Month: February 2005

Smiling girls and rosy boys, Come and buy my mp3s…

We’re running a new poll to try and find out where those of you that purchase digital music actually get it from. Click on the DISCOURSE tab above if you feel like contributing to our survey.

Meanwhile, the last poll we ran had a very healthy response of just over four thousand! (See screen grab above)

We asked: “In which decade did you first begin to appreciate the work of David Bowie?”, and though the overall winning decade of the 1970s with 37.18 percent of the vote was no big surprise, I couldn’t have predicted a couple of the other results.

Here’s the breakdown with responder amounts in parenthesis:

1960s = 6.41% (257)

1970s = 37.20% (1491)

1980s = 22.63% (907)

1990s = 15.47% (620)

2000s = 18.29% (733)

Total Responses: 4008

If any of the 257 people who selected the 1960s would like to contact me with their stories, I’d love to hear them…unless, of course, your qualifying statement is: “I heard Space Oddity on the radio”!

Similarly, it would be great to hear from some of the 733 of you that have started enjoying David’s music in the past five years. How did you stumble upon his work in the first place?

All you have to do is win…

As you’re all fully aware, EMI reissue the newly-improved versions of David Live and Stage this coming Monday, February 21st. To celebrate the fact, there is a great David Bowie trivia contest open to all, the winner of which will receive a personalised David Live presentation disc engraved with their name.

You can enter the contest as many times as you like and each time you enter you will be presented with ten questions. You need to get seventy percent correct with each entry to be entered into the draw.

There are approximately forty different questions which should all be pretty straightforward for you lot, though a couple of you may need to do a little bit of Googling.

When I tested the contest page earlier, I entered five times and scored 100 percent each time. But then I guess you’d expect that from your friendly neighbourhood BowieNet News Editor!

Click on the image above to reach the quiz page…Good Luck to all.

Stay tuned for another contest to win copies of both albums.

Hey, that’s far out so you heard him too?

I’m sure those of you that frequent the BowieNet MBs have already seen the excellent reviews of Saturday’s David Live and Stage playbacks at Abbey Road posted by Dez and Dukebox. Charly has also supplied a review which can be read in its entirety below as it wasn’t posted on the MBs.

I have to say I am in complete agreement with all of the reviewers about these 5.1 mixes. Both albums have been utterly revitalised and are a completely new listening experience. They now sound so much brighter and energetic…Like the audio equivalent of a net curtain being removed from the window of your favourite view. (Sorry about that, I haven’t taken any drugs…honest!)

I’m happy to say that Stage in particular is a quantum leap from what it was…the evidence of an audience has given the album a super-boost of atmosphere and has turned what was a good album into a great album.

BowieNetters, that haven’t already, can read Dez’s David Live review here and his Stage review here. Go here for DukeBox’s David Live review and here for his Stage review.

Anyway, here follows Charly’s review, but first a few words of gratitude from the man responsible for these improvements, Tony Visconti.

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Hi Blam,

I confess to reading the reviews you sent to me from Charly, Dez and Dukebox regarding their Abbey Road listening party experience more than once. I am so glad that the improvements in the sound of David Live and Stage have been that noticeable and acknowledged. We worked very hard to make those mixes jump out of the speakers and to recreate the live experience of being there. David’s incredible performances and song writing deserved this, and I’m so glad we now have the technology to make these recordings sound like they are new.

I have to acknowledge Nigel Reeve, Henry Wrenn-Melek, DTS and my able assistant Mario McNulty for their invaluable contributions to these projects. The ultimate reward, though, is reading reviews like the ones I’m seeing on Bowienet. I’d like to remind Bowienetters that we restored the concerts to their original running orders and missing songs because of their requests on Bowienet. Could you please thank the people who were there and wrote about it?

Cheers,

Tony Visconti

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A Modern Age Daydream by Charly

In anticipation of what I was due to witness on Saturday 12th February, I had been playing David Live in the car for a few days. Just to re-familiarise myself with it. Hadn’t played it for a while and it was nice to re-encounter Aladdin Sane and Width Of A Circle played in the ’74 style, along with all the rest obviously. Driving into London, I wasn’t sure what to expect, thinking about the studio, where would we be sitting, what would it sound like? You get the idea. Once inside, we were taken to the studio and were given a quick insight into the ‘doings’ by Nigel and Merrick (big thanks to both). Blam said a few words and then it was time to take our seats. We sat right in front of the mixing desk, almost huddled in a little semi circle so we had the best position in-between all the speakers. Large speakers – just the sort of thing I want in my lounge! Time for the off and straight into the music. And WOW!

The clarity, the quality, you could hear EVERYTHING. Things were going on in those songs I’d never heard before. Bowie’s voice was strong and powerful, absolutely beautiful. This was a listening experience beyond description. I spent most of David Live with my eyes closed, mellowing in the moment, trying to capture images of David on stage in 1974, wishing I was there (I was only 3 unfortunately – Mum wouldn’t let me go to Philly). The addition of Space Oddity was awesome, it had an almost eerie feel to it. Hearing Panic in Detroit as part of the show was incredible and it sounded amazing. I got lost in Aladdin Sane, being my ultimate favourite Bowie song and I love the way he did it live then.

I mouthed the words a lot, I could hear the audience behind me. I felt chilled yet tense at the same time. Part of me wanted to leap up and dance and sing, the other part luckily won over and I just tapped my feet and nodded my head to the music. Sweet Thing has always been a favourite on Diamond Dogs. The deepness and fullness of his voice mesmerises me every time. This hadn’t prepared me however, for hearing it in 5.1, not even close. I can’t listen to it again, well, not until I get the new remastered CD anyway.

The intro to Diamond Dogs itself almost made us jump. Wham Bam Thank You Mam kind of thing. It just hit us and I SO wanted to be there. This was just pure unadulterated excellence. The sound was so ‘real’ I almost felt like I could reach out and touch it. We all felt exhausted afterwards, almost like we’d concentrated so hard on listening, taking it all in, it had shot us to pieces.

A brief interlude for sandwiches and it was back for Stage. I hadn’t played this in ages but I used to play it a lot. I now think I’d been listening to a different album. This was NOTHING like it. The sound was full and crisp. It had depth and volume that the basic CD couldn’t begin to produce. How many instruments? The piano on Warszawa was rich and sensual. Heroes, like Diamond Dogs, almost had us all jumping out of our seats in surprise. It almost leapt out of the speakers at us. What In The World seemed much ‘busier’ than I ever remember it to be. Sense of Doubt, one of my faves from Heroes was mind blowing. I didn’t know which speaker to focus on, although particularly amusing was the back left one which sounded like it had been taken over by alien-like beings. This really makes the original album sound flat. Be My Wife and Stay were fantastic and so belong on this recording.

The ingenuity of Station To Station being ‘stuck’ together defies explanation and the way the sound swirled around our heads, echoing from speaker to speaker completely took you in. The audience were again behind me, swaying and clapping, I was with them. As the last notes of TVC15 faded, I sat there in realisation that I had just heard one of the most incredible sounds I’d ever heard. Walking out, I almost felt stoned – I’ve never been stoned so can only imagine that’s what it was like. I felt knackered yet totally exhilarated. Two stunning concerts back to back and I felt like I had literally been at each one. If only….

HUGE thanks to the guys at Abbey Road, to Blam and to BowieNet for making Saturday 12th February 2005, which would have been an otherwise totally boring, cold wintry day, a day and a half to remember. Soul Love. And hello to my fellow BowieNetters, great seeing you all and sharing that moment with you.

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Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with Tony Visconti and his family with the sad news that his father, Anthony F. Visconti, died on Wednesday.

Anthony, born on January 8th, 1917, was 88 and shared the same birthday as David and Elvis. Tony was with his father when he passed peacefully away.

The Sun machine is coming down…

It seems readers of The Sun newspaper in the UK feel the winner of the recent Brits Best Song of the Last 25 years poll is about as deserving as most of you reading this think it is.

Despite your best efforts after I posted a link to the voting page at the start of the year, (01.03.2005 NEWS: VOTE FOR HEROES, PLUS 3 DB SONGS IN ALL-TIME TOP 100) “cruise ship entertainer” Robbie Williams clinched the top spot with his song Angels.

I’m not saying there was a miscarriage of justice, or even that the vote was fixed so that those who promised to attend would win…No, no. I’m not saying that at all.

However, it seems there’s now a second fairer chance for “Heroes” as you can only vote once in this poll. Anyway, click on the “Heroes” press advert above to get to the voting page…It’s all just a bit of fun.

Thanx to BowieNetter onlydancing for the pointer.

Adrian’s guitar sound jealousies scream…

Sunday night is MINT night and host Marc Riley has as his guest this week, master of the bizarre guitar squeal, Adrian Belew.

You’ll know Adrian from his work on Lodger and the 1978 and 1990 world tours, not to mention the Bowie/Belew composition Pretty Pink Rose.

MINT has all the usual features you’ve come to know and love over recent months, including contributions from sidekick Rob Hughes, who awarded the forthcoming David Live reissue a measly 3 out of 5 in the latest Uncut magazine. I have a feeling that those present at the David Live Abbey Road playback may take issue with him on that!

Anyway, MINT is online and on DAB radio every Sunday from 10:00pm to midnight, UK time. But, don’t fret if you miss the initial broadcast as you can still listen online up until the following week’s show.

You’ve got your transmission and your live albums…

Ahead of the 5.1 listening party at Abbey Road and despite a spoiler being posted by a BowieNetter on a Bowie fansite’s MBs, I thought I’d give a little tease of what’s to come to those of you that don’t want the complete contents of the forthcoming new versions of David Live and Stage revealed in their entirety just yet.

It seems from a post from an antipodean BowieNetter on our own MBs that some territories have jumped the gun and are already selling the releases. We expect that kind of behaviour in Holland and even Ireland, but Australia!? };-) Oh well, spilt milk.

I know many of you prefer to get the full impact of each package when you buy them, so I apologise in advance for lessening that impact a tiny bit with some of Dagmar‘s stunning pictures and a few of Tony Visconti‘s words from each of the packages.

First up, a small excerpt from TV’s notes for David Live, followed by the same from Stage, both accompanied by Dagmar’s beautiful shots…

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Excerpt from David Live sleeve notes by Tony Visconti.

This project started after we chose Electric Lady Studios in New York just to listen what was on the multi-tracks. We loved the spirit of concerts, the performances were lively and the vibe was right. But there were some technical problems, which were no reflection on the engineer, Keith Harwood. Anything can happen during a live recording and it usually does. There is no luxury of a take two. We would have to make this album a mixture of both nights. The drums were sounding good, but the bass was very thin sounding. The percussionist?s microphones had picked up everyone else?s instruments and the backing singers and horn players were often sporadically off microphone due to excitement, I guess.

But David?s vocals sounded wonderful, which was reason enough to make this project work. It was obvious that some things needed fixing. There was too much instrument spillage on their mix and their blend could?ve been better (they were ?locked? on one audio track, so rebalancing was impossible). Geoffrey and Gui sang their original parts in a few hours, but we used as much as the original vocals as possible. Some of the horn parts were also re-recorded because of technical difficulties. I have been asked if David?s voice had been overdubbed in some cases, because it didn?t always match up with bootlegs of the Tower show. We did not fix David?s lead vocals, so those bootlegs must be from an alternate night. David Live is David ? live!

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Excerpt from Stage sleeve notes by Tony Visconti.

The only ‘cheating’ I am guilty of was cutting into the middle of “Station To Station” with a section from another night and city. The beginning and end are from Boston but the middle is from Providence. The possibility of making such edits was planned from the time I set up the sound for the first show. After I made an initial band set up, complete with equalization, dynamic processing and track assignment, I instructed my crew never to change anything on the console from show to show, and to always to use the same exact microphones. After each show a big X was made across the console in white tape, with a written warning that anyone who touches the console would be castrated.

Enormous credit goes to drummer Dennis Davis for consistently playing the same tempo from night to night, making such an edit possible. My reason for the edit was because “Station To Station” was over eight minutes long and we didn’t have one great complete take for one reason or another. They were all good takes, but I needed a great one! The Boston/Providence/Boston solution worked like a dream.

We made a drastic decision to put the album in a very different running order than the live performance. We assembled the tracks in a sort of chronological order, as they were originally recorded, from Ziggy Stardust to “Heroes” (our most recent album). David loved the idea. The Brian Eno ambient compositions took up one of the four sides of vinyl exclusively. After many years of living with Stage as it was, we have decided (with some persuasion from members of Bowienet, David’s website community) to restore the original order of the concert. This present running order now includes two bonus tracks, “Stay” and “Be My Wife.” They were excellent performances but were left off the original album because of vinyl’s timing restraints (twenty minutes maximum a side, for rock).

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Many thanx to both Tony and Dagmar for bringing both these projects back to life.

I’ve come on a few years from my Hollywood Highs…

We told you about Mayor Of The Sunset Strip over a year ago (sorry, can’t the find story now) and the soundtrack CD a little more recently. (03.16.2004 NEWS: UNRELEASED DB ACOUSTIC TRACK OUT IN US TODAY)Mayor Of The Sunset Strip

The film of Rodney Bingenheimer‘s life has probably been seen by most of you, in theatres in the US and via DVD elsewhere. Well, now Londoners get to see the documentary on the big screen when it opens at two London cinemas tomorrow.

If you’ve already seen the film you’ll know what a touching record it is of one of Hollywood’s more colourful characters and how important his contribution to the Los Angeles music scene has been. Pictured above is David “It’s a man’s dress” Bowie and Rodney during a promotional visit to The States in 1971 to promote The Man Who Sold The World.

You can view a more recent picture of the pair in aforementioned BowieNet news story, taken just over a year ago backstage at The Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, February 7th, 2004.

Those of you that weren’t even aware of Mayor Of The Sunset Strip might want to visit the official site, where you can view a trailer which includes a shot of DB (see above) playing acoustic guitar while sitting cross-legged on the living room floor of Tom Ayres‘ Hollywood Hills home… not to mention some footage of Rodney and a Mohawk-sporting DB from 1997. Click on either of the images above to get there.

Mayor Of The Sunset Strip opens for a six-day-run at Odeon Camden Town and Odeon Panton Street tomorrow. (Friday)

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Another documentary film charting the life of a character every bit as maverick as Mr Bingenheimer, is Andrew Horn‘s The Nomi Song about the late Klaus Nomi. This film has been around for about a year playing festivals and such, but has still to find a general release or even a DVD release.

Again, this isn’t the first mention on these pages of Klaus Nomi, and surely everybody is aware of his and Joey Arias‘ extraordinary contribution to David’s appearance on Saturday Night Live On December 19, 1979. David performed three songs on the show: The Man Who Sold The World, Boys Keep Swinging and TVC15, which remain among the most bizarre television performances broadcast anywhere, ever.

Words can’t do the appearance justice, suffice to say, if you’ve never seen it you really must track down a copy. You can view a trailer here, in which there are a couple of very brief snatches from Saturday Night Live.

The Nomi Song is still being shown at various festivals and the like which you can view a list of here. But, do keep an eye on local listings too, as BowieNetter Bianca has observed that the film will be showing in Germany from February 18th…a fact that isn’t mentioned on the official site.

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Fast forwarding to next month, BowieNetter TheDeuce sent in a bit about a one-off screening of Labyrinth on the big screen…but, I should warn you before you make any arrangements that BowieNetters Saxonny and Gwnavere are likely to be present. };-)

The beautiful Byrd Theater is showing Labyrinth at midnight on March 12th (Saturday night into Sunday) in Richmond, VA. You can find more details here.

Looks like you’ve been there too…

I’m sure those of you interested in these things have one eye on the gig schedules of your local Bowie tribute band. But, a little reminder can do no harm. Over to you guys…

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Space Oddity (above) – David Brighton‘s Tribute to David Bowie will be doing a couple of special shows in February. The band will be doing more requests than ever, from pre-Ziggy through Labyrinth and beyond.

Friday, Feb. 11th
Martini Blues Supper Club
Show time: 9:00pm
5874 Edinger Ave.
Huntington Beach, CA, USA
(714) 840-2129
(reservations recommended)
www.martiniblues.com
BowieNetters can email us to get a $2.00 discount at:
BowieLive@aol.com and bowielive@juno.com
$12.00 at the door. ($10.00 with discount)

Saturday Feb. 19th
Chumash Casino
Showtime: 8:00pm
3400 E. Highway 246
Santa Ynez, CA, USA 93460
1-877-CHUMASH
For more info: www.DavidBowieTribute.com

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You are invited to a very special event at Mr Kyps on the evening of 16th March 2005 (Mr Kyps, 8a Parr St, Lower Parkstone, Poole, Dorset. Tel, 01202 748945. www.mrkyps.net ) We would like you to join us for an `in the round` performance of the music of David Bowie in the `unplugged` style.

Because of your support we have had the privilege of many successful gigs at Mr Kyps and whilst we endeavour to portray Mr Bowie as faithfully as we can we are well aware that it all begins and ultimately ends with the brilliant music that we all enjoy, so before we kick off in May with our new for 2005 show we`re just gonna get down `n` dirty and play the music.

It will be off the main stage and as well as quite a number of new songs there will be the opportunity to ask the band questions. (If you want to post your questions before the event go to www.thebowiexperience.com and send us an e-mail.)

Also because we don`t have plans to do this anywhere else we intend to capture this unique event by recording it and putting it out on CD, those who ask questions will be able to get their hot paws on this rare commodity at a heavily discounted price!

It`s been a stimulating and eventful eight years since thebowiexperience began, a journey that has taken us to all four corners of this fair isle, and has seen many highlights, and due to it`s purity of theme, this event promises to rank among the most exciting. We hope you can come, because you make the gig. thebowiexperience unplugged plus support, Contact Mr Kyps, details above, tickets £6.

Now to the month in hand, February already and it only seems like yesterday.

As you can see we`re up and about midlands way this month which is always enjoyable and gives us the chance to get reacquainted with the many friends we have made. Apologies to those who were expecting us to gig at The Half Moon in Paignton this month (you know who you are) but as many of you may already be aware Keith (the landlord) is leaving for `greener pastures`, our best wishes go with him. We do intend to return to the area of course once we have a new venue.

All the best, Laurence. (thebowiexperince – don`t accept imitations) (Blammo Note: Now that’s funny!)

Remaining February dates
Friday 11th – Laurence – The Cricketers, 41 Windham Road, Bournemouth, Dorset. – Tel: 01202 551589
Saturday 19th – Bowiexp as 5 piece – The Oxford Arms, Moreton Parade, Maybank, Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Staffs. www.oxfordarms.co.uk
Friday 25th – Laurence – The Castle Inn, East Street, Corfe Castle, Wareham, Dorset. – Tel: 01929 480208
Saturday 26th – Laurence – The Ilchester Arms Hotel, 9 Market St, Abbotsbury, Dorset. – Tel: 01305 871243
Sunday 27th – Bowiexp as 4 piece – The Nags Head, 119 Queens Road, Nuneaton, Warwickshire. – Tel: 02476 325581

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Finally, after what was reportedly a promising debut on David’s birthday last month, there are currently no new dates for HunkyDory. (That’s Gareth as Ziggy and The Thin White Duke in the picture above)

But, they are planning a summer of action with some larger scale shows. Meanwhile, to get a taste of how the band actually sounds, you can check out the fruits of their recent recording session by going here.

It happens today…

The Reality DualDisc that we told you would be available again from January 28th, (01/04/05 NEWS: REALITY DUAL DISC TO BE REACTIVATED) was put back by a couple of weeks and can now be found in any self-respecting DualDisc retailer’s store across the USA from today.

If you’re signed up to the Sony/Columbia news service you will know this already, via an e-mail that was sent out today. If you’re not, go here to sign up and order The Reality DualDisc.

Reality DualDisc features:

CD Audio Side:
~ Entire Album

DVD Side:
~ Entire album in 5.1 Surround Sound and enhanced LPCM Stereo
~ The exclusive film Reality
~ Exclusive video performances of Never Get Old, The Loneliest Guy, Bring Me The Disco King and New Killer Star
~ Photo Gallery
~ Lyrics
~ Biography
~ Discography
~ ROM Content/web links

The DualDisc plays on existing CD and DVD devices such as DVD players, car stereos, PCs, game consoles and CD players!