Glastonbury 2000 on BBC FOUR tonight

“Waiting for the gift of sound AND vision”

A quick reminder, BBC FOUR in the UK will air an hour preview of 10 of the full 21 song greatest hits set from the forthcoming DAVID BOWIE ‘GLASTONBURY 2000 DVD this evening.

BOWIE AT GLASTONBURY 2000 PREVIEW

Friday 26th October 2018

BBC FOUR 22:55

Parlophone Records in association with BBC Studios and Glastonbury Festivals Ltd. releases DAVID BOWIE ‘GLASTONBURY 2000’ on 2CD/DVD, 3LP, 2CD and standard and high resolution digital formats on 30th November, 2018.

Go here for the press release and full tracklisting.

#BowieGlasto2000

Thanks for making Loving the Alien a success

“Wham Bam Thank You Fans!”

Here are a few of the Top 30 positions that the David Bowie: Loving the Alien (1983-1988) box set attained in its first week of release.

UK

#19 (Official Albums Chart Top 100)

#4 (Official Vinyl Albums Chart Top 40)

US

#20 (LP Chart)

#22 (Internet Albums)

#28 (Top Rock Albums)

Canada

#6 (LP Vinyl Albums)

#9 (Alternative Albums)

Belgium: #26

Germany: #18

Italy: #8 (vinyl chart)

Thanks so much to all of you that purchased it for making it such a success.

Don't forget you can listen to the whole of the David Bowie: Loving the Alien (1983-1988) box set on Spotify, or if you would rather own the physical thing, go here.

#LTAbox

More Moonlight in Japan

“Under the moonlight, this serious moonlight”

The 1983 Serious Moonlight tour reconvened 35 years ago for four dates at the Budokan Arena in Tokyo, as part of the ten day Japanese tour.

Here’s another Denis O’Regan shot of David in Japan from Ricochet : David Bowie 1983, ahead of our contest to win the @Bowie1983book and much more.

#DavidBowieRicochet  #SeriousMoonlightJapan

Serious Moonlight in Japan, day two

“...come to the show tonight...”

As we mentioned yesterday, the 1983 Serious Moonlight tour reconvened 35 years ago for four dates at the Budokan Arena in Tokyo, as part of a ten-date stint in Japan.

The ticket in today’s montage is from the concert that took place on this date in 1983. One of the five books in Ricochet reproduces the tickets from every single show on the tour. It’s a completist’s dream!

Don’t forget Denis O’Regan has promised a very generous Ricochet : David Bowie 1983 contest to commence very soon.

Meanwhile, stay tuned for more details and have a look at the different permutations of the book in the Bowie Store for a limited period, including a much cheaper version without the prints that still includes the exclusive red vinyl 12” and everything else in the set, other than the prints.

#DavidBowieRicochet  #SeriousMoonlightJapan

Ricochet contest coming very soon

“Down in space it's always 1983”

After four months of solid touring and following a month off the road, the 1983 Serious Moonlight tour reconvened 35 years ago on this day at the Budokan Arena in Tokyo, Japan.

To mark the fact, Denis O’Regan has suggested an amazing contest to win a very generous Ricochet : David Bowie 1983 package.

Stay tuned for more details and have a dig around in readiness for what’s to come, here.

#DavidBowieRicochet

Pin Ups album is 45 today

“Singing old songs he loved”

Pin Ups, David Bowie’s album of 60s cover versions, was released 45 years ago today, and was possibly the last great glam rock album of all time. (Discuss)

Either way, it still sounds amazing and if you’ve not heard it in a while, reacquaint yourself with it on Spotify now.

The David Bowie/Ken Scott produced album was preceded by the only single from Pin Ups, Sorrow, which reached #3 on the UK chart. Pin Ups itself entered the UK album chart at #1 on the strength of pre-orders alone.

Joining Bowie on the sleeve for Justin de Villeneuve’s extraordinary photograph with Bowie is Twiggy, name-checked earlier the same year on Aladdin Sane for Drive-In Saturday: “She’d sigh like Twig the Wonder Kid”.

The photo session was shot in Paris for Vogue magazine, but at Bowie's request was used for the album instead. The back cover and insert featured Mick Rock photographs.

+ - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - +

Pin Ups

Produced: David Bowie/Ken Scott

Released: Friday 19 October 1973

Charted: Saturday 3 November 1973 @ #1 

Musicians:

David Bowie – vocals, guitar, tenor and alto saxophone, harmonica, arrangements, backing vocals, Moog synthesiser

Mick Ronson – guitar, piano, vocals, arrangements

Trevor Bolder – bass guitar

Aynsley Dunbar – drums

Mike Garson – piano, organ, harpsichord, electric piano

Ken Fordham – baritone saxophone

G.A. MacCormack – backing vocals

Design:

Justin de Villeneuve - front cover photograph

Twiggy - Twig the Wonderkid on front cover

Pierre Laroche - front cover makeup masks for Twig and Bowie

Mick Rock - back cover photography/design

Ray Campbell - front cover lettering

#BowiePinUps

Glastonbury 2000 on BBC FOUR setlist spoiler

“Waiting for the gift of sound AND vision...”

BBC FOUR will have an hour preview of 10 of the full 21 song greatest hits set from the forthcoming DAVID BOWIE ‘GLASTONBURY 2000 DVD in a little over a week.

Documenting Bowie’s legendary Sunday night headline performance on 25th June at the most famous festival on Earth, only 37 minutes of the original show have been broadcast previously. So look away now if you want the songs that will be shown on 26th October to remain a surprise:

BOWIE AT GLASTONBURY 2000 PREVIEW

Friday 26th October 2018

BBC FOUR 22:55

Wild Is The Wind

China Girl

Changes

Life On Mars?

Ashes To Ashes

Rebel Rebel

Golden Years

Little Wonder

Starman

Ziggy Stardust

"Heroes"

Let’s Dance

Parlophone Records in association with BBC Studios and Glastonbury Festivals Ltd. releases DAVID BOWIE ‘GLASTONBURY 2000’ on 2CD/DVD, 3LP, 2CD and standard and high resolution digital formats ON 30TH November, 2018.

Go here for the press release and full tracklisting.

#BowieGlasto2000

David Bowie: Glamour Issue 4

“All the pages that have turned”

Andy Jones and Nick Smart at David Bowie Glamour Fanzine (DBG) have been in touch to give us an exclusive first look at the latest issue of their fine product.

They’re selling very quickly, as usual, so if you haven’t already pre-ordered Issue 4, go here now.

DBG has a new look and is now in the very capable hands of designer Lizzie Capewell, with the cover still being created by the queen of illustration, Helen Green.

The publication boasts exclusive and original content contributed by Bowie fans and collaborators. Contributors to issue 4 include:

Kevin Armstrong

Glenn Gregory

Des Henly

Marshall Jarman

Gerry Leonard

Sean Mayes (From his diaries)

Steve Norman

Marc ‘Thriving’ Riley

Carmine Rojas

George Underwood

Rick Wakeman

As if this wasn’t enough, there are also 2 free prints or 3 if you were an early bird.

*We are duty-bound to point out that David Bowie: Glamour is not an official publication.

#DavidBowieGlamourFanzine

BOWIE KOOKS album poll result on UK National Album Day

“Oh, look out you rock ‘n’ rollers”

It’s National Album Day in the UK today (Saturday, 13th October) and the celebrations started early. You may have seen that Mary Anne Hobbs on BBC 6 Music kicked off proceedings by playing David Bowie’s ★ in full, plus she had a chat with Donny McCaslin, ★ bandleader.

Always ahead of the curve, David Bowie himself possibly foresaw the result of a 12-hour poll of 381 Bowie fans over on BOWIE KOOKS for their favourite Bowie studio album. He predicted it in his son's bedroom in 1972 by holding the Hunky Dory artwork in a moment captured by the magician of rock photography, Mick Rock. But it’s far more likely he didn’t.

In an interview with Chris Roberts in UNCUT in 1999, Bowie himself considered the album to be one of the most important in his career, he said: "Hunky Dory gave me a fabulous groundswell. I guess it provided me, for the first time in my life, with an actual audience – I mean, people actually coming up to me and saying, 'Good album, good songs.' That hadn't happened to me before. It was like, 'Ah, I'm getting it, I'm finding my feet. I'm starting to communicate what I want to do. Now: what is it I want to do?' There was always a double whammy there.".

The other three albums in our montage are there because, a) Mary Anne Hobbs played ★ in full, b) the BBC 6 Music‏ Breakfast Team, chose Station To Station as one of their four all-time favourite albums, and, c) a member of the 15-strong Official Charts‏ team chose Low as their all-time favourite album.

We’ll leave you with the Top 10.

01 - Hunky Dory (68 votes)

02 - Station To Station (56 votes)

03 - The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (47 votes)

04 - Low (44 votes)

05 - Diamond Dogs (30 votes)

06 - Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) (25 votes)

07 - 1. Outside (24 votes)

08 - Aladdin Sane (16 votes)

= 09 - ★ (Blackstar) (10 votes)

= 09 - Heathen (10 votes)

10 - Young Americans (8 votes)

It’s probably no surprise that a group called BOWIE KOOKS would vote for Hunky Dory. See the full poll result over on BOWIE KOOKS

#NationalAlbumDay

Listen to Loving the Alien (1983-1988) on Spotify

“Listen to me”

Experience all of the new David Bowie: Loving the Alien (1983-1988) box set now on Spotify, including the newly-remastered versions of Let’s Dance, Tonight and Never Let Me Down, plus the 2018 edition of Never Let Me Down, including the singles, Zeroes and Beat of Your Drum. You can also hear live albums from 1983 and 1987 and the Dance and Re:Call 4 compilations.

Listen on Spotify now.

#LTAbox

David Bowie Loving The Alien (1983 - 1988) Out Now

“And you'll believe you’re loving the alien”

To celebrate the release of David Bowie Loving The Alien (1983 – 1988), Helen Green has been busy with another of her superb animations. View it on DBFB.

David Bowie Loving The Alien (1983 – 1988) is the fourth in a series of box sets spanning Bowie’s career from 1969. If you’ve not heard about it yet, read the full press release here.

#LTAbox

The Bowie Years Volume 4

“And the next day, And the next, And another day”

The folk at Anthem Publishing have been in touch with details of the fourth and final instalment of The Bowie Years and here are they are...

+ - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - +

The fourth and final volume of The Bowie Years, From Outsider To Blackstar, explores the creative, experimental brilliance of Bowie’s later period. We pick up almost immediately where we left of in volume 3, when Bowie, his creative spark restored by The Buddha Of Suburbia soundtrack, reunited with Brian Eno to record the remarkable, challenging 1. Outside in 1995.

It set the experimental, avant garde template for the following two decades of his recording life, whether it was the electronica of Earthling, the brooding art-rock of Heathen, the startling nostalgia of The Next Day and of course, the wonderful jazz-tinged coda to everything that is Blackstar.

Inside this 132-page collector’s edition, our experts chart the varied and polarising work David Bowie created between 1994 and 2016, analysing each diverse album of the period on a track by track basis, while also pulling out a playlist of lesser known gems for you to get your ears round.

What’s more, we also explore Bowie’s relationship with his varied collaborators in this era – including brand new interviews with long-time pianist Mike Garson, producer Mark Plati, composer Maria Schneider and Blackstar bandleader Donny McCaslin.

From Outsider To Blackstar is the final bittersweet chapter of The Bowie Years, which goes in-depth with the remarkable music that Bowie was creating right until his sad passing. It’s a must-own for all true Bowie fans, so be sure to make it part of your collection today.

+ - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - +

The Bowie Years Volume 4 is available from Thursday 18th October, pre-order here:

There’s also a 25% saving in the offing if you’re interested in the complete Bowie Years collection, which, to our reckoning, is one complete instalment for free!

#TheBowieYears 

Bowie’s TOTPs debut 49 years ago tonight

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1, LIFT OFF...”

The story is in the headline. You all know Space Oddity, but unless you saw this Top Of The Pops performance at the time, you won't be familiar with the moment that David Bowie first got proper mass exposure on UK TV, as it's another piece of footage that went to the BBC wipers to be lost forever.

Taped the previous week on 2nd October when the song was finally threatening the Top 20 (it was released three months earlier on 11th July), Bowie’s solo performance saw him accompanied by 12-string guitar and his trusty Stylophone to a backing prepared by Gus Dudgeon, synchronised to the BBC orchestra.

The performance was repeated the following week on 16th October and these showings helped the song to its peak position of #5 in November.

The 1975 reissue of Space Oddity was the first single in the UK to reach the #1 spot after having previously been a Top 5 hit.

Anyway, Space Oddity was the hit that stepped things up considerably for Bowie, even if it was almost another three years before a very different looking spaceman began his world domination via Starman on Top Of The Pops.

#BowieSpaceOddity

Tune in to 6 Music Monday morning

“Through morning's thoughts and fantasies”

Tune in to the  BBC Radio 6 Music Breakfast Show for some exciting David Bowie news on Monday morning (8th October) around 9:30am BST. 

8-page cover feature and 8 out of 10 LTA review in LLV

“I can make you happy every day of your life”

(LTA = Loving The Alien (1983 - 1988) - LLV = Long Live Vinyl magazine)

Already celebrating issue 20, LLV has featured Bowie regularly within its pages, and now the November 2018 issue has an 8-page feature and full page review (both by John Earls), focusing on LTA

Here’s a bit from longlivevinyl.net:

+ - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - +

As the exhaustive new 15-disc David Bowie boxset, Loving The Alien, hits the streets, Long Live Vinyl lifts the lid on the period between 1983-88 when Bowie became a global pop megastar.

Through exclusive interviews with Nile Rodgers, Carlos Alomar, Reeves Gabrels and Hugh Padgham, we bring you the inside story behind Bowie’s biggest decade, as well as an in-depth look at the reimagined Never Let Me Down 2018 album that’s the highlight of the new boxset.

+ - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - +

Aside from the 8-page feature, there’s an 8 out of 10 review for LTA: “In essence, Loving The Alien is an excellently curated document...”. On top of that is the cover and a full-page advert for LTA bringing the page count up to eleven.

The November issue of Long Live Vinyl is available now. More information and ordering links here.

David Bowie: Loving The Alien (1983 - 1988) is released on October 12th.

#LLV  #LTA  #BowieVinyl 

Bowie’s Glastonbury 2000 performance due November

“Someone passed some bliss among the crowd”

Find all the exciting details in the press release below.

Pre-order here.

#BowieGlasto2000

DAVID BOWIE ‘GLASTONBURY 2000’ - THE LEGENDARY FULL PERFORMANCE RELEASED FOR THE FIRST TIME INCLUDING MANY OF DAVID’S GREATEST HITS AND NEVER BEFORE SEEN FOOTAGE

2xCD/DVD, 3xLP, 2CD, DIGITAL,

HIGH RESOLUTION (48/24) DIGITAL

RELEASED 30th NOVEMBER, 2018

“Not only the greatest Glastonbury headline performance but the best headline slot at any festival ever” NME

All formats feature Life On Mars?, Changes, Let's Dance, Under Pressure, “Heroes”, Fame, China Girl, Ashes To Ashes, Ziggy Stardust, Rebel Rebel, Station To Station, Golden Years, Absolute Beginners and many more.

2nd October 2018 London: Parlophone Records in association with BBC Studios and Glastonbury Festivals Ltd. are proud to announce DAVID BOWIE ‘GLASTONBURY 2000’ on 2CD/DVD, 3LP, 2CD and standard and high resolution digital formats documenting Bowie’s legendary Sunday night headline performance on 25th June at the most famous festival on earth.

The package includes the full 21 song greatest hits set and for the first time, a DVD of the entire show (only 37 minutes of which has ever been broadcast on TV) including the Glastonbury performance of ‘Heroes’, a highlight of the record breaking ‘David Bowie Is…’ exhibition and the only track that has been previously released.

All formats feature David’s diary, originally written for Time Out, which documents him preparing for the show in his own inimitable manner:

“As of 1990 I got through the rest of the 20th century without having to do a big hits show. Yes, yes, I know I did four or five hits on the later shows but I held out pretty well I thought…big, well known songs will litter the field at Glastonbury this year. Well, with a couple of quirks of course”.

In addition to newly mastered audio and upgraded video DAVID BOWIE ‘GLASTONBURY 2000’ features new artwork from Jonathan Barnbrook (who worked with Bowie on the sleeves for Heathen, The Next Day & ★) and notes from the renowned author and Bowie fan Caitlin Moran who reviewed the show for The Times.

The package features photos of Bowie resplendently dressed in a 3/4 length one-of-a-kind Alexander McQueen frock coat, the pattern of which was made to echo the hat (the famous ‘bipperty-bopperty hat’ mentioned in the song Queen Bitch) and worn by David at his Glastonbury Fayre debut in 1971.

Glastonbury co-organiser Emily Eavis commented “I often get asked what the best set I've seen here at Glastonbury is, and Bowie's 2000 performance is always one which I think of first. It was spellbinding; he had an absolutely enormous crowd transfixed. I think Bowie had a very deep relationship with Worthy Farm and he told some wonderful stories about his first time at the Festival in 1971, when he stayed at the farmhouse and performed at 6am as the sun was rising. And he just played the perfect headline set. It really was a very special and emotional show”.

Emily’s father Michael, the founder of the festival who first met David at Glastonbury in 1971 said “He’s one of the three greatest of all-time: Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and David Bowie.”

DAVID BOWIE ‘GLASTONBURY 2000’ TRACKLISTING

2 x CD / DVD SET

CD 1

Introduction (Greensleeves)

Wild Is The Wind

China Girl

Changes

Stay

Life On Mars?

Absolute Beginners

Ashes To Ashes

Rebel Rebel

Little Wonder

Golden Years

CD 2

Fame

All The Young Dudes

The Man Who Sold The World

Station To Station

Starman

Hallo Spaceboy

Under Pressure

Ziggy Stardust

“Heroes”

Let’s Dance

I'm Afraid Of Americans

DVD

Introduction (Greensleeves)

Wild Is The Wind

China Girl

Changes

Stay

Life On Mars?

Absolute Beginners

Ashes To Ashes

Rebel Rebel

Little Wonder

Golden Years

Fame

All The Young Dudes

The Man Who Sold The World

Station To Station

Starman

Hallo Spaceboy

Under Pressure

Ziggy Stardust

“Heroes”

Let’s Dance

I'm Afraid Of Americans

3 x LP

Side 1

Introduction (Greensleeves)

Wild Is The Wind

China Girl

Changes

Side 2

Stay

Life On Mars?

Absolute Beginners

Side 3

Ashes To Ashes

Rebel Rebel

Little Wonder

Golden Years

Side 4

Fame

All The Young Dudes

The Man Who Sold The World

Station To Station

Side 5

Starman

Hallo Spaceboy

Under Pressure

Ziggy Stardust

Side 6

“Heroes”

Let’s Dance

I'm Afraid Of Americans

2 CD set / standard and high resolution (48kHz/24bit) digital

CD 1

Introduction (Greensleeves)

Wild Is The Wind

China Girl

Changes

Stay

Life On Mars?

Absolute Beginners

Ashes To Ashes

Rebel Rebel

Little Wonder

Golden Years

CD 2

Fame

All The Young Dudes

The Man Who Sold The World

Station To Station

Starman

Hallo Spaceboy

Under Pressure

Ziggy Stardust

“Heroes”

Let’s Dance

I'm Afraid Of Americans

DAVID BOWIE GLASTONBURY 2000 is released on Parlophone 30th November, 2018

Iggy Pop gives Bang Bang 2018 exclusive first play

“Bang Bang, I got mine”

BBC Radio 6 Music exclusively revealed David Bowie’s Bang Bang 2018 on the superb Iggy Confidential show yesterday.

Iggy Pop originally recorded Bang Bang for his album, Party, in 1981 and released it as a single later that same year. David Bowie was enamoured enough with the song to record his own version for Never Let Me Down in 1987.

Bang Bang featured in the setlist of The 1987 Glass Spider Tour. Indeed, a live version (recorded at the Olympic Stadium, Montreal Canada, on 30th August 1987), was issued as a US promo-only 4-track CD EP, which also included the LP version.

The LP version was singled out for issue as a promo-only 7" in Australia, possibly to tie in with the Australian tour dates in October/November 1987.

The 2018 version of Bang Bang with new string arrangement by Nico Muhly will feature on Mario McNulty's reconstruction of Never Let Me Down 2018, included in the upcoming David Bowie: Loving The Alien (1983-1988) set.

If you missed Iggy Confidential, catch up here and listen to what else Iggy had to say about Bang Bang.

#BowieIggy  #BangBang  #IggyConfidential  #LTAbox 

Breaking Glass EP 40th anniversary picture disc

“Breaking Glass in your room again”

DAVID BOWIE - BREAKING GLASS LIVE EP LIMITED EDITION 40th ANNIVERSARY 7" PICTURE DISC

* FEATURING FOUR PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED TRACKS *

16th November 2018, sees the release of the latest limited DAVID BOWIE 7" picture disc, the 40th-anniversary edition of the BREAKING GLASS EP.

This new version of the EP features three previously unreleased live versions of the original EP tracks plus the addition of an unreleased live version of Hang On To Yourself.

The Breaking Glass EP now features: BREAKING GLASS, ART DECADE, HANG ON TO YOURSELF and ZIGGY STARDUST live from Earls Court in London during the Isolar II tour of 1978.

These four tracks are alternative performances to the ones that recently appeared on the critically acclaimed live album WELCOME TO THE BLACKOUT (LIVE LONDON ’78), and none were featured on the original 1978 EP.

Initially released in the UK in January 1977 on the ground-breaking LOW album, the studio version of Breaking Glass was co-written by Bowie, bassist George Murray and drummer Dennis Davis. A longer, reworked version of the song was a staple of the Isolar II Tour, and a live version from that tour was used as the lead track on the original live 7" EP to promote Bowie's second live album, STAGE, in 1978.

+ - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - +

DAVID BOWIE - BREAKING GLASS LIVE E.P. LIMITED EDITION 40th ANNIVERSARY 7" PICTURE DISC.

Side A

1. Breaking Glass (live) (3.22)

(David Bowie, George Murray & Dennis Davis)

2. Art Decade (live) (3.12)

(David Bowie)

Side AA

1. Hang On To Yourself (live) (2.38)

(David Bowie)

2. Ziggy Stardust (live) (3.35)

(David Bowie)

+ - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - +

All tracks previously unreleased.

Produced by David Bowie

Recorded live by Tony Visconti with The Manor Mobile

Mixed by David Bowie and David Richards at Mountain Studios, Montreux 17th-22nd January, 1979.

Recorded Live at Earls Court, London, 30th June and 1st July, 1978

The images used on the picture disc are by Masayoshi Sukita (A-Side) and Andrew Kent (AA-Side) taken during the Isolar II tour of 1978.

BREAKING GLASS LIVE E.P. is released on Parlophone 16th November, 2018.

#DBBG40  #BowieVinyl 

OUTSIDE album is 23 years old today

“The music is outside”

As you most likely know, David Bowie’s 1. Outside  album was released on 25th September, 1995, 23 years ago today.

What did you make of it when you first heard it, particularly considering its predecessors: Black Tie White Noise (April 1993) and The Buddha Of Suburbia (November 1993)?

Join in the debate over on BOWIE KOOKS.

#BowieOutside

Tonight album is 34 years old today

“The stars are out tonight”

David Bowie’s Tonight album was released on 24th September, 1984, 34 years ago today.

Though there were only three tracks on the album that David Bowie had no hand in the writing of, Tonight has a higher percentage of covers than any other Bowie album, aside from Pin Ups, Bowie’s 1973 covers LP.

With just two solo Bowie compositions and two new co-writes out of the nine tracks, five of the songs on Tonight could be considered cover versions.

Pop over to BOWIE KOOKS to join in the Tonight debate.

#BowieTonight