David Bowie R.I.P

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,

David Bowie Narrates Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf is on spotify

https://open.spotify.com/album/1ZDPe7QlFtKG0nSjHSKaSE?si=ILfy_bvwSFmJtsSKXrQbFA

revamped "Zeroes" is not bad https://open.spotify.com/track/4vGFi5HtNR3q6UHwUoKVfy

I think the original Zeroes already is pretty good, best track on Never Let Me Down along with Time Will Crawl. I've always quite enjoyed that album to be honest, could never agree with the bad acclaim even from the man himself.
(I can understand Bowie's opinion on 'Too Dizzy' though, I've heard it once or twice and didn't regret at all that it was not included on the reissue I got.)

I like "Too Dizzy"

Taking sides: Too Dizzy vs Sense Of Doubt

oh come on it's Sense Of Doubt by a mile

yes, what is wrong with sense of doubt?

I think NLMD has a bad rap; it has more good songs than Tonight, for instance (though that album's 2 good songs, Blue Jean and Loving the Alien, are better than anything on NLMD) and I like it more than Hours. But the bad tracks are pretty bad. I'm interested in this re-do project; I like the redone Zeroes and always liked that remix of Time Will Crawl. So, cautiously optimistic. It's not going to be any worse.

I think I've posted this elsewhere - like NLMD better than Tonight and prefer both of them to BTWN and Hours

hours is just a mess. mostly poor songwriting, terrible arrangements, bowie's voice sounds strangled on most of the tracks, stupid cover art. blech.

hours... is really the only album I dislike of his run from 1. Outside to Blackstar.

For a long time I thought of Hours as his worst album. Not sure if I still do, I might but I did get to appreciate it a bit more over the past years, esp. hearing a lot of beauty in 'If I'm Dreaming My Life' and 'New Angels Of Promise'.

I prefer NLMD over Tonight as well but I also don't think too negative about Tonight. 'Blue Jean' never did it for me though - I often hear people name it as one of the better songs on it but it's one of my least fave.

these new versions are p badass imo
https://open.spotify.com/track/5SPx7nQEDWkEscivnLs4Hl?si=2q95SCPfSTuqa_CuRsZsbg
^^Beat of Your Drum (in the style of late career Bowie!)

I'm rather enjoying them, but no amount of retweaking can make de-cheese that chorus. Interested to hear what they do with something like New York's In Love.

Where are people talking about the Is It Any Wonder EP? It's very good
https://open.spotify.com/album/137bBAX7QKK24yqSgRNJq0?si=xT2Z5NaZThKryuS_A5ISNA

(would be disgusting but also neat if mods could enable spotify embeds)

The Bowie tribute show planned for tonight will happen tomorrow instead:

We’ve been working around the clock for months putting together an amazing show for you. Due to the difficulties in the world and the situation with COVID in Los Angeles, we’ve had to move the show 24 hours to tomorrow at the same time. Hang in there with us - just for one day.

— Mike Garson (@mikegarson) January 9, 2021

My friend Jeffrey is running this four hour collection of vids on loop through tomorrow here: https://m.twitch.tv/soundawakeradio

Could be tasty this; directed by the same bloke that made the amazing Stones doc Crossfire Hurricane and Montage of Heck.

FIRST DETAILS OF MOONAGE DAYDREAM DOC ANNOUNCED

“Feels like something’s gonna happen next year…”

Following previous online whispers, details have finally been revealed regarding Brett Morgen’s Moonage Daydream film.

Announced today, the “feature-length experiential cinematic odyssey” is due for release in spring 2023. Keep reading for the full press release.

Neon has landed the rights to release “Moonage Daydream,” a new feature film, concert documentary and “experiential cinematic odyssey” that follows David Bowie’s life and musical career and is the first sanctioned by Bowie’s estate.

Brett Morgen is directing the film that is near completion and will feature Bowie’s own narration. Neon will release “Moonage Daydream” domestically, while Universal Pictures Content Group will release the film internationally, and HBO Documentary Films has North American rights for streaming and cable in spring 2023.

The film was designed from conception as a unique cinematic experience and will also be released in IMAX in select markets. The film will also be released in partnership with Public Road Productions, BMG, Live Nation Productions, and HBO Documentary Films.

“Moonage Daydream” illuminates the life and genius of David Bowie with a project that shows how Bowie himself worked across several disciplines, not just music and film but also dance, painting, sculpture, video and audio collage, screenwriting, acting, and live theatre. The film reveals the celebrated icon through his own voice and features 48 musical tracks, mixed from their original stems.

Morgen was granted access to Bowie’s archives by his estate in 2017 and presented him with master recordings as well as never-before-seen 35mm and 16mm reels of never-before-seen performances, all of which will appear on screen for the first time. In addition, all music in the film has been remixed from the original stems into Dolby Atmos, 12.0, 5.0, and 7.1/5.1.

“Moonage Daydream” is written, directed, edited, and produced by Morgen. The film’s executive producers are Hartwig Masuch, Kathy Rivkin-Daum and Justus Haerder for BMG; Michael Rapino, Heather Parry, and Ryan Kroft for Live Nation Productions; Bill Zysblat, Tom Cyrana, Aisha Cohen, and Eileen D’Arcy from RZO; Billy Gerber, and Debra Eisenstadt. BMG and Live Nation Productions financed the film.

Bowie’s long-time collaborator, friend and music producer Tony Visconti also worked on the film alongside sound mixer Paul Massey and David Giammarco, sound design team of John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone and VFX Producer Stefan Nadelman, who worked with Morgen on his film “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck.”

The title “Moonage Daydream” references David Bowie’s eponymous song from the influential 1972 album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars,” which introduced the world to his iconic, gender-bending, and groundbreaking stage persona, Ziggy Stardust.

NEON’s Jeff Deutchman negotiated the North America deal with Kevin Koloff, as well as Karen Gottlieb of Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, P.C. Submarine and WME handled sales for “Moonage Daydream.”

Stay tuned for further details shortly.

#BowieMoonageDaydreamFilm

https://aws1.discourse-cdn.com/drownedinsound/optimized/4X/8/4/c/84c8eb0144fbc21ebc6cc80c998ee173d9c143b9_2_1035x559.jpeg

It's unfortunate Morgen's the go-to guy for rock bio docs. The Robert Evans doc was fun but I HATED the Cobain doc, it was exploitive, lazy garbage. I get that his use of animation is appealing, but there's a lot that's awful about his work. (I enjoyed his Stones doc, but he had to pack in so much into 110 minutes, it felt kind of thin - hell, Scorsese gave Dylan more than 200 minutes in No Direction Home, and that stopped in the middle of 1966.)

Haven't listened yet, but Spoon just dropped a cover of "I Can't Give Everything Away"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsM_7DBAEmg