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

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?