Month: September 2008

Oh we can beat them, for ever and ever…

The latest fundraising idea from the War Child organisation is an album that takes its inspiration from the Bowie track of the same name, “Heroes”.

The idea behind the project is that a whole bunch of music legends chose one of their own favourite music acts to cover one of their songs.

David was among the very first to add his name to the list of music legends supporting the project, and though we can’t announce his choice of act and the track they are covering just yet, you will hear about it here first…presuming the band don’t let the cat out of the bag before then!

“Heroes” will be released through EMI?s Parlophone label on November 24th and the cover has been created by John Squire, who did the artwork for the legendary “Help”, the first album to be released to benefit the charity.

Here are some of the tracks already in the bag, albeit a different bag to the aforementioned one that the cat may escape from…

DUFFY covering SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY?S “LIVE AND LET DIE”
HOT CHIP covering JOY DIVISION?S “TRANSMISSION”
BECK covering BOB DYLAN?S “LEOPARD-SKIN PILL-BOX HAT”
BRIAN WILSON nominating RUFUS WAINWRIGHT, who performs a medley of two tracks from “Smile”
THE KOOKS covering THE KINKS? “VICTORIA”.

You can view the full press release in the press release section above.

I’m lookin’ thru’ African eyes…

It’s that time of year again. You’ve probably grasped the gist of this year’s KCA Black Ball 2008 from the details in the poster above, but here are the full details from the official KCA site…

Save the Date: KCA Black Ball 2008

Keep a Child Alive’s fifth annual Black Ball Gala, hosted by Ambassadors Alicia Keys and Iman, will honor the global AIDS work of three remarkable humanitarians. This legendary evening will take place at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Thursday, November 13th, 2008.

Our humanitarian honorees are an incredible group of people who have used their will, fame and courage to change the lives devastated by this pandemic. This year, we are thrilled to honor Jackie Branfield, founder of Operation Bobbi Bear in South Africa, Simon Fuller and Queen Latifah.

The Black Ball will begin with a cocktail party followed by a seated dinner with extraordinary live performances by Alicia Keys, Justin Timberlake, Joni Mitchell, Jack White and other extraordinary artists to be announced.

Please help make a difference by joining us at The Black Ball! For more information, call 718.965.1111.

Don’t fake it baby, lay the real thing on me…

Had quite a few e-mails over the past few months regarding the above picture discs. They began to surface last year with the release of Aladdin Sane followed by Ziggy Stardust.

At first this seemed like an attempt to replicate the picture discs released by RCA in 1984, which were:

Aladdin Sane RCA BOPIC 1
Hunky Dory RCA BOPIC 2
Ziggy Stardust RCA BOPIC 3
Pin-Ups RCA BOPIC 4
Diamond Dogs RCA BOPIC 5

However, it was obvious upon inspection that these new picture discs were shoddy attempts to cash in with no actual attempt to replicate the RCA versions.

Then followed Low (complete with nasty Bowie postcard as an incentive to buy) and “Heroes”.

So far this year Hunky Dory has been issued, the first of these pirates which has actually made an effort to replicate the RCA version, even though they removed any mention of RCA from the disc. See the reverse of both versions of Hunky Dory (RCA and pirate) above.

I think the thing that has thrown people regarding these releases is that they have been available through reputable online retailers. Obviously this gave them an air of legitimacy, but you shouldn’t be able to find them in these places any longer.

I know we can never dissuade completists not to buy these, (people are still shelling out for that awful red vinyl Low counterfeit, despite are warnings) but for anybody else wondering if these picture discs are worth the money, they’re not.

They are inferior in both sound and presentation (each of the original RCA discs came in a card cut-out sleeve with a numbered certificate) and they can make you go deaf and blind.

Don’t you wonder sometimes…

You’ve no doubt already seen this, particularly if you’re in the UK, as it’s been on very heavy rotation on UK TV, as has the M&S ad we mentioned last week: 09.13.2008 NEWS: LET’S DANCE IN LATEST MARKS & SPENCER TV ADVERT.

It’s Radio 2’s latest TV trailer, “…featuring some of our presenters doing what they do best, to the tune of a special musical mash-up.”.

It’s nicely done, and as ever, Jonathan Ross is the Bowie champion in this one as it utilises him messing about to Sound And Vision while on air.

You can watch the full thing online here. Thanx to BowieNetter LizSK2 for the original pointer.

Andy Warhol silver screen…

There was an article in the UK’s Observer newspaper on Sunday (14th) regarding the upcoming Andy Warhol: Other Voices, Other Rooms touring exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London.

Here’s a bit from the piece by Sean O’Hagan…

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The moment when David Bowie and Andy Warhol crossed paths for the first time was preserved for posterity on a shaky hand-held camera by one of the latter’s assistants, Michael Netter. The meeting took place at the Factory, Warhol’s studio-cum-hangout in Manhattan on 14 September 1971.

Bowie, who had yet to reinvent himself as one of pop’s ultra-modernists, wears baggy trousers and has his long hair styled in a side parting beneath a big floppy hat. After some awkward small talk about Syd Barrett and the price of albums in America, Bowie performs a mime in which he drags his beating heart out of his chest. All the while, Warhol stands off to one side looking on as blankly as only he could, occasionally whispering to his aides. Then, Bowie and his small entourage shuffle off.

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It’s a meeting that Bowie has talked about in the past, “Andy Warhol loves my shoes!”, and even shakier versions of the footage exist online from people who have filmed it straight from the screen at previous Warhol exhibitions.

Now’s your chance to see Bowie’s screen test in slightly better quality at Andy Warhol: Other Voices, Other Rooms which runs at the Hayward Gallery from Tuesday 7 October 2008 to Sunday 18 January 2009.

Waiting for the gift of sound and vision…

EMI have come up with a novel new way of introducing that difficult-to-please niece or nephew to the joys of some of their artists via a limited Giftpack promotion available over the holiday period.

Artists such as Coldplay, Chemical Brothers and Simple Minds will have Giftpacks produced, as will David Bowie.

The David Bowie Giftpack will include the 2CD Best of Bowie and Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars – The Motion Picture DVD, which, I think you’ll agree is a pretty good introduction to David Bowie.

The CD is the two disc UK version which has 39 tracks, 28 of which were Top 20 UK hits. The remaining 11 tracks are equally deserving of a place on a Best Of, but, either they weren’t released as singles, such as The Man Who Sold The World, Oh! You Pretty Things and Ziggy Stardust, or they were, but failed to reach the top twenty, such as “Heroes” (Incredibly, it only reached #24) and TVC 15 (#33).

Obviously this collection includes Bowie’s five UK #1 hits. It also has his US #1 hits including Fame which only managed to get to #17 in the UK.

Here’s the Best of Bowie tracklisting:

CD1
01 Space Oddity
02 The Man Who Sold The World
03 Oh! You Pretty Things
04 Changes
05 Life On Mars?
06 Starman
07 Ziggy Stardust
08 Suffragette City
09 John, I’m Only Dancing
10 The Jean Genie
11 Drive-In Saturday
12 Sorrow
13 Diamond Dogs
14 Rebel Rebel
15 Young Americans
16 Fame
17 Golden Years
18 TVC15
19 Wild Is The Wind

CD2
01 Sound And Vision
02 “Heroes”
03 Boys Keep Swinging
04 Under Pressure {w/Queen}
05 Ashes To Ashes
06 Fashion
07 Scary Monsters (& Super Creeps)
08 Let’s Dance
09 China Girl
10 Modern Love
11 Blue Jean
12 This Is Not America {w/The Pat Metheny Group}
13 Loving The Alien
14 Dancing In The Street {w/Mick Jagger}
15 Absolute Beginners
16 Jump They Say
17 Hallo Spaceboy (PSB remix)
18 Little Wonder
19 I?m Afraid Of Americans (V1)
20 Slow Burn (radio edit)

As if that wasn’t enough to tempt s Bowie virgin into the water, the Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars – The Motion Picture DVD includes the classic 1973 show filmed at the Hammersmith Odeon, London in Stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound mixes.

It also has a commentary by director D.A. Pennebaker and producer Tony Visconti and a DVD ROM section which has a calendar, a screen saver and more.

Here’s the tracklisting for Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars – The Motion Picture DVD

01 Opening Credits / Intro
02 Hang On To Yourself
03 Ziggy Stardust
04 Watch That Man
05 Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud
06 All The Young Dudes
07 Oh! You Pretty Things
08 Moonage Daydream
09 Changes
10 Space Oddity
11 My Death
12 Cracked Actor
13 Time
14 The Width Of A Circle
15 Band Introduction
16 Let s Spend The Night Together
17 Suffragette City
18 White Light / White Heat
19 Farewell Speech
20 Rock n Roll Suicide
21 End Credits

The David Bowie Giftpack comes in a slipcase and it is released on October 27th, 2008. Demand a better future for the musically needy in your life with The David Bowie Giftpack!

Welcome to Reality…

David Bowie’s 26th studio album, Reality, was released five years ago today.

Hot on the heels of Heathen, released the previous year, the album came out in various formats at the time, including the regular 11-track CD album, a limited 2CD digi-pack version, a Japanese edition with a bonus track and if pre-ordered via HMV you were sent an exclusive mp3 of Your Turn To Drive, unavailable anywhere else at the time.

Two months later a tour edition included a DVD of Reality performed live at Riverside Studios (09.08.2008 NEWS: BOWIE IN CINEMATIC FIRST FIVE YEARS AGO TONIGHT) and since then there has been a Super Audio CD and another more comprehensive double disc version.

As is often the case as I write these anniversary pieces, I’m listening to Reality now in celebration of the date, and I have to say as much as liked it on release, it is one of those albums that I’ve grown even fonder of since it’s release.

I know the album has many fans that have always listened to it, but If you’ve not heard it for a while, do yourself a favour and give it a spin now.

Then I got the big Glass Box…

UK Newspaper The Independent On Sunday has an interview with Philip Glass by Fiona Sturges. On the eve of the release of a major retrospective, Glass Box: a Nonesuch Retrospective’, Glass recalls a few of the prouder moments of his career.

Here he is regarding his work with Bowie and Eno…

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David Bowie and Brian Eno – Low Symphony (1993)

“In the early 1980s I was asked to do a symphony and I had the idea of taking material from another composer and making a piece out of it. I said, ‘Well, if Brahms can use Haydn, why can’t I use David Bowie and Brian Eno [Bowie’s collaborator on the 1977 album Low]?’ I knew their ‘Berlin Trilogy’; they were interesting records.

“Those were the days of double-sided LPs and I was interested in resetting the B-side. I never knew who did what on it and they never told me but I knew that a born composer and melodist had worked on it. I took a theme as Brian or David had composed it and extended it into a 12- or 14-minute movement. It was meant to be a seamless continuation. There was a certain type of orchestration in the way it was recorded and I used that as a guide.

I like the idea that talented composers can exist outside of conservatories. [Eno and Bowie] were meant to be rock’n’roll musicians, but the fact is that they knew how to compose. They’re extremely gifted.”

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You can read the full interview online here.

The one hundred and one track, ten disc set: Glass Box: a Nonesuch Retrospective, is released on September 22, though it doesn’t seem to contain anything from either the Low or Heroes symphonies.

And she’d sigh like Twig the Wonder Kid…

UK viewers have most likely already seen this on TV, but for those of you that haven’t, you can view the new M&S TV advert, which utilises David Bowie’s 1983 world-wide smash, Let’s Dance, here.

The clutch of lovely ladies in the screen grabs above comprise, from left to right, Lily Cole, Twiggy Lawson, Noemie Lenoir, Mylene Klass and Erin O’Connor.

Of course, Bowie fans will be more familiar with Twiggy Lawson on the original RCA Pin-Ups insert as Twig The Wonderkid, as that’s her with David on that iconic cover.

Haven’t they both done well?

Footnote #1: Pedants, such as myself, may be distressed that Wonder Kid is two words in today’s lyric quotation, yet one word when I mention the Pin-Ups insert. Well, it’s because that’s how they appear on the lyric inner for Drive In Saturday and on the Pin-Ups insert respectively. Drive-In Saturday is on Aladdin Sane.

Footnote #2: Pedants, such as myself, may be distressed that in Footnote #1, above, Drive-In Saturday is not hyphenated in the first instance, but it is in the second. Well, that’s because it appears without the hyphen in the title on the lyric inner, but with a hyphen on the tracklisting on the back sleeve. The correct version is with a hyphen. This is an example of pedantry gone mad, as I’m pretty sure that the only reason it’s missing from the lyric inner title is because the Aladdin Sane font doesn’t support a hyphen…and I knew that all along.

Footnote #3: Pedants, such as myself, may be distressed that in Footnote #1 the album title Pin-Ups is two words, hyphenated. Whereas on the original RCA UK pressing, (surely the benchmark for all comparisons) it is arguably one word on the front cover and definitely one word on the spine: PINUPS. Well, that’s because on the label itself the title is the more correct Pin-Ups, hyphenated.

Footnote #4: Pedants, such as myself, need to get a life.