Month: July 2007

Let’s find another way…

Well, I did say that if people are that determined to vote more than once, then I’m sure they’ll find a way…and sure enough, it seems the majority of you are convinced a few entrants have found that way. Shame.

As many of you have also suggested, it’s finally looking like the only fair way of doing this is a members only e-mail vote where each member gets just one vote.

However, for this to work properly, we need to give you a few simple instructions.

If you still need to, refresh your memory of each of the forty five entries by going here.

Firstly, you must vote either using your BowieNet account, or you must at least supply your user name. If you try to vote using neither of these, your vote will be disqualified. Same applies if you use a BowieNet user name that isn’t current.

Secondly, vote by clicking here, where you should automatically get an e-mail pop up with a subject line of “I am voting for number “. Simply add the number of the cover you wish to vote for to the subject line.

For example, if there was a number 46 and you considered it to be the best, the subject line of your e-mail would read: I am voting for number 46

Please make sure there is a single space before the number, as my example above. I know this all sounds a bit complicated, but it seems to be the only way it can be done fairly.

Voting still closes at midnight NY time on August 31st, and if members feel the need to appoint an independent adjudicator who is able to visit Blammo Towers to count the votes, then please feel free to do so.

This news item will only appear in the members only news section of BowieNet.

Vote now for the candidate…

Finally, it’s time to cast your vote in the BowieNet Ziggy Stardust 35th Anniversary Cover Contest.

Zardoz has set up a page that should eliminate the usual vote rigging, though if people are that determined to vote more than once, then I’m sure they’ll find a way.

To make things even fairer, we’ve opened up the voting to non-members too…this should lessen the effect of any clique voting.

I know this all sounds a bit serious, but this result will mean one lucky bugger will have their original artwork signed by David Bowie himself…and that’s pretty serious!

OK, refresh your memory of each of the forty five entries by going here…then vote for your favourite here.

Voting closes at midnight NY time on August 31st. Good luck everybody.

The lady from another grinning soul?

Today is Iman‘s birthday, and I’m sure everybody reading this would like to join us all here at BowieNet to celebrate the fact by wishing the lovely lady many happy returns of the day.

BowieNet members can contribute directly to the well wishing by adding to the message board thread here

It’s just a one hundred dollar secret…

Since the last news item regarding the reissue of TVOTR‘s Province single at the beginning of the month, (07.01.2007 NEWS: 4AD REISSUES TVOTR’s PROVINCE TOMORROW) we’ve had a few e-mails asking where one can purchase the limited edition green vinyl 7″ 45 released in May of 2006 and even more of you asking why the reissue (above) sold out so quickly on the 4AD site.

OK, firstly the green vinyl version, (flecked with yellow and purple, above) released last year and apparently pressed in an unbelievably limited quantity of just 200 copies. I say unbelievably, but I guess I’ll have to bow to the general consensus until I find evidence to the contrary.

This disc was a one sided white label promo in a die-cut card sleeve with no identifying marks other than the scratched in matrix number in the run-out groove on the playable side. (RTCM-2 A -1)

In October of last year, Record Collector magazine valued the disc at £30 ($60), but these days you’d be hard pushed to find a copy for under £50 ($100). Indeed, right now I can only find one copy on eBay, and they want fifty quid for it.

Aside from the plain die-cut sleeve, there were also the three versions above, printed in red, embossed gold foil and green. (Sorry, the gold doesn’t scan so well.) All of which are harder to find than the plain sleeve.

Then, as previously mentioned, back at the beginning of July this year 4AD reissued Province as a two-track 45, in the sleeve at the top of this item, and as a three-track download single, thus:

Province – Released 02 July 2007

7″ 45 – AD 2724
A – Province (Featuring David Bowie)
B – Dumb Animal

Digital (AAC) Digital Download – EAD 2724S
1 – Province (Featuring David Bowie)
2 – Dumb Animal
3 – Wasted Weekend

It seemed that this version of Province (apparently limited to just 1,000 vinyl copies) sold out on the 4AD site almost immediately. However, this was a technical glitch and the record is now available again.

Anyway, we have a copy of each to give away courtesy of 4AD. That’s one of the original green vinyl version in the plain die-cut sleeve, and one of the reissue in the picture sleeve at the top of the page.

All you have to do to be in with a slim chance of winning, is e-mail me here with your preference. I.E. ‘original green vinyl issue’ or ‘picture sleeve reissue’. It’s likely that the great majority of you will naturally go for the green vinyl…the impact of that on the odds of winning being obvious.

Usual BowieNet rules apply: Only one entry per BowieNet account, and please remember you must enter using your BowieNet e-mail or at least supply your BowieNet user name. Also, please remember you may only enter for one or other of the formats, not both.

The contest ends at midnight NY time on Saturday July 28th, with the winners being notified shortly thereafter.

If you don’t like contests, you can simply order Province directly from 4AD by clicking on any of the images above, or you can just have a listen on TVOTR’s MySpace page.

I could make a transformation…

Those of you following this will know that the deadline for entries to the Ziggy Stardust 35th Anniversary Cover Contest (06.07.2007 NEWS: ZIGGY STARDUST 35TH ANNIVERSARY COVER CONTEST & 06.18.2007 NEWS: ZIGGY STARDUST COVER CONTEST UPDATE) has now passed.

In the end, we received forty five entries and we’re hoping to have the voting system ready for early next week. This will be a two-part system that we’ll explain next week.

Meanwhile, go and peruse the handiwork of your fellow BowieNetters here and ready yourself to cast your vote.

Time Machine, Time Machine, Take me anywhere…

As we told you in a news piece last week (07.12.2007 REMINDER: 1976 IGGY INTERVIEW ON RILEY’S TIME MACHINE TONIGHT) and as blurbed in today’s Independent newspaper in the UK, following on from last week’s 1976 interview with Iggy Pop, Stuart Grundy is again the interviewer in a chat with “an exhausted but excitable David Bowie”, from May 1987 during rehearsals for The Glass Spider Tour at Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam, Holland.

Marc Riley’s Time Machine is on Thursday night’s at 23:00 on BBC Radio Two. There’s also a listen again feature in case you get this too late.

Somebody plays my song in tune…

We first told you about David Bowie: Cover To Cover back in March. (03.27.2007 NEWS: ROUND-UP OF STUFF)

It’s a 10-track download only compilation from EMI that gathers together some of the David Bowie cover versions recorded by EMI artists over the years, and it will now be available all around the globe for those of you that haven’t managed to download it thus far.

August 27th is the tentative release date, and I’ll leave you with the tracklisting again to save you traipsing all the way back to March.

01 The Dandy Warhols – The Jean Genie
02 Culture Club – Starman (2002 Digital Remaster)
03 Duran Duran – Fame
04 White Buffalo – Ziggy Stardust
05 Midge Ure – The Man Who Sold The World
06 Peter Noone – Oh! You Pretty Things
07 Terrorvision – Moonage Daydream (Specially Recorded Track)
08 Skids – All The Young Dudes (2003 Digital Remaster)
09 Loose Ends – Golden Years
10 Peter Noone – Right On Mother

You may notice that they’ve had another go at the cover (see aforementioned news story for original) …I’m saying nothing.

Speaking of Bowie cover versions, 1999’s Goth Oddity has been repackaged in a new sleeve as Tribute To David Bowie through German label, ZYX Records…just in case you were tempted to shell out for this ‘new’ release.

On its twenty second birthday…

Join Mike Sweeney on Capital Gold for tonight’s (Friday) Rock Show from 10:00pm for a Live Aid Special on the 22nd anniversary of the record-breaking event, including the best of the acts from Wembley and Philadelphia.

Next Friday (July 20th) Mike’s guest is a chap who has taken photographs of various pop performers over the years, the appropriately named Mick Rock. I wouldn’t mind betting that he’s taken a shot or two of David Bowie.

I’m an Idiot for you…

You may have already stumbled upon Marc Riley‘s splendid new Radio 2 mini-series: Marc Riley’s Time Machine. If you haven’t, here’s the synopsis of the show from the BBC…

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Marc Riley dips into the BBC’s archives and unearths seminal and tantalising rock interviews.

It’s funny how things can look so different many years down the line; once the dust has settled, tempers have calmed and much water has gone under the bridge. Not seeking to open old wounds or anything, Marc Riley goes back in time to the turning points in the careers of some of the biggest artists in music to check out exactly what they DID say in the heat of the moment, and to put it into today’s context ….

———————————————————————————————————————–

You may want to tune in to the last two instalments of the six shows.

Tonight’s archive interview is from December 1976 when Stuart Grundy met Iggy Pop to talk over his past and his then recent work with David Bowie for the upcoming The Idiot album.

Next week is another Stuart Grundy interview, this time with “an exhausted but excitable David Bowie”, a little over ten years later in May 1987 during rehearsals for The Glass Spider Tour at Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam, Holland.

Marc Riley’s Time Machine is on Thursday night’s at 23:00 on BBC Radio Two. There’s also a listen again feature in case you get this too late.

Fans of 1977 era Iggy Pop, (and who with a full set of ears couldn’t be?) should keep an eye out for the upcoming Iggy Pop 1977 box set from Easy Action, due in September.

Oh nous les vaincrons, Nous les vaincrons à jamais…

We told you about EMI’s plans to release The Record Producers – Tony Visconti, a 17-track compilation CD, just over a month ago. (06.08.2007 NEWS: THREE BOWIE TRACKS ON TONY VISCONTI COMPILATION)

Well, we did also promise you a look at the cover when we had it, so there it is, above, as promised.

See aforementioned news story for the tracklist of the album (or click on the cover above) which is released on July 30th and will be available in the UK and Eire only.

Stay tuned for a contest to win copies of the CD shortly.