David Bowie R.I.P

Exciting to think of kids hearing Bowie this week, maybe for the first time.

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

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/12508936_10153245572347617_4131102321332316253_n.jpg?oh=652e7fe1d1bf0acb532890bf1ef60225&oe=5701B2B3

David Bowie albums make up 25% of top 40

Albums

01 - Blackstar - RCA
05 - 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 - RCA
31 - 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 - Parlophone
16 - "Life On Mars" - David Bowie - Parlophone
18 - "Starman" - David Bowie - Parlophone
23 - "Let's Dance" - David Bowie - Parlophone
24 - "Space Oddity" - David Bowie - Parlophone
43 - "Under Pressure" - Queen & David Bowie - Virgin
45 - "Lazarus" - David Bowie - RCA
49 - "Changes" - David Bowie - Parlophone
61 - "Blackstar" - David Bowie - RCA
62 - "Ashes To Ashes" - David Bowie - Parlophone
65 - "Rebel Rebel" - David Bowie - Parlophone
76 - "Ziggy Stardust" - David Bowie - Parlophone
97 - "China Girl" - David Bowie - Parlophone

Hunky Dory probably got a huge bump post-Life Aquatic which explains that

kind of amazing that "Low" charted higher than "Diamond Dogs" and "Let's Dance"

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, 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.

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).

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.

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.

i mean people always want his old records but it has been truly remarkable the last 2 or 3 years.

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.

slowly acquiring all of Bowie's 70s records for <$10 apiece during the 90s is something I've never regretted

OTM

same goes for Neil Young and Zep. makes me lol @ how much some of these things go for nowadays

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.

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!

The Ryko reissue w/bonus tracks:

Have: 16
Want: 44
Avg Rating: 5.0 / 5
Ratings: 2
Last Sold: Never

There's a few Rykos on Amazon for cheap-ish.

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.

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.

How are those bonus tracks---?

really really good, updated "Sound & Vision" excepted

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.

i'm not a ryko fan. in general.

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.

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.

i would totally buy a bowie b-side/demo/oddssodds/bootlegdylan/bonus boxed set.

Vinyl of Blackstar was $30, so, around Neil Young levels.

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.

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.

most of the ryko bonus tracks haven't appeared anywhere else.

all subsequent reissues of the catalog (emi, and the current ones) deleted the bonus tracks

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.

most important ryko cds with bonuses: ziggy, hunky dory, low, and lodger.

Scary Monsters also worth it for the excellent rerecording of 'Space Oddity.'

http://www.metrolyrics.com/black-star-lyrics-elvis-presley.html

This is meant to be amazing

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rnj10

So, despite some dodgy production decisions, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Never Let Me Down is a much better album than Tonight. I mean, it's still a pale shadow of his work from the former decade, but at least he wasn't sleepwalking through the thing.

Was talking earlier with a close friend of mine that I've known for well over 20 years, when we got onto the subject of Bowie. He was like "truth be told, I don't think I know any David Bowie songs... I know him as the Goblin King from Labyrinth", and I was like "You'll know more Bowie songs than you think you do... SURELY you've heard 'Space Oddity'? Everyone's heard that!" ... He replied "No?" ... and I said "Okay, 'Rebel Rebel'? You MUST know that one, surely?" ... "No?" ... "'Let's Dance'?" ... "Ah yeah, I know that one!"

i don't know if i was sure that 'fame' was by him, i mean i knew he had a song called that, but i probably heard it on the radio many times without having any idea it was the 'major tom guy'

I'm fond of this rearrangement of "Look Back in Anger" with Reeves Gabrels (first appearance on a Bowie album) and La La Human Steps recorded in 1988 -- the first tentative step out of the morass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vp3O-QH2Ac

...and it's on the Lodger reissue.

i'm being reminded this week of songs i forgot i knew, like "Join the Gang"

the 'major tom guy'

j. I am taking this as a username and it is with love fyi

So, despite some dodgy production decisions, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Never Let Me Down is a much better album than Tonight. I mean, it's still a pale shadow of his work from the former decade, but at least he wasn't sleepwalking through the thing.

Never mind going forward, what about going backwards to his 1st album? In fact, I'm going to listen to that right now.

i heard "Fame" sooooo much when that came out. i loved it. radio played the hell out of it. or at least new york radio did back then. i think in 1976 i had an armed forces radio double LP and it had fame and ballroom blitz on it. played that over and over for months. like one of those promo radio show things with a DJ introducing the tracks. that was the first bowie i had on vinyl, i think. i used to sit in my town library and listen to Ziggy over and over. i guess i didn't have the money to buy a copy.

suffragette city HAS to be the most played bowie on rock radio. right? it has to be. i think most rock stations played it at least once a day for decades.

anyway, he was very much a part of my 70's. also, i thought he was kinda spooky. which was part of the charm.

I've mostly been listening to his output from Black Tie White Noise onwards today, and feel it's his most underrated period.