ANCIANT Album Focus: Lodger

“Heaven loves ya, The clouds part for ya...”

(ANCIANT = A New Career In A New Town)

This is the second instalment of our album focus on David Bowie’s Lodger.

Here follows an excerpt from an old UNCUT interview with David about the confusingly named Berlin Trilogy. This snippet is from the part regarding Lodger. UNCUT never published the full interview, but you can read the unedited version of it here.

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LODGER

UNCUT: An album which really divides Bowie fans - it is either devout love or total indifference. Can you understand both reactions?

Bowie:  I think Tony and I would both agree that we didn't take enough care mixing. This had a lot to do with my being distracted by personal events in my life and I think Tony lost heart a little because it never came together as easily as both Low and Heroes had. I would still maintain though that there are a number of really important ideas on Lodger. If I had more time I would explore them for you…but…you can probably pick them out as easily.

UNCUT: Moving away from pure electronic sounds - was this a deliberate strategy to stay ahead of the synthesizercopycat bands who were busy aping 'Low' and "Heroes"?

Bowie:  I think it's the lack of instrumentals that give you the impression that our process was different. It really wasn't. It was a lot more mischievous though. Brian and I did play a number of 'art pranks' on the band. They really didn't go down too well though. Especially with Carlos who tends to be quite 'grand'.

UNCUT: Was the backwards tape of 'All The Young Dudes' for 'Move On' originally an accident? And does this song have any connection to the unfinished Iggy collaboration 'Moving On'?

Bowie:  Not really an accident but I did stumble upon it. I had put one of my reel to reel tapes on backwards by mistake and really quite liked the melody it created. So I played quite a few more in this fashion and chose five or six that were really quite compelling. Dudes was the only one to make the album, as I didn't want to abandon the 'normal' writing I was doing completely. But it was a worthwhile exercise in my mind. It has the same title as the song I wrote for Iggy. But as the one for Jim was a working title, I passed it onto the Lodger song.

UNCUT: The final refrain in 'Red Money' - "project cancelled". Is this significant? A curtain being drawn on the Eno triptych?

Bowie:  Not at all. Mere whimsy.

UNCUT: What is 'cricket menace'?

Bowie:  Little crickety sounds that Brian produced from a combination of my drum machine (I would, and still do, use one to write with when I'm on my own) and his 'briefcase' synth. You can hear them on African Nightflight.

UNCUT: Moving to New York - had Berlin served its purpose? Was New York chosen for musical reasons?

Bowie:  It was an irreplaceable, unmissable experience and probably the happiest time in my life up until that point. Coco, Jim and I had so many great times. But I just can't express the feeling of freedom I felt there. Some days the three of us would jump into the car and drive like crazy through East Germany and head down to the Black Forest, stopping off at any small village that caught our eye. Just go for days at a time. Or we'd take long all afternoon lunches at the Wannsee on winter days. The place had a glass roof and was surrounded by trees and still exuded an atmosphere of the long gone Berlin of the twenties. At night we'd hang with the intellectuals and beats at the Exile restaurant in Kreutzberg. In the back they had this smoky room with a billiard table and it was sort of like another living room except the company was always changing.

Sometimes we'd go shopping at KaDeWe, the giant department store in the Centre of West Berlin, which had the hugest food counters anyone could imagine with displays that are only imaginable in a country which either must have been seriously deprived of food at one time or where the populace just plain likes to eat a lot. We'd stock up occasionally on what felt like luxuries at the time like chocolates or a small tin of caviar. One day, while we were out, Jim had come in and ate everything in the fridge we had spent all morning shopping for. It was one of the few times that Co and I were truly mad at him. I could write a lot more on all this…but.

I had not intended to leave Berlin, I just drifted away. Maybe I was getting better. Jim decided to stay on a while longer as he had pretty much hitched up with a girl he'd met there and had by now gotten his own apartment, next door to ours. Then Elephant Man came up, which caused me to be in the US for a considerable spell. Then Berlin was …over.

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LODGER FACT FILE:

Working Titles: Planned Accidents and Despite Straight Lines
Released in the UK as RCA PL 13254 on 18th May, 1979.
Peak UK chart position: #4
Peak US chart position: #20

Original Tracklisting

SIDE 1
1. FANTASTIC VOYAGE
2. AFRICAN NIGHT FLIGHT
3. MOVE ON
4. YASSASSIN (TURKISH FOR: LONG LIVE)
5. RED SAILS

SIDE 2
1. D.J.
2. LOOK BACK IN ANGER
3. BOYS KEEP SWINGING
4. REPETITION
5. RED MONEY

Bonus tracks on 1991 RykoDisc reissue:
I Pray, Olé (Previously unreleased track recorded 1979)
Look Back In Anger (New version recorded 1988)

Original UK Singles:

Boys Keep Swinging/Fantastic Voyage - released April 1979 - (Peak UK chart position: #7)

D.J./Repetition released - June 1979 - (Including limited edition green vinyl) (Peak UK chart position: #29)

Significant non UK Singles:

Boys Keep Swinging/Fantastic Voyage - released April 1979 - (Spain only promo picture disc - First official Bowie 7" picture disc)

Yassassin/Repetition - released July 1979 - (Netherlands)

Yassassin/Red Money - released July 1979 - (Turkey)

Look Back In Anger/Repetition - released August 1979 - (North America)

Pictured in our montage clockwise from top left: UK Lodger front cover, UK limited edition D.J. green vinyl single, Yassassin Turkish picture sleeve, Yassassin Netherlands picture sleeve, Boys Keep Swinging, Spanish promo picture disc.

Videos were made for Boys Keep Swinging, D.J. and Look Back In Anger.

All lyrics written by DAVID BOWIE.
All music written by DAVID BOWIE and BRIAN ENO except:
‘MOVE ON’, ‘YASSASSIN’ and ‘REPETITION’ written by DAVID BOWIE
‘D.J.’ written by DAVID BOWIE, BRIAN ENO and CARLOS ALOMAR
‘RED MONEY’ written by DAVID BOWIE and CARLOS ALOMAR

Produced by DAVID BOWIE and TONY VISCONTI.

Recorded at MOUNTAIN STUDIOS, MONTREUX, SWITZERLAND, September, 1978 and March, 1979.
Engineers – TONY VISCONTI and DAVID RICHARDS.
Assistant engineer – EUGENE CHAPLIN.
Mixed at RECORD PLANT STUDIOS, NEW YORK CITY.
Engineers – TONY VISCONTI and ROD O’BRIEN.
Assistant engineer – GREG CARUSO.

Listen to the original Lodger on the official David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town playlist.

Pre-order ANCIANT here: https://lnk.to/ANCIANTMP

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieLodger

ANCIANT Album Focus: Lodger

“Sometimes I feel, The need to move on”

(ANCIANT = A New Career In A New Town)

Two and a half weeks till the September 29th release of the David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982) box set (ANCIANT), and the subject of our album focus this week is Lodger.

Have a listen to the third and final album in the so called 'Berlin Trilogy' on the official ANCIANT playlist.

Pre-order ANCIANT here.

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieLodger

Lust For Life is forty today

“Here comes my face, Out of the crowd”

We posted a piece back in March celebrating the 40th anniversary of Iggy Pop’s debut solo album, The Idiot. 

Well, today is the 40th anniversary of Lust For Life, the follow up to The Idiot. Yes, it’s an Iggy Pop album, but it’s also an important part of David Bowie’s recorded history.

Bowie co-wrote seven of the nine tracks on the record and suggested the title Lust For Life, after having composed the riff on a ukulele with the Armed Forces Network staccato TV station ident for inspiration, as the pair watched TV one evening.

Bowie, Pop and engineer Colin Thurston produced Lust for Life under the pseudonym "Bewlay Bros."

Here’s the album’s personnel:

Iggy Pop – vocals
David Bowie – keyboards, piano, organ, backing vocals
Carlos Alomar – rhythm guitar (lead on "Lust for Life" & "Turn Blue"), backing vocals
Ricky Gardiner – lead guitar, backing vocals, (drums on "Fall in Love with Me")
Warren Peace - keyboards and backing vocals on "Turn Blue"
Tony Sales – bass, backing vocals, (guitar on "Fall in Love with Me")
Hunt Sales – drums, backing vocals, (bass on "Fall in Love with Me")

Along with Bowie, the Sales brothers later made up three quarters of Tin Machine.

The album reached #28 on the official UK album chart and it might have performed far better if people could have actually bought the thing. RCA had shifted their pressing facilities to the production of Elvis Presley’s back catalogue following his death the previous month.

Nevertheless, it remained Iggy’s highest album chart position until the release of last year’s Post Pop Depression.

This is the tracklising for Lust For Life...

Side 1

Lust for Life
Sixteen
Some Weird Sin
The Passenger
Tonight

Side 2

Success
Turn Blue
Neighbourhood Threat
Fall in Love with Me

Bowie later recorded his own versions of Tonight and Neighbourhood Threat. He also performed the title track live occasionally during his 1996 summer festival shows.

Success was released as the single from Lust For Life, but ironically, it was a complete flop.

1977 was a great year for Bowie and Iggy with the releases of Low, The Idiot, "Heroes" and Lust For Life, four classic albums which just grow in stature as time passes.

In the unlikely event that you’re not already familiar with this masterpiece, listen here.

#BowieIggy  #LFL40  #LustForLife40

Win a set of 5 Bowie vinyl test pressings

“All you have to do is win…”

How do you fancy a set of impossibly rare, white label, vinyl test pressings from the upcoming David Bowie 'A New Career In A New Town' box set?

The set includes the following five albums: Low, "Heroes", Lodger (Original mix), Lodger (TV 2017 mix) and Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), all courtesy of Parlophone.

For your chance to win, follow the official ANCIANT playlist here.

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieVinyl  

14-pages and 10 out of 10 ANCIANT review in LLV

“...want to know the past, want to know the real deal”

(ANCIANT = A New Career In A New Town - LLV = Long Live Vinyl magazine)

Available now is the October issue of LLV. This relatively new publication (this is issue 7), has already featured Bowie regularly within its pages, including a superb DB album discography and collectors' special by Andrew Price in Issue 1.

The October issue has a 10-page feature focusing on ANCIANT as outlined in this blurb:

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The October issue of Long Live Vinyl celebrates the release of David Bowie's incredible 13-disc boxset A New Career In A New Town. Gareth Murphy tells the inside story behind the creation of Bowie's iconic Berlin Trilogy before running the rule over the boxset and speaking to remastering engineer Ray Staff about Tony Visconti's breathtaking 2017 mix of Lodger. For Bowie fans, it's essential reading.

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Aside from the 10-page feature, there is a 10 out of 10, 2-page review for ANCIANT, also by Gareth Murphy, in which he suggests that ANCIANT is: “real-deal luxury you will treasure for life”, the inspiration for today’s lyric quotation.

On top of that is the cover and a full-page advert for ANCIANT bringing the content up to 14-pages, that’s not including the introduction by Editor Gary Walker and a brief piece placing the Japanese Lady Stardust picture disc in the £150 bracket.

More information and ordering links here.

David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982) box set is released on September 29th.

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieVinyl  #LLV

ANCIANT Album Focus: Stage

“The boy in the bright blue jacket, jumped up on the stage” *

(ANCIANT = A New Career In A New Town)

Today we continue our album focus on Stage, the recorded document of the ISOLAR 2 tour, or, as it was known at the time: The 1978 World Tour.

Here’s the introduction of Matt Damsker’s review of one of the Spectrum Arena shows in Philadelphia, where much of Stage was recorded.

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Flamboyant David Bowie Returns — in Triumph. By MATT DAMSKER of The Bulletin Staff

Even without the benefit of a current hit record, David Bowie continues to assert his eminence among ‘70s rock heroes with one of the year’s most impressive tours and last night at the Spectrum the flamboyant British star returned in triumph to a near-capacity houseful of more than 18,000. As in past appearances here, Bowie alternately transfixed and roused the audience with his coolly cultivated performing style and daringly original music.

Announcing at the onset of last night’s show that it was being taped for yet another album of in-concert material – his first, “David Live”, was recorded in 1974 at Upper Darby’s Tower Theatre – Bowie made clear that Philadelphia remains the most inspiring market for his stage efforts.

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STAGE FACT FILE:

Originally released in the UK as RCA PL 02913 on 8th September, 1978.
Peak UK chart position: #5
Peak US chart position: #44

Produced by DAVID BOWIE and TONY VISCONTI.
Mixed by TONY VISCONTI.
Live sound mixed by BUFORD JONES.
Recorded by TONY VISCONTI with the RCA MOBILE UNIT

MUSICIANS

DAVID BOWIE – vocals, chamberlain
CARLOS ALOMAR – rhythm guitar
ADRIAN BELEW – lead guitar
DENNIS DAVIS – drums, percussion
SIMON HOUSE – electric violin
SEAN MAYES – piano, string ensemble
GEORGE MURRAY – bass guitar
ROGER POWELL – keyboards, synthesizer
CARLOS ALOMAR, ADRIAN BELEW, SEAN MAYES,
GEORGE MURRAY and ROGER POWELL – background vocals

Stage was recorded live at the Spectrum Arena, Philadelphia, 28th and 29th April, 1978, Civic Center, Providence, 5th May, 1978 and New Boston Garden Arena, Boston, 6th May, 1978.

On 14th November, 2005, an expanded and recompiled version of Stage was released on EMI on CD 836 4362 and also in 5.1 on the DVD-Audio EMI 863 4369.

The 2017 version has been further augmented by the inclusion of ‘The Jean Genie’ from the Boston show and ‘Suffragette City’ from the Philadelphia show.

Stage 2017 Tracklisting:

SIDE 1
1. WARSZAWA
2. “HEROES”
3. WHAT IN THE WORLD

SIDE 2
1. BE MY WIFE
2. THE JEAN GENIE
3. BLACKOUT
4. SENSE OF DOUBT

SIDE 3
1. SPEED OF LIFE
2. BREAKING GLASS
3. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
4. FAME

SIDE 4
1. FIVE YEARS
2. SOUL LOVE
3. STAR
4. HANG ON TO YOURSELF
5. ZIGGY STARDUST
6. SUFFRAGETTE CITY

SIDE 5
1. ART DECADE
2. ALABAMA SONG
3. STATION TO STATION

SIDE 6
1. STAY
2. TVC 15

Associated UK release:
3-track Breaking Glass EP released November 1978 - (Peak UK chart position: #54)
Tracks: Breaking Glass/Art Decade/Ziggy Stardust

Associated US release:
3-track promotional only white vinyl 12".
Tracks: Star/What In The World/Breaking Glass

Associated Japanese release:
Soul Love/Blackout

Stage’s release was delayed somewhat from the original scheduled date. Apparently this was in no small part due to Bowie having seen a report in the French magazine Best, regarding the US leg of the tour. The review included an unauthorised shot by Gilles Riberolles, which so enamoured DB that he delayed the release of the album to have the cover changed to the one we now know.

Don’t forget you can listen to the official David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town playlist here. Pre-order ANCIANT here.

* No, we’re not colour-blind. The green jacket in our illustration was originally a sort of blue, blue...electric blue.

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieStage

ANCIANT Album Focus: Stage

“One man in his time plays many parts” *             

(ANCIANT = A New Career In A New Town)

Just over three weeks till the September 29th release of the David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982) box set (ANCIANT). 

This week our album focus is on the second of Bowie’s official live album releases, 1978’s Stage. Check out a cool little animation here.

Pop over to the official David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town playlist and have a listen to the 2005 version ahead of the 2012 release, which contains two extra tracks.

*Some of you may be wondering why we have quoted Shakespeare today, instead of using a Bowie lyric quotation. The line from The Bard’s As You Like It was used in the award winning advertising campaign for Stage and we think you’ll agree it’s wholly appropriate for Bowie.

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieStage

ANCIANT Album Focus: "Heroes"

“You can't say no to the Beauty and the Beast”

(ANCIANT = A New Career In A New Town)

Ahead of the release of ANCIANT later this month, here’s the next part of our album focus on "Heroes".

As mentioned previously, there were just two singles taken from the "Heroes" album in the UK.

"Heroes"/V-2 Schneider released September 1977 - (Peak UK chart position: #24)

Beauty And The Beast/Sense of Doubt released January 1978 - (Peak UK chart position: #39)

Pretty well everyone with a full set of working ears is familiar with the title track, but those not acquainted with the Bowie back catalogue might not know Beauty And The Beast. As with many Bowie single releases, the track sounded like nothing else on the radio at the time.

As with its predecessor, perhaps the public en masse just wasn’t ready for the latest Bowie sound, with Fripp’s guitar again taking centre stage and that ahead of the curve Bowie/Visconti production...“TOMORROW BELONGS TO THOSE WHO CAN HEAR IT COMING”.

However, the song was certainly strong enough to be the "Heroes" album opener, and though it may have been considered an unusual choice for a single, it was just as viable as any of the other tracks on the album.

Tony Visconti confirms that the line: “Someone fetch a priest”, was originally recorded with a different F-word to fetch. A wise decision to change it perhaps, or it may not have received quite the airplay that it did.

Though there had only been four previous Bowie picture sleeve singles released commercially in the UK (Starman 1972, Life On Mars? 1973, Space Oddity 1975, Suffragette City 1976), Beauty And The Beast was issued in one (basically the album cover), but the single still only just scraped into the Top 40 on the official UK singles chart. Nevertheless, Bowie picture sleeves would become de rigueur from Beauty And The Beast onwards.

An extended version was released as a promo only 12” single in the US and commercially as a 12” single in Spain. Listen to it now on Spotify.

The track can also be found on the official David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town playlist.

FOOTNOTE: Check out our video featuring David Bowie’s handwritten lyrics for Beauty And The Beast, here.

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieHeroes

Charles Shaar Murray on THAT Low review

“It’s about to be writ again”

As we mentioned in our focus on Low last week, it seems everybody was caught on the hop by the release of the album, not least of all RCA. All of the advertising and reviews appeared AFTER Low had been released. There wasn’t even a lead single preceding its release, which was practically unheard of. (Hunky Dory was the only other RCA Bowie album that didn’t have one.)

Going by the lateness of the published reviews for Low, it almost seems that preview copies weren’t sent out. In fact, for many (in the UK at least), the first time they would have heard the recording was when John Peel played it in its entirety upon release, on his Radio 1 show.

Once reviews started appearing, it was clear that this was an album that was going to spilt people.

Among the great reviews there were some equally negative ones, not least of all, Charles Shaar Murray’s (CSM) in the NME. The magazine considered the release important enough to reserve a page and a half for two reviews, the other being by Ian MacDonald.

CSM was well known to Bowie fans for always getting the scoop and authoring several fascinating and beautifully written Bowie features within the pages of NME. That’s Charles pictured with DB in happier times in Paris in 1973.

It was possibly because Murray’s writing always seemed to be in praise of Bowie, that this particular review for Low was singled out. Indeed, he’s never been allowed to forget it, getting a national nose-rubbing for Francis Whately’s Five Years screening on the BBC, when he was asked to read out an excerpt.

But rather than dwell upon that, forty years later (while not expecting a U-turn), we thought we’d give CSM the chance to at least explain what his mind-set was back then. Over to you Charles...

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Homage To Catatonia - Charles Shaar Murray

Last night I dreamed about Bowie. He had his late-‘70s look (as per “Heroes”), and we were in a bar with a bunch of other people. During a gap in his conversation with someone else, I asked him a question. He laughed and teased me for a while, and then he answered it.

Unfortunately, when I awoke I couldn’t remember his answer. Or even my question.

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Every working critic makes mistakes, which is one of the reasons I called my ‘collected works’ anthology Shots From The Hip: you have to make your mind up fast, and then articulate your perception crisply, clearly and hopefully logically. Two of my three worst ‘70s mistakes were to be inappropriately harsh assessments of both Blondie and The Clash at very early gigs, and not realising how rapidly they’d go from faltering to wonderful and how fast their baby steps would become giant strides.

The third was my reaction to Low. That review became mildly notorious: in fact, I was asked to read extracts from it aloud when appearing on the recent Bowiedoc Five Years. Worse! My proposed headline – Homage To Catatonia –  was ‘corrected’ by an over-enthusiastic proofreader to Homage To Catalonia (the title of George Orwell’s scarifying memoir of the Spanish Civil War), and therefore made no fucking sense whatsoever.

So: there were two major ingredients to my misreading of Low, one cultural, once personal. In order, then: we had become accustomed to the notion of Bowie as singer/songwriter/performer: someone whose voice, words and sensibility (not to mention visual persona) were always centre-stage. Now here was an album where Bowie – as we understood him – had virtually disappeared into the musical backdrop. Those tracks which were not instrumentals offered telegrammatic lyrics bereft of the artful allusions and decodable references which had adorned even his most challenging previous album, Station To Station.

Low was therefore as much of a shock to many Bowie geeks as Nashville Skyline had been a few years earlier to Dylanoids (the term ‘Bobcats’ had not yet been invented), even those who had previously had no trouble negotiating the transition from denim-clad protesty folk troubadour to sharp-suited, slickly beshaded deafeningly-amplified rock and roll mystic. The notion that Dylan might wish to express himself through lyrically simple country songs was a little too much for many fans and critics to wrap their heads around. I was one of them.

Similarly – if you’ll pardon another seriously Olde Skoole rock reference – John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band solo album was another, similar mind-fuck. No hallucinatory sound-collages, no allusive Lewis Carrollesque lyrics, no Walrus or Day In The Life: just crunchy punk-blues guitar over bedrock rhythms and barely-processed howls of pain. POB was Lennon’s blues album and, in its way, Low was Bowie’s.

Of course, a Bowie blues album was unlike anyone else’s, just as Lennon’s was. Certainly, it didn’t sound like John Lee Hooker or BB King. And, thanks to the team-up between Bowie, Brian Eno and Tony Visconti, it didn’t sound quite like anything anybody else had ever done: the gap between ‘real’ instruments (guitar, bass, drums, horns, piano) and ‘imaginary’ ones (various synths) was artfully blurred by Visconti and Eno’s use of sound-processing gadgets (Eventide Harmoniser, EMS and Chamberlain synths et al) into a new kind of soundscape against which Bowie stated in the simplest and most direct language what was going on with him. And ain’t that the blues?

Low was hugely influential. The drum sound Visconti created with the Harmoniser from Dennis Davis’s original performance became well-nigh ubiquitous throughout the 1980s; without Low, Gary Numan would never have had a career. The album – and the rest of the ‘Berlin Trilogy’ (“Heroes” and Lodger) – has been adapted into other forms by some serious peeps: check Philip Glass’s Low and “Heroes” Symphonies and Dylan Howe’s jazz odyssey Subterrananean: New Designs On Bowie’s Berlin.

Low is unquestionably one of Bowie’s most influential albums in terms of changing the world around it. It’s also the one of Bowie’s major masterpieces (by contrast with minor masterpieces like The Buddha Of Suburbia, Outside and the first Tin Machine album) which I like the least.

Which is where the ‘personal’ element comes in. Around the time the album arrived, I had just about managed to haul myself and my then-wife out of the pit of severe amphetamine addiction. We did indeed have ‘pale blinds drawn all day; she was the ‘little girl with grey eyes [who would] never leave her room’ … the album seemed to glamourise everything we’d just fought against, and remember: at that time Bowie’s intergalactic charisma was capable of glamourizing everything short of hemorrhoids and hairy shoulders, let alone a state of post-speed (or post-coke) psychotic withdrawal. At a time when speed abuse was reaching epidemic proportions on what was about to become the punk scene, I felt that this album was seriously not helping. And, despite – or perhaps BECAUSE of – its brilliance, I hated it.

Later on, I loved “Heroes” because it seemed to be z triumph over the mindset in which Low was wallowing. And, checking in with DB via a “Heroes”-era interview, I realized that I’d (sort-of) got it right: except that DB had gone through much of the same stuff that I had, only in more luxurious surroundings and with far better drugs.

Now? Low is an album I can admire, for any number of reasons, and freely and happily acknowledge for its innovation and influence. Unfortunately, it’s one which I can never enjoy.

© Charles Shaar Murray, 2017

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Thanks Charles, much appreciated. If you’ve not checked out Charles’ collected works, Shots From the Hip: Notes from the counterculture, you really should. It’s a joy to read.

We’ll leave you with evidence of some of those more appreciative reviews of Low...

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Remarkably, alluringly beautiful...one of the finest discs of his career.

John Rockwell - The New York Times (US), January 1977

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So. This album is not...
Ordinary.
Immediate.
Commercial.
Or compromising.
(A lot of Bowie fans are going to hate 'Low')
So. This album is...
Remarkable.
Unique.
Odd.
Arguably triumphant.
And inarguably innovatory.
So. This album might be...
Bowie's best ever.
Eno's best ever.
A mechanical classic.
So. Whatever. Prepare for shock treatment.

Tim Lott - Sounds (UK), January 1977

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It is by far his most bizarre and adventurous LP and although at times synthesised to death, it is firmly Bowie's album, with side one being a direct musical extension of "Young Americans" and "Station To Station".

But apart from some African awareness, side two is a new area of exploration. Have a lot of fun checking it out.

David Hancock - National RockStar (UK), January 1977

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It's good to see Bowie aimed at the future and not recycling past glories. Low is a gamble which succeeds. Dunno what his fans will think but, whatever, Bowie has once again shaken up the scene in his own inimitable way – and more power to him.

Kris Needs - ZigZag (UK), February 1977

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Low seems to be the inner document of someone either on the edge of psychosis or obsessed right down to the bone. Nothing fits or holds firm, nothing makes rational sense, nothing follows the formal or practical rules of the game. But for Bowie, who never follows the rules, none of this disorientation is negative; on the contrary, Low is the most intimate and free recording this extraordinary artist has yet made. This haunting, oddly beautiful music, strewn with recesses to be delved into gradually and a few at a time, is affecting in a strikingly subtle and powerful way.

Bowie’s instincts are uncanny: he seems to stay on course by continually veering off-course and he has a knack for making music that (as a friend says) “feels exactly the way I feel right now.” There’s something about Low’s textures, moods, and energies that gets under the skin and keeps working deeper, but I couldn’t begin to explain how or why it works. I don’t want to try – there are times when it’s better to acknowledge than attempt to analyze, and this music is governed by a mystery that exists not to be penetrated but to be accepted as mystery.

Bud Scoppa - Phonograph Record (US), February 1977

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Bowie is a superior creative force. Here he takes his eclectic disco music to the brink of the avant-garde. His particular magic is that his audience will follow him to a place they would never get to without him. Ingenious.

Walrus Special Mention Album

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You can read the majority of these reviews in their entirety over at Rock’s Back Pages.

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieLow

German Rolling Stone exclusive Bowie vinyl

“Und wir sind dann Helden, Für einen Tag...”

As we’re focusing on "Heroes" this week, we thought it pertinent to mention that the October 2017 issue of Rolling Stone magazine in Germany, has an exclusive Bowie feature and cover-mounted 7" vinyl single of "Helden"/"Heroes".

The magazine/vinyl package is available to pre-order now, but it’s only available to addresses in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

Here’s the tracklisting of this future 33 1/3rd collectable.

Side 1: "Helden" (’89 remix version)

Side 2: "Heroes" (live version from Stage)

Stay tuned for more information regarding this issue, shortly.

#BowieHelden  #BowieHeroes  #RSDEBowie  #ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieVinyl

ANCIANT Album Focus: "Heroes"

“They don't walk, they just glide in and out of life”

(ANCIANT = A New Career In A New Town)

Here’s another instalment of our album focus on "Heroes".

This is Tony Visconti’s introduction from another set of very informative notes (from the ANCIANT book), regarding the recording of "Heroes"...

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‘"Heroes"’ began in Hansa Studios, West Berlin, by the Berlin Wall. The intense and diverse reaction to the experimental album ‘Low’ proved that the best path for

David, at this point in his career, was to continue to break all the rules. This continued to be the course of action with more or less the same team. Alomar, Murray and Davis returned, Eno and Bowie shared keyboard duties. The tracking sessions were recorded without a lead guitarist. Robert Fripp would arrive two weeks later.

True to form, we all congregated in Berlin with nothing more than chord changes and rhythm ideas, not yet songs. Carlos, George and Dennis instinctively knew what to do from the start but played harder than the previous album. ‘Low’ was like learning a new alphabet. ‘"Heroes"’ was the subsequent pulp fiction novel! Like

‘Low’, it didn’t take very long to record the seven band tracks. They took less than a week. Carlos stayed behind to add more guitar but the parts were more supportive than fiery. We were expecting Robert Fripp to start the fire.

It’s hard to believe that ‘Beauty And The Beast’ to ‘The Secret Life Of Arabia’ were just backing tracks arranged on the spot with no knowledge of titles, vocal melodies or lyrics. Once a riff was established, as in ‘Beauty And The Beast’, a lick, an interjection, a countermelody, a quirky drum fill all fell into place naturally. Somehow it was mutually sensed where singing would and wouldn’t be. Emotional music textures, not songs, were being recorded.

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"HEROES" FACT FILE:

Released in the UK as RCA PL 12522 on 14th October, 1977.
Peak UK chart position: #3
Peak US chart position: #35

Original Tracklisting

SIDE 1
1. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
2. JOE THE LION
3. “HEROES”
4. SONS OF THE SILENT AGE
5. BLACKOUT

SIDE 2
1. V-2 SCHNEIDER
2. SENSE OF DOUBT
3. MOSS GARDEN
4. NEUKÖLN
5. THE SECRET LIFE OF ARABIA

Bonus tracks on 1991 RykoDisc reissue:
Abdulmajid Previously unreleased track recorded 1976-79
Joe The Lion Remixed version, 1991

Original UK Singles:
"Heroes"/V-2 Schneider released September 1977 - (Peak UK chart position: #24)
Beauty And The Beast/Sense of Doubt released January 1978 - (Peak UK chart position: #39)

“TOMORROW BELONGS TO THOSE WHO CAN HEAR IT COMING” was the rather ironic tagline for "Heroes". Ironic in that the single only reached #24 in the UK upon release, but as time goes on the song has become more and more popular. This fact was highlighted when streams of Bowie’s music on Spotify reached one billion last week, with "Heroes" topping that list. Forty years later it seems tomorrow has finally arrived.

All songs written by DAVID BOWIE except ‘“HEROES”’ lyrics written by DAVID BOWIE, music written by DAVID BOWIE and BRIAN ENO, ‘MOSS GARDEN’ and ‘NEUKÖLN’ written by

DAVID BOWIE and BRIAN ENO and ‘THE SECRET LIFE OF ARABIA’ lyrics written by DAVID BOWIE, music written by DAVID BOWIE, CARLOS ALOMAR and BRIAN ENO.

Produced by DAVID BOWIE and TONY VISCONTI.
Recorded at HANSA BY THE WALL, BERLIN between 11th July and 8th August, 1977.
Engineers – TONY VISCONTI and COLIN THURSTON and MOUNTAIN STUDIOS, MONTREUX.
Assistant engineers – DAVID RICHARDS and EUGENE CHAPLIN.
Mixed at MOUNTAIN STUDIOS, MONTREUX.
HANSA BY THE WALL in-house engineer: EDUARD MEYER.

Don’t forget you can listen to the official David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town playlist here.

Pre-order ANCIANT here.

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieHeroes

ANCIANT Album Focus: "Heroes"

“For ever and ever”

In the run up to the September 29th release of the David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982) box set (ANCIANT), the next release in our album focus is "Heroes".

If you’ve not listened to this classic from 1977 in a while, pop over to the official David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town playlist and reacquaint yourself.

Pre-order ANCIANT here.

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieHeroes

Bowie reaches a billion streams on Spotify

“A billion dreams, A billion streams”

“The absolute transformation of everything that we ever thought about music will take place within 10 years, and nothing is going to be able to stop it. Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity” - David Bowie, June 2002.

Last week (Thursday, August 24), the music of David Bowie reached a major milestone with the one billionth stream on Spotify. The #1 streamed song, "Heroes", originally recorded in English, French & German, is this year celebrating its 40th anniversary and, as previously mentioned here, will be released as a special limited edition picture disc next month.

Bowie’s top ten most streamed solo tracks of all time on Spotify are:

"Heroes"
Let’s Dance
Space Oddity
Life On Mars
Starman
Rebel Rebel
Moonage Daydream
Changes
Ziggy Stardust
Modern Love

Bubbling under those are Fame, The Man Who Sold The World, China Girl, Oh! You Pretty Things, Sound & Vision, Where Are We Now? This Is Not America, Ashes To Ashes and Young Americans.

Thanks so much for making it happen, Kooks!

Play Bowie on Spotify here.

#BowieSpotify  #BowieKooks

Iman talks about David to Vogue

“I want you most of all”

Just in case you missed this one, it’s well worth a read/view.

Iman has helped Vogue celebrate their 125th Anniversary with a look back at pictures of her and David that have appeared in their pages.

In a moving interview, Iman explained how the public’s outpouring of love has meant that David’s presence is always felt: “My husband's passing to me, his absence is ever present. You know, so it's not like he has left. From the public love and the public grieving and all that, he is constantly around.”

Of the main picture in our montage, taken by Irving Penn in 1994, Iman said this: “A perfect match. Penn did this photo, it was the first time, wasn't the first time I met Penn, but it was the first and the only picture actually he did of me and David.”

Iman also said this about the other photograph we’ve used: “And this is David and I dancing, that's my daughter's favourite.”

Read the full interview and watch the video here.

#DavidAndIman  #‎ForeverLove

ANCIANT Album Focus: Low

“Don’t you wonder sometimes...”

Ahead of the release of the David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982) box set (ANCIANT) next month, here’s the second instalment of our album focus on Low.

This is Tony Visconti’s introduction from his superbly informative notes (from the ANCIANT book), regarding the recording of Low. As Tony says, it’s a story you may have heard before, but it bears repeating...

I was playing around with my new signal processing ‘toys’ in my home studio in Hammersmith when I got a phone call from David Bowie. I'd had a good business year and my accountant said, “Buy things for the studio. They are tax deductible”. My favourite new toy was the Harmonizer made by a new company called Eventide. David already mixed the ‘Diamond Dogs’ album with me in my home studio and we used an earlier Eventide gizmo, The Eventide Digital Delay, to great effect, very noticeably with the “Bro-bro-bro…” repetition at the end of ‘Big Brother’.

David was calling from his home in Switzerland and Brian Eno was on an extension. They told me they’d been writing songs for a couple of weeks and had ideas, one side being conventional songs and the other an instrumental side based on Brian’s ambient music compositions. I was asked, “What can you bring to the table?” (This is the first time I heard this phrase not referring to bottles of red and white wine). I said I have a new thing called the Harmonizer (the second sold in the U.K.). “What does it do?” they asked. Hmmm. This thing was so original and difficult to explain in simple terms, so I spontaneously came up with what most people have heard of by now, “It fucks with the fabric of time.” Then I heard big ‘whoops’ from both of them.

LOW FACT FILE:

Working Title: New Music: Night And Day (Last minute name change to the visually punning Low)
Released in the UK as RCA PL 12030 on 14th January, 1977.
Peak UK chart position: #2
Peak US chart position: #11

Original Tracklisting

SIDE 1
1. SPEED OF LIFE
2. BREAKING GLASS
3. WHAT IN THE WORLD
4. SOUND AND VISION
5. ALWAYS CRASHING IN THE SAME CAR
6. BE MY WIFE
7. A NEW CAREER IN A NEW TOWN

SIDE 2

1. WARSZAWA
2. ART DECADE
3. WEEPING WALL                                                                                                                                     4. SUBTERRANEANS

Bonus tracks on 1991 RykoDisc reissue:
Some Are (3:24) Previously unreleased track recorded 1976-79
All Saints (3:35) Previously unreleased track recorded 1976-79
Sound And Vision (4:43) Remixed version, 1991

Original UK Singles:
Sound And Vision/A New Career In A New Town released February 1977 - (Peak UK chart position: #3)
Be My Wife/Speed Of Life released June 1977 - (Peak UK chart position: N/A)

Did you know that both Mary Visconti (Nee Hopkin) and Brian Eno provide backing vocals on Sound And Vision, as does Iggy Pop on What In The World?

(Pictured on the right of our montage is the US advert for the Sound And Vison 45 and the UK ad for the Be My Wife single)

All songs written by DAVID BOWIE except ‘BREAKING GLASS’ written by DAVID BOWIE, GEORGE MURRAY and DENNIS DAVIS and ‘WARSZAWA’ written by DAVID BOWIE and BRIAN ENO.

All songs arranged by DAVID BOWIE except ‘WARSZAWA’ arranged by DAVID BOWIE and BRIAN ENO.

Produced by DAVID BOWIE and TONY VISCONTI.
Mixed by TONY VISCONTI at HANSA BY THE WALL, BERLIN.
Recorded at THE CHÂTEAU D’HÉROUVILLE and HANSA BY THE WALL, BERLIN between September and October, 1976.
‘SUBTERRANEANS’ originally recorded at CHEROKEE STUDIOS, LOS ANGELES, December 1975.

Don’t forget you can listen to the official David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town playlist here.

Pre-order ANCIANT here.

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieLow

ANCIANT Album Focus: Low

“Share my life”

In the run up to the September 29th release of the David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982) box set (ANCIANT), we’ll be running a week by week album focus looking at each in chronological order.

As you’ve no doubt gathered, we’re starting with the first LP in the set, 1977’s Low.

Listen to this classic and hugely influential recording over at the official David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town playlist, updated regularly with instant grat tracks and including the material released by Bowie between 1977 and 1982: 

Pre-order ANCIANT here.

FOOTNOTE: Something not quite right about that cover of Low? See why here. 

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieLow

ANCIANT unboxing video

“Come see, come see...”

Here’s an exclusive first look at the unboxing of the David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982) box set, due September 29th.  

Pre-order here: https://lnk.to/ANCIANTMP

#ANCIANTbox

Visconti and Murphy talk DB in UNCUT

“We had a friend, a talking man”

The October 2017 issue of Uncut magazine has an interview with Tony Visconti and another with James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem.

Here’s a bit from Michael Bonner’s monthly introduction to the new issue...

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Tony Visconti gives us a sneak preview of his Lodger remix in the forthcoming David Bowie retrospective box set: “I found some little gems on the tapes,” he reveals, telling us about Arabic raps, the original Lodger sessions and Bowie’s later attitude to re-releases.

On the subject of records, LCD Soundsystem’s American Dream is our Album Of The Month – James Murphy shares a very good David Bowie story.

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Here’s a bit from the Visconti interview expanding upon that Arabic rap hint above...

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Visconti’s 2017 mix of Lodger is included in David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982), the third in a series of boxsets spanning Bowie’s career.

“I found some little gems on the tapes,” he reveals. “At the end of ‘Yassassin’, David does a little Arabic rap that didn’t make the record. I put it on the mix this time and it sounds wonderful. David was proud of these re-releases, but he didn’t want to get involved. There are so many capable people, including his own staff and myself, who could deal with it. He’d hear the final test pressing and say, ‘Great, it’s wonderful. Release it.’ But he always wanted to move on.”

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Elsewhere, James Murphy (who has featured here on a few occasions), is interviewed by Tom Pinnock regarding the new album, American Dream. Here’s a small excerpt from that...

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UNCUT: Does it feel strange referencing David Bowie in your music after you became friends with him?

James Murphy: Not to me. He was a remarkable person, in that you never had a negative collision between your vision of him and who he was, at least I didn't. And it wasn't because when you met him he seemed like Ziggy Stardust, or something – quite the opposite. He was an incredibly disarming and human person, really respectful, appreciative and thoughtful. But you were never disappointed because he was so incredibly good about being a person.

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Go here for more detail regarding this particular issue which is out now.

Go here for further details and full tracklistings for David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982).

#ANCIANTbox  #BowieUNCUT  #BowieVisconti  #BowieJamesMurphy

Happy 17th birthday to Lexi

“You’re only seventeen”

We’re sure you will all want to join us in wishing many happy returns of the day to Alexandria Zahra Jones on her 17th birthday.

Lexi is 16 in this picture, which was posted by her mother, Iman, last year.

The colour pic (by DEZO HOFFMANN) is of her father, Davie Jones, in 1964, an ambitious 17-year-old King Bee himself with a very bright future ahead of him.

Happy Birthday Lexi, here’s wishing you a similarly bright future with love ‘n stuff from everybody here.

FOOTNOTE: Congratulations are also due to Iman on becoming a grandmother, with the arrival of baby Lavinia Rose Young to Iman’s daughter Zulekha and her husband Jason.

#HappyBirthdayLexi  #Lexi17  #LexiLove  #NanaLove

Labyrinth OST, don't forget the black vinyl

“Putting on the black vinyl, cranking out the white noise”

Back in June we told you about today’s release via UMe of the limited green and lavender vinyl editions of the Labyrinth soundtrack.

However, in our excitement, we neglected to mention the 180 gram heavyweight black vinyl edition with free download code (released on July 7th), though it seems enough of you noticed to get it to #4 on the following week’s Official Vinyl Albums Chart Top 40. 

There are some that aren’t so keen for coloured vinyl releases, but, of course, black vinyl is a kind of coloured vinyl in itself, as the plastic used in the production of records is naturally clear before carbon black is added.

Anyway, forget all that, the main reason for posting this item is so that we can kick the weekend off with a delightful picture of Jareth and Sarah.

#Labyrinth  #LabyrinthTheMovie  #Jareth  #LabyrinthBowie  #JarethBowie  #BowieVinyl