David Bowie R.I.P

Looks like most of that joint set is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPKqigY09Dc

Huh, I've actually never seen this video! If this were released today it'd probably be banned and Bowie protested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPVrFIP0CMs

Well yes, but more for the gratuitous Resnor than anything else.

The Rolling Stone article that just posted implies that there will be a Blackstar expanded/deluxe edition, probably by year's end I'd imagine. The current version is so self-contained and perfect, though, that I'm not sure I even want that.

the NIN/Bowie tour was one of the best shows I've ever seen.

As a 90s baby, seeing the "I'm Afraid of Americans" music video was actually my first ever exposure to Bowie.

same. also to the song's credit, i only saw the video/heard the song once and didn't hear it again for at least 10 years, and i retained perfect memory of the chorus

Whereas I keep confusing it with 'I'm praying to the Aliens' Gary Numan.

did "I'm Afraid of Americans" get much MTV play? I have this sense that it was more known than played.

don't remember, this was around the time MTV kind of stopped showing videos so it't hard to tell.

i do remember being annoyed at all the credit NIN got for this track though when it was cowritten by Eno and out at least a year earlier on the showgirls soundtrack. although listening to that version now, it's actually quite weak compared to the earthling/NIN remake.

Yep. Never liked the single.

wait, the earthling version? wasn't that the single? are there 3 versions of this?

oh cripes there are a hundred versions

https://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/im-afraid-of-americans/

lol yep. the album version is totally overprocessed by reeves, the single version is pretty clean and i think trent's harmonies add a lot. the showgirls version is a sketch

overprocessed by reeves

Should be his tagline/slogan. "If it sounds like digital bees, it's overprocessed by Reeves!" with a picture of Reeves in a circle giving a thumbs-up.

lol

can he smile?

did "I'm Afraid of Americans" get much MTV play? I have this sense that it was more known than played.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 27 January 2016 21:21 (43 minutes ago) Permalink

I think it got some MTV play but my main memory of this video involves it showing on a big TV at the old Tower Records in Manhattan

Gotta listen to that "I'm Afraid of Americans" single now. Never liked the album version at all.

Just realized that Rob Sheffield's entry on Bowie in the Spin guide may be the best thing he's ever done.

rivaled only by the Roxy and Duran Duran entries.

Gotta listen to that "I'm Afraid of Americans" single now. Never liked the album version at all.

Think I may prefer the Tackhead version to either mix of this.

Makes me think it's a shame that Keith LeBlanc didn't play with Bowie during this period.

From last night: the Blackstar band (McCaslin etc.) performs "Warzsawa"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZj2if2vAcQ

No Ben, no credibility.

rad.. . . did they do anything else from blackstar itself? I'd be totally down for seeing them tour the album without bowie.

Ah, looks like he is in Paris, that's why he wasn't around on Tuesday, never mind.

Highly doubt they would do some kind of tour like that.

hahaha

http://www.alternativenation.net/david-bowie-turned-down-producing-red-hot-chili-peppers/

“We asked him to produce By the Way, as we were writing By the Way, and then we asked him again for our next record, which was Stadium Arcadium. He said no to us 2 or 3 times, but his mate [Brian] Eno, who we’ve also been asking our entire career to produce a record for us, has said no 8 times.”

Bowie and eno otm

You've got to have standards.

Nice Bono essay. Dude is great at eulogies and rock hall inducting: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/bono-remembers-david-bowie-he-is-my-idea-of-a-rock-star-20160127

I'd like to consider myself David's friend, but I'm more of a fan. He came and visited us when we were mixing Achtung Baby — and, of course, he had introduced us to Berlin and to Hansa Studios. We had a playful sort of banter — he would really go there in conversations, and we would even occasionally hurt each other's feelings. He took his daughter to a matinee to see Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, and he sent me the reasons he didn't like it. And everything he said was really helpful, because it was in the early days of the show.

There were later days of the show?

"After we incorporated David's ideas ... well, the rest is history. Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark became the global phenomenon we all know and love today."

lol

"After we incorporated David's ideas, we decided to fasten the safety harnesses of the aerial stunt performers."

"After we incorporated David's ideas, we decided to turn Spider-Man into a non-linear Gothic Drama Hyper-Cycle."

I find the idea of Bowie or Eno working with RHCP fucking hilarious.

Does anyone here rate the Philip Glass symphonies? At the time, I found the whole idea rather pompous. But having listened to them the last few days, I find a bunch of the themes to be quite interestingly treated. While something like "Warsawa" or "Sense of Doubt" is maybe a bit predictable or obvious in that they employ big dramatic gestures, Glass absolutely nails the atmosphere of "Subterraneans." "Sons of the Silent Age" is probably the biggest surprise, with Glass's treatment transforming the melody into this really lilting, lovely thing that the original didn't suggest at all.

I reviewed the Heroes Symphony in grad school; I've never been inspired to relisten, not since Philip Glass became a film menace.

OTM re "Subterraneans."

wow that's really nice

We had a playful sort of banter — he would really go there in conversations, and we would even occasionally hurt each other's feelings

Why do I get the feeling this "playful" banter largely went one way?

lol oops - many xposts re bono tribute

Alfred glass has been a 'film menace' for over 30 years including some of his finest work?

especially his film work

Per my above comment re. Glass:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwL4uLPNmuA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWYlfSZu9vo&app=desktop

I sincerely hope this thread never falls off the main page.

Same here.

You all know this track he did with Dave Grohl and Black Francis...pretty great imo...

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oQEQKXwg7pk

Hmmmmm

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/01/29/a-david-bowie-biography-coming-from-paul-morley

Not familiar with his work, I'm afraid.