david bowie

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?

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?