Month: March 2008

I’m changing trains, Angels like them, Thin on the ground…

It seems barely a couple of months back that NME magazine featured David Bowie in their FROM THE NME VAULT feature, and that’s probably because it was barely two months back. (01.19.2008 NEWS: NME PUBLISHES FULL PAGE MICK ROCK BOWIE PHOTO)

The magazine has clearly decided that when it comes to pictures that are the epitome of cool, you can never have too much David Bowie…and the above Jan Persson shot has to be just about the coolest seventies photo of rock stars together…apart from the one of Ziggy, Iggy and Lou and the one of Bowie and Lennon at The Grammies and, and, and…

Anyway, read about the above, below…and if you buy this week’s NME (March 15th) you get a nice big glossy version of the picture without the FROM THE NME VAULT logo at the top.

Also in the current NME is a feature regarding NME Classics, a three disc, 61-track compilation of 70s, 80s and 90s tracks “from the history of NME’ that is released this week.

The single edit of “Heroes” is included, as is Iggy Pop‘s Lust For Life, co-written by Bowie.

Click on the above image for the full tracklisting.

I keep a good friend on video…

A new online retailer, ilovevideo, has begun selling video downloads in the UK and this week David Bowie is their feature of the week.

Those of you that find the DVD format hopelessly outdated, and need to have your favourite videos about your person at all times, can now choose from the current ilovevideo Bowie library of 29 DRM free, high quality digital videos.

You can view the videos available in the list above, even if that list does seem to favour Blue Jean.

Click on the various short cuts liberally scattered around this item to reach the ilovevideo Bowie page.

We can be Heroes, for ever and ever…

As Win Butler announced on his band’s site last week, Arcade Fire have played a couple of small gigs in Ohio in support of Barack Obama‘s bid for the Democratic nomination.

Here’s Win explaining why it had to be done…

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

I know I know, we said we were done…but we are just so engaged by this election that is happening. How often can you say that, right? We are not going to play in Ohio to pretend to tell anyone what to do with their lives, but we just want to come and celebrate and bring a little more energy to a campaign which has brought so much excitement and hope to the country.

If you count the Reagan years when Bush Sr. was V.P., there has been a Bush or a Clinton in the presidency for all but 9 months of my life, and the reality that the country might be ready to change it up a bit is really exhilarating.

Barack is also the only candidate still in the running who showed the wisdom to speak out against the war before it was popular to do so.

See some of you at Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville, and the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland on Sunday and Monday!

P.S. we really wanted to come and play in me and Will’s home state of Texas too, but not having to get on another plane was too tempting!

Win Butler – February 2008

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

The band performed David Bowie’s “Heroes” at both shows along with covers of Sam Cooke‘s A Change Is Gonna Come and John Lennon‘s Gimme Some Truth.

Here are the setlists from both nights…

First show: Stuart’s Opera House, Nelsonville, 03.02.08

“Intervention”
“Keep the Car Running”
“Heroes” [David Bowie cover]
“A Change Is Gonna Come” [Sam Cooke cover]
“Rebellion (Lies)”
“Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)”
“Wake Up”
“Gimme Some Truth” [John Lennon cover]

Second show: Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, 03.03.08

“Heroes” [David Bowie cover]
“(Antichrist Television Blues)”
“Neighborhood #2 (Laïka)”
“Gimme Some Truth” [John Lennon cover]
“Wake Up”
“Rebellion (Lies)”
“A Change Is Gonna Come” [Sam Cooke cover]

You can view a fairly good quality film of Arcade Fire performing the 1977 Bowie classic from last night’s Cleveland show here on YouTube…I always knew the song would benefit from the addition of a hurdy gurdy!

Perhaps you’re smiling now…

I’m sure many of you noticed the above US Time/The Prettiest Star 7″ 45 picture sleeve sell on eBay last week for an astonishing $3,550 USD. (approx. £1,775 GBP)

You may also remember a copy of the purple vinyl Scary Monsters album selling on eBay last year for an incredible $8,440 USD. (04.19.2007 NEWS: BOWIE ALBUM SELLS ON EBAY FOR £4,220 GBP)

And, how about that Japanese promo picture sleeve of the original Philips Space Oddity 7″ 45 that sold in 2004 for a record-breaking $10,600 USD. (approx. £5,300 GBP)

Well, they were all purchased by France’s premier Bowie collector, Jean-Charles Gautier, (pictured below) who has been collecting for well over thirty years and has amassed what must be one of the very best Bowie collections on the planet.

I asked Jean-Charles a few questions about some of his rarer items, and here’s what he had to say…

————————————————————————————————————-

Hi Blam, it’s with pleasure that I reply to your questions…

The price I paid for the Time/The Prettiest Star 7″ 45 US picture sleeve is quite high, but cheap in my opinion when one considers the extreme rarity of it. No more than 10 copies were made with a picture sleeve (RCA source) and I know of only three Bowie collectors who have it. This record with a picture sleeve is certainly one of the rarest US pic sleeve singles, not only in the Bowie field of collecting but in all pop rock us issues.

The highest price I ever paid for a Bowie single is for the Japanese Space Oddity 45 on Philips which was a promotional copy in a picture sleeve, which I paid around ? 7,000 for in 2004. The funny thing is that after I bought it, I had two offers for ? 9,000 and ? 11,000 from Japanese collectors!!

Regarding LPs, I would say without doubt that there’s a couple of highly valuable records. Here’s a list of a few in my possession in order of rarity:

– The Man Who Sold The World Japanese Mercury promo only copy with cartoon cover
– Station To Station US RCA multi-coloured vinyl (in black and white sleeve)
– Withdrawn US Station To Station RCA colour proof
– Withdrawn US RCA Diamond Dogs sleeve with dogs genitals intact
– Purple vinyl UK Scary Monsters
– Canadian issue of Man Of Words, Man Of Music with black Mercury label

Of course, I haven’t included Japanese promos, samplers, advance covers, test pressings, acetates…but their values can also be very high. In fact, I would say that 60% of a serious Bowie collection is highly valuable and collectable if the collector collects all the variations of world-wide pressings, memorabilia, etc., from across the years. which is not the case of the Bowie collectors I know, it seems I’m the only one collecting everything.

Regarding memorabilia, I’m proud of my twenty eight certified awards, (mostly awarded to David) his own Stylophone from 1969 that he used on Space Oddity, early autographs, George Underwood’s promo Ziggy Stardust posters for RCA (I have around 500 items in my poster collection), Liza Jane sheet music, etc..

I still have the collector blog at bowiecollector.vox.com

I hope that answers everything. Hear from you soon, regards. Jean-Charles.

————————————————————————————————————-

Wow…thanx Jean-Charles – That’s a pretty impressive collection.

I’m hoping to run a regular feature about collectors in the near future. If you think you have the kind of collection that other Bowie fans would enjoy reading about, then let us know. Don’t be put off by Jean-Charles’s collection, there aren’t too many collectors that have invested as much time and money as him.

Just let us know your top five rarest or most valuable to you Bowie items (we may ask for pictures or scans) and we’ll be in touch.

Meet me at the dance hall, We’re going to have a ball…

BowieNetter aphexvancouver (welcome back, pal) has been in touch with details of an event he is organising to take place in Vancouver later in the month.

The event is the Bowie GlamBall which takes place on Thursday March 27th and for which tickets are already on sale.

Here’s all of the official guff….

————————————————————————————————————-

————————————————————————————————————-

Good luck Vernard, please let us know how it goes.