Bowie Special In Total Guitar Mag

Jimmy's guitar sound jealousies scream...

The summer 2001 edition of Total Guitar (no relation) has a Bowie front cover and a sixteen page special on "the amazing guitarists of David Bowie", including loads of pictures and twelve pages of transcribed music, not to mention five Bowie tracks dissected on the cover-mounted CD...phew!

The piece looks at many of the bigger name guitarists that have recorded with David, from Jimmy Page to Reeves Gabrels (wot, no Mark Plati?!...shurely shome mishtake?) and a cast of loads (eleven) in-between. The songs on the CD that get the under-the-microscope treatment are: 'China Girl', 'The Jean Genie', 'Sound And Vision', 'Scary Monsters' and 'Survive'. All five songs are tabulated within the magazine.

Even the chord of the month is called "The Nile Rodgers Chord"! Employed on 'Let's Dance', the B flat minor seven sus 4 must be among everyone's very favourite chords. Anyway, I digress, this is what TG says about David's inspired choice of axemen:

"When it comes to choosing guitar players, David Bowie combines the management skills of Alex Ferguson with the dynamics of Spielberg."

Oh, alright then, here's that complete list of guitarists the magazine chose to highlight:

Jimmy Page, Marc Bolan, Mick Ronson, Earl Slick, Carlos Alomar, John Lennon, Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Pete Townshend, Nile Rodgers, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Peter Frampton and Reeves Gabrels.

And here's a list of people off the top of my head (yeah, right) who have contributed guitar to David Bowie recordings since 'Space Oddity', that didn't make the TG list (I apologise in advance to those I've surely missed):

Tim Renwick, Keith Christmas, Mick Wayne, Mark Carr Prichard, Jeff Beck, Ron Wood, Alan Parker, Brian Eno (treatments), Ricky Gardener, Tony Visconti, Chuck Hammer, Derek Bramble, Lenny Kravitz, Tom Frish, Kevin Armstrong, Mark Plati, Chris Haskett, Page Hamilton, Gerry Leonard, Moby and David Bowie.

"Never in the field of rock guitar was so much owed by so many to so few."

Many thanx to StarWoman for the pointer (have fun in Europe Pip), and to Susans for nipping out to the newsagents in the rain! };-)

Bowiephiles

Rock 'N' Roll Suicide : NME : 07/27/01 Black Box Recorder confirmed details of a new compilation titled 'The Worst Of Black Box Recorder'. The album, released on September 10 contains B-sides, rarities, covers and remixes as well as the four videos the band have made in their career. The covers on the album include David Bowie's 'Rock 'N' Roll Suicide'. This is what the band had to say about the cover when it was released as a B side last year. "It's the best song ever written. It's one of Sarah's favourite Bowie tracks and the chord sequence at the end is a right old challenge. Sarah though she was going to do a Bowie belter but decided to do it completely deadpan."

Bowie on MTV : The Guardian : 07/22/01 From an article about the 20th anniversary of MTV. When I were a lad, I heard Marc Bolan or David Bowie on my tiny transistor radio and occasionally saw pictures of them in magazines. Once a week, if I was lucky, I saw these exotic androgynes on Top of the Pops and - until my mother came in and snapped the TV off - felt the authentic thrill of der verboten . Now my kid flips between 10 different music channels that pump out vids round the clock. A veritable shopping arcade of sounds and styles (riffs, clothes, hairstyles, attitudes, gestures) is accessible to him in a way that would have been unimaginable to a T. Rex fan in 1971.(Barney Hoskyns)

and from a review of the 20 year highlights, same article. 1982 : The channel start their famous 'I want my MTV' ad campaign. Mick Jagger is the first star to utter the words, followed by Pete Townsend, David Bowie and Pat Benatar.

You've Got a Habit of Leaving : Sunday Times : 07/22/01 As Blammo mentioned (08/01/01 NEWS: ALL SAINTS AND MORE IN RECORD COLLECTOR) this track is featured on 'Nuggets II', the 4 CD box set currently on release. This set was also featured as Record Of The Week in last week's Sunday Times, and David's track was chosen as one of the highlights.

Bowie/Bolan Style : The Guardian : 07/27/01 From a summary of the nominees for this year's Mercury Prize. Turin Brakes : ....However, beneath their traditional radio-friendly chimings, a spikiness lurks and Future Boy ("My friends are all junkies, but they're still my friends") even hints at a Bowie/Bolan-style futurist realism.

"David and Mick" : Q : Summer 2001 Check out page 86 of the current edition of Q magazine, for U2's take on "that" famous photograph.

(contributors : pozie, spaceface)

:))

Tv And The New Mercury Rev Album

When I Live My Dream...

The erm...mercurial rise of Mercury Rev continues with the imminent release of 'All Is Dream', the astonishing follow up to the brilliant 'Deserter's Songs'. David is a fan of the band, and anyone who enjoyed 'Deserter's Songs' will be equally impressed by the new album.

A wonderfully pleasant surprise to me is the employment of Tony Visconti as arranger on the album. The band's frontman Jonathan Donahue mentions Tony's contribution in this week's NME:

"Someone mentioned his name and we realised he lived just near us, so we decided to call him," explains Donahue. "We sent him the record and in what seemed like only 20 minutes he called back to say, 'I'm in'. I think he did an amazing job."

That he certainly did, 'All Is Dream' will no doubt top the best album-of-the-year charts in every publication with good taste. Hear a sample of what you can expect at the NME website.

Live Lou And Ronno Cds Out Now

Lou Reed - American Poet - Pilot 83

White light makes me sound like Lou Reed...

Two recent releases on the nmc label may be of interest to many of you reading this. The first is an excellent 1972 live recording of Lou Reed called 'American Poet', which captures a refreshingly buoyant Lou with backing band The Tots live at the Hampstead Theatre on Boxing Day 1972, during the 'Transformer' tour. The recording was originally broadcast on US radio, and has since been a favourite among fans as a bootleg.

The show features material spanning Lou's career up to that point including songs from the Velvet Underground, Lou's first album and the then recently released 'Transformer'. There is also a priceless interview with him about working with David and Mick Ronson during the recording of 'Transformer', and his thoughts on the Velvet Underground's continued career without him, 'Vicious' indeed!

The CD booklet contains comprehensive notes relating to Lou's post-Velvet's career up to the release of 'Transformer', and many beautiful unpublished Mick Rock photos from the 'Transformer' cover session taken at the Scala Cinema in Kings Cross. Great stuff.

The Mick Ronson Memorial Concert - Pilot 94

The other CD is a re-mastered re-issue of the Mick Ronson Memorial Concert from the Hammersmith Apollo (formerly Odeon) recorded in April 1994, exactly one year after Mick's death. The artists featured on this newly enhanced 3-CD set are too numerous to mention here, suffice it to say that this is the show that the pre-Cybernauts Spiders From Mars debuted. Apart from the usual suspects, the band was joined by original touring Spider, Nicky Graham, on piano and Bill Nelson on guitar.

The third disc of the set (Enhanced Video Disc bonus limited to 5000 copies) features live footage from the show of Roger Taylor performing 'It's A Kind Of Magic' and the entire cast performing a rousing rendition of 'All The Young Dudes'. Go here for a full breakdown.

Bowie And Diddy : Online News Roundup

The story of this new collaboration has caught the attention of a whole string of music news sites around the world. It also seems to have been an excuse for the new media journalists to concoct some terrible puns...

Dotmusic : P Ziggy - "I wanted to make sure it helped out with the movie," Puffy explained. "Cause right now when people do soundtracks I just think at times it's a bunch of records, nobody is making a record in mind for the soundtrack like it used to be."

Bowie said: "We're doing live vocals. It's not really so much like a sampling kind of affair."

RadioUndercover : P. Diddy and Z. Iggy are remixing Bowie's 'This Is Not America' for the soundtrack to the new Denzal Washington / Ethan Hawke movie Training Day.

NME : Captioned their picture of David, smoking a cigarette - "David Bowie - 'No, this isn't what I meant by having a Puff' "

Some sites did manage to restrain themselves and actually provide some additional information...

Sonicnet : "I'm in the studio recording with Sean," Bowie said, backing up his collaborator. "We're doing live vocals. It's not really so much like a sampling kind of affair. The first time we did it we had a lot fun, it was kind of cool, but we might as well have phoned in our performances, because it was done 2,000, 3,000 miles apart. This time, really, it's like a nice thing." and

"This version's definitely got a menace," Bowie said of "This Is Not America." "The beats will be very interesting because it's definitely moved on from what you'd expect. There's a fast techno flavor to it. It's got an aggression to it that really reflects the movie, which I think is a good thing."

Stories also at Manhunt and Billboard which include the film release date and the full soundtrack listing.

Click on the names to see the complete stories.

(contributors : susans, pozie, spaceface)

:))

Ibiza At The Edinburgh Fringe Festival Tonight

"Martin, Martin, can you hear me?"

He's in the best selling show...

If you're in the location of Edinburgh right now, don't forget that tonight is the first night of a month long run of Adrian Berry's brilliant study of one man's obsession with David Bowie, 'From Ibiza To The Norfolk Broads'. The play is already selling fast, no doubt helped by the fact that it has been nominated in this week's Time Out as one of the Top 50 'Must Sees'. Not bad when you consider that there are over 2,000 shows at the Fringe.

"Gimme your hands cause you're wonderful"

The show runs every night from 1st-26th August at 11.00pm for 26 performances at: C (Venue 34), Adam House, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. Tickets priced £7.50 / £5.50 conc - Box Office: 0131 225 5105. The first four nights are previews as the festival proper doesn't start until the 5th. If you do go, please let us know what you thought of the play.

Images ©Total Blam Blam 2000

All Saints And More In Record Collector

Strange divine...

The August edition of Record Collector has a few mentions of last week's 'All Saints' CD release. In its regular round-up of promos and collectibles, Information Station, the promo of the album is listed at £40 (approx. $56) a price reflected by recent sales on eBay of this much sought after item. Don't be confused by the fact that the magazine has actually illustrated the promo with the original cover, they are aware of the fact and are most likely showing off...well wouldn't you if you had a copy?

The page after Information Station boasts a half-page ad for both the 'All Saints' and 'Christiane F.' releases, under the banner "UNMISSABLE BOWIE", a theory upheld by Daryl Easlea in the review section. Describing David as "ambassador of the strange" Daryl had this to say about 'All Saints':

"...a superior collection that seeks to re-affirm Bowie as our leading art-rocker (as if there could be another). As the whole damn world seems to have gone 'chill-out' crazy of late, All Saints rightly deserves to be a brand leader, while, of course, adding a degree of disquiet to that over-subscribed genre."

Elsewhere in the mag there is a three page spread on the four CD box set 'Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-69'. Of the 109 tracks that make up this collection of "international garage rock" one is by a little known British teenager who went by the name of Davy Jones. Represented here with his own composition, 'You've Got A Habit Of Leaving', Davy was destined for bigger and better things, and an end to the sort of problems that inspired him to pen this catchy little ditty. };-)

All Saints Competition Ends Today

The last days were the meanest...

Today is the last day in our original All Saints competition. (06/29/01 NEWS: WIN ALL SAINTS ULTRA-RARITY) This has been possibly our most popular competition yet, and understandably so. But though there are two copies up for grabs, one signed by David, and an unsigned sealed copy, I am afraid there have been far more than two correct answers so far, in fact I would say there have only been nearer two incorrect entries so far.

Still, to steal a popular catch-phrase from the National Lottery here in the UK, "It could be you"...and while I'm in a corny mood, remember, if you don't enter, you can't win. So give it a go, and the very best of luck to you. We will announce the winners in the next few days.

For more information regarding the original private pressing of 'All Saints', go here.

Bowie And P Diddy - Did They, Didn't They?

Training Day, starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke

A little piece of you...

This is the one you've all been waiting for confirmation or denial of. Has David Bowie recently re-recorded 'This Is Not America' with Mr Sean Combs? Well, a recording session did take place last Sunday (22nd) at P. Diddy's Times Square studio, and present at that session was one David Bowie (formerly known as David Jones, Ziggy Stardust, Halloween Jack, The Thin White Duke and various others) and indeed Sean "P. Diddy" Combs (formerly known as Puff Daddy).

The pair have taken elements from the 1985 David Bowie/Pat Metheny song 'This Is Not America', originally recorded for the soundtrack of 'The Falcon And The Snowman' movie, and have added new lyrics performed by Rappers Black Rob, Marc Curry, Big Azz Ko, and Kain . This new version has also been recorded for a soundtrack, for 'Training Day' (starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke) to be precise, and the film opens on September 21st.

The original recording was just as much an unexpected partnership as this latest one would appear to be, but the song is now regarded a classic among Bowie fans, and was in fact played live for the first time, fifteen years after its release, during David's string of dates last year. This live version was immortalised on the live CD from David's performance at the BBC Radio Theatre.

Here's what David had to say about the session with P. Diddy:

"I threw down a lot of lines and melodic pieces from which Sean will make a sort of assemblage piece, with contributing rappers. The beats have a definite techno/hiphop drive."

When the two met for the session, P. Diddy was moved to comment on David's firm handshake: "Man, I want to know what exercise machine you use?" the rapper enquired. "It's called holding onto your money." was David's quick-as-a-flash rejoinder.

Of course this isn't the first time the two have graced the same recording. You will remember the smash hit, (taken from Puff Daddy & The Family's 'No Way Out' album) 'Been Around The World', that sampled Let's Dance as the basis for the backing track. It's also not the first time David and Sean have met. They were both present for the NetAid press conference in New York back in 1999.

The Training Day soundtrack will be released on Priority Records.

Disgrace In The Darkness

Leeza, Helen2, Rednik, Electric Blue, Susans,
Spaceface and Dick Mac set the record for most
BowieNetters in the Heddon Street phone box at one time.

Hey man, oh Helen get off the phone...

Tomorrow (Sunday) is your last chance to see the superb 'Darkness and Disgrace' before its Edinburgh Festival run from 13th-27th August. A group of us went along last night to see this edited-for-Edinburgh version of the piece, and both those that had seen the full version and those that were seeing it for the first time agreed that this version really is worth a look. It was a pleasure to meet several other BowieNetters there and if you are in the area tomorrow, you really should make the effort to go along. Further details can be found in previous posts here on BowieNet. (07/24/01 NEWS: DARKNESS AND DISGRACE TICKET WINNERS)

After last night's show and after we had all enjoyed some small amount of liquid refreshment, Spaceface managed the impossible task of herding eight of us into waiting vehicles with a view to visiting the Bowie shrine that is the phone box in Heddon Street. Once there, much merriment was had as we attempted to set the record for most BowieNetters in the phone box at one time. Rednik made a feeble attempt to become first BowieNetter on top of the box, but failed miserably.

Bemused tourists and late-night revellers looked on as the drunken raggle-taggle squeezed into the groaning box. I did the decent thing of greatly increasing the chances of success by not taking part and staying behind the camera. We rounded off the evening with a trip to China Town and a bellyful of noodles. Thanx for a lovely evening folks and good luck to Des De Moor and Russell Churney in Edinburgh.

Bowiephiles

Hedwig : New York Times : 07/20/01 From a review of the film : One way of looking at this clever, funny, wildly innovative film tricked out with surreal pop embellishments and Day-Glo colors is to see it as the kind of movie David Bowie might have made had he pushed his early- 70's gender-bending persona to its logical limit.......Mr. Mitchell also sings in a voice whose lofty elocution and frosty, slightly inhuman tone echo Mr. Bowie's as spiked with a tiny whiff of helium. Fleshing out the story is a meaty rock score by Stephen Trask whose reaching-for-the-heavens anthems brilliantly parody Mr. Bowie's songwriting in the Ziggy Stardust era without lapsing into caricature.......More than simply telling Hedwig's story, the songs, like Mr. Bowie's early-70's output, sketch an overarching pop philosophy whose conceptual grandiosity harks back to the days when stentorian proclamations about rock 'n' roll saving the world still had some currency. (Hedwig and The Angry Inch is now on limited release throughout the USA)

All Saints : Dot Music : 07/20/01 From a review of the album. It all adds up to some of the least chilled-out ambient music ever. 'Sense Of Doubt' really must be one of the most ominous pieces of music anywhere, all crashing piano chords and swirling synthesised wind effects. Several of the tracks here are oddly moving because they feature tentative, fragile melodies set against grim electronic washes of sound - bits of broken beauty seemingly struggling to survive in a hostile environment. Marvellous mood music for moods you might hope never to experience.

Bowie's backing vocals : Uncut : Aug 2001 From an interview with Brian Eno : "I like singing. It's one thing that makes me really happy. I particularly love backing vocals. I've got a great voice for stacking. It's very thin. You can't stack Bono.. His voice occupies too much space. A good singer can't do backing vocals. Bowie is the exception. He knows how to thin out his voice."

Plastic Soul : The Independent : 07/23/01 From an interview with Super Furry Animals, on the release of Rings Around The World. "Juxtapozed With U", the absurdly catchy current single, is the most radio-friendly thing SFA have ever done, a piece of summery disco with a production straight out of 1975. They mention Marvin Gaye and Caetano Veloso as inspirations for the song, although they nod in agreement at the mention of Philadelphia soul, and David Bowie's "plastic soul" approximation of it on Young Americans. "It was important that it should sound as plastic as possible. If we'd tried to make it sound authentic, it would have been awful."

(contributors : susans, spaceface)

:))

Simple Minds Cover Tmwstw

"You're too simple minded"

Waiting so long, I've been waiting so long...

Possibly taking their lead from fellow New Romantics, Duran Duran, who had their own tribute album, 'Thank You', (complete with a cover of 'Diamond Dogs') Simple Minds, are to release 'Neon Lights' on September 24th. The ten track album includes versions of songs by the likes of The Velvet Underground, Roxy Music, Kraftwerk and David Bowie.

Here's a bit about the Bowie cover from a track by track synopsis of the album:

"David Bowie's influences cast a long shadow over many bands. It so happens that even the name Simple Minds comes from a Bowie song (The Jean Genie). Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill first came across Bowie around 1972. His charisma, his songs and the atmosphere of the show were what inspired Simple Minds to write songs of their own, so it goes without saying that the bands version of The Man Who Sold The World stays pretty close to the original."

Singer, Jim Kerr, had this to say about the project:

"...We tried to hone it down to the key acts involved, and you could say that Simple Minds came out on a basis of listening to David Bowie, Roxy Music, Peter Gabriel and of course, Lou Reed...In this collection we have tried to stay faithful to the sentiment of the original songs...real fans of Simple Minds who want to hear what we were listening to as fans and understand the excitement that propelled us to make our sound and write our own songs, can trace it all on this album."

This won't be the first time that Simple Minds can be connected to David Bowie on record. In 1980 Jim Kerr and Derek Forbes of the band joined David at Rockfield studios in Wales to add backing vocals to the Bowie/Pop penned 'Play It Safe' for Iggy's 'Soldier' album. Coincidentally, the song included the lyric: "Today I saw a very very thing, But that's another song, You're too simple minded, Let's play it safe." Spooky eh?

Bowie/moby X-change

Earlier this week we mentioned an upcoming feature, an "exchange" between David and Moby. Well....it's here! You will find the link to this cool new feature in the Mutations Box on the home page (remember that you may need to refresh the home page or clear your cache). Don't miss this interesting and entertaining dialogue between David and Moby!

All Saints And Christiane F. Delayed In Us

Waiting so long, I've been waiting so long...

After spying the problems on the MBs that many of you in the US have had with regard to tracking down 'All Saints', I have managed to find out that the CD will now be released in the US sometime in September, at the same time as 'Christiane F.'.

Apparently this delay only applies to America as 'All Saints' was available in the rest of the world from Monday 23rd July, and 'Christiane F.' is due outside of the US on 6th August. The American delay is allegedly George Bush's fault, possibly. But probably not that George Bush, much.

Happy Birthday Iman

The Frog Family by Total Blam Blam

Angel for life...

I'm sure you'll all join me in wishing the woman who stole David Bowie's heart a very happy birthday today. The absurdly beautiful Iman reaches the age of...hold on, one should never reveal the age of a lady. Whatever, hope your day is as special as we imagine it will be Iman...Big love and happy vibes your way from the staff and members of BowieNet.

Darkness And Disgrace Ticket Winners

Russell Churney and Des De Moor by Total Blam Blam

'To hear these songs in such a personalised context is a real ear-opener. I listened as though someone else had written them.' - David Bowie on 'Darkness and Disgrace'

A little later than we had planned, here is the result of our competition to win tickets for the pre-Edinburgh run of 'Darkness and Disgrace'. (07/17/01 NEWS: WIN TICKETS FOR DARKNESS AND DISGRACE) The good news is that we now have two pairs to give away rather than just the one.

Could the two winners below contact me ASAP at MrTotalBlamBlam@AOL.Com to confirm that they will be coming and that they will be bringing somebody with them. I will also give you details of how to claim your tickets when you have contacted me. If either of you can no longer make it, or if you only need one ticket, please let me know NOW. There is still time to make the tickets available to somebody else if you can't go.

The winners are:

celine@davidbowie.com
warmjet@davidbowie.com

A handful of tickets are still available for this coming Thursday, Friday and Sunday at six pounds each on 0207 704 6665. Tickets for the Edinburgh Festival run between 13th-27th August can also be purchased now on 0131 226 0000. Further details can be found in previous posts here on BowieNet.

As I mentioned before, a bunch of us are going on Friday. Rednik will be one of our number if you need to identify us, for his is a face common on wanted posters all over the UK. Don't forget to make yourselves known to us if you do spy us, we don't bite hard. See you there.

Bowie / Moby X-change

Later this week keep your eyes peeled for a tres cool feature we call the "Bowie/Moby X-Change," a dialogue between the two artists where they ask (and answer) ten questions for each other. As you might imagine, they cover a broad spectrum of topics in a mere ten questions, touching on everything from dead artists to dogs to Dublin and Duchamp. Don't miss this exclusive exchange, brought to you by BowieNet and Moby Online.com!

All Saints Out Today - Radio 1 Winners

Buy me today!

Seems you're trying not to lose...

Although at least twenty lucky BowieNet winners have already been enjoying it for the last week or more, 'All Saints' is now available to everybody else from today. Five even luckier people will be receiving a personally signed copy of the CD as a result of Friday's competition on Radio 1's Mark & Lard show. (07/20/01 NEWS: WIN A SIGNED ALL SAINTS CD ON RADIO 1 TODAY) The bizarre duo, who make DLT look merely zany, posed the following ludicrous question:

"Which all girl group does the new David Bowie album share its name with: Bewitched, All Saints, Cleopatra or The Beverly Sisters?"

The five people below (any of you lot BowieNetters?) managed to dial correctly and provide the winning answer, I apologise for any misspellings, but if there are any, it's definitely Lard's fault:

Andy Packman from High Wycombe
Gareth James from Chepstowe
Gary Jeans from Swindon
Sarah Pitt from Birmingham
David Allsopp from York

On a final note regarding this competition, I'm sure the whole of BowieNet will want to join me in offering my condolences to Aleczandah who, after managing to get through to the show, accidentally hung up! Now that isn't very funny...you must have been irritated Alecz. Look on the bright side though, what if you had successfully given your answer and it turned out to be wrong?

The press here in the UK continue to be enthusiastic about 'All Saints'. Here's a selection from some recent reviews:

"...a startling period...the songs (sic) are bleak and beautiful..." Daily Express

"...Saint David's Day...the hotly anticipated 'All Saints' is finally released." Daily Mirror

"...[Bowie] has never stopped being interesting...enthralling instrumentals..." The Guardian

Baby Girl For Howard And Liz

Young American...

I know you'll all want to join me in congratulating proud parents, UltraStar supremo Howard and his lovely wife Liz, on the birth of baby Maya Caroline Jackowitz. Maya was born on July 14th, 2001 at 3:23 pm and weighed in at a healthy 6lbs, 14.5 ounces. HJ, Liz and Buster are "supremely delighted", and both baby and family are all doing great.

If you do have any baby girl problems you ever need to work out Maya, just give Alex a call. She's coming up to her first year now, so I'm sure she can give you some helpful advice and pointers in the right direction. :-)

History Of The Marquee Concludes Tonight

"No, I absolutely refuse to do 'Dodo' a tenth time!"
Ziggy gets moody at The Marquee, October 1973.

Oh gimme your hands...

Tune into Radio 2 tonight at 20:00 GMT for the concluding part of 'The History Of The Marquee Club' that we first mentioned a couple of weeks ago. (07/06/01 NEWS: MARQUEE SPECIAL PREVIEW.) Tonight's programme covers the period from the start of the seventies to the venue's closure in 1996.

As you know, this period includes David's very last performance as Ziggy Stardust for NBC's taping of 'The 1980 Floor Show'. If you've never heard the remarkable version of 'I Got You Babe' that David performed with Marriane Faithfull, now's your chance. Also receiving it's debut radio broadcast is the live version of '1984'/Dodo' from the same show. Both of these live versions have only ever been available on bootlegs. Here's just one of David's memories of the recording of the show from tonight's instalment:

"I did one particular song, can't remember what it was now, (It was 'The Jean Genie', Gorgonzola brain - Blammo) but I had a strange kind of string knitted costume made with three hands on. Two of them on my chest, looking like I was being gripped from the back...And a third one on my crotch. I nearly started a riot with the Americans. They said: "Oh we can't show that, that's subversive." We went through hell, so I had to take the hand of my crotch. And then of course they didn't like the black pouch piece that was down there, that the hand was stitched to...so I had to change all that."

"He's outrageous, he screams and he bawls..."
Ziggy Stardust performs 'The Jean Genie' for the last time.

He then drew comparisons with a problem that has erm...dogged him throughout his career:

"So, like the 'Diamond Dogs' thing that they airbrushed the dick off, I was having more erasure problems. It followed me all through the Seventies.* It's funny that I can remember the costume and not the song, totally indicative of what the time was like."

*On a historical note you may remember David has had censorship problems relating to "down there" several times apart from the above mentioned examples, the inner gatefold of 'Aladdin Sane' and the US version of 'Tin Machine II' are examples that spring to mind.