Month: April 2013

“Mars happy nation”

EMI is set to release the fifth in a series of limited edition 40th anniversary 7” picture discs in June.

These anniversary 45s mirror the original UK RCA release schedule from forty years ago.

Here follows the information regarding the release of this particular all-time classic Bowie song.

DAVID BOWIE – 40^TH ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION 7” PICTURE DISC SINGLE OF ‘LIFE ON MARS?’

Following the announcement of the Record Store Day release of a limited edition ‘Drive-In Saturday’ picture disc, EMI will release a 40^th anniversary limited edition 7” picture disc of David Bowie’s iconic ‘Life On Mars?’ single on 24^th June.

Originally appearing on the Hunky Dory album, ‘Life On Mars?’ was released as a single on 22^nd June, 1973 on RCA – reaching #3 in the UK – when Bowie’s career had gone stratospheric following the huge success of his The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars and Aladdin Sane albums and tours.

This 40^th anniversary release features the rare Ken Scott mix of the single on the A-side (mixed at Abbey Road Studios in 2003 for the Ziggy Stardust 5.1 mixes) with ‘Life On Mars? (Live)’ taken from a recording at The Music Hall, Boston on 1^st October, 1972’, on the AA-side. The live version waspreviously only available on the 2 CD 30^th Anniversary Edition of Aladdin Sane. Both sides feature photos from legendary photographer Mick Rock: the A-side, a photo from the era-defining ‘Life On Mars?’ promo film, which the photographer also directed; the AA-side a photo from the Music Hall, Boston concert.

 

Track details:

A/ Life On Mars? (2003 Ken Scott mix)

Produced by Ken Scott (assisted by the actor)

Arranged by Mick Ronson

 

AA/ Life On Mars? (Live)

Recorded live by Mike Moran at the Music Hall, Boston, October 1^st, 1972

 

Mastering by Ray Staff at AIR Mastering.

 

“It’s happening now, and tomorrow”

Some of you will have got your hands on a copy of the AS40 CD as early as last Friday.

Here follows the worldwide release dates so the rest of you know when it’s available in your CD emporium/iTunes, etc.

FRIDAY April 12th

Australia

Austria

Benelux

Finland

Germany

Ireland

Netherlands

Norway

Switzerland

Turkey

 

MONDAY April 15th

UK

Arabia

Argentina

Brazil

Chile

Denmark

France

Greece

Hungary

India

Mexico

New Zealand

Poland

Portugal

South Africa

South East Asia

 

TUESDAY April 16th

USA

Canada

Italy

Spain

 

WEDNESDAY April 17th

Japan

Sweden

 

“Watching him dash away”

Forty years ago on a glam-rocked planet, on April 13th 1973, Aladdin Sane was gifted to the world (see the RCA adverts on the Facebook version of this item for evidence).  

We would clearly be preaching to the converted if we tried to suggest to you how great an album Aladdin Sane is, particularly as the album was voted #5 in a recent poll of Bowie’s studio albums on David Bowie (Official). 

We will be celebrating this and the release of EMI’s Aladdin Sane 40th Anniversary remaster on Monday, with a new contest on the Facebook page.

For the curious among you, the picture here is of one of the rarer formats of the original album. It’s the American Aladdin Sane reel-to-reel.

“Let me dance dance dance”

Though it reached #10 in our recent poll, such was the global success of Let’s Dance it’s possibly the album that most people are familiar with around the world and it remains Bowie’s best-selling album.

Produced by David Bowie and Nile Rodgers, Let’s Dance was released on this day (April 14th) in the UK where it spent 13 weeks in the Top 5. The album also made it to #4 on the US chart. 

The attendant singles, Let’s Dance, China Girl and Modern Love were also worldwide smashes and you can remind yourself of the reason why here.

“Put you all inside my show”

We’re hearing horrendous stories of inflated ticket prices for the David Bowie is Exhibition at the V&A, with reports of some tickets going for upwards of £200.

There are still limited tickets available, but, aside from that, an annual V&A membership is cheaper than the price of some of the tickets that have sold on the likes of eBay!

There are also some other great package offers available here, if you don’t want to become a member. 

And with membership you can visit as many times as you like, when you like, or you can even have somebody accompany you with the plus guest option.

Though you should please note that the V&A cannot guarantee entry for Members in the last fortnight of the exhibition so please plan your visit carefully.

Here’s the official stuff:

LIMITED AVAILABILITY ONLINE

The V&A advises that you do not buy tickets from unauthorised ticket sellers. Authorised advance tickets are only available from the Museum or via LOVEtheatre and FNAC Tickets.

Tickets are available to purchase at the Museum in advance or on day of visit. You are advised to arrive at the V&A for when the Museum opens at 10.00 for the best chance of purchasing a ticket.

Please note tickets bought on the day may not be for immediate entry to the exhibition, but for later on that day.

Any ticket re-sold or transferred for profit or commercial gain without written permission from the V&A becomes void and the holder may be refused entry or ejected from the venue.

Any customer unsure of the legitimacy of a website should contact the Museum before purchasing their tickets.

MEMBERSHIP: here’s the link to our membership page.

“It’s a crash-course for the ravers”

As hard as it may be to comprehend, David Bowie’s Drive-In Saturday was released forty years ago on this day in 1973.

The track was backed by the non-album Ziggy Stardust outtake, Round And Round, a Chuck Berry song originally titled Around And Around.

Drive-In Saturday was the second single taken from the forthcoming Aladdin Sane album (it was the follow up to The Jean Genie), and it made #3 on the UK’s official single chart.

The song name-checks Twiggy (Twig the Wonder Kid) along with Mick Jagger, whose band The Rolling Stones also covered Around And Around and whose Let’s Spend The Night Together also appeared on Aladdin Sane.

The success of the 45 was certainly not hampered by the unforgettable appearance of Bowie and The Spiders on the Russell Harty Show in the UK in January 1973.

Pictured here is the original UK press advert and both sides of the upcoming exclusive Record Store Day Drive-In Saturday 45.

The limited edition picture disc is to be released on April 20th along with two other exclusive-to-RSD Bowie 45s.

Go here to remind yourself of just how good a recording Drive-In Saturday remains, a true Bowie classic still sounding as futuristically nostalgic and exciting as it always will do.

“1, 2, 3-4, oooo”

It gives us much pleasure to report that David Bowie’s The Next Day remains in the UK Top Five again this week with its #4 placing today.

The Official Charts Company has just announced the album rundown via BBC Radio 1’s Official Chart Show.

This fourth week in the Top Five means that The Next Day has now enjoyed a longer stay in the Top Five than any Bowie studio album since 1983’s Let’s Dance.

Congratulations to David Bowie and thanks to all of you around the globe that bought The Next Day and made it such a success.

“Come and buy my toys”

We posted the press release regarding this venture last week and as we said back then, it opened today.

We’re talking about the Selfridges in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum, David Bowie is all yours: London Concept Store, and you can go and check it all out here. 

“Crack, baby, crack, show me you’re real”

If you’re planning to be at the V&A’s Evening Talk with Alan Yentob and the screening of his Cracked Actor film on Friday evening, you may want to swot up before you attend by tuning in to BBC1 at 10:35pm this evening. (Thursday)

Here’s a bit from the BBC blurb:

In 1974 Alan Yentob, a 27-year-old producer-director for the BBC’s Omnibus strand, received a call from Tony Defries, whose management company MainMan looked after David Bowie. After meeting Bowie in New York, agreement was reached to film a documentary around his Diamond Dogs tour of North America. The legendary film Cracked Actor was the result, capturing Bowie at an extraordinary moment in his life.

Yentob, now the presenter of BBC One’s imagine series, recalls Bowie demonstrating his use of William S. Burroughs’ cut-up style of writing, and Bowie talking in the back seat of a car – footage which encouraged Nicolas Roeg to cast him in The Man Who Fell to Earth.

Alan Yentob says “I’d caught him at what was an intensely creative time, but it was also physically and emotionally gruelling. Our encounters tended to take place in hotel rooms in the early hours of the morning or in snatched conversations in the back of limousines. He was fragile and exhausted, but also prepared to open up and talk in a way he had never really done before.”

Cracked Actor has become one of the classic rock documentaries of all time, remaining an enduring influence on generations of Bowie fans.

Check it out on BBC One and BBC One HD, Imagine on 4 April 2013 at 22:35 and on BBC iPlayer for seven days.

A limited number of tickets are still available for the Alan Yentob talk and screening tomorrow at the V&A.

Meanwhile, check out this BBC Cracked Actor special to tide you over.

“We’re painting our faces and dressing in thoughts from Kansai”

WWD.com has posted a report about the return of Kansai Yamamoto to the world of fashion design.

He had this to say after a show in Tokyo on Friday:

The first 20 years of my career I spent as a fashion designer, then the next 20 years I focused on entertainment. Now, for the first time, I am combining those two things.

Though it might not have had quite the same effect as Bowie did when he wore the outfit 40 years ago on the Aladdin Sane tour, Yamamoto appeared at the Tokyo show in a version of the same amazing creation that confronts visitors as they enter the David Bowie is Exhibition at the V&A.

Our accompanying image is of Yamamoto in that outfit, while Lady Stardust hovers in the background (courtesy of a hasty Photoshop job) looking remarkably familiar.