Moondust will cover you…

We told you about MOONDUST: In Search Of The Men Who Fell To Earth back at the beginning of April (04.06.2009 NEWS: EXCLUSIVE MOONDUST COMPILATION ALBUM DETAILS) when the album was scheduled for a May release.

After a short delay, we can reveal that this soundtrack CD compiled by author Andrew Smith will now be released through Heavenly on July 6th.

The CD and the latest edition of the paperback (above) are out on the same day to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 manned lunar mission and the first moon landing on July 20th 1969.

See our previous news story for more details regarding the CD which contains Moonage Daydream surrounded by some relevant space babble and segued into Howlin? Wolf‘s Smokestack Lightning.all magically done by Richard Norris.

An Occasional Deram…

Following on from an eBay sale of the New Zealand pressing of David Bowie’s Deram LP (above right) that went for £460.00 GBP (approx. $756 USD) back in April, it seemed that BowieNetter pmfwoods (04.07.2008 NEWS: THE BOWIE COLLECTORS – PMFWOODS) was spot on with his Record Collector feature regarding the Deram album, when he suggested that the NZ pressing was worth around £450.00 GBP.

As we all know, and as Paul mentioned in that article, it’s hard to predict an accurate price for many of the rarer Bowie items. But, even so, £460 was a very good price considering the vinyl was warped and affected play of the first song on each side.

The seller of that particular copy predicted that: “It will be a long LONG time before you see another. This is TRULY the RAREST OF THE RARE!”. Well, I guess time is relative and two months could be considered ‘a long LONG time’ in many situations.

Of course, I’m alluding to the fact that another NZ pressing sold on eBay last week for a remarkable £1,321.11 GBP, (approx. $2,171 USD) leaving collectors around the globe flabbergasted, probably.

A German pressing (above left) sold for a less surprising ?458.00 EUR (approx. $637 USD and approx. £390.00 GBP) the week before, much closer to Paul’s original reckoning of £400.00.

And it was stalking time for the MOON Boys…

With MOON opening in various North American theatres this week, don’t forget to keep an eye on the official MOON site for news of screenings near you.

Also, don’t forget the UK premiere of the film on Saturday evening at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Drive you crazy, really lazy, eye rollin’, funky strollin’, ball playin’Hip swayin’, trouble makin’, booty shakin’, tripping, passing, jumpingBouncing, drivin’, stylin’, creeping, pouncing, shoutin’, screamin’Double dealin’, rockin’, rollin’, and a reelin’With the mackin’ sex appealin’.Can you dig our groovy feelin’?

Jim Henson‘s Labyrinth finally gets a BD (Blu-ray) release in the UK on August 31st and in the US on September 1st.

Here’s the stuff…

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It’s on America’s tortured brow*…

In our most recent Storytellers CD/DVD news item (03.23.2009 NEWS: EMI TO RELEASE VH1 STORYTELLERS WITH BONUS TRACKS) we announced a release date of July 6th.

This is true for Europe, but North America won’t get the package until July 14th.

Wherever you are, stay tuned to win copies shortly.

*Yeah, I know it’s ‘Amerika’s’, that wouldn’t have really worked though.

Hey Elterman, Oh leave me alone…

Photographer Brad Elterman has an exhibition running through to the end of the month at Equator Books in Venice, California, to promote his book: Like It Was Yesterday.

Brad is responsible for the intriguing picture above, which you may be familiar with via the pages of CREEM magazine back in April 76. I’ve superimposed that original CREEM page onto Brad’s wonderful shot which he talks about below…

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I Was A Teenage Paparazzo 1975 by Brad Elterman

This was my first Paparazzi photograph, but I would never consider myself a true Paparazzo. I was incredibly “in crowd” when it came to getting access to parties, backstage and concert photo passes. Sure there were times when I could not resist and I would take a photo of a celebrity on the street without permission. The PR that I would work with would just laugh when they would see these types of photos on mine in the magazines and newspapers.

On the day that I took this photograph of David Bowie I had a tip that he was having a late night recording session at Cherokee Recording Studios on Fairfax Blvd in Hollywood. I got there really early in the morning and waited for Bowie to emerge. The guy seated in the car next to Bowie is Man Who Fell To Earth producer, Paul Buckmaster. Keep in mind that no one was really doing Paparazzi style photography back then and both Bowie and Buckmaster thought my approach was incredibly hysterical.

Creem magazine ran this as a full page for their section “Stars And Their Cars” and the photo was published in a couple of other magazines around the world. I can still feel the adrenaline rush today!

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Below is the caption from the original CREEM page in a more legible form…

I’ll leave you with another of Elterman’s shots taken that morning and published in Circus magazine a few weeks later than the CREEM shot.

The Circus caption read: Bowie delivers tapes for his sound track to “The Man Who Fell To Earth” to L.A. studio.

This account makes less sense than the original CREEM caption as it’s clear from Elterman’s account that Bowie was leaving Cherokee, not arriving with a delivery.

It also seems likely that Bowie had worked through the night as the Silly Billy was so tired he put his jumper on inside out!

Still, wouldn’t mind hearing those tapes if Circus magazine was right about what was on them.

Go here for more information regarding the Like It Was Yesterday exhibition.

It’s a big illusion, but at least you’re in…

The suit that David Bowie wore for the final scenes of The Hunger (above) failed to reach it’s reserve at an auction at Bonhams in London today.

Here’s some info regarding the outfit from the Bonhams’ site…

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David Bowie: a linen suit worn in ‘The Hunger’, 1982, two-piece, comprising double-breasted jacket and pleated-front trousers with turnups, unlabelled, together with a statement of provenance.

The statement is from the film’s Assistant Sound Editor, Jeremy Gibbs, who purchased the suit from the Costume Department. According to him, this suit was made two sizes too big for Bowie as it was worn for the scenes when he is shown ageing rapidly. The suit was over-sized to create the appearance of him physically shrinking as he gets older. In other scenes he wears an identical suit, but in the correct size.

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Before any of you 40-something Bowie fan blokes think about contacting the vendor to make an offer for the suit because you think it will give you a chance with the ladies, (Hi Tony Day), please bear in mind that it’s two sizes too big for David Bowie. David Bowie is not a big man.

This means that Kate Moss probably couldn’t even squeeze into the suit, let alone you! And before anybody else says it…Let alone me!!

Meanwhile, Hunger director Tony Scott has been talking to ComingSoon.net regarding a sequel to the film. Here’s a bit from the interview…

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As for that sequel to the 1983 horror movie, which starred Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie and Susan Sarandon, Scott remained mum about whether or not any of the original cast would make it into the sequel–many of them are vampires after all–and how they’d accomplish that, but he did give us a few tidbits: “I’m not going to tell you how we’re doing it, but I’m controlling it and it’s gone to the next level. It’s not a reinvention or reinterpretation, it starts in New York and it ends up in Sao Paulo, so it’s a very different movie, but it springboards off the original. We’re writing it right now and we’ve got a great writer, Erin Wilson.” (We’re not sure if this is the same Erin Wilson who wrote Secretary, but it would be pretty interesting if it was.)

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Diamond Dogs rule, OK…

Along with a fair few countries around the globe, Diamond Dogs is often reported as having been a US and Canadian single release too, this was not the case but it’s easy to understand why this misconception came about.

The OPEC Oil Crisis of late 1973 had a knock on effect for some time and vinyl pressing was one of the early casualties. The UK economy was in a bit of a mess, to put it mildly, with industry having to endure a three-day working week to conserve electricity…or something like that. We all had a lot of fun with candles and the like during the power cuts though.

At the time of its eventual release, Friday June 14th, 1974, Diamond Dogs had already been delayed for a month. The promo actually states a May 15th release date. To make up for the shortfall copies of the single were pressed in both the US and Canada for export to the UK and you were far more likely to purchase a Canadian or US pressing than a UK 45 at the time.

After the first release from the Diamond Dogs album being the previously unheard Rebel Rebel, (02.15.2009 NEWS: REBEL REBEL IS THIRTY FIVE YEARS OLD TODAY) fans may have been a little disappointed to have a single release of a track they already knew well by the middle of June.

However, the B-side was a real treat and a lovely surprise: Bowie and The Spiders’ re-recording of the Mercury release, Holy Holy. To be honest, I don’t think I had even heard the Mercury version at the age of thirteen, so the B-side probably got far more needle time in my bedroom than Diamond Dogs.

Either way, at 6:03 minutes the record wasn’t exactly radio friendly and this was reflected in it’s UK chart position when it peaked at #21.

Never bored, so I’ll never get old…

We highlighted the fifth anniversary of the digital release of Rebel Never Gets Old last month, (05.04.2009 NEWS: iTUNES REBEL NEVER GETS OLD FIVE YEARS OLDER TODAY) and now, to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the physical release of RNGO, we’re giving away five copies of the 12″ picture disc and a single copy of the ultra rare black vinyl 12″.

To be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is choose which format you’d rather win by clicking on one of the links below, bearing in mind there are five pic discs and only one black vinyl.

Black Vinyl 12″

Picture Disc 12″

All the entrants will be dropped into The Random Generator‘s big hat with the six winners being announced at the end of the month.

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. If you do neither of these things you won’t be eligible to enter.

Good Luck, kidz…

Please Note: We have a new postie called, believe it or not, Pat! Pat will be picking up the outstanding mail fulfilment over the next few weeks.

Regarding the signed Rebel Rebel winners, sad to say we had a mishap with the sleeves before they were even signed, thankfully…we’ve just managed to source another batch and we’ll let you know once they’ve been signed and are despatched. Sorry for the mad delay on this, but the guilty party was shot at dawn so it shouldn’t happen again…EVER!

Popular musics and aftershocks…

Speaking of Kanye West, (06.12.2009 NEWS: VIDZONE LAUNCHES FOR THE PS3) there’s an article by Mark Asch that was posted last month over on the Crawdaddy! site entitled: Promiscuous Anglerfish: David Bowie vs. Kanye West.

In the piece Asch attempts to demonstrate that hip-hop is the dominant form of today?s American popular music by comparing the careers of aforementioned pop people.

Here’s a paragraph of Bowie history from the article…

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David Bowie was, and still probably is, rock?s great changeling, starting out as a folkie in a frock, getting psychedelic and stargazing, bringing in Mick Ronson for power chords, glamming up, delving into Brecht-and-Weill cabaret pop, and that?s just the early ?70s. But it was more than just the chameleonic role-playing?the Thin White Duke just kept ingesting music, making it a part of his discography, and thus, because of his rock star status, demanding that his influences be taken seriously as rock. (And demanding that a dramatic cycle?the ?rock opera??be taken for granted as a natural structure for three-minute pop songs.)

He revived a garage-rocker?s career, made some blue-eyed soul records, and then, when the coke caught up to him, listened to some Brian Eno, chilled out, and made the Berlin Trilogy. Hoo boy, the Berlin trilogy. Ambient or otherwise experimental music?s texture and krautrock?s inscrutable rigor?it?s still a head trip. And it cleared Bowie?s mindset so right that he spent most of the ?80s knocking out assured dance-pop hits, bringing aboard a rotating cast of comparatively short-lived (career-wise) stars to make the records glitter.

Those of us who grew up on ?90s alternative radio have strong memories of Bowie?s dalliance with Trent Reznor, but aside from his industrial buzz bin, he saw a lot of stuff coming, particularly the futuristic placelessness of dance music. (Not really surprising.) Now, aside from the occasional experimental one-off?no more planting a flag in a genre and claiming it for the rock canon?he mostly patronizes indie rockers like Arcade Fire and Secret Machines.

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You can read the full thing here, but whether you agree with Asch’s observations or not, it should be remembered that Kanye West is a pretty thin disguise for K West!