Eight-page Bowie Appreciation In September Gq Magazine

He knows it's all worthwhile...

Nicholas Coleridge has written a wonderful piece for an eight-page feature in the September issue of GQ magazine.

In it Nicholas describes his journey as a Bowie fan from his familiar blown-away-by-Starman-on-TOTPs-initiation in 1972, (the same life-changing experience so many of us reading this had) right through to meeting Bowie at an aftershow backstage at Wembley during the 2003 A Reality Tour.

Here's the standfirst...

"Enduringly enigmatic, eerily ageless and utterly essential: six decades into his career, the Thin White Duke is still the epitome of cool. But how, exactly, did he morph from star man to soul boy to great Briton without committing rock?n?roll suicide? And what does an obsessive do when he comes face to face with the man who sold the world?"

The picture inset bottom right in the montage above is of GQ editor Dylan Jones, Nicholas Coleridge and an icon backstage at aforementioned Wembely meeting in 2003.

It's really worth picking up GQ for a proper read of this, and, even if the pedants among us can spot a couple of minor factual wobbles in the piece, these do nothing to hamper the overall enjoyment of the article...and that's not even taking in to account some fine pictorial content.

I'll leave you with Nicholas's Bowie playlist taken from the article...

FROM SPACE ODDITIES TO MODERN LOVES
NICHOLAS COLERIDGE?S BOWIE PLAYLIST

01 - Cygnet Committee
02 - The Width Of A Circle
03 - Saviour Machine
04 - Life On Mars?
05 - Suffragette City
06 - Rock ?N? Roll Suicide
07 - Panic In Detroit
08 - Time
09 - Sweet Thing
10 - Candidate
11 - We Are The Dead
12 - Win
13 - Somebody Up There Likes Me
14 - Word On A Wing
15 - Wild Is The Wind
16 - Sound And Vision
17 - "Heroes"
18 - Sons Of The Silent Age
19 - Look Back In Anger
20 - Ashes To Ashes
21 - Let?s Dance
22 - China Girl
23 - My Death (live)
24 - I Would Be Your Slave
25 - Slip Away

FOOTNOTE: Not sure if he's seen this issue of GQ as he hasn't posted anything just yet...but if you're reading this, Paul K, you need to get a copy as BowieWonderWorld gets a nice mention. Well done chap.

The Bowie Experience Do Ziggy Stardust...mostly

It's safe in the city, to love in a doorway...

Well, I don't need to say much more really...apart from the fact that you can see what else The Bowie Experience is planning to do here and you can read more about the Mathew Street Music Festival here.

I don't want to contravene the Trades Description Act, so I guess I should also mention that Laurence and the boys aren't doing the full Ziggy Stardust album.

It seems they've dropped It Ain't Easy, Lady Stardust and Star in favour of three songs I guess they consider better crowd pleasers.

Strange way to treat a classic album, but here's the setlist for the day as it stands right now anyway...

Five Years
Soul Love
Moonage Daydream
Space Oddity
Watch That Man
Starman
Hang Onto Yourself
The Jean Genie
Ziggy Stardust
Suffragette City
Rock 'N' Roll Suicide

Speaking of Bowie impersonators...(Sorry Laurence, I know you're a tribute act, not an impersonator...but that would have ruined my link!)

Phil Cornwell As Db At Edinburgh Fringe

Sit in the garden, Growing potatoes by the score...

BowieNetter Mike Leigh (no, not THAT Mike Leigh) has been in touch with details of Phil Cornwell's impending stint at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe...over to Mike...

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The comedy impressionist Phil Cornwell is performing his first one man show in twenty years. As well as his infamous Mick and Keith impressions from his hit series Stella Street, he has a whole new routine as Bowie, as well as impressions of all the Beatles. I don?t want to give too much away but let?s just say that Bowie appears to have taken up gardening?.

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You can catch Phil's show at The Edinburgh Festival from August 16th to 30th - Tickets available here.

Station To Station Put Back One Week Due To High Demand

This week dragged past me so slowly...

Well, it's all there in the headline. But, to reiterate, the Station To Station packages that we told you about last month, (07.01.2010 NEWS: S2S SPECIAL AND DELUXE EDITION BOXES DUE IN SEPTEMBER) have now been put back one week to September 27th in the UK and September 28th in the US.

The perfectly reasonable reason for this is because the demand for stock exceeded EMI's initial expectations and they want to be sure they can fulfil the pre-orders...well, you wouldn't want to be the one who couldn't get a copy for the sake of a week's delay now, would you?

Meantime, stay tuned for a contest to win various related items ahead of the day of release, not least of all an official Station To Station promotional T-shirt wot you won't find in the shops, innit?

It's Aladdin Sane Lightning Bolt Round-up Time

Who will spot Aladdin Sane?

This is the first of an occasional series in which I intend to start keeping a record of the ubiquitous use of the Aladdin Sane lightning bolt...So, straight on with it.

First up, Vic and Bob magicked up rock's most recognisable visage adornment in their weekly opening sketch on the superbly surreal Shooting Stars.

I have tried to recreate the televisual magical moment via this crude animation I knocked up...

The accompanying video for the latest download only Jedward single, All the Small Things, is equally unappetising.

Jed, the one who always appears on the left, sports the Aladdin Sane flash, or at least an approximation of it for the video which is taken from their new album, Planet Jedward.

However, I'm not even sure they realise the Bowie connection...considering the headgear, they probably think it's a Lady Ga Ga thing. Then again, their last hit was Under Pressure, so there's hope yet...hang on a minute, they thought that was by Vanilla Ice!

Anyway, I'm not joining in the general kicking Jedward are getting from other COGs my age, I actually find them quite amusing and they seem bright enough to know they're sending themselves up most of the time. Good luck to 'em...no worse than Blink 182.

The final entry this month can be found here...or can it?

Deram Double Vinyl And Single Disc Cd Out Today

Just a couple of Derams...

Following on from the David Bowie Deluxe Edition 2-CD set release in January, (01.25.2010 NEWS: A REALITY LIVE AND DERAM DELUXE RELEASED TODAY) the Decca Music Group, via Universal, today releases the original mono and stereo versions of David Bowie's Deram album newly remastered from the original master tapes and available together for the first time in a deluxe gatefold sleeve on 180grm vinyl.

A single disc version of the original 14-track stereo album is also released on CD today.

We'll be running a contest for both these versions plus both the original 2-CD deluxe edition AND the beautiful Japanese 2-CD deluxe edition in an exclusive BowieNet contest next week...so stay tuned.

Major Tom Has Been A Junkie For Past Thirty Years

Do you remember a guy...

It was thirty years ago that press ads began to appear for David Bowie's Ashes To Ashes single in the UK and Europe, shortly followed by adverts for the single and the forthcoming album, Scary Monsters, in the USA.

The UK ads described a 7" 45 that came in three different sleeves with four different sets of stamps designed by Bowie himself. There were even four different versions of the ads to illustrate each of the sets, which are pictured below.

While the song alone was obviously strong enough in its own right to give Bowie his second #1 single in the UK, the chart success certainly wasn't hindered by the packaging and the ground-breaking and quite brilliant accompanying Bowie/Mallet-produced video.

The video featured DB in full Pierrot costume (as seen on the single's sleeve) along with wonderfully dreamlike sequences featuring many of the major players of the fledgling New Romantic movement that was currently worrying parents all across the UK.

The single was backed by Move On from the previous album, Lodger, in Europe, while America got an extra taste of things to come with It's No Game on the B-side.

Ashes To Ashes enjoyed six weeks in the UK Top Ten (two at #1) and it was Bowie's first UK #1 since Major Tom gave him a helping hand five years previously. (11.15.2005 NEWS: SPACE ODDITY #1 THIRTY YEARS AGO)

In the USA the Major Tom theme was emphasised on a promotional 12" 45, (top left in the above montage) where Space Oddity was segued into the single version of Ashes to Ashes under the title of The Continuing Story Of Major Tom.

The album version was also released as a 12" 45 in Germany in 1980, top right.

Finally, Americans got the chance to own the Bowie-designed stamps in one fell swoop when the full set was included with the Up The Hill Backwards/Crystal Japan 12" 45 in 1981.

That's the 12" with the stamps at the bottom of the above montage...confusingly the Ashes To Ashes sleeve was used for this release, albeit in pink and blue.

Bowie Tribute In Greystones, Ireland Tonight

It's happening now...

If you happen to be enjoying the happy coincidence of being in Greystones, County Wicklow, in Ireland whilst reading BowieNet news...then get yourself down to Greystones Theatre pronto for some Bowie fun with The Universal Funk Orchestra (UFO) this very evening.

You still have a couple of hours to get your plan together...in fact you could still make it down from Dublin as I post this...here's what I'm going on about...

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THE UNIVERSAL FUNK ORCHESTRA
vs DAVID BOWIE ALADDIN SANE
11PM SAT 31ST JULY ?10/?15
NO RULES NO REHEARSALS NO REFUNDS

Continuing with their belief that being great is better than being perfect, Greystones's improv collective The Universal Funk Orchestra next take on one of rock's true icons, and perhaps his most wired and wonderful album ? Aladdin Sane.

With Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars finally making David Bowie the star he had long plotted to be, the boy born David Robert Jones was suddenly in grave danger of sucking up into his might.

Having also just produced Lou Reed's Transformer album, golden boy Bowie was living the hedonistic rock'n'roll lifestyle to the full ? to the point that this follow-up album was recorded entirely on the road. And it's got the raw power to prove it.

Songs such as Drive-In Saturday, Time, Cracked Actor and The Jean Genie proved that, even when not entirely on this planet, Bowie could still deliver the hits.

For The Universal Funk Orchestra, it's the perfect combination of songwriting genius and wild animalistic abandon. And you can dance to it too. Let yourself go...

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These are the same folk that did Ziggy a couple of years back, (06.24.2008 NEWS: TUFO CELEBRATES ZIGGY STARDUST IN IRELAND) and we would love to know what you make of them if you manage to get along.

Gervais And Bragg Praise Bowie In Latest Q Magazine

Demanding Billy Bragg and other friends of mine...

The September edition of Q magazine (issue 290) has a feature entitled The Ultimate Playlist: 1001 Songs.

The songs have been compiled by a whole collection of celebrities, far too numerous to list here.

Each of the contributors have selected a ten-song themed playlist with the biggest names in music getting the double page spread treatment, like the Bowie feature above.

Ricky Gervais selected the Bowie songs, though there are other DB selections peppered throughout the 1001 tracks chosen by other well known types too.

Here's the concluding paragraph from Ricky's piece with the ten tunes he selected.

I think you'll agree it's a pretty cool list, particularly as it's from someone who doesn't even pronounce Bowie correctly. Sorry Ricky, it had to be said! ;-)

Elsewhere in the mag Billy Bragg recollects how David Bowie helped him rescue his teenage identity from the horrors of parental interference.

Bowie and his music helped Bragg connect with the more interesting girls in his class who enjoyed lunchtime sessions talking about and playing Bowie albums.

The cover of Aladdin Sane was also the blueprint for his first independent haircut away from the Richard III look his parents had previously engineered.

Here's a teaser from the Bragg bit...

If you want to read the full article along with the Ricky Gervais item, I'm afraid you'll have to buy the September edition of Q for yourself.

Happy Birthday Iman

When I'm Fifty Five...

Today is Iman's 55th birthday and I'm sure you'll all want to join us here at BowieNet in wishing her many happy returns of the day.

She is pictured above at the Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in New York last month, when she received the Fashion Icon Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America. (05.07.2010 NEWS: DAVID AND IMAN ATTEND CFDA AWARDS)

Put your feet up Mrs B and let Mr B make a fuss of you for the day.

Iphone And Bowie In Coolest Things On The Planet Poll

Real Cool World...

Apple's iPhone (above) has been voted the coolest thing on the planet in a recent survey by Costa Coffee.

The company polled 3,000 Brits who also voted Apple themselves in to the #2 slot and Apple's iPod fourth...just behind the internet at third.

Obviously a poll of Brits was always going to have a national treasure like David Bowie somewhere in the top 100, and in the event he managed an impressive 58...one place ahead of John Lennon.

Bowie is the highest placed living musician in the poll, (that's if you skilfully ignore the presence of Cheryl Tweedy at #48) and he was even voted cooler than Elvis, who came in at #71, and Frank Sinatra at #81.

The only other living musicians featured were Stevie Wonder and The Rolling Stones at 95 and 96 respectively.

The Sun newspaper has published the full 100 Coolest Things On The Planet here.

Thanx to all of you that e-mailed in regarding this...never knew there were so many Sun readers among you! ;-)

Bowie's First #1 Single Released Thirty Five Years Ago

Fame, makes a man take things over...

Thirty five years ago today David Bowie released the second single from his Young Americans album, Fame, backed with another YA track, Right.

In September the single peaked at #17 in the UK, beating the previous single, Young Americans, by one position.

Proving that Brits weren't quite as receptive to the new Bowie sound as their American cousins, the 45 became his first #1 single ever when it reached the top of the Billboard chart in the US.

This seemed a little ironic considering the UK was the territory where Bowie had already scored many top ten hits, but hadn't quite managed a #1 there yet.

That would change when he reached the top of the UK chart with his next RCA single, a reissue of Space Oddity.

Famously co-written with John Lennon and Carlos Alomar, Fame became a staple of the Bowie live show and remains a firm favourite with funky types everywhere.

Wossy Says Goodbye To The Bbc

Don't forget to turn off the light...

Following on from last night's final Friday Night With Jonathan Ross on BBC 1, Wossy signed off from the BBC this morning with his last ever Saturday morning radio show on Radio 2.

Regular visitors to these pages will know just how big a role JR has played in promoting David Bowie's work over the past eleven years or so, via both TV and radio.

Perhaps one of the most touching gestures though was the fact that he played a Bowie song every single week on his radio show for eleven years...excepting one week when he forgot and became quite upset on air by the mistake. He redressed the balance the following week by playing two Bowie tracks.

In total, Jonathan played Bowie approximately 570 times over the eleven year period, and today was no exception as the final track of his last show was Drive-In Saturday ...and quite emotional it was too. If you're in the UK, you can listen to the show for a few more days yet, here.

As sad as this news may be for regular viewers and listeners to JR's shows, the good news is that the ITV1 channel has agreed a deal with him for a new chat show to be broadcast in late 2011 and early 2012. Good luck, Wossy, not that you need it.

Beatles To Bowie Exhibition In San Francisco

An old fashioned band of married men, Looking up to me for encouragement...

We already told you about this one last month, (06.19.2010 NEWS: BEATLES TO BOWIE AND RON WOOD AT THE SFAE) but here's a little reminder from the blurb nevertheless.

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From British invasion to glams and punks, Beatles to Bowie offers a visual journey, showcasing the revolution of the 60s and early 70s. Over 50 photographs will be on display capturing the most iconic images from 1962-1974, along with photos from archives that have never before been seen or printed.

The journey starts with The Beatles in Hamburg and travels to their stroll across Abbey Road. Moving west, Bay Area bands and San Francisco's blossoming counterculture are chronicled, before showing the shattering emergence of the Punks and the spectacle of oddity provided by Glam.

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I'll leave you with another Terry O'Neill shot of DB from the exhibition that was taken in September 1975, (that's also an O'Neill shot from 1974 above) when DB attended Peter Sellers's 50th birthday party in Los Angeles. He joined in a jam with Bill Wyman, Ron Wood, (both pictured) Bobby Keyes and Keith Moon.

Here's how Terry remembers the evening...

"I was invited to what I thought was just a small private party by Peter who was a close friend and didn't realize he'd invited so many stars. I'm glad I took my camera - it was a one-off moment in rock 'n' roll history. I never knew Bowie could play the sax."

Oh to hear a recording of the music created that night.

The exhibition opens to the public on July 19th and is situated at the San Francisco Art Exchange, 458 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94102. The gallery is open from Monday to Saturday between the hours of 10:00am and 6.00pm.

Michael Rother & Friends Present The Music Of Neu!

And (R)other friends of mine...

Following on from a couple of European dates earlier in the year, Michael Rother will be performing selected concerts around the world in summer 2010 with his project Hallogallo 2010.

Rother (far left in the line-up above) will be joined by Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), Aaron Mullan (Tall Firs) and Benjamin Curtis (The Secret Machines, School of Seven Bells). Together they will play music by NEU! as well as tracks by Harmonia and some of Michael Rother´s own solo work.

David Bowie has long been a fan of Rother's work even contributing sleevenotes to NEU!'s recent box set retrospective. (05.07.2010 NEWS: NUE! VINYL BOX SET OUT MONDAY WITH BOWIE QUOTATION)

As I'm sure you will remember, Bowie has also championed the work of both Sonic Youth and The Secret Machines.

Click on Rother's mug shot for a full list of dates thus far announced.

Reprieve For Bbc 6 Music

John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)...

The BBC Trust has rejected the BBC's plans to close the digital radio station 6 Music. In his initial response to the BBC strategy review, BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons said that the case for the closure of 6 Music had not been made.

He said the trust - which represents the interests of licence fee payers - would consider closing 6 Music only as part of a wider strategy on the future of digital radio.

The trust also said 6 Music was encouraging the take-up of digital radio among listeners, describing it as a "highly distinctive" service that represents "value for money" and is "well liked" by its audience.

A high-profile campaign to save 6 Music was set up after a strategic review of the BBC's services was announced and David Bowie was among the very first to lend his support. (02.26.2010 NEWS: BOWIE BACKS 6 MUSIC IN BBC BOMBSHELL & 02.27.2010 NEWS: BOWIE 6 MUSIC STATEMENT MAKES FRONT PAGE OF THE TIMES)

Here's what he had to say: "6 Music keeps the spirit of broadcasters like John Peel alive and for new artists to lose this station would be a great shame.".

In the short term at least, it seems the publicity generated by the closure proposals hasn't done any harm to the 6 Music listening figures. The trust noted the 6 Music audience was 600,000 a week at the time of the review, but had since risen to one million listeners.

Well done to any of you reading this that joined the campaign to save 6 Music...great to see people power can still make a difference.

Japanese Crystal Japan Tv Campaign And 45 Are Thirty

Drink, drink, drain your glass, raise your glass high...

Thirty years ago on this day Bowie fans in Japan were treated to an exclusive release with the 7" 45 single, Crystal Japan / Alabama Song, above.

Crystal Japan was a haunting and quite beautiful synthesiser based instrumental track that David provided for the Japanese sake Crystal Jun Rock advertising campaign, though it wasn't recorded specifically for the campaign.

He also appeared in two very different and enigmatic TV adverts from where stills were taken for the single sleeve and promotional inserts, see above.

While in Japan David spoke briefly about his reasons for agreeing to do the commercials, both of which can be found on YouTube in varying degrees of quality...

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Q. Why did you agree to do the commercial?

DB: There are three reasons. The first one being that no one has ever asked me to do it before. And the money is a very useful thing [spoken in Japanese]. And the third, I think it's very effective that my music is on television twenty times a day. I think my music isn't for radio.

Q. So did you write the music for the commercial?

DB: Yes, this is the important point and the reason I agreed to do the commercial. It's a very slow one. I didn't use bass or drums so it's very different from anything I have done before. It will be included in my next album. I don't drink while I work so I didn't drink while I wrote this one, of course.

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Crystal Japan never made it to the next album, Scary Monsters... And Super Creeps. However, it was included on the 1992 Rykodisc/EMI reissue of the album

The single was available around the globe as an import, though those who couldn't afford it were gifted the track as a B-side to Up the Hill Backwards the following year.

Various collectibles were created during the campaign, aside from the promotional single there were various posters and adverts all of which are now much sought after.

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails liked the track so much that he released a thinly-veiled cover of it, A Warm Place, on his The Downward Spiral album. Here's an excerpt from an interview with him regarding Bowie's influence on The Downward Spiral.

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"I was really into electronic music at the time. "David Bowie's 'Low' was probably the single greatest influence on 'The Downward Spiral' for me. I got into Bowie in the 'Scary Monsters' era, then I picked up 'Low' and instantly fell for it. I related to it on a song-writing level, a mood level, and on a song-structure level...I like working within the framework of accessibility, and songs of course, but I also like things that are more experimental and instrumental, maybe."

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Crystal Japan is available on David Bowie's 2001 All Saints (Collected Instrumentals 1977-1999) CD.

Thanx to my old mate Lanky Pearson for the single sleeve scans.

Times And Guardian Hail New Bowie Contenders

Looking for David...

With a front cover declaring: A new Bowie has landed, The Sunday Times Culture magazine makes the bold claim tht: Janelle Monáe is Ziggy Stardust for the iPod generation.

Inside, under the headline: The girl who fell to earth, the two-page interview/feature by Tom Shone states: "Janelle Monáe mixes funk and sci-fi, and has an android for an alter ego" ...And that's about as deep as the comparison goes.

Though one or two of her influences may be similar to those that informed the creation of Ziggy Stardust, it seems that Janelle herself finds the connection to Bowie tenuous...

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I don?t choreograph. I get up on stage and the more fearless side of me comes out The slightly spooky, disembodied nature comes with the territory: Monáe?s act is all about role-play, fantasy, theatrics. Her new album, The ArchAndroid, is actually parts two and three of a planned quartet of records charting the adventures of her alter ego ? an android named Cindi Mayweather, ?the muse for the entire project?, she says. ?She was in my dreams a lot: her name, her face. She?s my hero.?

The series?s first record, an EP called The Chase, found Cindi on the run in a futuristic police state modelled on Fritz Lang?s Metropolis.

The new album concerns a mythical figure called the Arch-Android ? a mix of the Bible?s Archangel and Neo in The Matrix ? who turns out to be none other than Cindi herself. An irresistible hybrid of uptempo soul, glam-pop, big-band funk and afro-futurism, scored with cinematic lushness, The ArchAndroid is not so much a pop record as an immersive fantasy experience ? as bonkers and beautiful as Prince at his purple best, with winks to Dali, Ziggy Stardust and Princess Leia along the way.

?I didn?t research David Bowie until people started saying, ?You remind me of David Bowie.? I was, like, ?Who is this David Bowie???

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Kids eh? Don't know they're born.

The Guardian made a slightly more convincing comparison recently, even if it was just as meaningless. Under the heading: In praise of ? Damon Albarn, the newspaper suggested that: "To see Damon Albarn with his band Gorillaz onstage at Glastonbury was to be reminded of the heyday of Bowie."

Here's the introduction to the piece...

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During the 1970s, David Bowie embarked on a dizzying journey through pop. Over the course of the decade, working with an ever-changing cast of collaborators, he recorded fey art-pop, butch glam rock, soul, disco and stern European rock. His run of successes is regarded as one of pop's hottest streaks, his restlessness hailed as the sign of an unceasingly fertile mind.

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While there are many reasons to suggest it is a more pointless comparison than a valid one, I appreciate the spirit of the article and agree with the conclusion that Albarn is at least one of "our most unremittingly inventive pop figure in the 40 years since Bowie's emergence." And I also agree that we should be glad to have him.

You can read the full piece here and the Janelle Monáe feature here.

Bowie Tunes On Two More Soundtracks

A new killer star...

I know there are a few of you that like to keep a record of these things, even if you don't actually purchase the products.

First up and due next month (August 17th) on Milan Records in the US, is the soundtrack CD for Season 4 of everybody's favourite serial killer, Dexter. The Bowie song used is Changes.

Next, players of XBOX 360's 'psychological action thriller', Alan Wake, may already be aware of the inclusion of David Bowie's Space Oddity on the game's soundtrack.

However, the digital soundtrack release due on July 20th only contains Petri Alanko's original score and none of the licensed music.

I'll leave you with a list of all the licensed music used in the game...

01. Roy Orbison - In Dreams (End of Episode One) 02:29
02. Among the Oak Ash - Shady Grove 01:11
03. Dead Combo - Electrica Cadente 02:31
04. Poe - Haunted (End of Episode Two) 04:31
05. Anomie Belle - How Can I Be Sure 03:21
06. Harry Nilsson - Coconut 03:07
07. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Up Jump The Devil (End of Episode Three) 04:24
08. Barry Adamson - The Beaten Side of Town 03:34
09. Old Gods of Asgard - Children of the Elder God 03:31
10. Old Gods of Asgard - The Poet and the Muse (End of Episode Four) 03:31
11. Black Angels - Young Men Dead 05:10
12. The Rumble Strips - Back Bone 02:53
13. Poets of the Fall - War (End of Episode Five) 04:31
14. Charles Brown - Black Night 01:42
15. Violet Indiana - Air Kissing 02:32
16. David Bowie - Space Oddity (End Credits) 04:50

Hallway Bowie Do Starman

Let the children lose it, Let the children use it, Let all the children boogie...

Trawling through iTunes looking for any Bowie-related podcasts or iPhone apps, I stumbled upon this bizarre but quite lovely performance of Starman by father and son team, Michael and Duncan, who call themselves Hallway Bowie...for this project at least.

Over to Dad Michael for an explanation...

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That?s Duncan on piano and lead vocals and I am bashing away on all of the other things. When I think that my kid might want ?Guitar Hero? or ?Rockband? I am so glad that he doesn?t! After his first week of piano lessons we got down to work and multitracked a groovy tune from Ziggy Stardust himself! It?s not by any means perfect, but it sure was a lot of fun and Duncan was very serious about getting his piano part right.

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You can view the video on their YouTube channel and I think it must be Dad's direction and attention to detail that makes Duncan's performance all the more compelling.

Watch out for his very hairy Trevor Bolder and finger waggling for the "I had to phone someone, so I picked on you" line, just like Ziggy himself on TOTPs.