Speaking of Roxy, I've got a DVD of a BBC doc on Roxy (with good bonus concert etc), and Manzanera mentions that on a reunion tour, after s show in San Diego, I think, he just got on a plane, without saying goodbye, and never went back----what was the deal with that band? Just too much Ferry? And his solo career?
― dow, Friday, 15 January 2016 17:40 (eight years ago) link
I don't think it was ever exactly a matey band.
― Narayan Superman (Tom D.), Friday, 15 January 2016 17:41 (eight years ago) link
I legit like loving the alien, grandiose arrangement and all, and Blue Jean, but I'm afraid to listen to the rest of that album anytime soon.
Yeah, you just named the only song I've liked thus far and the only song that I knew previously and already liked. If I'd heard this at the time, I might have the same perverse love for it that I have for Pool It!. But I didn't and so I don't.
― Professor Bworlph (Old Lunch), Friday, 15 January 2016 17:41 (eight years ago) link
Ferry, Mackay, and Manzanera didn't carouse together. M & M always felt hemmed in by Ferry.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 15 January 2016 17:43 (eight years ago) link
Old lunch you're gonna include labyrinth OST in your traversal right? It's not on Spotify iirc but it's a must
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Friday, 15 January 2016 17:45 (eight years ago) link
One of my Wednesday rambles was looking at Bowie's last 18 months of work; here's a formal article on it with new info and interviews:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/15/david-bowies-last-days-an-18-month-burst-of-creativity?CMP=edit_2221
The ending is just a wrench.
When Bowie and Renck came to shoot the video for Blackstar in September and, in November, the next single Lazarus, the mood was exuberant.They shot Bowie performing for one day for each video and just five hours on those days in a studio in Brooklyn. That was all his health would take, Renck said.Bowie wanted it to feature an isolated village, then Renck came up with the idea of rituals that mixed the occult with a celebration of life. Bowie also wanted a scarecrow in the video, Renck said, and sent Renck his sketch for the macabre character Button Eyes that he plays in both videos. The sketch showed a bandaged head, buttons for eyes and just a small strip of a Mohawk for hair.“Bowie didn’t know if he would have hair left by the time of the shoot,” said Renck.In fact he did, a splendid shock of silvery grey hair – though he had to be careful, or it came out in tufts because of his cancer treatment.Unlike the sweeping anthem Blackstar, Renck described Lazarus as a little gem. Bowie reappears as Button Eyes, tormented on a hospital bed.“I just thought of it as the Biblical tale of Lazarus rising from the bed. In hindsight, he obviously saw it as the tale of a person in his last nights,” said Renck.While working, Bowie talked of his family but kept himself quite private, while being very easygoing and friendly with the small crew that worked on the intimate shoot.He would arrive so suave in suit and fedora and sip cups of tea, Renck said – despite the warning he didn’t realise the star was so gravely ill, he seemed so spritely while shooting. He would get tired and take breaks, Renck said, but he seemed so happy.
They shot Bowie performing for one day for each video and just five hours on those days in a studio in Brooklyn. That was all his health would take, Renck said.
Bowie wanted it to feature an isolated village, then Renck came up with the idea of rituals that mixed the occult with a celebration of life. Bowie also wanted a scarecrow in the video, Renck said, and sent Renck his sketch for the macabre character Button Eyes that he plays in both videos. The sketch showed a bandaged head, buttons for eyes and just a small strip of a Mohawk for hair.
“Bowie didn’t know if he would have hair left by the time of the shoot,” said Renck.
In fact he did, a splendid shock of silvery grey hair – though he had to be careful, or it came out in tufts because of his cancer treatment.
Unlike the sweeping anthem Blackstar, Renck described Lazarus as a little gem. Bowie reappears as Button Eyes, tormented on a hospital bed.
“I just thought of it as the Biblical tale of Lazarus rising from the bed. In hindsight, he obviously saw it as the tale of a person in his last nights,” said Renck.
While working, Bowie talked of his family but kept himself quite private, while being very easygoing and friendly with the small crew that worked on the intimate shoot.
He would arrive so suave in suit and fedora and sip cups of tea, Renck said – despite the warning he didn’t realise the star was so gravely ill, he seemed so spritely while shooting. He would get tired and take breaks, Renck said, but he seemed so happy.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 15 January 2016 17:46 (eight years ago) link
xpost For sure. I'm very familiar with that one. Certainly not among his best work but it's head and shoulders above the aural violation I'm currently suffering through.
― Professor Bworlph (Old Lunch), Friday, 15 January 2016 17:47 (eight years ago) link
It occurred to me -- the reason why I thought the videos were done earlier was because Visconti's said there was a period of remission in summer, while Renck had made the original arrangements to film the videos in July. I'd imagined they were done at that time. It made me feel a bit better about that manic energy Bowie shows at points in both, especially in "Lazarus" with the writing segments -- a last frenzied representation of getting the thoughts and words out. Now knowing it was November.... And thinking of Bowie talking with Visconti last week, saying he had more songs to work on -- he wanted to live up to that to the end. That really was his farewell, on several levels.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 15 January 2016 17:52 (eight years ago) link
Maybe the ILX influence, but I'm thinking that DB's current chartbusting comes from some listeners just now checking out the primo stuff---past vague childhood memories, at least---results: Bowiemania! As well as those of us trying to get past increasingly vague adult memories/neglect, etc. Quite a list:http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/latest-news/david-bowie-has-19-albums-and-13-singles-in-the-uk-top-100
― dow, Friday, 15 January 2016 18:08 (eight years ago) link
Roxy maybe also an influence re how not to do it---not getting yourself too involved/identified with a band-brand.
― dow, Friday, 15 January 2016 18:11 (eight years ago) link
Exciting to think of kids hearing Bowie this week, maybe for the first time.
― longform Gordon thinkpiece (Eazy), Friday, 15 January 2016 18:12 (eight years ago) link
decent compilation that UK chart
great alomar interview too, this bit's awesome:
I was listening to the electronic stuff, I think it was "Warszawa," and quite honestly, it was the only stuff that touched my heart. It's the only stuff that is ambient enough to let me also be in the music. It allowed my thoughts to be in the music, it didn't stop me from thinking. I wasn't hearing David's voice, I wasn't hearing some great lead guitar coming at me, I wasn't thinking about "who was that?" And if I'm going to do a tribute, I just want fans to be alone in their own thoughts. That's a tribute to the personal relationship that fans have with an artist. Fans don't need all the crap that corporate America wants to feed them for $12, they just need to be together.
roxy music/ferry is probably only act related to Bowie that I don't get at all, know I should be all abt them but does nothing too me, think it's the production on all the 70s stuff of theirs that I've heard that I just can't enjoy (but I like Avalon and Ferry's Dylan covers album, would like to see him in concert) sounds so cheap to my ears, either you go expensive dry or tacky reverb, not tacky dry, ew
― niels, Friday, 15 January 2016 18:22 (eight years ago) link
https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/12508936_10153245572347617_4131102321332316253_n.jpg?oh=652e7fe1d1bf0acb532890bf1ef60225&oe=5701B2B3
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 15 January 2016 18:23 (eight years ago) link
David Bowie albums make up 25% of top 40
― bored at work (snoball), Friday, 15 January 2016 18:24 (eight years ago) link
Albums
01 - Blackstar - RCA05 - Nothing Has Changed - The Very Best Of David Bowie - Parlophone 11 - The Best Of 1969/1974 - Parlophone 14 - Hunky Dory - Parlophone 17 - The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust - Parlophone 18 - Best Of Bowie - Parlophone 23 - Aladdin Sane - Parlophone 25 - The Next Day - RCA31 - Low - Parlophone 37 - Diamond Dogs - Parlophone 42 - Let's Dance - Parlophone 45 - "Heroes" - Parlophone 55 - Station To Station - Parlophone 59 - The Best Of - 1980/1987 Parlophone 60 - Young Americans - Parlophone 61 - Scary Monsters - Parlophone 89 - The Man Who Sold The World - Parlophone 95 - Space Oddity - Parlophone 97 - Five Years - 1969-1973 - Parlophone
Singles
12 - "Heroes" - David Bowie - Parlophone16 - "Life On Mars" - David Bowie - Parlophone18 - "Starman" - David Bowie - Parlophone23 - "Let's Dance" - David Bowie - Parlophone24 - "Space Oddity" - David Bowie - Parlophone43 - "Under Pressure" - Queen & David Bowie - Virgin45 - "Lazarus" - David Bowie - RCA49 - "Changes" - David Bowie - Parlophone61 - "Blackstar" - David Bowie - RCA62 - "Ashes To Ashes" - David Bowie - Parlophone65 - "Rebel Rebel" - David Bowie - Parlophone76 - "Ziggy Stardust" - David Bowie - Parlophone97 - "China Girl" - David Bowie - Parlophone
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 15 January 2016 18:27 (eight years ago) link
Hunky Dory probably got a huge bump post-Life Aquatic which explains that
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 15 January 2016 18:28 (eight years ago) link
kind of amazing that "Low" charted higher than "Diamond Dogs" and "Let's Dance"
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 15 January 2016 18:29 (eight years ago) link
― niels, Friday, January 15, 2016 1:22 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Funny, I love the production on everything from For Your Pleasure through Siren; it keeps them from sounding dated (and Stranded has reverb all over the place).
I made a mix tape years ago that had a Stranded song followed by a Who song from Quadrophenia. Both recorded around the same time (and both released on the same day), but the production on Quadrophenia sounds downright anemic and amateurish compared to Stranded.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 15 January 2016 18:30 (eight years ago) link
Is there a recording of 'Chilly Down' with Bowie on vocals? Now that I'm hearing it within the context of his other work from that era, I'm realizing it's easily among his top five songs from that half decade (and probably from that whole decade, but I haven't gotten that far yet).
― Professor Bworlph (Old Lunch), Friday, 15 January 2016 18:35 (eight years ago) link
For me, Stranded and Country Life are their peaks, but I like-to-love most of the rest too---Avalon awes late night music, for inst.
― dow, Friday, 15 January 2016 18:36 (eight years ago) link
bowie fever already alive and well the last few years in used record land. totally impossible to keep up with demand for old bowie on vinyl in the u.s. up there with zep and floyd for real. and Low and Ziggy definitely the top two that people want.
― scott seward, Friday, 15 January 2016 18:37 (eight years ago) link
i mean people always want his old records but it has been truly remarkable the last 2 or 3 years.
― scott seward, Friday, 15 January 2016 18:38 (eight years ago) link
which is why if people went looking for them after he died they were probably already gone or if not gone they cost more than people thought they would.
― scott seward, Friday, 15 January 2016 18:39 (eight years ago) link
slowly acquiring all of Bowie's 70s records for <$10 apiece during the 90s is something I've never regretted
― Οὖτις, Friday, 15 January 2016 18:46 (eight years ago) link
OTM
― sleeve, Friday, 15 January 2016 18:53 (eight years ago) link
same goes for Neil Young and Zep. makes me lol @ how much some of these things go for nowadays
― Οὖτις, Friday, 15 January 2016 18:57 (eight years ago) link
makes perfect sense to me. go to 10 used record stores and ask them if they have a copy of Low. you'd be lucky if one of them does. zep and neil still more plentiful.
― scott seward, Friday, 15 January 2016 19:10 (eight years ago) link
bitter LOL at the starting prices for these (note how much more the currently for-sale copies are than the median values):
US 1977 orig:http://www.discogs.com/David-Bowie-Low/release/59734$76.17
US 1980 repress:http://www.discogs.com/David-Bowie-Low/release/1139484$59.99
But the median price is still over $20 for both!
― sleeve, Friday, 15 January 2016 19:14 (eight years ago) link
The Ryko reissue w/bonus tracks:
Have: 16Want: 44Avg Rating: 5.0 / 5Ratings: 2Last Sold: Never
― sleeve, Friday, 15 January 2016 19:15 (eight years ago) link
There's a few Rykos on Amazon for cheap-ish.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 15 January 2016 19:18 (eight years ago) link
the vinyl press has been kind of expensive for a while actually I think, I know because I've been wanting one for a year and haven't felt like I could find an affordable one in good enough conditiion.
― akm, Friday, 15 January 2016 19:18 (eight years ago) link
average on ebay right now seems to be about 40/50 but that will go back down again. 30 is kinda high for a u.s. copy but i can see 30 being the new median. you could find 20 dollar copies pretty regularly online pre-death. but not so much in real life anymore.
― scott seward, Friday, 15 January 2016 19:21 (eight years ago) link
How are those bonus tracks---?
― dow, Friday, 15 January 2016 19:21 (eight years ago) link
really really good, updated "Sound & Vision" excepted
― sleeve, Friday, 15 January 2016 19:22 (eight years ago) link
I do have the ryko au20 cd of Low (only version I've ever owned actually). it's still to harsh sounding but I won't part with it.
― akm, Friday, 15 January 2016 19:26 (eight years ago) link
i'm not a ryko fan. in general.
― scott seward, Friday, 15 January 2016 19:27 (eight years ago) link
me either but the bonus tracks on the bowie's are all essential across the board I think. it would be nice if there was a decent collection of just those now.
― akm, Friday, 15 January 2016 19:28 (eight years ago) link
Blackstar is selling online for 60 to 80 on vinyl. don't know what it retailed for in the brief moment it was in stores.
― scott seward, Friday, 15 January 2016 19:30 (eight years ago) link
i would totally buy a bowie b-side/demo/oddssodds/bootlegdylan/bonus boxed set.
― scott seward, Friday, 15 January 2016 19:31 (eight years ago) link
Vinyl of Blackstar was $30, so, around Neil Young levels.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 15 January 2016 19:31 (eight years ago) link
Yes, I will confirm from having heard them over the course of this week that almost all of the Bowie bonus tracks are top notch. 'Alabama Song' and the 'Sound & Vision' remix are about the only duds.
― Professor Bworlph (Old Lunch), Friday, 15 January 2016 19:32 (eight years ago) link
Are there Ryko bonus tracks that never appeared anywhere else? I assumed they all got compiled at some point. The Hunky Dory ones are great; "Bombers" is one of my fave Bowie tunes.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 15 January 2016 19:32 (eight years ago) link
most of the ryko bonus tracks haven't appeared anywhere else.
― akm, Friday, 15 January 2016 19:34 (eight years ago) link
all subsequent reissues of the catalog (emi, and the current ones) deleted the bonus tracks
― akm, Friday, 15 January 2016 19:35 (eight years ago) link
barnes and noble had the clear vinyl of blackstar for $25 on Sunday. maybe they're gone now? I just got mine two days ago.
I was going to recommend hitting up your local library for copies of the Rykodisc reissues because that's what I did in like '99 or whenever but then I remembered that the internet is a thing now.
― Professor Bworlph (Old Lunch), Friday, 15 January 2016 19:36 (eight years ago) link
most important ryko cds with bonuses: ziggy, hunky dory, low, and lodger.
― akm, Friday, 15 January 2016 19:40 (eight years ago) link
Scary Monsters also worth it for the excellent rerecording of 'Space Oddity.'
― Austin, Friday, 15 January 2016 19:56 (eight years ago) link
http://www.metrolyrics.com/black-star-lyrics-elvis-presley.html
― Three Word Username, Friday, 15 January 2016 19:57 (eight years ago) link
This is meant to be amazing
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rnj10
― piscesx, Friday, 15 January 2016 21:04 (eight years ago) link