Anticipate David Bowie's BLACKSTAR

the new yorker was pretty meh on it. bowiesongs guy liked it though.

My 11-year-old son, who afaik had never heard of Bowie until this week, is really interested in Blackstar -- both as a pop object that everybody's talking about and also as something made by a dying man. His favorite song is "I Can't Give Everything Away" -- we listened to it three times on the way home from school today.

That's a great song. Your son has good taste.

today i listened to that, straight into ashes to ashes, and the production felt of a piece, like they'd been recorded in the same session

Jonathan Barnbrook on designing the album cover:
http://www.dezeen.com/2016/01/20/david-bowie-blackstar-album-cover-designer-jonathan-barnbrook-facing-his-own-mortality/

Mostly like his work, especially the Heathen and Blackstar design. Reality sticks out negatively though.

I've been giving this a fair amount of deep listens today, and yeah, all the praise heaped on this album is completely justified. Wonderful record.

so hilarious,

so i ordered the vinyl from Soundstage Direct the day he died (they had a huge banner on the front page for Blackstar)...I'd tried Amazon, MusicDirect & some others, all indicated it was backordered

anyway, Soundstage Direct processed my order, took the money out and so I figured it was a go...nothing ever sent to me until today and I finally got fed up and called. I pointed out that I wouldn't have placed an order if I knew it was backordered and they did not indicate that and that had a huge ad for the vinyl on the website...and that they had been sitting on my $36 since then.

anyway they were like well we had no idea of the demand blah blah blah and sorry, so i was like fine could you just cancel my order and refund the money please I'll just buy it when it's readily available, all of a sudden she's like well i know my boss said we got a small shipment in today let me put you on hold and check to see if i can give you one of those...comes back and says my boss said you could have one of the shipment that just arrived what a CRAZY COINCIDENCE lmao

i'm still waiting on my amazon order which i expect to arrive sometime in 2017

xpost it's not a coincidence it's just you being a boss and making it happen

really glad I got my clear vinyl from barnes and noble last Monday.

yeah that's a score there aren't many of those left

Clear vinyl copies were selling for £500 on eBay last week, crazy.

how stupid jeez

$350-$400 on Discogs:

http://www.discogs.com/David-Bowie--Blackstar/release/7954685
http://www.discogs.com/David-Bowie--Blackstar/release/7944083

barf

Even the regular black vinyl has ballooned on Discogs, starting at $50:

http://www.discogs.com/David-Bowie--Blackstar/release/7932038
http://www.discogs.com/David-Bowie--Blackstar/release/7954216
http://www.discogs.com/David-Bowie--Blackstar/release/7989943

i know a lot of people wouldn't agree but i think this would have been a great cover

http://cdn.discogs.com/9bCaIiYSDSAZ-5FEGcyE8R2BXcw=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(96)/discogs-images/R-7989943-1453037402-4931.jpeg.jpg

wow look at some of the closed auctions, i would sell that clear vinyl so fast

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=david%20bowie%20blackstar%20vinyl&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2045573.m1684

You can make that the cover on the vinyl if you put the record in the back pocket and move the book to the front.

Xpost

Like this
http://i.imgur.com/L5bbvCM.jpg

ah, that's pretty cool, but think i prefer the rectangle version

I kinda like how my rug fits the design.

Black vinyl price will drop to normal once the repress gets out properly over the next week. Clear vinyl is a different matter!

Bowie's button eye character reminds me of David cronenbergs mad psychiatrist in Nightbreed

The running time of this album is just under the length of my commute, which is surprisingly convenient.

Feel like I haven't heard this brought up, but there's a massive Roxy feel to some of the fluttering sax and keyboard bits.
Dude really did like them, it seems.

got the vinyl, wow what gorgeous packaging

i have so few rare vinyl pressings anymore I think I'll just hold on to this one.

I finally bought the album today ... was afraid to before bcz too much crying

It's really beautiful... I was kinda surprised? I shouldn't be, but the poetic-ness of it as a whole piece is really flooring me

And I love the final track, all that beautiful sax

like it is a bit sad in places but it's not as dark as I expected

there's a sound in his voice on one track, i cant remember which, where i can hear the physical frailty... i can only explain it as "hearing his teeth"... my mother in law sounded the same way, she had reached that point of frailty/emaciation where her teeth were almost too big in her mouth, like someone with new dentures. makes me sad still to hear that

Just been comparing the two recordings of "Sue". There's not much between them, but at a pinch I prefer the original arrangement over the Blackstar version.

Another thing to note is that the first version ends on Sue, goodbye, whereas in the second the lyrics are extended and there's a two new verses after that puts the rest of the song in a different(less personal?) context - Sue, I found your note / That you wrote last night / It can't be right / You went with him / Sue, I never dreamed / I'm such a fool / Right from the start / You went with that clown

Maybe he thought ending it on "Goodbye" would be a little too final, but then the whole album is nothing if not final.

The first version of Tis a Pity is so weak compared to the version on Blackstar. Still couldn't find it on vinyl over the weekend.

still on backorder on amazon for me. also the clear vinyl barnes and noble exclusive release is going for $350 avg on eBay.

My vinyl arrived from Amazon UK last week, about three weeks ahead of the revised delivery date. It sounds fantastic.

This is what Tony Visconti said to Mojo in the January issue:

"I've cut the vinyl and the vinyl mastering is superb. This is going to be a vinyl you must have. You're not going to paste it up on your wall, this is one you're going to play over and over again. The vinyl sounds like good old-fashioned vinyl. The way you dreamt it used to sound like."

ok I want to believe that but lol

but and

I am going to paste the vinyl up on the wall anyway though, I don't care what Visconti says

Black vinyl back in stock in UK record shops I notice. I got it on release day anyway. It sounds good though noticeably quieter than the average record - I have to turn it way up. Maybe that is a good thing wrt dynamic range or something? I worry about the plastic sleeve the record fits in, as well as dinging the points of the star cut-out.

Played this at record club on Tuesday. Didn't write anything of interest about it, because I'm rubbish at writing about records these days. http://devonrecordclub.com/2016/02/10/david-bowie-%E2%98%85-blackstar-round-88-nicks-choice/

It sounds good though noticeably quieter than the average record - I have to turn it way up. Maybe that is a good thing wrt dynamic range or something?

I have the CD (and love it), and was wondering how they were gonna get all this heavy bass on the vinyl without the needle jumping around. Looks like a quiet master was the solution.

i have a pretty powerful sub and the vinyl bass sounds great. it's funny when ppl say things are quiet, just turn it up it can be whatever volume you choose!

it's funny when ppl say things are quiet, just turn it up it can be whatever volume you choose!

Honestly, my stereo goes up to 30 on the volume knob, and I play most records at 20. This needs to be 28 or 29 just for sitting-on-the-sofa listening. I'd be screwed if I wanted to play these haunting death songs at a party.

Vinyl still out of stock on Amazon.

oh mine's supposed to arrive from amazon on the 17th

it's funny when ppl say things are quiet, just turn it up it can be whatever volume you choose!

Honestly, my stereo goes up to 30 on the volume knob, and I play most records at 20. This needs to be 28 or 29 just for sitting-on-the-sofa listening. I'd be screwed if I wanted to play these haunting death songs at a party.

― Eyeball Kicks, Thursday, February 11, 2016 10:30 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sounds like yr stereo needs a hemi

put a blower and some straight pipes on it

This is going to be a really interesting record to reevaluate in a few years. It is absolutely impossible to think about it any context other than his passing.

Amazing record, amazing guy. One of his very best records for me.

Finally heard this record today. Definitely got some Portishead vibes from the tracks.

"To be played at maximum volume."