David Bowie R.I.P

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

It’s great

That's really sublime. "Blackstar" is such a gift, I'm careful not to overplay it as it evokes a deep emotional response in me.

I’m such a starman-effer I went to a Ben Monder gig the week Bowie died - seven years ago this month! - to ask him about Bowie and Visconti.

Have any other recording artists attempted to create their own Blackstar in the seven years since?
Was Bowie in a particularly unusual position in that he knew he was dying but was still coherent and active enough to be able to write and record?
Are there any artists (thinking of Bowie's peers in particular) who you can imagine putting out an explicit "last testament" in the next few years?
Would the reaction to the Bowie record have been different if he had died months before, or after the record's release?

Was Bowie in a particularly unusual position in that he knew he was dying but was still coherent and active enough to be able to write and record?

Yep.

Would the reaction to the Bowie record have been different if he had died months before, or after the record's release?

It was good for press, and, of course, it's wonderful to release an album that good days before your death, but no. I reviewed the album for a publication before his death; there was no dearth of positive reviews.

Leonard Cohen was right about there too -- You Want It Darker was released two weeks before his death and per his son Thanks For the Dance draws on vocal tracks Cohen did knowing that they would be worked on after he passed.

What Alfred says rings true -- I regard the three days (Friday/Saturday/Sunday) covering the album's release and Bowie's death as this wonderful suspended in air moment where he'd come up with something remarkable and widely enjoyed but no sense that time was about to call. That's why the announcement was such a gut punch. (I can say, though, that I know of one immediate and visceral reaction (not mine, someone else's) to hearing "I Can't Give Everything Away" on that Friday was "He's saying goodbye." Too right, sadly.)

Johnny Cash did some kind of last will and testament but that was just a Rick Rubin thing so not as original.

there was no dearth of positive reviews.

True, but what if he'd done like Warren Zevon or Gord Downie and said beforehand, "I'm dying, but get ready for a masterpiece"? Was the surprise a large part of what made the record so impressive?

That's why the announcement was such a gut punch.

I woke up to the radio that morning:

Radio: "A giant of 20th century music has died..."

Me: "...didn't B. B. King die a few years ago?"

Radio: [plays "Space Oddity"]

Me: "No, they must be confused, he just put out a new record!"

Lovely cover, suits the song and the band. Would love to hear Neil Tennant try it.

(Also, whenever I hear the song I think it’s gong to segue into “Swinging Party”.)

Do I need to scroll up to read about Moonage Daydream, is it any good, still haven’t seen.

It’s good, but it’s also Laser Floyd for 6Music listeners.

what if he'd done like Warren Zevon or Gord Downie and said beforehand, "I'm dying, but get ready for a masterpiece"?

Unlike Zevon, the last Hip album was recorded before Gord's diagnosis. It's easy to forget this because they announced the album and the diagnosis at the same time. For a late Hip album it really is great. The big farewell for Gord was the tour of that last album, with the last show being live on CBC.

There are two solo records Gord recorded post-diagnosis, put out by Arts & Crafts..... I oughta check them out someday.

It’s good, but it’s also Laser Floyd for 6Music listeners.

lol I've only seen the trailer but sounds about right.

Somebody upthread said something about it had a strong “approved by the estate vibe.”

Another thread, this one, here: Last (x) movies you saw (II)

I loved it.

Saw that too, but felt like I had already summoned you to another thread recently and didn’t want to be a pest.

Feel like maybe it would be a waste to rent it. Let’s see if it’s playing anywhere. Oh, The Roxy in Soho. Passed by it many times as I walked through the hotel to go see music but have never been in the movie theater itself.

10 years ago today since "Where Are We Now?" and I'll always have happy memories of how big an event The Next Day seemed to be. And these days it's treated (imo) more as a footnote to Blackstar/his death.

What Alfred says rings true -- I regard the three days (Friday/Saturday/Sunday) covering the album's release and Bowie's death as this wonderful suspended in air moment where he'd come up with something remarkable and widely enjoyed but no sense that time was about to call.

Yep, absolutely this. The anticipation was high and me and my friend spent pretty much all of those three days discussing the album as we absorbed it further. I remember thinking it would end up in the future as a late-period deep cut that was a genuine work of brilliance for those who cared to hear it.

Has anyone encountered the reaction "Blackstar is the only Bowie record I like, because it's a real life-or-death scenario and not the usual theatricality"? Maybe some young people might think that?

No. But I could well imagine a certain stripe of jazzbo reacting that way.

Blackstar was the record that made me dig into his back catalog beyond the hits.

As for other artists issuing final statements, Cathal Coughlan (Microdosney, Fatima Mansions) put out an album before and after his death last year under the name Telefis reflecting on his life and times growing up in Ireland. It doesn't have the gravitas of Blackstar, it's more of a celebration and retrospective.

unperson has said it's Bowie's best (I can't remember his reasons, though). It's certainly in my top five.

My um... second maybe?

I think it's his best (studio) album for several reasons: the actual sound and instrumentation appeals to me more than most of his other records, yeah, but there's also the fact that there's no filler on it — no songs that feel like they just needed one more, no ill-conceived covers — and no attempts at a hit single.

I'd put it in top five.

Yeah there is zero fat, and he reaches harder and more creatively than any time since the 70s. As “an album” it’s in his top 3 depending on the day. In context and as a response to imminent mortality it’s breathtakingly peerless. When I listen, and especially watching the Lazarus video, I’m overwhelmed by the sense of him brushing aside the haze and the blinders to reach a new level of his art, just before it’s snatched away. I feel lucky to have experienced that kind of gift.

Don't think it's his best, but do think it's the only post-70s album Bowie did that can stand alongside Station To Station/Low/Heroes/Lodger/Scary Monsters. I recommend the book on Blackstar by Leah Kardos: https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/blackstar-theory-9781501365379/

I finally saw Moonage Daydream the other day & loved it, especially all of the terrific live footage

Noticeable this time for me: while yes v attractive in every decade it’s really not until Let’s Dance that he actually looks yknow ”well” & not made of amphetamines

This is a weird note & may seem overly picky. But it did feel a ~little~ bit deified, like if a Dead fan made a movie abt Jerry, literally every thing out of Bowie’s mouth is the most inspirational thing ever

Hm. I thought it undercut Bowie's mythos often in that I watched it and felt nothing so much as wanting to kill him.

To love Bowie is to wish him dead as an influence, i.e. each man kills the thing he loves.

you say tomato etc

I'd put it in top five.

― “Cheeky cheeky!” she trills, nearly demolishing a roadside post (forksclovetofu), Sunday, January 8, 2023 1:15 PM

cosign

To love Bowie is to wish him dead as an influence, i.e. each man kills the thing he loves.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, January 8, 2023 7:08 PM

I don't understand

Today is Davey’s birthday, so…

I don't understand

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown)

He's such an influence I want to destroy it. You know -- like Sith apprentices do their masters, etc. And the thing with Bowie is that he encouraged independence and omnivorousness such that it's the natural step.

kill yr idols iirc

And your darlings too, while you’re at it, all of them.

I liked the movie as well. If you already know his history, it's pretty great. If I went into it blind it would be confusing because it doesn't really explain things, no talking heads that I remember or a narrative laying everything out.

I've been listening to his albums chronologically with my kids on the way to school, we're up to the Heroes tour (Welcome to the Blackout). They watched the movie with me and dug it. It's certainly not a warts and all movie, but I didn't get the sense that they were polishing him too much.

the music collages in Moonage were a+ too btw obv

I saw the film in IMAX, stoned, and it was amazing, but it's less a documentary than a vision/acid trip of Bowie--expanding on what Cow_Art said, the film doesn't even mention album titles or, often, what year it is; the viewer just floats on, doubles back, etc. That suited me fine, as I figure most people seeing a film like this don't need the FAQ or fiftieth recitation of a Ziggy-era anecdote. I can see why it'd be annoying to some, though, who expected more of an examination. Personally, I wish more groups received this kind of impressionistic treatment.