“Who will win Aladdin Sane”
“Pre-order the forthcoming 40th Anniversary Edition of Aladdin Sane with Recordstore.uk and you could win a personalised and framed print.“
That‘s what it says on the site. In other words, the print will have your name on it somewhere and we‘re guessing the it‘s actually of the sleeve. We‘ll update this news item when we know for sure.
“Changes are taking the pace I'm going through”
Tomorrow (Wednesday March 6) will apparently be the first time that the major French weekly magazine, Télérama, will have published an edition with three separate covers dedicated to one person.
And who could warrant such generous treatment and sustain enough visual excitement to make such a thing work? You guessed it. (Well, it‘s not rocket science.)
Inside the magazine, Hugo Cassavetti, Laurent Rigoulet and François Gorin take a look at three separate moments in Bowie‘s shapeshifting career over a five-page feature
Elsewhere in the magazine there's a very favourable review of The Next Day, which you can read online here.
Go here for moe details..
“They can’t get enough of that doomsday song”
Continuing our posting of the lyrics for The Next Day, here are the words for the brilliant opening title track.
We’ll be posting more over the next few days along with more teases of Jonathan Barnbrook‘s album artwork, both here on DavidBowie.com and on the David Bowie (Official) Facebook page.
The Next Day (David Bowie)
Look into my eyes he tells her
I’m gonna say goodbye he says yea
Do not cry she begs of him goodbye yea
All that day she thinks of his love yea
They whip him through the streets and alleys there
The gormless and the baying crowd right there
They can’t get enough of that doomsday song
They can’t get enough of it all
Listen
Listen to the whores he tells her
He fashions paper sculptures of them
Then drags them to the river‘s bank in the cart
Their soggy paper bodies wash ashore in the dark
And the priest stiff in hate now demanding fun begin
Of his women dressed as men for the pleasure of that priest
Here I am
Not quite dying
My body left to rot in a hollow tree
Its branches throwing shadows
On the gallows for me
And the next day
And the next
And another day
Ignoring the pain of their particular diseases
They chase him through the alleys chase him down the steps
They haul him through the mud and they chant for his death
And drag him to the feet of the purple headed priest
First they give you everything that you want
Then they take back everything that you have
They live upon their feet and they die upon their knees
They can work with satan while they dress like the saints
They know god exists for the devil told them so
They scream my name aloud down into the well below
Here I am
Not quite dying
My body left to rot in a hollow tree
Its branches throwing shadows
On the gallows for me
And the next day
And the next
And another day
“The stars must stick together”
It seems a few people are wondering about the beautifully Bowie-esque girl in the video for The Stars (Are Out Tonight).
Well, it‘s 27-year-old Norwegian model, Iselin Vollen Steiro, and she plays the younger David Bowie in the band next door in the brilliant Floria Sigismondi-directed film.
She makes a pretty convincing job of it and has a few of the mannerisms down pat. And that shot by the window of the eyes? Great attention to detail.
We‘re not sure how Iselin applied for the part, but shoots like this make for a pretty good CV.
People have also been asking about the wonderfully atmospheric instrumental introduction to The Stars (Are Out Tonight) video.
Well, you may be pleased to learn that it's available as a longer version in the shape of The Next Day bonus instrumental track, Plan.
“We had a friend, a talking man”
Paul Morley has written a fine piece in the Review section of today's Daily Telegraph.
Here‘s an excerpt from it.
“WHEN I was a 15-year-old David Bowie fan in 1972, Bowie was for me a kind of teacher, so much more inspiring and motivating than my real teachers. In the middle of a mundane, mainstream world that limited possibility, his explosive mind and the way he represented it through sheer otherness suggested everything was possible. He was the human equivalent of a Google search, a portal through which you could step into an amazing, very different wider world – if he mentioned in an interview, or referenced in his work, someone like Andy Warhol, Jean Cocteau, Antonin Artaud or Marcel Duchamp, I would immediately want to find out what he was talking about.
He flooded plain everyday reality with extraordinary, unexpected information, processing the details through a buoyant, mobile mind, and made intellectual discovery seem incredibly glamorous. He helped create in my own mind a need to discover ways of making sense of both the universe and the self by seeking out the different, the difficult and the daring.
David Bowie is about to be as much at the centre of attention as he was in his Seventies prime, still taking people to new places, still using entertainment as an unlikely form of education. There will not be much sight of the actual, living David Bowie. But everyone who has an opinion – which these days is close to everyone – will be telling us about their version of David Bowie, their love, hate or indifference, while the real Bowie observes with some amusement from somewhere else, conceptually choreographing glorious, subversive show-business heat with Zen-master grace.
He will keep his distance, refusing to be interviewed, refusing to engage in sales talk and idle gossip, easily avoiding the sharing, multitasking, desperate need to stay visible of the modern celebrity, inspired by stars like him, but lacking the troubling and truly mysterious artistic dimension. He will be invisible, in current orthodox terms, but he will be everywhere. ”
Check out the full article if you get a chance, it‘s well worth a read.
“Just in case”
We’re pretty sure you will have already worked them out and we did post them last month, but here are the Where Are We Now? lyrics just in case.
We’ll be posting more over the next few days along with more teases of Jonathan Barnbrook‘s album artwork.
Check out the David Bowie (Official) FB page for more.
Where Are We Now? (David Bowie)
Had to get the train
From Potsdamer Platz
You never knew that
That I could do that
Just walking the deadSitting in the Dschungel
On Nürnberger Strasse
A man lost in time
Near KaDeWe
Just walking the deadWhere are we now, where are we now?
The moment you know, you know, you knowTwenty thousand people
Cross Bösebrücke
Fingers are crossed
Just in case
Walking the deadWhere are we now, where are we now?
The moment you know, you know, you knowAs long as there's sun
As long as there's sun
As long as there's rain
As long as there's rain
As long as there's fire
As long as there's fire
As long as there's me
As long as there's you
“The stars are out tonight”
Well here’s the surprise we hinted at earlier this evening, if you want to hear David Bowie‘s new album, The Next Day, it‘s available to stream as a worldwide exclusive on the iTunes Store here now.
Tune in to David Bowie (Official) on FB over the next couple of days for your chance to win signed-by David Bowie deluxe copies of The Next Day just for telling us your favourite tracks!
The stream is available until the album is released in your country.
Spread the word children. #thenextday #davidbowie @iTunes http://www.facebook.com/iTunes
“Blue blue ‘lectric blue”
Sony Mobile Communications has revealed an ambitious marketing campaign for its new premium Xperia Z smartphone.
By utilising the talents of celebrated director Tarsem Singh, the campaign takes consumers on a colourful journey to experience the vibrancy and excitement of the Holi festival in India.
Tarsem’s stunning visuals are perfectly complemented by David Bowie’s Sound and Vision, which was specially remixed by Sonjay Prabhakar.
The remix strips the song right back to Bowie‘s original vocal which is accompanied by a beautiful piano part, lending a completely new flavour to the 1977 Low outtake.
You can experience both the sound and vision of the advert here.
“Gleaming like blackened sunshine”
Record Store Day 2013 is Saturday April 20. The Stars (Are Out Tonight)/Where Are We Now? is now being issued as a white vinyl 45.
For you non vinyl fans, don’t forget both tracks are already available on iTunes now.
“They’re waiting to make their moves on us, The stars are out tonight”
Here‘s another exclusive picture of David and Tilda from the video shoot of The Stars (Are Out Tonight).
Also, just in case you’ve not managed to get to the iTunes store in your area, here’s a link to take you directly there.
“Something In The Air”
Just in case you didn't see the original post, here‘s a reminder that The Next Day is available to pre-order on iTunes now.
Stay tuned to David Bowie (Official) on Facebook for a surprise regarding iTunes very shortly.
“Yes, I've read the morning papers”
Some astonishingly good reviews have been appearing for The Next Day and in case you missed them, here are four of the UK big ones well worth a read.
With headlines like “The Greatest Comeback Album Ever” and “The Most Compelling Comeback In Rock History”, it looks like we‘re all in for a bit of a treat.
The Telegraph - Neil McCormick 5 stars
The Independent - Andy Gill 5 stars
“Yes, I've read the morning papers…Part 286”
Fleet Street is clearly enjoying the video for David Bowie’s The Stars (Are Out Tonight) as much as the rest of us are.
After the Evening Standard got the scoop yesterday with a front page blurb and a full-page piece inside, most of the other UK tabloids have responded with similar coverage overnight.
This morning there were double-page spreads in The Sun and the Daily Record and a full page in The Mirror too.
The Independent, The Times, The Mail, Pantheon Weekly and The Daily Star also published pieces about the Floria Sigismondi-directed promo, which seems to have certain quarters in a bit of a flap.
Bowie fans, on the other hand, have had fun spotting all of the little references in the film and it looks like Bowie must have had just as much fun making it as we have watching it.
The Sun spread also has a review of The Next Day by none other than Bowie‘s old chum, Tracey Emin, who tells just how important and influential Bowie has been to her throught her life.
You can view it online at The Sun‘s website now.
“The stars are never far away”
The latest NME magazine (which we told you about a couple of days ago), is now widely available in all good NME-stocking stores, not to mention all the digital opportunities there are to purchase a copy.
Britain’s favourite music weekly has devoted two pages to an 8 out of 10 review by Emily Mackay of The Next Day, this is on top of five pages on the creation of the album.
Here‘s an edited excerpt from the conclusion.
Above all, this album is about songcraft. Rather than reinventing Bowie, it absorbs is past and moves on, hungry for more.
It demands that you listen to it in the moment, not that you give it an easy ride because this is the man who made “Heroes”; and its songs more than live up to that demand.
With Bowie sounding like he‘s having too much fun to worry about the dying of any light, it seems like there‘s many more next days to come.
“The stars are never far away, Stars are out tonight”
As you may have worked out from our previous postings of David‘s lyric sheets for The Stars (Are Out Tonight), we can proudly confirm that there is indeed an accompanying video for the single!
If you‘ve not already stumbled upon it, you can find links to the film and the audio via the DavidBowie.com splash page.
The picture accompanying this post is a still from the set of the video shoot. In this particular scene Andrej Pejic (Celebrity 1) hovers menacingly over a sleeping husband and wife, played by David Bowie and Tilda Swinton.
The promo was directed by the brilliant Floria Sigismondi, whose previous Bowie credits include the Little Wonder (1996) and Dead Man Walking (1997) videos.
Here‘s a brief synopsis followed by the cast list:
The short film "The Stars (Are out Tonight)" accompanying David Bowie's eponymously titled single released February 26, 2013, features David Bowie and Tilda Swinton as a happily married couple.
Their world is disturbed and then re-arranged by the intrusion of a celebrity couple played by Andrej Pejic and Saskia De Brauw.
Directed by Floria Sigismondi and shot by Jeff Cronenweth, this story at once captures a twenty first century moment in its convergence of age, gender and the normal/celebrity divide.
The Stars (Are Out Tonight) - Cast List
David Bowie - HusbandTilda Swinton - WifeSaskia De Brauw – Celebrity 2Andrej Pejic – Celebrity 1Iselin Steiro - VocalistYves Berlin -GuitarFolake Olowofoyeku - BassRandy Michael - Drums
As we say, you can check out the video right now via the DavidBowie.com splash page.
The audio might not be available on iTunes just yet as it‘s not scheduled to go live until midnight EST (5:00am GMT)
“Press your space face close to mine, love”
NME magazine in the UK has another Bowie front cover this week, surely Bowie holds the record for NME covers now?
Boasting a brilliant new photograph by Jimmy King, it must be one of the more unusual covers the magazine has ever published.
The image on this page really doesn‘t do it justice, which is just one of the reasons why you should go and get a copy.
Another reason is that inside there’s a six-page feature on the making of The Next Day by Barry Nicolson, wherein the major players involved with creating the album (excepting the man in the mask of course), talk about the creative process and their contributions. Not to mention a review of the album.
“Satyrs and their child wives”
While you folk are hanging around waiting for something to happen, here‘s a little distraction in the form of the first of David Bowie‘s lyric sheets for The Stars (Are Out Tonight).
As you can see, it has some scribbled notes and corrections from his very hand, including a note for the video, which, for those that can’t make it out, reads thus:
“Video - stars like greek gods, cruel and controlling”
Video? Greek gods? Curiouser and then a bit more curiouser.
“Tell my wife I love her very much”
Claudia Brücken is no stranger to the David Bowie cover version, having previously created excellent versions of both Drive-In Saturday and This Is Not America.
On her latest album, The Lost Are Found, she has made a moving and affectionate version of Everyone Says "Hi".
We asked her why she settled on this particular track, which is to be her new single:
Stephen & I wanted to do an album of covers that was 'melancholy, but not miserable', we are both big fans of Bowie and thought this song fit the bill perfectly.
Both single and album were produced by studio genius, Stephen Hague, who has produced countless classic albums over the years and boasts a very impressive CV having worked with various artists including Pet Shop Boys, A-Ha, New Order, OMD, PIL, Siouxie, Blur and Robbie Williams.
The track is being released as a 3-track digital only package on March 18th to tie in with a short tour of the UK and Germany. Details of the tour here:
The package will include a piano/vocal version of Everyone Says "Hi", the album version and the brilliant video which we can exclusively reveal here:
You may notice some familiar themes in the video (thus today's lyric quotation), not to mention some familiar faces.
We’ll leave you with a blurb written by Paul Morley, who says these things far better than we can anyway
Claudia Brucken: "Hi" x 3 : 180313
The latest song to be released as a single from the Claudia Brucken album she made with producer Stephen Hague, The Lost are Found, is a song written by David Bowie, 'Everyone Says "Hi"' It was the only single available in the U.K. from Bowie's 2002 Heathen album.
Claudia first thought of singing the song months ago, when Bowie was to some extent less present, a little more in the shadows, than he is now. She wanted to cover the song not least because its themes - loss, mourning, and, essentially, how a great, bitter-sweet sad song can somehow, in its presentation, its sensitivity, the overall sense of love whatever the circumstances -fitted well with the sequence of melancholic but inspirational songs chosen for The Lost are Found.
It was also a form of recommendation, very much confirmed recently with the unexpected appearance of Bowie's 'Where Are We Now,' how Bowie's later, not so widely known songs can be as powerful and resonant as his more obvious early classics.
Claudia is releasing "Hi" three ways in one theatrical digital package on March 18th - the original Hague version from the album, along with an 'as live' piano and voice version of the version, and a "Hi" video, which features a host of Claudia friends and family coming along for the emotional "Hi" ride. A great largely unexplored late Bowie song brilliantly performed in loving full colour, with stripped back delicacy, and with Claudia's own sense of drama - what more could you ask for?
“Stars are never sleeping”
And here‘s the 2nd lyric sheet for The Stars (Are Out Tonight) for you to print out and keep as a handy reference, or something like that.
“He‘s in the best selling show”
The UK’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper reports today that The V&A's David Bowie is exhibition is set to be “the most successful show in the museum's history.”.
The article continues: “The V&A has sold more than 26,000 tickets for the show which opens next month, the museum’s highest ever figure for advance bookings.”.
Apparently the museum has seen a marked increase in new memberships since David Bowie is was announced, possibly because members get access to a private members only preview.
The Telegraph has illustrated the item with some fascinating exclusives from the show including an original storyboard for the Ashes to Ashes video drawn by Bowie and a preparatory sketch for an unrealised film, set in Hunger City, which became Diamond Dogs. (Both pictured here)
Other exclusives include a sketch on a Gitanes cigarette packet drawn by David Bowie in Berlin, in 1976.
Read the full article online here and view the slideshow here.