David Bowie R.I.P

Glass Spider so shitty I need to post this. Mere three years later!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtU4-dil84g

Nice of him to bring Frampton in, though. Always dug his playing.

Writers have estimated that by the conclusion of the tour between two[45] and six[6] million people had attended, with another source suggesting that three million fans saw the tour worldwide.[2]

Four of the tour's shows were among the Top 20 grossing concert shows of the year 1987 in the US, and at the end of 1987 it was estimated that the entire tour grossed more than $50 million.[45] In 1991, it was estimated that each show of the tour grossed US$1 million,[46] for roughly $86 million over the course of the tour (or approximately $179 million today, adjusted for inflation).[21]

And after all that, Never Let Me Down never rose higher than #34 (in the US).

from my promo days i have a dvd/2cd set of the glass spider tour.
i have yet to watch or listen to it all the way through.

Forgot all about this. I'd like to think he saw it and had a laugh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FODvjYoVEi8

"Glass Spider so shitty I need to post this. Mere three years later!"

three years in bowie world is like three decades for normal people.

listened to Heathen today, some really great songs on there. 'Afraid'!

Still working through the discography. A thing I'm realizing is that, for me, the blinding brilliance of some of his work has occluded songs that are still brilliant if not quite as blinding. I just heard 'Move On' as if it were the first time I've ever heard it. Such a lovely song that I've tended to overlook while still reeling from 'African Night Flight'.

Sound + Vision suffered from having Belew handle all the guitar (although Bowie played more rhythm than he ever had or would again) and lots of keyboard presets but Bowie's in good voice and the songs are consistently well performed.

Thus far, from Hunky Dory through Lodger, there have been maybe 3 or 4 songs I could take or leave. Most albums that I like have roughly the same number of meh tracks.

oh my god, "Move On" is incredible, it's in my top 10

belew is a dominator. i don't need a lot of him in my life. sorry belew fans!

(like i love that talking heads 1980 live stuff except for him...and there is a lot of him...)

Heard "Pretty Pink Rose" the other day...very Robert Palmer-esque, couldn't help imagining rows of supermodels gyrating behind Belew'n'Bowie as they performed it.

THAT was the first Bowie-involved single I ever owned!

and if I'm not mistaken MTV did play it for a while in early summer '90, perhaps as Sound + Vision tie-in.

Yep, saw it that summer on MTV. Thought it was an OK song, but I only ever heard it the one time.

Now you can hear it again!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDWPyVCT0X4

In other news, Britt Daniel has covered "Never Let Me Down": https://soundcloud.com/spoontheband/never-let-me-down

belew is a dominator. i don't need a lot of him in my life. sorry belew fans!

― scott seward, Thursday, January 14, 2016 2:13 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there's an old showbiz axiom:

"no Belew, career is through/
Belew onstage, you've got it made"

Now you can hear it again!

Wow...it's a lot worse than I remember. Belew should never sing.

I actually love some of his playing -- with Talking Heads, on the Bowie 1978 live stuff, on Lodger -- but then he'll do some shit that's like, "Don't forget, I used to play with Zappa!" (and Zappa only ever encouraged musicians' worst tendencies)

you mean you don't like "Oh Daddy"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY7kXn-VssM

Ned, I just read your trilogy of posts. Thank you. It made me cry.

you mean you don't like "Oh Daddy"?

sdjakfl;jiworngioa;jdsk09gwr;oijkdagalksnjlkgsadf

wow there's something I haven't seen since it was originally released

xp

I own Mr Music Head and Young Lions, which, like Lenny Kravitz and Peter Murphy records from the same period, served as excellent intros to their influences.

Ned, I just read your trilogy of posts. Thank you. It made me cry.

You're most welcome.

Very good new interview with Carlos Alomar here

http://m.pitchfork.com/thepitch/998-what-its-like-to-play-guitar-with-david-bowie/

As much as I love (LOVE) many of the songs that are justly feted as his best, 'It's No Game' is the Bowie song that just completely SLAYS me every single time I hear it. Jesus christ, this thing!

I thought this was an interesting contrast to OP's take on Bowie as a 'non-musician', from someone whose musicianship is uncontestable: https://www.facebook.com/PatMetheny/photos/a.179159189925.126351.25511069925/10153453633734926/?type=3&theater

(My kneejerk response, as someone who is more on-the-fence about Bowie, was to agree with OP's take, although I began to question it afterwards.)

("On the fence" = love some things)

Two guys from Canada with fancy schmancy classical training pooh-poohing someone's musicianship non-shockah

Actually, I was posting a defence of his musicianship.

Oh. One guy posting snarkily without reading properly non-shockah

Lots of people tend to forget that a vocalist is a musician.

are you kidding, vocalists never shut up about it

someone mentioned upthread a bowie/dolby record would've ruled, and i've been thinking for a few weeks that a proper bowie/arif mardin record would've ruled (labyrinth is sort of half one)

I own Mr Music Head and Young Lions, which, like Lenny Kravitz and Peter Murphy records from the same period, served as excellent intros to their influences.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, January 14, 2016 3:50 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

my best friend in middle school randomly had Young Lions, i think he just kinda fished it out of a $5 cassette bin and got into it.

Thoughts on the theory behind #4 (considering the source):

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-famous-people-whose-best-work-was-motivated-by-revenge/

interesting theory but kinda runs counter to all the accounts of him being genuinely surprised at Let's Dance's success. I did lol at this though:

I like to imagine that as soon as the clock struck midnight on Sept. 30, 1982, Bowie washed the lipstick from his face, took off his dress to reveal a perfectly ironed suit and tie underneath, and said, "Gentlemen, let's business."

Dunno if this has been posted yet...interview with Ava Cherry:
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/david-bowie-dead-ava-cherry-girlfriend-mick-jagger/Content?oid=20856025

Hated that. For some reason I found it really distasteful and mostly boring. Like, phew, we've had a few minutes to mourn, you dated him for 4 years, how big was his dick?

I got the opposite impression.

I read it and thought it was quite tender tbh. She seemed happy to laugh off the question and clearly thought of him fondly. Stupid question but not worth fighting over imo.

whoah I've never heard of this Astronettes release, cool

Nah, I mean, I read it and tbf it seemed fine. But the headline is all "Labyrinth bulge!" and it ends with the dick stuff. I just thought that was kind of lame, and really downplays the value of the source when all she's good for is (yet again) answering Jagger/Bowie questions or talking about his wiener.

The headline let her down. But she was fine and banal as any former lover.

We never got a reaction from Don 'n' Glenn

Well, yeah.

A funny and sweet moment between Bowie and David Gilmour at a Pink Floyd tribute gig in NY. Does this work?

https://video-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hvideo-xfp1/v/t42.1790-2/12557328_1515623798768495_1346034394_n.mp4?efg=eyJybHIiOjMwMCwicmxhIjo1MTIsInZlbmNvZGVfdGFnIjoidjNfNDI2X2NyZl8yM19tYWluXzMuMF9zZCJ9&rl=300&vabr=163&oh=1179122baa409b49eda7f6666617e5ce&oe=5698957E

Also, David did really get around, didn't he? He's an account from Alligator Records:

Late in 1985 or early in 1986 Alligator Records got a phone call from one of David Bowie's assistants. Bowie was recording music for the animated film “Labyrinth.” He was looking for a blues guitar player to play on a song called “Underground” and had discovered one of Albert Collins’ Alligator albums (apparently he hadn’t heard of Albert before then). He wanted Albert to fly to New York the next day to record a guitar part. Albert was in the middle of a six-night stand at Albert’s Hall in Toronto. I called him and persuaded him to get up at 6 a.m. and fly to New York. We met at the airport and took a cab to Atlantic Records’ studio where Bowie was working on the soundtrack along with Arif Mardin, the famous producer/arranger. Bowie was a very gracious host, warmly greeting Albert and making both of us feel very welcome. In about an hour, Albert cut a selection of solos for the song on his famous Fender Telecaster. We took a moment to have our pictures taken (I’m the one who isn’t David Bowie or Albert Collins) and then headed back for the airport so Albert could play in Toronto that night. If you listen to the song, you can hear Albert most clearly in the last 20 seconds of the song, though he’s mixed pretty low. By the way, not only did David Bowie have no idea who Albert Collins was until the day before the session, but Albert had no idea who David Bowie was until I called him to come to New York.
-- Bruce Iglauer