Month: June 2008

You’re the blessed, We’re The Spiders From Mars…

Reading through the BowieNet message boards and indeed some of the fan site boards too, it seems that those of you that have been lucky enough to get David Bowie ? Live Santa Monica ?72 early are more than pleased with both the packaging and the remastered sound.

Uncut magazine and NME in the UK have already given the album very favourable reviews, (05.24.2008 NEWS: FOUR STAR SANTA MONICA REVIEW IN UNCUT & 06.26.2008 NEWS: NME GIVES LIVE SANTA MONICA ’72 8 OUT OF 10) and here are excerpts from three more that I?ve found online…

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www.bilboard.com
Here, the Spiders sound otherworldly, lean yet monstrous, simple and lethal on “Hang on to Yourself” but majestic and dramatic on a ten-minute “The Width of a Circle,” flipping a hat to Jacques Brel via Scott Walker on “My Death,” then stripping down such grandiose Hunky Dory tunes as “Life on Mars?” to the essentials.

What’s special about this is that a night like this was indeed captured — and with each passing year this seems more and more like the best Bowie live album.

www.guardian.co.uk
With guitarist Mick Ronson in his pomp and the band racing on adrenaline, many of the superbly recorded 17 songs are at least equal to their studio versions. The occasional unwelcome tape splice doesn’t stop Bowie sounding thrillingly possessed, whether reaching out in Rock’n’Roll Suicide to tell an alienated generation “You’re not alone!” or asking for “pliers, or a strong hand” in a voice so unearthly it could be from a seance.

www.virginradio.co.uk
Make no mistake. This is a work of major significance that should not be passed over. ESSENTIAL.

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Stay tuned for David Bowie ? Live Santa Monica ?72 contest news which will start today and end on Friday with different items every day.

I asked for an autograph?

Starting today I?ll be posting pictures of the prizes available to BowieNet members in our David Bowie ? Live Santa Monica ?72 contest. Above is a signed copy of the CD package.

I?ll post a different prize each day up until, and including, Friday, and then on Saturday you?ll be able to enter the contest by simply choosing which one of the five prizes you?d prefer.

The twist is that you?ll only be able to enter for one of the five options and we won?t be telling you how many of each prize we have until we announce the winners.

But don?t panic, from Sunday you?ll have a whole week to decide which prize to go for.

It’s happening now…

In the unlikely event that you?ve forgotten about this one, consider this your early morning alarm call to get your arse down to your local newsagent to purchase the Mail On Sunday for your free iSELECTBOWIE CD before it?s all sold out. That?s presuming you?re in the UK or Ireland of course.

The above blurb takes up half of the front page of the newspaper and the warning of BEWARE IMITATIONS is no doubt a reference to the fact that The Sunday Express has an even bigger blurb proclaiming: FREE DAVID BOWIE FILM FOR EVERY READER.

To get your ‘free’ David Bowie film, you do have to sign up for the free 30-day trial with a DVD rental company using a code in The Sunday Express. The three films on offer are The Man Who Fell To Earth, The Labyrinth and The Prestige. Thanx to Sophie ‘nothing comes for free’ Marketing-Girl for the clarification.

Obviously the Mail On Sunday freebie is the real deal however, and it?s truly a superb hour of some of David Bowie?s very best work. Not to mention the brilliant re-recording of Time Will Crawl made all the more poignant by DB?s explanation of what inspired him to write the song.

As we mentioned yesterday when it was posted online, (06.28.08 NEWS: DAVID’S iSELECTBOWIE ARTICLE IS NOW ONLINE) David?s feature Entitled: DAVID BOWIE: I went to buy some shoes – and I came back with Life On Mars is an absolutely fascinating read and it can be found in the Mail On Sunday 2 supplement. The pictures used for the spread are cropped versions of the same ones that appeared in the online version.

What will we do tomorrow? I know, we?ll run another great contest in celebration of the release of David Bowie ? Live Santa Monica ?72.

You?re face to face with The Man Who Fell To Earth…

What more needs to be said other than go here to watch it.

Tomorrow’s really on my mind…

I’m sure nobody reading this needs another reminder regarding the iSELECTBOWIE CD free with tomorrow’s Mail On Sunday and The Irish Mail on Sunday.

As you know, aside from the CD itself David has contributed an absorbing insight into each of the twelve tracks, and this one is no exception…

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Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing

I?d failed to obtain the theatrical rights from George Orwell?s widow for the book ?1984? and having written three or more songs for it already I did a fast about-face and recobbled the idea into Diamond Dogs: teen punks on rusty skates living on the roofs of the dystopian Hunger City; a post-apocalyptic landscape. A centerpiece for this would-be stage production was to be Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing which I wrote using William Burroughs?s cut-up method. You write down a paragraph or two describing several different subjects creating a kind of story ingredients-list I suppose and then cut the sentences into four or five word sections; mix ?em up and reconnect them. You can get some pretty interesting idea combinations like this. You can use them as is or if you have a craven need to not lose control bounce off these ideas and write whole new sections.

I was looking to create a profligate world that could have been inhabited by characters from Kurt Weill or John Rechy: that sort of atmosphere. A bridge between Enid Blyton?s Beckenham and The Velvet Underground?s New York. Without Noddy though. I thought it evocative to wander between the melodramatic Sweet Thing croon into the dirty sound of Candidate and back again. For no clear reason (what?s new?) I stopped singing this song around the mid-seventies. Though I?ve never had the patience or discipline to get down to finishing a musical theatre idea other than the rock shows I?m known for, I know what I?d try and produce if I did.

I?ve never been keen on traditional musicals. I find it awfully hard to suspend my disbelief when dialogue is suddenly song. I suppose one of the few people who can make this work is Steven Sondheim with works like ?Assassins? or ?Sunday in the Park with George?. I much prefer through-sung pieces where there is little if any dialogue at all. Sweeny Todd is a good example of course. Peter Grimes and The Turn of the Screw, both operas by Benjamin Britten and The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by Kurt Weill. How fantastic to be able to create something like that. – David Bowie 2008

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What a great read…Expect much more of the same tomorrow in the Mail On Sunday.

If you missed the previous two excerpts we posted here, check these out: 06.16.2008 NEWS: NEW BOWIE RECORDING ON M.O.S. iSELECTBOWIE CD & 06.22.2008 NEWS: LIFE ON MARS SINGLE IS 35 TODAY – DB REMEMBERS

It’s happening now, Not tomorrow…

Following on from the item below, It seems the Mail On Sunday has decided to publish David’s comments on the iSELECTBOWIE CD early.

Entitled: DAVID BOWIE: I went to buy some shoes – and I came back with Life On Mars, it’s an absolutely fascinating piece and you can read the whole thing by going here, or by clicking on the wonderful, previously unpublished photo of the young mod above, pictured wandering around a 1967 car park for no immediately obvious reason.

FOOTNOTE: If you’re in the UK, keep an eye out for the iSELECTBOWIE TV advert that’s already been shown a few times tonight…It’s great.

You gotta act tall, think big,…

We set this contest last week, (06.20.2008 NEWS: LIFE BEYOND MARS CD CONTEST) wherin we tempted you all with one of ten copies of the above Life Beyond Mars: Bowie Covered CD, kindly donated by Rapster Records.

This was clearly harder for you than I thought it would be and in fact we only just managed to get ten sets of correct answers.

Here are those answers…

Question 1: In 1974 two different female singers released Bowie cover versions as singles that were produced by Bowie and Mick Ronson and had guest contributions from the pair too. We want to know who those two women were and what Bowie songs they covered?

Answer 1: Those two women were Lulu and Dana Gilespie who released The Man Who Sold The World and Andy Warhol as singles in 1974 respectively.

Question 2: Name aforementioned first credited Bowie composition and the artist who released it even before Bowie released it himself.

Answer 2: This was the one that threw the great majority of you. I knew it was tough, which is why I gave you a bit of a clue at the time with the lyric quotation: ‘Cos you’re playing with the spider who possess the sky…

Of course, the song was Take My Tip and Kenny Miller recorded and released it as an A-side on Stateside in 1965 before DB’s own version with The Manish Boys surfaced as the B-side of I Pity The Fool on Parlophone months later.

The ten Bowie brainboxes that got it right weren’t even selected by The Random Generator, as they were the only ten members to get it right, and here they are….

arabia
j_lope
carlislekeif
maarten
Postmodernlover
scotty
thebewleybro
tonyday
visitor
zig

You know the drill…name, rank and number and we’ll send you your CD pronto.

Thanx again to Rapster Records and don’t forget to visit the official Life Beyond Mars mini-site.

STOP PRESS: It seems we have an eleventh winner in Diamonddude1…our e-mail filter couldn’t make sense of his subject line…but a manual override saved the day.

The paintings are all your own…

I had the delightful pleasure of accompanying George Underwood around the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition in London yesterday.

George had one of his own pictures on show called I Believe In You. That’s him above stood directly beneath it.

The painting is one of George’s most recent and it’s price tag of £8,500 didn’t deter some wise buyer from snapping it up on the preview night.

Click on the image above to see a picture of George working on I Believe In You and while you’re there take a look around his site to see more of his incredible work.

Don’t forget that the beautiful Ziggy enamel pin set is still available…but it won’t be for ever. So order your set before you regret not doing so and end up having to pay four times the amount on eBay at some point in the future.

FOOT NOTE: The first person to e-mail me with the reason why today’s lyric quotation is more pertinent than you may at first think will win an appropriate prize.

He’s in the best selling show…

NME has awarded David Bowie – Live Santa Monica ’72 an impressive 8 out of 10 in the above review from the 28th June issue of the magazine.

You’ll hopefully be able to read it in full if it gets posted on their reviews page next week. Meanwhile, here are a few lines from it…

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The reason for its position as a supernova in glam rock’s firmament is obvious from the first breathless chords of ‘Hang On To Yourself’.

It’s a snapshot of a songwriter riding a comet’s tail of creativity…More live albums should be like this. This is Bowie at his passionate and sexy best…

This feels real. Unlike most live albums, ‘Live Santa Monica ’72’ genuinely captures a special moment in time…

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Stay tuned for our David Bowie – Live Santa Monica ’72 contests coming up over the next few days.

Coincidentally, the venue itself celebrates its 50th year this month. Here’s a link sent in by BowieNetter Marjorie Hammond.

Hang him on my wall…

Actor Elijah Wood and model Riley Keough (Elvis Presley?s granddaughter, above) encouraged the likes of Joshua Jackson, Agyness Deyn and May Anderson to furnish their walls in the name of charity last night when the pair co-hosted a reception for The Art of Elysium (an organisation of artists, actors and musicians voluntarily dedicating their time and talent to children battling serious medical conditions) at Chelsea’s Milk Studios in New York.

On sale at the benefit were works from Rebel Rebel a special collaboration between Mick Rock and Russell Young that feature many of Rock’s iconic shots of David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed.

Wood, who recently entered the world of art collecting himself, said of the huge Warholesque works: “It definitely takes balls to put one of these up in your house, it’s intimidating and it’s expensive.”

However, his co-host seemed up for the challenge: “This would go in my room,” said Keough of the shocking pink David Bowie portrait above. “My room has a lot of random shit in it.”

Mick (it’s a hard job, but somebody has to do it) Rock, (sandwiched between model Agyness Deyn and Riley Keough above) had this to say of the collaboration with Russell Young: “Some photos have a habit of hanging around, and in his quiet and persistent way, Russell convinced me that he’s approached these images with the necessary sensibility and respect.”

You can judge that for yourself by visiting Rebel Rebel at the Milk Gallery, 450 W. 15th St., NYC. But you better hurry as it apparently closes on Friday.

Those of you that can’t make it to the gallery will have to content yourselves with more of Dimitrios Kambouris‘ excellent photos from last night over at WireImage.com.