David Bowie R.I.P

Station To Station sounds fine to me, wouldn't change anything about it.

and how is Bowie meant to know what the fuck his "original specs" were?

― the hair - it's lost its energy (Turrican), Wednesday, August 31, 2016 5:05 PM (forty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he made notes about remixing the song back in 1976 that were used in 2010 for the reissue.

i tried listening to this new music. this is too shiny and loud. is the lead vocal this loud on the original?

the kick drum is really loud here. the original has more of the rhythm led by the bass guitar.

i like the old one way more. it was maybe a more claustrophobic mix but i like it.

Adam OTM.

But then, Station To Station is one of my favourite albums of all time.

i love the humming that comes in at 1:27. it almost sounds like a synth or low theremin but no it's a layer of bg vocals smeared in flange and super wobbly. great effect. they use it all over The Slider.

seems unavailable in Denmark, alternative link anyone?

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/aug/31/david-bowie-tvc-15-remix-who-can-i-be-now-unreleased-listen

i like the old one way more

The guitar was one of my favourite parts of the original mix, and now it's really quiet. Also the vocals are way too loud. Although I have to say that I like the improved bass end.

I think this mix is interesting in a "ah, so that was on the tape as well" kind of way, but it's no substitute for the original mix.

exactly. i welcome any new/old mixes like this to hear that stuff that was buried before. now we have both

not available in ireland either. really what is the point of that.

^Same for the Netherlands. Looked around for a working link, turned out it's available through Spotify! At least in my country...

From the Bowie FB page...

Regarding the rumours that David Bowie's ashes were scattered at Burning Man.
That's all they are: Rumours. No truth to them whatsoever.

Looks like those demos he sent to Tony Visconti a week before he died are coming out soon http://pitchfork.com/news/68205-david-bowies-final-recordings-set-for-release-on-lazarus-cast-album/

Took me maybe 9 months to tackle Blackstar after a single listen in January. Bittersweet that it is SUCH A GREAT ALBUM. What a gift to leave behind.

It'll end up being the lone good thing about 2016

It started so well, yes.

"I Can't Give Everything Away" is such a perfect outro.

probably my favorite track on the album.

Paul Buchanan sings that track in the Bowie Tribute Prom, apparently he requested it for himself.

i was at that show (the Prom). it was great live...the recording didn't really capture the moment unfortunately.

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/william-basinski-shadow-time?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tmt

A Shadow In Time is experimental process-musician William Basinski’s eulogy to Bowie, and its two tracks contain, quite appropriately, his most blissful (“A Shadow in Time”) and sorrowful (“For David Robert Jones”) work to date.

thanks, will listen

Also of interest -- new interview with Donny McCaslin, which talks about his own new work in turn:

https://daily.bandcamp.com/2017/01/17/donny-mccaslin-bowie-blackstar-interview/

Thanks, was wondering what was up with him

anyone recommend a well written bio?

looking for good prose, characters, narrative - not into sensationalism, essayism, nerdy details

(basically I have all the worlds respect for the PAotD blog but I can't make myself read it)

I've enjoyed Paul Trynka's bio, and it was reissued with a new conclusion following his passing. Currently have Morley and Sheffield's books to tackle as well, but those appear to be more imaginative/reflective riffs on Bowie and his impact after his passing.

was also gonna recommend Trynka but couldn't remember his name til Ned posted

Sheffield's book is very good, but by no means a bio. Really enjoyable passion piece by a huge fan. You can read it in an afternoon.

Simon Reynolds' newish book on glam is at least half a Bowie bio

probably guilty of essayism though

highly recommended: https://www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n01/ian-penman/wham-bang-teatime

David Buckley wrote the best trad biography

Rob Sheffield wrote the best musical biography.

off to the library, thanks!

the lrb article is good (if very long) and worth it for this picture alone:

https://cdn.lrb.co.uk/assets/edillus/penm01_3901_04.jpg

David Buckley's the best I read. His take on Roxy/Ferry is also great.

agreed

was also gonna recommend Trynka but couldn't remember his name til Ned posted

I finally watched Five Years and The Last Five Years last night, excellent documentaries. so much unseen footage! where did those films of performances of the instrumental stuff on Low come from?

Where did you watch them online?

i stole them off the internet as torrents some time ago. Five Years I tink is available on the PBS site now.

Ha, that picture!

Every time I see a picture of Bowie around that era, I always find myself inspecting what's happening around him in the picture.

presumably that picture is in a tour bus, right -- note the netting on the right hand side of the frame: that's either in a bus cubicle, or on an impossibly swanky airplane the likes of which I don't think existed when Bowie was sporting that haircut. so this is probably his area of a tour bus (the back of a bus on which other musicians don't travel, most likely) and the table is the stuff he & whoever was on his bus was eating/drinking when he crashed out at some point during the night

One of my favourite photos, by Geoff MacCormack, shows Bowie asleep on a train, between stations, Vladivostok to Moscow, in 1973. It may be one of the only portraits we have where he is entirely at rest – mouth shut, eyes closed, no public gaze to contend with, no hunger in other people’s eyes, no need to scan the room or prepare an opening gag. The last cigarette of the day smoked, the last sentence in the latest book underlined, make-up sluiced away, dreaming like the rest of us of something ridiculous and sublime.

Wow now THAT is a context I wouldn't've guessed. And why isn't there a docudrama already about the time when Ziggy Stardust took the fucking Trans Siberian Railroad across the Soviet Union during the height of the Brezhnev era?

So awesome.

That article made me cry.

Penman is bang on about that Morley book, too; I was given it for my birthday, and with the best will in the world, I'm not going to be able to finish it.

The homages continue

http://io9.gizmodo.com/american-gods-teaser-shows-gillian-anderson-as-david-bo-1795548791

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--2tUQa2cF--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/buqohgunbq08iqhllwxr.jpg

I still can't get enough of the Blackstar version of 'Sue' ... what a great performance. The rhythm section on that is so fucking OTM.

It's a tight wire, isn't it? I also love how the vocal is on a different planet to the band, the tension between them is thrilling,