david bowie

-- The Duly Impressed Mr. Jones (hobartarms@hotmail.com), May 11, 2002.

you are just another jaded out bitch.

I don't know Momus, i mean, David Bowie has now gone independant, away from record companies (and yes, he is fantastical rich) but we will see.

i havent heard it but am excited.

And you, sir, are not a gentleman!

That cover of the Pixies' "Cactus" - C or D?

There really are eight million Bowie threads on here.

Anyway, Bowie responds to his first American fan letter, 1967. Fun!

awww cuet

Very nice.

Lovely.

Would that 15 min film be that one where he's a painting and keeps popping up in real life just so the artist can kill him again and again?

That was on an NME Video compilation, aaages ago.

Bowie talks about No Down Payment in that letter, too -- I love that movie! Joanne Woodward, Sheree North, Tony Randall, marital discord and drink problems in a post-war housing development.

wow. really charming stuff

last thursday i was talking to tony viscounti

wtf

They even liked the single "Love You Till Tuesday".

it was always somewhat irritating that Doomie couldn't write to save himself

What the hell happened to Doomie anyway?

Very nice!

http://i47.tinypic.com/ra56ky.gif

I don't think I've posted this wonderful gif yet.

From the great "Bowie Meets the Fonz" tv moment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1bRIwqv_tM&feature=player_embedded

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/nasa_launches_david_bowie_concept

http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/NASA-Launches-R.article_0.jpg
Looks more like The Glitter Band

Mark Dery ('The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium') has written an interesting, "33 1/3" -esque piece:

Leper Messiah: A Jesus Freak’s Search for the Meaning of Bowie

Background here: http://www.markdery.com/archives/news/000119.html

(& apologies if this has already been posted elsewhere)

I always thought he (and P. Murphy) was saying "leopard messiah." I'd even do I *rowr rowr I'm a clawing leopard* gesture when i sang it.

I am truly annoyed now that this isn't the real lyric.

Viceory & I had a pretty spirited debate abt whether it was "leather messiah" or "leopard messiah," both of which are wrong (and superior?).

i know i suggest it everywhere, but the bowie blog where the author is writing essaylets on every song in chronological order of recording is astoundingly great...it's called "pushing ahead of the dame" he is up to soul love now

Never realized there was confusion about "leper messiah." ZS has always been one of my go-to karaoke songs and it's always been "leper"

i know i suggest it everywhere, but the bowie blog where the author is writing essaylets on every song in chronological order of recording is astoundingly great...it's called "pushing ahead of the dame" he is up to soul love now

Fantastic blog... His entry on "Life On Mars" is one of my fave bits of music writing.

where is this

http://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/

Thank you, Ned. Yes, Elvis, the Life on Mars one is mindblowing...he also finds these great photographs to lead off each song entry, and links to streaming versions of the demos and live versions he is discussing...

wow that "life on mars" entry is amazing

Let's hear it for the author of the astonishing "Pushing Ahead of the Dame" who has just completed his epic song-by-song catalogue, with brilliantly incisive essaylets on every recording he could get his hands on, up until Pin-Ups...check it out! This is historic stuff

obviously he is just getting started...I cannot wait for the Diamond Dogs entries!

bowiesongs.wordpress.com

jeez...
http://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/

Great blog.

Side two of "Heroes" sounded great walking to work in the sub-zero temperatures this morning.

http://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/2011/01/03/end-of-chapter-four-1973-1975/

He got a book deal!

Very well deserved, that.

Apparently finally a new album on its way too:
Really surprised "Supper's Ready" made the list, but what the hell I vote that

Been strangely silent from the once so profilic act lately, but this is maybe finally some news.

http://www.countdowncow.com/when/new-david-bowie-album-coming-out-first-half-2011
(Sorry wrong link above)

I was all "wtf David Bowie's doing "Supper's Ready" on his new album?" for a moment there...

"Hello i love david bowie is he coming on tour next year to holland? And how can i write him greatings tiziana"

I was all "wtf David Bowie's doing "Supper's Ready" on his new album?" for a moment there...

Well he does have a habit of doing shit cover versions

Here comes Geir to say "that would be great though, ;)" or some such...

i guess i'm way behind the curve, but i guess need to track down Toys then ?

http://www.planetrock.com/newscentre/rock-news/unreleased-bowie-album-leaked-online-1671

Toy, singular

65 today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB9RSG-56wU

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/06/david-bowie-s-vanishing-act-and-looming-return.html

Busy being Dad

I was just about to post that, curmudgeon...the bit that grabbed me was the drug/alcohol bit. was he really addicted to coke for ten years? i would've thought maybe 73-77 were the coke years...followed by a "massive bout of alcoholism". so he had an alcohol problem STARTING in let's say 1982 (if he did coke for the previous ten years). not sure why i care but it would be nice to know what he was addicted to and when.

Awesome! Bowie will be making a rousing return with a ... coffee table book!

I'm glad I saw him on that Moby tour and later at MSG. He was great.

according to Bowie in Berlin alcohol subbed for coke as early as '76. The other Bowie bios allude to a toot here and there (e.g. Kevin Armstrong, who played on "Absolute Beginners," bought a bag of coke for him for the sessions).

*a toot here and there after the seventies

yeah the story goes that he was often still 'bang at it' circa Let's Dance. just not as bad as in the 70s.

In the name of my never-abated fandom, I would gladly pass the hat around if it would persuade him to stay retired.

I'm still amused that the last new song he performed is that "funny little man" song for RGervais' "Extras"

I've still not actually heard it tho.

In the name of my never-abated fandom, I would gladly pass the hat around if it would persuade him to stay retired.

he's not going to make any new records. there is no longer any cultural cache in making records, and what he likes is being able to make a splash.

He's going to dive into a swimming pool nude with Lexi?

who will love a dad insane

i assume given those stories that he won't ever tour again, huh? i saw him once, serious moonlight '81, hartford. was pretty good, but i'd rather have seen a show from the ill-fated diamond dogs tour (i was 6 then).

Btw, thanks Alfred et all for the responses

It would be great if he suddenly appeared starring in a great play, as he did with Elephant Man (did anyone see him in that on B'way? if so, how was he?)

There are excerpts from it on Youtube... [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEwJ3BEL72Q] it's pretty much what you'd expect.

Why does the line 'It's a crash course for the ravers' give me goosebumps?

I've been watching Tin Machine videos for the last couple of hours, then saw that Arcade Fire collab vid which was breath of foul air in comparison

http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Who-Sold-World/dp/0062024655/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343782122&sr=8-1&keywords=the+man+who+sold+the+world+david+bowie+and+the+1970s

Anyone read this yet? I feel bad for the "Pushing Ahead of the Dame" blog guy, this is a song-by-song book so I hope the former's excellent work isn't upstaged.

Sorry, not "former," the blog guy--don't know his name (anyone else been very tired this summer?)

Ha, if anything this book will be upstaged by Pushing Ahead! Dissecting only the seventies is a sign of safety; the whole point of the bowiesongs blog is to do EVERYTHING. Two to one says Bowie himself 1) reads that blog and 2) approves of the fact that he's going whole hog.

hear, hear!

cuz this other fellow doesn't dissect Tin Machine chord sequences like Pushing does

Dogget's book was originally going to be by Ian Mcdonald supposedly; it was gonna be his follow up to Revolution In The Head.
the Dogget book's had relatively little coverage/hype but it's meant to be pretty good but yeah Pushing Ahead.. is gonna be amazing.

Pushing Ahead is currently going through the backwaters of TMII. I don't think anyone else has bothered examining that period in any real detail.

I read a few entries from the Doggett book in Waterstone's and it didn't seem like much more than any other cheapo song-by-song hack job - i.e. anyone with an interest in Bowie could manage much the same off the top of their head. Meanwhile, Pushing Ahead of the Dame is often genuinely revelatory - this was true before he got to 1980, but even more so now. I hope when his book comes out he gets to include at least some of the images from the blog - they're always superbly chosen.

Oh great. I just got that Doggett book...opened it and read an entry and thought the exact same thing, Eyeball.

Wazzabout this other book, Starman, by Paul Trynka, the guy that wrote the Iggy Pop bio that was pretty good?

Bowie also obviously appears in the new memoir Abbey Road to Ziggy Stardust, by Ken Scott.

Wazzabout this other book, Starman, by Paul Trynka, the guy that wrote the Iggy Pop bio that was pretty good?

Some of the reporting.

Some of the reporting what?

Some of the reporting was pretty good.

I'm sorry – the sentence construction confused me.

I could not imagine in a million years any book coming close to that Pushing Ahead Of The Dame blog. And if there were a book like that in the future, you'd bet your fucking ass I'd snap it up immediately!

There is, he's confirmed a book deal.

Oh right, that's great news! I'll be definitely be picking up a copy.

I'd like to take back my advance skepticism about Man Who Sold The World: DB and the 1970s...it's not bad! Nothing earthshattering, but he's a good writer and I enjoyed it alot!

phew.

welcome to the club.

(ps. u r wrong re his stuff not being earthshattering .. but hey, small steps etc ..)

i guess "not earthshattering" is too harsh...it is very good. i guess i was just automatically comparing it to Pushing Ahead of the Dame, which I think is just head and shoulders above anything I've read about Bowie. I did like the Trynka bio as well...tell me though, mark, how do you think it broke new ground (earthshattering pun not intended). I'm just curious what exactly you think were the big revelations...

and the 33 1/3 book on Low is great, obviously

The Bowiesongs blog has hit "Nite Flights" -- this one's a doozy:

http://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/nite-flights/

also check THIS!

Radio Soulwax presents DAVE http://vimeo.com/53207758

Our homage to the man whose ability to change whilst remaining himself has been a massive influence on us. There are many legends in the music industry but for us, there is no greater than the mighty Dave. We've included all things Bowie, whether that is original songs, covers, backing vocals, production work or reworks we made, to attempt to give you the full scope of the man's genius.

i totally recall hearing that Scott birthday message going out on Radio 1 live and Bowie being genuinely as choked as i've ever heard a massive rock star being about anything.
LOVE that bowie blog. wasn't there meant to be a book of it coming out soon?

There will be a book version -- probably not TOO soon, though, there's still another ten years of work to go through.

i hope it's sooner than later, that Peter Doggett book seemed so bone-dry and po-faced by comparison (only read a few bits though).

An excellent write-up and consideration of Walker, with whom I've always had....trouble.

Thanks for the link Ned, mannn what a great blog

I always forget it exists and then have whole albums to catch up on

^^me too. Gotta work back to Tin Machine II I think

..and finally that soulwax thing is up! i haven't checked the app in a long time - the bowie ep was labeled "coming up" for ages...

that soulwax piece is amazing, deserves a widescreen treatment and more visibility. I wish they'd hinted on Outside or something from Heathen though but it's an extraordinary tribute otherwise. Bowie is the vanishing man. I honestly now don't think we will ever hear another note from him while he lives.

Yep, the Radio Soulwax tribute is fantastic. Amazing (intro)edits, some inspired song choices/versions and visual surprises (TVC15! Well not a surprise maybe but so nicely done).
I want that "Let's Dance" edit on 12"! And a bottle of Chronomycin.

Two to one says Bowie himself 1) reads that blog and 2) approves of the fact that he's going whole hog.

Two to one says Andrew Eldritch himself 1) reads that blog and 2) approves of the fact that he's going whole hog.

let the children boogie

after years of neglect, i decided that tonight was time to rip my bowie archive into my digital archive ...

one bottle of red wine later, and damn, this is going to take some doing ...

Bowie has posted a whole set of videos dating back to the 70s....

http://vimeo.com/davidbowie/videos

h/t open culture

My favourite is the bit in 'DJ' where he busts open a door wearing a pink jumpsuit and a gas mask.

Cracked Actor on BBC1 tonight UK viewers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rt50j

Classic.
"I hope we're not stopped... *SNIFF*"

hrm, this really troubled me...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWrUWbTJESk

courtney love implies around 52:28 that bowie didn't go on tour for The Next Day because he's really sick/can't do it/is at death's door. i know i'm reading into it but judging by the tone of her voice when she says 'yea, but you know...' to howard after he asked why bowie didn't tour, it sounds bad :(

*52:14

Hilarious, brilliant rev from Caitlin Moran in The Times this morning of the Bowie through the 70s blah that was broadcast on the beeb last Saturday. Great lil' love letter really..

i know i'm reading into it but judging by the tone of her voice when she says 'yea, but you know...' to howard after he asked why bowie didn't tour, it sounds bad :(

Courtney Love also thinks that Edward Norton conspired to steal all of her money. Not exactly the most reliable source of information.

yeah if he could keep recording an album a secret from the whole music industry i reckon he'd be able to prevent news of an illness reaching courtney love

rod stewart lets it slip that bowie is prevented from touring for "medical reasons" around 24:00 - howard tries to probe but they move on immediately

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eQa150Fk9c

But none of this is surprising to me, after the heart attack and all. Sure it's been years but why risk it again? Add to that his cocaine-wrecked seventies and that's increasing stress as you get older. This doesn't strike me as surprisingly grim, just him dealing with age and repercussions.

Maybe Bowie just can't get insured? Especially after Michael Jackson's death, it might be really hard for an artist with a pre-existing health problem to get tour insurance.

then again, maybe he just cant be arsed.

OK, so, still, his last visible performance remains that appearance on Ricky Gervaise's "extras"..

xp I'm leaning more towards 'would rather spend time with his wife and kid than schlep around the world'.

wouldn't you?

yes

would rather spend time with his wife and kid on ILX than schlep around the world

I know I'm the guy who said he shouldn't have recorded TND in the first place, but, still, he's seventy and is a carbon-based breathing Superfund site of toxic chemicals. Leave him be with his kid, Iman, and espressos overlooking Battery Park.

xpost -- You figured out my identity. Iman, unleash the lawyers.

Ned Raggett discusses his new memoir Unleash The Lawyers on "The Today Show" next week.

Now all we have to do is figure out which ILXor is Lou Reed...

http://k.7w7.us/li/mpr/mpr/shrink_80_80/p/2/000/060/2d9/03c1a55.jpg

Lou's not that misanthropic.

You ain't got the looks,
you're not the person that you used to be...
And there are people on the street
that would... go for me.
And I say
no no no no no-ooooo
scarfy face

There's a better than good chance Courtney Love and Rod Stewart have no idea what's up with David Bowie and are merely parrotting the same rumors us plebes hear.

Yes, and in any case there is a lot of room between "not physically up to performing pop concerts" and "at death's door".

kinda awesome that Rod Stewart and Courtney Love lurk in secret celebrity websites

ILX is a secret celebrity website?

Can't wait to hear Bowie explain that Rod Stewart can't tour the U.S. without an Aviva-mandated stomach pump.

There was some travel article about Woodstock and upstate New York, maybe in the NY Times, that talked about Bowie living and hanging out there, and how you can see him having coffee in the morning in the town's coffeehouse, etc.

At the end of the day, I wasn't expecting a follow-up to Reality to happen, and whatever anyone's opinion of The Next Day, it's great to know that at least it exists and he felt like making another record. Whatever his reasons for not touring, I don't think I was expecting him to tour it to begin with. I mean, at the stage he's at now, he's got nothing to prove to anyone. I'm quite happy for him to spend his time anyway he sees fit, and with advancing age and especially after his heart attack scare, he's going to want to spend the time that he has doing what the hell pleases him. He's done enough.

I know I'm the guy who said he shouldn't have recorded TND in the first place, but, still, he's seventy and is a carbon-based breathing Superfund site of toxic chemicals. Leave him be with his kid, Iman, and espressos overlooking Battery Park.

Alfred otm. He doesn't need the money, and he's never been the sort that needs validation from an audience.

Bowie also didn't tour behind:

Young Americans
Low
Lodger
Scary Monsters
Tonight
Black Tie White Noise

Because he was deathly ill, duh.

He doesn't need the money, and he's never been the sort that needs validation a lollipop from an audience.

he's never been the sort that needs validation from an audience.

Dunno about that, not sure if you get to become a legendary rock star without craving validation. It seems likely he's fine with the extraordinary amount of validation he's already received over the course of the last four decades, however.

Probably just doesn't want to deal with the shit from the misses, 'last time you went and gave yourself a heart attack...', etc.

And people labelling it the 'Seriously Ill Moonlight' tour

The Megan Draper theory is he's already dead.

I'm no genius, or doctor, or genius doctor, but I'd guess the heart issues had less to do with touring and more to do with a career of ... extracurriculars.

Yeah nobody is saying touring CAUSED his health issues, just that now that he has those issues, touring might be too physically taxing.

He could perform sitting on a throne.

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTiCzlz2onbSrr5PP-dZRzjEHAFWerYXpBIiTlsLa1KQxZf9G7AwQ

Well that's been a busy year. Anyway, looking back now, Simon Price found this unaired interview in three parts from 1977 with the man. As he put it: “The poor bastard. His huge brain, assailed by Pepe Le Punk at every turn.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-gjeeB4wuI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqqwz2s7ong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sofdCU79X1M

Ha, Bowie keeps taking the conversation in interesting directions but the guy doesn't even notice. He just wants to get on to the next dumb question.

This period is my absolute favourite Bowie look. I love his hair. So beautiful.

You should see my fifth-grade yearbook.

Why? What's in it?

That haircut x 70

Interesting, in the beginning of part II he mentions that he's about to go to NY to work on Robert Fripp's album (which I can only assume is Exposure, an album that does not feature DB)... I wonder what the story was there.

Sid c. 1973:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BZKw9oTIYAAoalR.jpg

whoa that pic is awesome!

I've heard the story a few different ways/times. Fripp was doing a series of records either with different vocalists, or one vocalist each. Peter Gabriel's second album, Daryl Hall's Sacred Songs and eventually the LPs Exposure and God Save The Queen/Under Heavy Manners. The latter had David Byrne on vocals but he replaced someone else. Or Exposure was supposed to be all Darryl Hall but Hall's label freaked and he was replaced with Peter Hammill? I don't know the story, but it's not hard to imagine Bowie getting mixed up with all that.

It underscores what a weird album Exposure is.

Just in case someone hasn't heard it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=089SH63fiSw

Iirc, Fripp wanted Hall to be King Crimson's singer!

this one is even more frippy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epLXwup4bpA

Anyway, just saw a VERY expensive Louis Vuiton ad w/ Bowie performing "Id Rather Be High"

Which features the Venetian Mix of said song.
Thanks for the links to that '77 interview, I've seen a short clip of it before, the interviewer is embarrassing. And thanks a LOT for that fantastic Sid Vicious photo!

Happy Birthday!

I always play this for the class on Jan. 8:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa6bI_95G9I

And then I try to come up with some kind of explanation of him. Even though I don't have one. (Also played Velvet Goldmine's opening credits this morning.)

Nice choice, that. I'd REALLY love some sort of Criterion release of VG at this point.

New Box Series Launch: http://www.davidbowie.com/news/five-years-1969-1973-box-set-due-september-54571

No Lightning Frightening or Sweet Head?

No cover of "Growing Up" either.

Or "London, Bye, Ta-Ta".

So 25+ years later and nobody has bested the Ryko reissue program

Yeah, his catalogue has passed over to Parlophone now

Are these going to be remastered or will the Steve Hoffman forum members die in terror

6 Original Studio Albums:
David Bowie AKA Space Oddity*
The Man Who Sold The World*
Hunky Dory*
The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
Aladdin Sane
PinUps*

*New 2015 Remasters.

as lovely as these will be i think i am happy with my ryko editions and replica jap sleeve remasters.

this review seems a bit "old school":

Still, they cut loose on the album's most brilliant jewel, "Queen Bitch", a furiously rocking theatrical miniature (Bowie-the-character-actor has rarely chewed the scenery harder) that out-Velvet Undergrounds the Velvet Underground.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/21066-five-years-1969-1973/

glad it's finally established - for a new generation - that Hunky and Ziggy are timeless classics

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/15/theater/a-visit-to-the-strange-secretive-world-of-david-bowies-lazarus.html?ref=music

Looking fwd to Blackstar in Jan. o course.

I have no idea what to think tonight. Legit sources reporting his death and insisting it is not a hoax. (Fuck the internet.)

If so ...

http://thr.cm/06iM8z

Its on gmtvnow, god!

yeah don't know but seems to be legit? RIP

certainly seems that way

it's real

https://twitter.com/ManMadeMoon/status/686441083648212992

also, fuck

http://www.davidbowie.com/news/january-10-2016-55521

fucking hell :(

this is hitting me hard. died two days after his birthday, lemmy died four days after his.

Fuck

"I heard a rumour from ground control.
Oh no, don't say its true."

David Bowie R.I.P

New Box Set on Tidal (I don't know if glenn has a copy yet): https://listen.tidal.com/album/64975950

Guardian on same: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/sep/22/david-bowie-who-can-i-be-now-1974-1976-album-box-set-review

The Bowiesongs blog has restarted:

https://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/2016/10/12/heat/

Bowie: The Man Who Changed the World (2016)

Cannot Recommend. Uneven narrative, insufficient interviewees and terrible editing make for painful viewing.

David Bowie: A Life, the biography from Dylan Jones looks to be very well-reviewed, but i'm not interested in reading about such an visual and aural icon -- i want to see and hear it.

https://lifeonmagrs.blogspot.de/2017/10/fancy-believing-in-goblin-king-my.html

David Bowie: A Life, the biography from Dylan Jones looks to be very well-reviewed, but i'm not interested in reading about such an visual and aural icon -- i want to see and hear it.

― bodacious ignoramus, Thursday, September 28, 2017 3:36 AM

Seems to have gotten a good review from Jon Savage.

still looking for a decent copy of this for less than 50 quid

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51A0MTWYFVL._SX360_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

gonna have to bite the bullet sooner or later.

the Bowie Is exhibit is shutting down apparently and having it's final run in Brooklyn this spring. I booked a trip out there to see it.

Just got the Dylan Jones book 'David Bowie: A Life' which is a brand new oral history with *180* people interviewed. Chris O Leary (of Pushing Ahead blog fame) said nice things about it so that's good enough for me.

So the new 5-yr box set, LOVING THE ALIEN, is out, with rejigged 'Never Let Me Down' album. The new production can't make this a masterpiece, but the new version of Glass Spiders is very nice.

happy birthday bowie. glad u escaped the fate of less white, less gentile ppl who also liked to fuck 15 year olds :)

this is going to be a shame

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY8mXPQtvxU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wASIzajHs7o

teeelllllllllllll the truth

Nice, Outside era TV interview just come to light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhVGZqpiZWY

That looks fantastic, thanks! LOL at the intro of the show with the morphing heads, had totally forgotten about that.
Bowie lighting a cigarette within a minute after sitting down :)

I attended the Utrecht gig where the opening clip was taken, one of the best Bowie shows that I've been to:

The Motel/Look Back in Anger/The Hearts Filthy Lesson/Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)/The Voyeur of Utter Destruction (As Beauty)/I Have Not Been to Oxford Town/Boys Keep Swinging/Outside/Andy Warhol/The Man Who Sold the World/A Small Plot of Land/Strangers When We Meet/Diamond Dogs/Hallo Spaceboy/Breaking Glass/We Prick You/Nite Flights (Scott Walker cover)/Teenage Wildlife/Under Pressure/Moonage Daydream

Visconti has mixed a new version of Space Oddity for the 50th anniversary, it's always been a bit wonky, the mix imho, so it's nice to hear a new interpretation -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptVbk7r4IcA&f=

God DAMMIT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptVbk7r4IcA

Magnificent.

Jesus ! It’s incredible. It might be the best remixing/remastering job I’ve ever heard...
It almost deserves its own thread !

There's a "2019 mix, single edit" version on Spotify that has a shitty volume drop at 1:01.

1:06 rather

Wow, is that an improvement.

Much of his material is timeless, but "Major Tom" in particular has always sounded stuck in 1970. More for the way it sounded than for its content.

The strings arrangements in particular are revelatory. With that new mix they create a whole new... universe !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDuxfo5AVTg

Wow, that’s beautiful. The original mix had that “newly stereo” quality of severe hard-panning that also is heard on Oddysee and Oracle. Centring things as is done on this mix glues everything together— superior treatment of the Mellotron, too. I heard the famous Stylophone on this song for the first time, having never before been able to identify it.

I want a remix of Oddysee and Oracle (sorry if I’m spelling it wrong)

Mono mix of Odessey is awesome btw

Is modern love a rewrite of young Americans?

It's in the same key, with similar tempo and harmonic movements, it's possible he conceived it as a rewrite.

Ascending chords as well. He got to the V chord in the verses a lot faster in 1974…seems to have slowed down on modern love and only gets to the IV

I'm so obsessed with 'Jump They Say', these days, even the ridiculous Robert Longo referencing video, the song is really heart-breaking in some undefinable way.

he said
JUMP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqKz_L_yUtg

Damn you YouTube user 0tapir0

Lots of good Bowie talk over here too (incl. Tarfumes and Alfred getting me to finally check out the awes 2016 Parlophone[Rhino dist.] Young Americans) Christgau's Consumer Guide Grade List: A+

Bowie's global publishing catalog is now sold for $250 million:
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/david-bowie-estate-sells-music-143220254.html

Whole lotta lawyer talk. But perfectly happy for Iman, Duncan and Alexandria, honestly.

I love them both but I love Bowie's catalog twice as much as Bruce's, not the other way around, financially speaking.

Beautiful track from Toy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1WLw9bNBas

The rest of the album doesn't do much for me, but at least Bowie recognized that this was too good to keep on the shelf - it was a B-side for some Heathen singles (as well as a bonus track on the deluxe edition), and he released it again on Nothing Has Changed.

Gail Ann Dorsey did a lovely version of it this past Saturday on the Mike Garson-organized Bowie livestream tribute.

Found a snippet!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_OAe_ziiJk

Also on Toy it sounds a little different especially in the echo on Bowie's voice, so I guess they remixed it (or simply had different mixes at their disposal):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJWBstZDisI

can I just say I hate the sleeve

LOL, yes. It looks like a David Lynch parody.

They should have put the Phillip Jeffries teapot on the cover

That would've better and awesome.

*been better

I just heard the "Let's Dance" Demo for the first time and I love it.
I like the "original" a lot but this stripped down version is more... funky.
Such a monstruous groove and the guitar parts and bass/drums are fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFAgk61HiyI

That's great

You can hear what the original Bowie 12-string acoustic demo might've sounded like in that live BBC performance from 1999-2000.

I think I'd pick up Toy is there was just a 1xCD option of the album itself, I don't know that I need all the other versions (unless someone can convince me it's worth the whole set).

"Let's Dance" Demo

I seem to recall Nile saying in his book that the true original demo, or at least the song as David played it for him, was barely a song, and he had to be pressured into trusting Bowie's instincts and taking the gig.

I notice this a lot when demos are released officially, that they're already often pretty slick and far along in the process and probably a far cry from their origins. (That "demo" version of "Let's Dance," for example, is already slicker than most completed albums.) Exceptions include the riff tapes on those Metallica sets, and also the fascinating disc Peter Gabriel included with the "So" reissue.

from Christgau's Consumer Guide Grade List: A+
Lots of good Bowie discussion there-- 2026 remaster I refer to is Rhino/Parlophone Young Americans, which Alfred and Tarfumes got me to listen to, finally:
Thanks. Seems like this 2016 version might possibly have been an influence on the new Bowie trib Modern Love, which also has me imagining a 90s Red Hot + Bowie, with cosmopolitan R&B voices x synths gliding through each other--and, right after hearing this remastered original, was esp. struck by the way Khruangbin's cover of "Right" stands on its own (unlike several fairly meh tracks before it).
Contributors seek to bring out the Bo's soul, funk, jazz and gospel traits---this last in the nay-saying, yet "Get me to the church on time" of the title track so gospel not gospel?!
Mostly they go for less-obvious, and often less-well sung originals, a or the major exception on both counts being We Are KING's "Space Oddity," with fun production, but the cool voices keep a lid on excitement, as his herky-jerky fervency def didn't.
Modern jazz development of "Heroes" (centered around also cool but affecting singing of Michael Taveres) is the damndest thing/honors the original (this would be yer Hal Willner 90s track)(Not jazz but also w appropriate and decided difference from orig.:Léa Sen's "Golden Years."
Since I'm in this deep, Ill say that my favorite playlist from this, because cohesively eerie and intense and mobile, is:
2.Sound and Vision – Helado Negro 03:21
7.Right – Khruangbin 05:08
10.Move On – L’Rain 04:00
14.Golden Years – Léa Sen 02:56
15.Fantastic Voyage – Meshell Ndegeocello 03:58
17.Heroes – Matthew Tavares 08:41
Also like these, which can work interspersed with those:
8.Silly Boy Blue – Nia Andrews 02:37
9.Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family – Foxtrott 03:11
11.Modern Love – Jonah Mutono 03:19
12.Where Are We Now – Bullion 03:31
13.Tonght – Eddie Chacon, John Carroll Kirby 03:35
https://bbemusic.bandcamp.com/album/modern-love
Also RIYL Moses Boyd's jazzoid Dark Matter, which suggest some shadings of early Massive Attack and Soul II Soul and maybe Bowie-Eno

Er, 2016, though looking fwd to 2026 edition.

i checked into serius’ 24-7 bowie charnel and immed discovered his cover of “growin up” by the boss from pindowns and that is not my jam.

pindowns
I see what you did there.

I am not subtle tis true. I’ll add the all Bowie is fine. I’d wondered before about “Jean Genie“ about what social type he’s describing, and he said in an interview snip they ran that it was all about his experience in his first time in Detroit, and the character was “an Iggy pop type character.” And I was embarrassed but satisfied because duh, now that I know it’s obvious.

that's the first time anyone's ever wondered about the sociological background of a Bowie character

Wow @ that "Let's Dance" demo, the drum treatment is incredible sounding

and Nile Rodgers -- well.

The Creem reviewer, whom you'd think would pick up on an xpost Iggy Pop-type character, instead said he liked to think of "Jean Genie" re Samuel Delany. Reminds me: what reissue of Aladdin Sane should I listen to? Another renowwwned set I've never heard!

I don't like AS all that much but I think the remaster from the recent box is very good? The Ryko still sounds fine to me as well.

I love Aladdin Sane, possibly more than Ziggy (which is not meant to be a knock on Ziggy at all, far from it). I kept the Ryko CD but it still needs some EQ work. The most recent remaster has some unwanted compression added to it, and you can't undo that.

Aladdin Sane is brilliant, though weighted heavily towards the first half. Ziggy in America.

Debbie Harry has ruined David Bowie for me. I cannot listen to him now without thinking of him, with a snootful of cocaine, randomly whipping out his dick and showing it to her.

the return of the thin white toot

One thing they sort of fixed on the Aladdin Sane CD remasters is bringing up the vocal a little on "Watch That Man", which was accidentally buried on the vinyl master. I have a nice late '70s Canadian press where the track almost sounds like an instrumental!

It wasn't an accident that the vocals were buried, was it? I know that Ken Scott hates the mix now, but it was deliberate enough at the time. It is annoying for sure - so odd.

I didn't know the original outtake (or demo?) for "Shadow Man" had been bootlegged:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk7z8_z8AGY

Good but the re-recording is definitive.

Also found this, totally forgot about it - I think it's only been release from the Sound + Vision box set:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMsnV9keFrQ

GREAT opening, but the rest is missing something. Still, it's a fun track and I wish it had been included on later reissues. Young Americans is the rare Bowie album where I'd like the original album to have some bonus tracks at the end, especially since two good ones were bumped for those two last minute Lennon recordings, much to Visconti's regret. (I love the hit, but the Beatles cover is awful.)

Here's an excerpt from Jeff Rougvie's blog on the Rykodisc reissues, a GREAT read if you have a lot of time to kill:

http://www.jeffrougvie.com/bowie-blog

13. "After Today" (Young Americans outtake)

In 1989 Young Americans was the best-selling non-compilation album in the RCA Bowie catalog ...I was very, very taken with this outtake. The rough mix Northeastern Digital knocked out was only intended as a listening reference, but we used it anyway. I liked the aggressive sax placement and the overall roughness, compared to the rest of YA, which plays the Philly Soul thing largely on the smoother side. I don’t think the track was fully finished (there was no final mix, just the multi-tracks). Because of the aggression, it felt out of place as a bonus track. The guys at Northeastern Digital were somewhat mortified that David & I wanted to use it as is. Northeastern Digital asked us to give them a shot at remixing it to fit the overall sound of YA and we did. I felt the result took the edge off and Bowie did too. If there had been more to work with, the sweeter mix may have worked, but the tracks were just too raw. So we used this version, and the engineer asked his name be taken off the mixing credit, but I love it as is.

I wish we didn't keep bringing up xgau on Bowie. Although he understood, after a while, what Bowie was up to, the album reviews consist of snarkfests that don't do much to explain why Diamond Dogs, say, might be a waste of time.

Also: it's generational. Many in my critical cohort coming of age in the '80s and early '90s are not so hung up on "theatre" and "rock and roll." The point of David Bowie, insofar as he had one, was showing how one could be a polymath in a late 20th century form.

xp also from that blog, this is a really obnoxious way of trying to reach Kurt Loder, even if he didn't know he was in Moscow:

After days of frustrated calling, I devised a plan to get his attention. These were the late 80’s, pre-e-mail and at the height of fax madness. I wrote a letter, made four copies of it, taped them together end-to-end and fed one end into the fax feed, dialing Kurt’s fax # at the MTV offices. After the squeak and squeal signaled the machines had connected, the first sheet in the fax centipede fed into the machine and I taped the end that came out the other end to the one that had yet to enter, creating a giant loop. This was an infinite fax, one that would certainly use up all of MTV’s fax paper and hopefully create an event of enough significance that would Kurt would be motivated to take note and call back. I walked away from the machine and left it to do its work.

Also from the same blog, this is how much Bowie's catalog was undervalued: "After we got the catalog, I saw proposals Bowie’s people had reviewed from other labels. Shockingly low projections filled the pages, but the reissued Changesone (never an updated version) was always the title with the highest numbers. One label with a wildly fucked-up perspective put it’s first year sales at 25,000 copies. When Ryko released Changesbowie, it sold half a million (Gold) in the first year, and eventually went on to sell a million (Platinum)."

xxxpost Xgau awarded Bowie several A-s and B+s, with reviews that seemed respectful enough, though was typically dismissive of the albums he didn't like/get. But the only way he was "brought up" was having his name in the title of the thread I linked, which incl. good discussions of Bowie, to which you contributed.

I'm aware of his reviews, which occasioned some frustration for me as a young queer man: not because of the grades, but because he didn't seem to GET the importance of Bowie's un-rock, quite theatrical bent; that's the POINT of Bowie.

If I want Bowie appreciations, I prefer Nick Kent, Marcello Carlin -- Brits who were there and not even necessarily queer but who weren't raising their noses at a "European" tradition xgau thought antithetical to rock 'n' roll (another point about Bowie: he loved R&B).

Yeah. I said that some of them were respectful, not that they were deep enough. He has always been kneejerk about what he thinks is "European" or Yurrupean, as he loves to say (what a guy).

And speaking of his love for R&B, thanks again for getting me to try the Rhino/Parlophone YA: I'm fascinated by his adventures in The Philly Sound---also Dusty's, so thanks also for writing about her Complete Atlantic Singles, the only 2021 CD album I bought.

Too bad they never recorded together, though maybe not temperamentally compatible---

Thanks!

Has this been shared before?

Dennis Davis' son has a YT channel with mini-documentaries about his Dad talking to various people, and they're great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videos

Dammit - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gCUBRFkvvU

Gail Ann Dorsey: “It was so much fun to work with David Bowie – he was always open to exploration of his material”
By Bass Player Staff ( Bass Player ) published 1 day ago

David Bowie, Lenny Kravitz, Gang of Four: the great Gail Ann Dorsey has earned Bass Player's Lifetime Achievement award many times over
https://www.guitarworld.com/features/gail-ann-dorsey-bass-player-lifetime-achievement-award Still got her album The Corporate World: uneven, but def some keepers---xgau: Pet Shop Boys, this is how it sounds with soul.

xp I truly think the Alomar/Davis/Murray unit (plus Bowie and gonzo lead guitarist) constitutes one of the greatest bands of all time

like, people respect their contributions but I would argue they are still way way under recognised for what they achieved

and I guess that's partly thru the way solo artists are conferred auteur status in a way that devalues the contributions of the musicians around them

but in no small part race-related, like the white guys (Bowie, Eno, Visconti, Fripp, Belew) were the inspired genius masterminds and the POC dudes were "hired hand" session dude craftsmen

(they also probably deserved more songwriting credits than they got - I love Eno but his "songwriting credits are decided by whoever is paying for the studio time" comment always struck me as being pretty gross)

anyway, the skills and musical invention those guys brought to the records from StS to Scary Monsters is off the charts

and if I could fire up the time machine and see one live show it would be a date on the Isolar II tour - where multiple crucial strands of 1970s music collided in the best possible way (rock! soul! glam! ambient! Hawkwind!)

(anyway I was lucky enough to see two dates on the Reality tour and Gail Ann Doresy was totally MVP at those shows, what a star - Bowie could still put together a great, and he clearly really loved that touring band - enough to bring them back together for The Next Day)

cool link dow. thank you for sharing. agreed: gail ann dorsey is pure class.

Love those vids with Davis’ son and - yes - I’ve always thought that the Davis Murray Alomar powerhouse has always been given short shrift as well.

I love Eno but his "songwriting credits are decided by whoever is paying for the studio time" comment always struck me as being pretty gross)

I never heard this comment, but it strikes me more as a wry observation than a maxim

Eno was probably thinking of working with Talking Heads. He and the band members were asked for a breakdown of songwriting share splits for every song on the record, and of course everybody's perception of how much they all had contributed was irreconcilable with each other.

I got the most recent box set that focuses on his 90’s work and i’ve been wading through it. The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell might be my least favorite Bowie song.

mea culpa, I have been trying to find the Eno "quote" above and I think I might've misremembered or conflated some unrelated quotes from the Pushing Ahead of the Dame project - weird cos it's really wedged in my head - anyway, sorry Brian!

Glad you liked it, Austin---a very long time ago, I saw Bowie and his band with Dorsey (who I thought was Michelle Ndegeocello)do a live concert on MTV, filling in at the last minute for the Rollings Stones: no prob, place was in flames, another day at the office for them, looked like, though Bowie was creeping around with a piratical leer, kinda relishing the pandemonium. One of the MTV lackeys blurted, "Man, I'm GLAD the Stones didn't make it!" Easy there, son, not supposed to talk about the talent like that.
Also I think she was in his rock orchestra when he played a by-request show on A&E around that time: they ripped through about 15 years of singles just for a start, then the callers could figure out what to ask for.

Or they may have taken some calls during the opening onslaught, but you could see they were going to play all your obvious choices (and then some) anyway.

I feel lucky to have seen him twice in the later years and two fairly iconic performances, the Meltdown Festival show where he decided to play all of Low and Heathen, the some of the hits, which was incredible and made even more surreal by the fact I was sat next to Eno.

Also the Hammersmith Apollo gig from 2003, where he played an epic set including The Bewlay Brothers (apparently for the first time). They were such a great band, capable of reproducing anything from his past without making it sound too modern or showbizzy, tweaking the arrangements just enough.

wowwww

Both are on YT too! (although the audio-only boot of Meltdown is better than the video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDWOvTABmD0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKZig2F-9RQ

That "...Anger" video is great, I don't think I ever noticed those congas in the mix before, and they're mixed so high, too, and I can't imagine that song achieving lift-off without them

i wish there were better videos of those Heathen/Low shows out, like a professional one (maybe there is and I haven't looked). I missed that tour because in the US it was part of a festival thing with Moby at a venue I hate in the bay area, but I deeply regretted it later. I did get to see him three times though: first with Tin Machine, which was frankly incredible; with NIN on the Outside tour; and then on the last Reality tour, in a pretty fucking small space in Berkeley (high school theater).

interested in the small venue bit akm - was it a special show or was he just playing smaller venues on that tour? in Australia he was still a pretty major concert draw - although admittedly he hadn’t been here since 1987 (except to record tin machine ii!)

Have tickets to see Moonage Daydream tonight. Pretty stoked.

Yeah seeing it here in a few hours myself. Proper huge IMAX screen, not one of those weird demi versions.

i saw it on one of those demi versions and it was still mindblowing, really really great, could have been 2 hours longer and I probably wouldn't have gotten sick of it.

Only a few minor quibbles: 1) a little too much footage is repeated (I'd seen enough of what appear to be outtakes of footage from the Let's Dance videos after I'd seen Bowie on an escalator for the third time) 2) wish Morgan had run some AI cleanup on the late 70's/80's videotape footage which looks awful at IMAX scale 3) really doesn't include much of anything post-Earthling, though there is some footage from blackstar videos and one line. It's not a chronological documentary as such though.

I thought this was brilliant. Kind of had diminishing returns as it neared the end (I never connected with his 90s or 00s output), but in general surpassed by expectations.

Agree with those criticisms (though I like how Morgen lights Forlorn Bowie like a character in a Tsai film), also how the film largely eschews biopic cliches EXCEPT for the moment Iman walks into his life.

tony viscounti

Doesn’t Visconti mean viscounts?

tony biscuits

Okay that works

I saw it in IMAX yesterday and loved it, though agree it dragged a bit in the last 10-15 minutes. I admired how it was an impressionistic portrait rather than the usual parade of dates and talking heads—as I left the cinema, it occurred to me that they didn’t even mention any album titles. I saw a review criticize this approach a bit, but I figure that anyone seeing this film already knows the Bowie story, and doesn’t need the same tired anecdotes repeated.* The sections about Ziggyy/LA were really thrilling; I liked how it incorporated all the clips of Kenneth Anger etc. as context, and applying effects to live footage. Reminded me of the recent Velvet Underground film, and would love to see a film in this manner just about Bowie in the early 70s.

*Biggest disappointment in this regard was going to the one-night only theater showing of the Beatles’ Eight Days a Week. I thought I’d see a deep dive into their touring years but it ended up being rehashed Anthology stories.

Yeah it was a joy, if not perfect-as-such I really had no complaints; there's a big interview with Morgen in a supplement to that relaunched Creem debut issue I need to look through here to get a better sense of his editorial choices. Alfred's many points on his blog are well kept in mind. I did appreciate they got in "Hallo Spaceboy" (I was half expecting "I'm Afraid of Americans" but then again in retrospect the closest thing to a duet performance they showed was the Tina Turner Pepsi ad -- so no "Under Pressure," "Dancing In the Streets" (going with "Absolute Beginners" was a smart touch), or the Freddie tribute duet with Annie Lennox, etc.)

I dunno, I think the absence of deep Blackstar reflections as such is easily explained that there's no interview material from him about it or The Next Day. What were they going to play otherwise as the running commentary? Framing the film with "Blackstar" video footage and doing the mix of the women in the ritual from that with "Memory of a Free Festival" was a sharp touch, and again sorta said what was needed to as I felt it.

Seeing Morgen did all those edits and mixes soundwise impressed me. Put it up there with Soulwax's DAVE video/audio mix, frankly, and in a much different way. Also got to see a one-off screening of The Man Who Fell to Earth a few days beforehand so having that fresh in my head was helpful given all the footage used. (I did find it VERY fascinating if weirdly appropriate that essentially his Young Americans and just after era were barely represented outside of a performance clip or two with different audio over it; instead it was mostly the Cavett interview, the Yentob documentary and Man Who Fell.)

I did run through various things in my head about what they left out and amused myself at thinking what an alternate cut could be like; leaving everything from before "Space Oddity" aside from Love You Til Tuesday mime snippets fits I suppose, the "Fame" era as noted, but imagine if the focus was the Peter And The Wolf recording, the "God Only Knows" cover, gamely playing along as Hunt Sales did his bloooooz thing on "Stateside" with Tin Machine, The Linguini Incident, and the VH1 Storytellers special for ...hours. (I almost wondered if they were going to ignore Labyrinth so I was happy to see that crop up; mildly surprised nothing from Baal though? And was there nothing from The Hunger? I might have at least thrown in bits of the Pontius Pilate and Tesla performances. And what exactly was that one audiovisual performance where there was a spine and a gas mask in front of him and the films projected behind? That and the moment of him in the shadow of a stagelight with the flower petals raining down were my 'I wish I knew what this was from' moments, along with that SE Asian tour footage as Alfred mentions.)

Oh and gamely going with two of the big standard classics as credits playout music was kinda fun. I hope everyone did stay to the very end to catch the last little bit.

Framing the film with "Blackstar" video footage and doing the mix of the women in the ritual from that with "Memory of a Free Festival" was a sharp touch, and again sorta said what was needed to as I felt it.

True.

"And what exactly was that one audiovisual performance where there was a spine and a gas mask in front of him and the films projected behind? "

i felt like those were outtakes from the Hearts Filthy Lesson video but I could be totally wrong.

Yes!

Also very much enjoyed the movie, I liked how even though it was not comprehensive it still presented a good evolving portrait of him. The contemporaneous interviews really let you hear where he was (creatively, geographically) at different points. It's striking to hear his sudden shift in the '80s into "I'm an entertainer!" mode, and then to hear him turn against that again the next decade — like he'd let himself be seduced if not corrupted. All well put together, if a little baggy here and there.

'Hunky Dory' box. incoming - https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/david-bowie-a-divine-symmetry-the-journey-to-hunky-dory/

I was with Moonage Daydream for a while, even though most of my favourite songs weren't there ("Kooks," "Hang on to Yourself," "Panic in Detroit"). My favourite part was how he dropped "Love Me Do" into "Jean Genie" in that one clip (though you don't really get to hear "Jean Genie"). I thought the middle part, L.A. and Berlin, was okay--I'd actually like to see a conventional documentary on his two years in L.A.

After that...well, it reminded me of how much I'd come to hate David Bowie through the '80s (before reconnecting to early favourites much later on), especially the MTV era. I found his pronouncements on life and art and the Emotional State of David Bowie interminable, and every time I thought the film was over, I'd realize there were still things to cover.

My friend's a big Bowie fan, and he liked it a lot, and people here seem to have liked it a lot, so I guess I'm just not Bowie fan enough, even I view some of those early songs to be as great as the '70s got.

Bowie himself hated 80’s Bowie

He seemed a little conflicted on that--besides the entertainer angle, he was also, at first, explaining the MTV years as a back-to-basics thing.

When I watched all those British teenagers in thrall to him circa 1972, I started thinking about my own high school years ('74-79) and how I just don't remember anybody who seemed to emulate him in any way. (Like in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, where there's not one but three Pat Benatar clones at school.) Maybe it was just that no one was bold enough in a small-town high school.

Following Scary Monsters, I think he had enough singles in the '80s that altogether add up to a respectable pop album. May be on the long side, but I'd enjoy these twelve programmed together:

Under Pressure
Cat People (Putting Out Fire)
Let's Dance
China Girl
Modern Love
Blue Jean
This Is Not America
Loving The Alien
Absolute Beginners
Day-In Day-Out
Time Will Crawl
Never Let Me Down

I actually loved the '80s section of the movie, because that was my own direct contemporaneous experience of him. It was interesting to me to see that period in the larger context of his career, how he kind of worked his way up to it and then how he felt about it afterward, the whole stadium superstar brand name.

This is the Bowie I knew -- a vague brand name in 1987. The guy (wasn't he gay, we'd speculate) who recorded "Let's Dance." He still earned long interviews on MTV and world premieres through the first Tin Machine album.

In all the dense collage of influences/inspirations/fellow travelers, the one I didn't see was Warhol. Had to have been in there and I just missed it. The VU flashed by, but I didn't see Warhol (or any of his art).

Also loved "All the Young Dudes." Weird, but that song can actually make me tear up at times!

xp: lol, I always thought that was some Parker Lewis- or Zach Morris-type.

Prince Myshkin Can't Lose

The first album I remember buying was The Man Who Sold the World, the one with the "comic book" cover. I found it in the cutout bin at Radio Shack. It completely blew my mind; Pepper notwithstanding, I'd never heard anyone make music quite that weird. I've had great love for him ever since, despite a, to put it generously, uneven output.

and thank god for the uneven output. It's probably Bowie who long ago reinforced the theory that poseurs need failed expeRiments.

Following Scary Monsters, I think he had enough singles in the '80s that altogether add up to a respectable pop album. May be on the long side, but I'd enjoy these twelve programmed together:

Under Pressure
Cat People (Putting Out Fire)
Let's Dance
China Girl
Modern Love
Blue Jean
This Is Not America
Loving The Alien
Absolute Beginners
Day-In Day-Out
Time Will Crawl
Never Let Me Down

the solution :

https://www.discogs.com/master/97355-David-Bowie-The-Best-Of-David-Bowie-19801987

LOL, it even has a bonus DVD of the videos!

Too bad it's mastered by Peter Mew. I don't like the way he mastered Bowie's CD's - compressed, way too bright and NoNoised.

Yeah I love that 8087 best of but I recreated it with versions from older CDs so that it’d sound good

I'm kind of charmed that Bowie (presumably) said to the compilers, "make sure you toss in 'Alabama Song' and something from Baal!"

Bowie Alabama Song = duuuuuuud

I like it, but admittedly it doesn't add anything to the Doors version

I just figured he was doing the collectors a solid - quite a few non-album songs on that compilation, so the more the merrier.

Almost every one of my favorite 80s Bowie tracks is non-album

"Come for 'Let's Dance' - stay for 'Drowned Girl'"!

I'm a big "Absolute Beginners" fan, I even bought the soundtrack just to have the song. (For $2 in a cutout bin in 1989 or something, but still.)

my fav 80s bowie song by a mile

That whole soundtrack is great. Besides Bowie, Sade "Killer Blow" and Ray Davies "Quiet Life" are favorites.

That movie was frustrating. There were sequences that worked well, but it was so uneven.

I'll probably watch it again some day. But.

I believe it’s David Bowies fav song too.

Y’all heard this? Your man from the Pushing Ahead.. blog thinks it’s the best version (or ‘the most complete’ at least) and I think he’s right. Always loved the album mix but this is a bloody marvel; Lisa Germano and John Frusciante are both on it too;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8nuT1rDB7o

The ending, just ... Bowie records a masterpiece that touches on themes from throughout his career while suffering from advanced cancer that was killing him and really should have had him laid up in a hospital. Do you think the audience might be interested in that? No? Okay then.

I was skeptical but that is an excellent version of Bring Me...

So this...

https://deadline.com/2023/03/midnight-special-youtube-channel-david-bowie-tina-turner-elton-john-fleetwood-mac-1235280405

Means that this is now available via YT, namely actual formal clips from the 1984 Floor Show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2DTwK5xysg

new laughing gnome take out

joyful

haha I love this shit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFdCI5i0EWo

Funny, his voice on the talking bits was pretty much his 'personable/friendly' voice he had in his later (ie "Lets Dance" onwards) years!

Like, "The Laughing Gnome" was closer to the real David Jones than anything else.

Did a doubletake when I saw the hype sticker and price on that little box set on record store day. £79.99, featuring 1 unreleased take of The Laughing Gnome. cost of living crisis going to new heights here.

There are record collectors. And there are David Bowie etc

This is so great. He did this the day the news broke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nKb2JC7Qn0

I've finally got round to listening to the Toy 10" box set that came out a while back. I had full absorbed the Toy album from the big album box and I didn't like it very much, so I wasn't expecting to get anything out of more versions of it. What can I say, I'll suffer through a lot of bad Bowie.

But there's an alternate version called Toy: Unplugged and Slightly Electric that is miles better than the proper album. There's more space in it, less gloppy, more focus on Bowie's singing which is actually pretty good. It's still not a great album because the songs just aren't there, but it's an enjoyable listen and the casual nature suits the songs much better. Every other version of "Baby Loves That Way" makes me wince and I can actually get through this.

How do you feel about the original '60s versions?

(Speaking as someone who loves the Rhino Early On comp.)

Early On is pretty fun. I like that stuff more than a lot of the Deram material. The most difficult pre Space Oddity stuff for me is the stuff like "Sell Me A Coat" and "London Bye Ta Ta."

For the most part, the original versions are almost always better than the Toy versions but I'd have to spend more time with the Unplugged set because some of those tracks are really lovely. The full band Toy versions are so leaden and glopped up. "I Dig Everything" isn't a great song, but the original is sort of cute baby photo of Bowie. The Toy version is *cringe*.

"Silly Boy Blue" might be my favorite early Bowie track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0geQMFdt-90

Beautiful but it needs more reverb

reading an interview with Donny McCaslin, he says they recorded 16 songs during the blackstar sessions

anyone know if they're... circulating?

I guess ten are accounted for by Blackstar and No Plan?