy. I mean, every day I see one on the way to and from work. What's the big deal?

Blue

He's Anthony Newley's hipper , more avant- garde younger brother

My fav Bowie albums are almost equal to the one's of Alex S and bluepicasso. "Heroes" is perhaps my number one. And I can't tell you exactly why. I bought it because I liked the titlesong (which was strangely beautiful for that time). The rest I thought was poppy noise. But after repeatedly listening I discovered the complexity of it. Even now, after countless listenings, it disturbs me in a nice way.
In general, Bowie was (like The Beatles), where my taste of music started. In his footsteps followed Eno, Fripp, Pop, Reed, Roxy, Foxx, Numan, Stranglers, Ants, OMD, League, Heaven, XTC, Japan, Czuckay and many, many others ...

My favourite artist of all time but agree mids 80's stuff dodgy through he made a decent album with Iggy around that time!

I'm not much of a Bowie fan, but I can appreciate what a fine songwriter he is.

My favourite album is 'LOW' - a masterpiece!
2nd one is 'Scary Monsters...'. Side 1 has to be one of the best side one's of all time.

I did have 'Lodger', but only liked a few songs. I have 'Heroes', which is okay.

Thank you Alex for sharing your thoughts about David Bowie. I like Bowie a lot but not to the extreme but I liked what you wrote that there a Bowie song for everyone. Personally I love Aladdin Sane and Hunky Dory ever since they were first released.

IMHO Bowie has done some wonderful singles over the years, with songs like Space Oddity, Fame, Starman etc.

Peter

For me the key to Bowie has always been hes ability to not just change musical direction. Often becoming the best, if not the only one in each 'field'. The actor never really cracks.

my faves:

1. heroes
2. low
3. ziggy stardust
4. space oddity
5. scary monsters

Wow, its hard to choose just five from Bowies vast catalogue, but if on a desert island i would take these eight. (in no order) -

The Man Who Sold The World
Low
Ziggy Stardust
Aladdine Sane
Hunky Dory
Lodger
Diamond Dogs
Scary Monsters

Assuming David is working on new material, this is the longest gap between Bowie albums to date.

I hope he will release something new, but something significantly different to his last album. He did remark a couple of years back that he was 'bored' with he music scene.

I don't think David is doing anything. I think he is settling just being a dad, which isn't a bad thing to be as I am one. I applaud him for being a hand's on dad, which I gather he has become.

From reading a recent article, it appears he hates his daughter's musical taste, which sounds like David. Maybe, the disgust for all that Hanna Montana stuff will make him do a new cd at one point.

Blue P

Sirs,
Having picked up a cheapo copy of Philip Glass's 'Heroes Symphony' on the weekend (played by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, no less) I was wondering what other Bowie-ites, or even classical-ites make of this 'interpretation'of Bowie's album or indeed of the 'Low Symphony' which I have yet to hear.

I've never heard it! I was always curious about that one.

I think there might be a track from it on Bowie's All Saints instrumental compilation, which I do have... I'll have to give it a whirl...

I've got a double cd with the Low and the "Heroes" symphony on it. The Low symphony sounds slightly different. In terms of listening experience it reminded me of Brian Eno's Discreet Music.
Mmm ...

David Bowie is an icon and the main influence on 80s music. David is up there with Elvis, the Beatles, the Stones, Elton John etc.

David joined the elite after the release of Let's Dance and the Serious Moonlight Tour. Behind him he had, what I call "the RCA works of art". A catalogue of one of the most impressive (pop) songs ever created. Most people acknowledge that "the 70s belonged to Bowie".

It's difficult to point out, well for me personally, which is his best album. But throught his career, Let's Dance aside, his high points have been with the song Space Oddity,the seed having been sown with his mime group Feathers, the creation of Ziggy Stardust, his suave image on the plastic soul Young Americans,his elegance on Station to Stationand his innovative self, making him a pioneer of electronic music, that is, there was no The Man To Fell To Earth soundtrack but there was Low...New Wave!

Ok my favourite song of his is Heroes . It was the Christianne F movie's closing titles that made me buy my first record of Bowie, the compilation Fame and Fashionback in 1984. It was at the time when RCA was re-releasing his back catalogue following the phenomenal success of Let's Dance. That also helped promote the artist even further.

The clip to those closing titles has been removed from Youtube but here is the excellent official video of the song:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NEVNoYFpLps

Chris

Always considered myself no more than a casual Bowie fan. That said I do own most of his albums. Favourites would be Station to Station, Scary Monsters and Aladdin Sane.

Managed to catch him live for the first time on the Reality Tour in Dublin (the one that was filmed and released on DVD). Spectacular gig with a fantastic atmosphere.

Would like to see him release more stuff but he seems to have taken a significant step back since his health scare a couple of years back.

I was always a fan of the early years. The Glass Spiders Tour kind of soured me on his 'newer' stuff but lately I am giving it another go.

(Thankfully, there's a £12 version...phew! )

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003U...&pf_rd_i=468294

CD 1: 2010 transfer of Station To Station from the original stereo analogue master

CD 2: Station To Station 1985 CD master

CD 3: Station To Station single edits five track EP containing Golden Years, TVC15, Stay, Word On A Wing and Station To Station

CDs 4 & 5: Live Nassau Coliseum '76

DVD containing the following...

Station To Station (original analogue master, 96kHz/24bit LPCM stereo)
Station To Station (new Harry Maslin 5.1 surround sound mix in DTS 96/24 and Dolby Digital)
Station To Station (original analogue master, LPCM stereo)
Station To Station (new Harry Maslin stereo mix, 48kHz/24bit LPCM stereo)

12" heavyweight vinyl of Station To Station from the original stereo analogue master in replica sleeve

2 x 12" heavyweight vinyl of Live Nassau Coliseum '76 in gatefold sleeve

24-page booklet with sleevenotes by Cameron Crowe and chronology by Kevin Cann and also including...

- Previously unpublished Steve Shapiro photo
- Geoff MacCormack photos
- Andrew Kent live Nassau photos

Replica David Bowie On Stage 1976 press kit folder containing the following...

- Replica Nassau ticket from night of the show
- Replica backstage pass
- Replica A4 biog
- Replica band line-up
- 3 x 10x8" press shots

Replica 1976 Fan Club Folder containing the following...

- Replica fan club membership card
- Fan club certificate
- 2 small collector cards
- 2 A4 photo cards
- Replica 4-page biography
- 2 badges
- 6 panel folded Steve Shapiro photo poster of Bowie kneeling

I'll be going for the standard edition - worth it for the Nassau recording, but the various cards and booklet look like they'll add some nice value to it, not unlike the boxed version of Santa Monica '72.

In the absence of any official word of new material (although I think he may still pull something out of the bag), this is at the moment, the best thing on offer, but at least it is one of his best albums and deserves the deluxe treatment.

I recently got hold of the seemingly rare recent CD release of the Reality Tour. Great live recording and a nice souvenir for me, since I saw that particular tour.

Me too. If you look closely at the £100 edition it's just the same album in 7 different formats and lots of pieces of paper and card - which is ludicrous. I'm also looking forward to a nice master of the Nassau bootleg.

thanks for posting. I've put the £11.99 version on the wishlist

ditto ... seems to be a popular choice.

tempted by the digital download edition though :
"Panic in Detroit" (Unedited alternative mix) – 13:09
:p

Crikey!!

Just seen this interesting article on Mojo from Bowie biographer David Buckley.

Very interesting. This would be great to hear.

Can I pre-order this from Townsend?

Sorry to break it to you Core, but not everything comes from Townsend Records.

Unfortunately nobody knows if Toy will ever get an official release. Even if 7 tracks from it have appeared on b-sides or as bonus tracks etc, I think it at least deserves an official release with nice artwork - if not just to snub Virgin for rejecting it back in 2000!

It is good quality and it is an interesting collection of tracks, although several of them have been finished and released:

"Afraid" and "Uncle Flloyd" were re-recorded for Heathen, the latter being renamed "Slip Away.

"Conversation Piece" was a bonus track on Heathen, "Baby Loves That Way", "You've Got A Habit Of Leaving" and "Shadow Man" were all used as b-sides to the Heathen singles, and "Your Turn To Drive" was on the American iTunes as a download.

But there are other interesting tracks such as the new versions of "Hole in the Ground" and "In the Heat of the Morning" that deserve to be heard.

Surely in Bowie's position with his own label, it wouldn't be too difficult to release it - I'm sure every Bowie die-hard would buy it, so thats an extra few million dollars for him just there!

I have often thought the same thing but maybe he is too used to the traditional distribution and promotional support of a major label (Columbia in recent years) to go through with it?

I'm still waiting for "2. Contamination".

I've been waiting for "2. Contamination" and "3. Africa" since the late 90s!!!

Bowie should never have told everyone that he intended to release a follow-up to 1.Outside every year up until the millennium!!

Hopefully one day there might be at least one follow-up though, since he is still apparently very much into the project and there is so much un-used material from the initial sessions.

From N.M.E

David Bowie will release a new EP featuring remixes of his 1975 single 'Golden Years' on June 6.

As well as the original title track, the EP will feature four remixes by DJs Jeremy Sole, Anthony Valadez, Eric J Lawrence and Chris Douridas from US radio station KCRW.

Bowie will also make a 'Golden Years' iPhone app available on the same day that the EP is released. It has been created by 'Station To Station' producer Harry Maslin and will allow fans to remix their own version of the track.

KCRW are streaming a preview of the 'David Bowie Vs KCRW Golden Years' EP online at Blogs.kcrw.com.

Bowie's long-standing pianist, Mike Garson, is about o release The Bowie Variations, an album of his own solo piano interpretations of songs from all parts of Bowie's career.

Good interview and a free download of "Let's Dance" here:
http://indieethos.wordpress.com/

Uncut have just published a new Bowie special, re-appraising every album. Just bought it - looks great!

It's David Bowie night on BBC Four on 22nd June.

They will be showing:
The new Ziggy Stardust documentary
D.A. Pennebaker's classic Hammersmith Odeon 'farewell' concert from '73
Bowie At the Beeb (2000)
And The Genius of Bowie, a compilation programme

Sounds like a great night on telly Alex .. ta for the tip.

It does - will be settling down in front of that lot!

The Dame is back! It's his birthday today and blimey! He's given us a present! From The Guardian:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOyDTy9DtHQ

David Bowie has celebrated his 66th birthday by releasing a new single, Where Are We Now?, ahead of his first new album in 10 years.

The track was put on sale in the iTunes store in 119 countries on Tuesday morning and a video preview posted on his website, which has been relaunched for the occasion. His 30th studio recording, The Next Day, would be released in March, said the Iso/Columbia record company.

The glam-rock singer shot to fame in the late 60s with Space Oddity but has been largely silent in recent years, not performing live since 2006 and rarely appearing in public since then. Bowie turned down the opportunity to appear at the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony despite a personal plea by director Danny Boyle.

"Throwing shadows and avoiding the industry treadmill is very David Bowie despite his extraordinary track record that includes album sales in excess of 130m, not to mention his massive contributions in the area of art, fashion, style, sexual exploration and social commentary," said a Columbia press release.

The record, produced by long-term collaborator Tony Visconti and written by Bowie, was recorded in New York, Columbia said. The single is accompanied by a video directed by Tony Oursler that harks back to Bowie's time in Berlin. He is seen looking in on footage of the auto repair shop beneath the apartment he lived in along with stark images of the city at the time.

The spokesman added that Bowie was the sort of artist who "writes and performs what he wants when he wants".

A second representative subsequently told the Guardian there were no plans for interviews or live dates.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/jan/08/david-bowie-new-album-single

hmm, its certainly a bit laid back, and the main question is why has he been cruelly conjoined with Bjork? what a way to spend your birthday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOyDTy9DtHQ

Nice (enough) song, shame about the video

The video is a bit low budget and unusual, but at the same time as understated as the song itself, which is hardly what you might call "single" material. That said, it's a lovely piece, sad, reflective and haunting. There's a vulnerability to David's vocals as he looks back over his time in Berlin. I was really moved and excited by this somewhat unexpected release!

And he's number 1 in the iTunes charts

It's a nice song. Probably not a single material but good nonetheless. Not too keen on the video though.

No surprises in being no. 1 in the charts, although it must surely be one of the fastest selling 'singles' ever.

I like the song and the video .. it's all a bit low key, back to basics, simple, almost completely stripped of all past frivolities. It's obviously a 'nostalgic' piece, "old man" looking back on his past and all that. I can relate to it!

I'm yet to find the words to write sufficiently about this... though I'm not afraid to admit it was an emotional moment for me to hear the new song for the first time.

According to Tony Visconti, "Where Are We Now" is the album's only real inward/backwards looking track and he even thinks it's a surprising choice of lead single. I guess it's a favourite of David's, and he has earned the right to release what he wants (and evidently when he wants to!).

I haven't felt this excited by the news of a new album in a long, long time.

A really interesting track, reflective and his vocals sound quite fragile which suits the song, is it "Single" material, i'm not sure but would make a brilliant closing track on his new album.

I don't actually think it matters that it's not a foot-tapping single as such. In many ways, he's beyond all that now. Anybody expecting him to rock up in a pair of tights and burst into "Starman" are obviously fooling themselves – this is the Bowie of 2013... 66 years old and one of the greatest, most influential living British musicians. Just when many folk had written him off, given up or consigned him to cult/legacy status, he comes back with something new, quashing those falsified health rumours and retirement stories. Brilliant.

this may not be news for some anymore, but interesting Guardian article from earlier today:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/jan/09/david-bowie-tony-visconti

Thanks core..hadn't seen it.

Cover design by one Jonathan Barnbrook I see...!

http://virusfonts.com/news/2013/01/david-bowie-the-next-day-that-album-cover-design/

Yep - he also did the artwork for Heathen and Reality, as well as the forthcoming book to accompany the V&A exhibition.

I'd like his job!

Tony Parsons pays tribute:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/going-out/music/tony-parsons-on-david-bowie-health-1527186

Looks like Bowie has decided to abandon giving interviews, letting Tony Visconti do the talking. Too many interesting articles turning up all over the place to mention! Bowie doesn't plan to tour, but doesn't rule out any one off performances.

To be honest I think he's in a good place to simply be a recording artist.

I'm liking this cover from Bowie fan songwriter and blogger (Nicholas Currie) - Momus http://imomus.com/ - insight down his site page about how the music was produced, its had over 29 thousand views so far:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF1QQW0LHNQ&feature=youtu.be

I was just about to post this, too. Liking it more than the original.

Sorry if this has been mentioned elsewhere but apparently there is a deluxe CD planned containing some extra tracks. B sides, as would have been?

Very pleased to hear about Bowie's return (I will however leave listening to the new song until the album is out - I'm a bit funny that way) and happy with his stance on interviews etc. Not convinced of the sleeve though, on first impressions, although I like the idea behind it. Sorry Jonathan ... loved "Heathen" and of course your Maths work.

Yeah, the deluxe version has 17 tracks I think - I bought today's NME, which has both a Bowie cover and Berlin feature, but more importantly an(other) interview with Tony Visconti, who says they worked on 29 songs; several being unsuitable for this particular album, so it really does sound like there's life in the old diamond dog yet

Ooh, that sounds interesting, thanks for that Alex, I'll have a look at that one.

Well, when he came "back" with Let's Dance, I kind of sniggered thinking old men can't rock! Then thought he was actually kind of cool for doing so at such an advanced age. Then he kept going! Impressive.

And now he's back again, and boy was I disappointed with "Where are we now?". I found it bland and somewhat unexciting, but the video was great. So "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" is such a relief, as it to me, it sounds like Bowie on form again, and makes me crave to hear more.

first listen of Where Are We Now had me commenting that it was laid-back, I was initially nonplussed by it, and some of the lyrics felt a bit clumsy, and yet on that same day (excuse the pun) I found myself playing it many more times, in fact it's chorus though seemingly unassuming just kept returning to mind for days after, it's a thought-provoking song. I'm glad that The Stars wasn't first choice of single, it's an average anybody rock-out number, nothing alternative, and gives me vibes of that whole (for me) disconnected and forgettable long time kicked off around the Glass Spider period. The reviews for the album though are exceptionally good!

Vive la difference!

It's difficult to put into words just how exciting it is to have new music from David after such a long time… and new music that sees him fully energised and back where he belongs. An album that pinpoints several key album styles – both a fantastic contemporary work yet something which also sits alongside any classic Bowie vintage. And his voice hasn't sounded this good in ages.

It's more rock than pop; being heavily guitar driven. Even the one or two songs that on first impressions you don't like, end up sticking in your head. "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" is perhaps the album's most commercial track, if you like, so was an obvious choice for a single release. But this is a dense album, and the kind that demands multiple listens before the golden moments really start to emerge. After the first couple of plays, "Love is Lost" was the standout track for me, but I don't doubt that there will soon be more.

But I'm not going to ramble on or churn out some arty farty review. This is a David Bowie album after all, and it speaks for itself.

Welcome back, David!

All really good tracks, except that Drum n Bass one (I really wish he'd stop doing that) - it's just poorly sequenced for me.

The album doesn't start to come together as an album until Valentine's Day and beyond. The tracks prior to that are good, just in a mish-mash of order. And Heat - good, but it's a straight rip of The Electrician by The Walker Brothers! It's quite breathtaking how much of The Electrician he has ...um..'borrowed'.

A good, solid Bowie album - but not the adventurous one I was expecting. Some are comparing it to The Lodger and I can hear why.

Agreed that's there's not much here not to like .. My faves so far are Stars Are Out Tonight (still reminds me of China Girl tho . .), I'd Rather Be High, Love Is Lost.

Where Are We Now stands out like a sore thumb, although comes as welcome respite from all the dense rock-ness.

Heat must be some kind of homage to Scott Walker (see RB's comment above).

The bonus tracks are little more than half-finished ideas although I like So She..

What's amazing for me is his voice which is so strong and versatile after all these years .. although the sceptic in me may suggest that there's a lot more technology these days to help vocalists along..

9/10

I thin what helps the vocals is the fact they're so multi-layered. I always thought the vocals on Reality were awful, but maybe with 10 years' rest... who knows! But vocally it is a brilliant album, wading from style to style.

Bowie has always openly admitted the influence of Scott Walker - evident on 1993's comeback album Black Tie, White Noise and again here.

Love is Lost... How does the Grass Grow... Boss of Me and Heat are all favourites. I'm also hearing lots of previous Bowie in here... bits of Lodger, Scary Monsters, Heroes, Aladdin Sane... and not to mention the Low style snare drums and the same drum beat from Five Years all sneaking in there too.

Uncommercial yet comfortably safe at the same time. Might not have had the same mass appeal, had he done something a little more avant garde...

...and he's number one in the UK and just about everywhere else! Deservedly so.