Month: March 2014

 

“’Ere, what’s that clicking noise?”

 

The first gallery exhibition for Welsh-born, US-based portrait photographer, Chalkie Davies, opens at SNAP in London on Saturday 15 March 2014.

Titled Chalkie Davies Goes Click (at Snap), the collection includes a few pictures he took of Bowie between 1973 and 1986.

Here’s a bit from him regarding the Absolute Beginners photo session…

 

“When Julien Temple made his film of Absolute Beginners he asked me to take photos of all the cast members and I spent a week on the movie set taking portraits of all the actors. As well as appearing in the film, David Bowie had written the title song, and was going to make a video to promote it. The record ended up at number two on the single charts. The video was shot in a variety of locations around The Embankment of the Thames and although I had many great images from the video, David and I felt that we should shoot a special photo for the cover.

We set up our lights near the Houses of Parliament and waited for a break in the filming, but, not surprisingly, they were running late and we ended up taking the photo just as Big Ben chimed midnight. Given the time restriction, the photographs were done very quickly, but working with David is so easy that we only needed to shoot two rolls of film.

On seeing the contact sheets, there was one frame where he had this big smile, but his publicist told me that he would not approve it as he never smiled on his record covers. However, when we want through the photos together, David agreed that there was something special about this frame, and agreed for it to be used. To this day it’s the only time he ever smiled on a cover.”

 

Running from Saturday 15 March to Saturday 26 April 2014, the exhibition celebrates Chalkie Davies’s music photographs from the 1970s and 80s and is a prequel to a major museum show of his work at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff in 2015. 

The gallery opens at 11.00am and Chalkie will be at there from 2 pm – 6pm onwards on the opening day of the exhibition, Saturday 15 March 2014.

All are welcome to go along and meet him and hear some of his stories behind these images.

Scroll for more images and read more about Chalkie Davies Goes Click (at Snap), here.

 

“Fa-fa-fa-fa-fashion”

 

The new issue of VICE magazine is THE FASHION ISSUE, which appropriately enough has an exclusive interview with Kansai Yamamoto by Kazumi Asamura Hayashi and a bunch of stunning photos (such as the ones here) by Tajima Kazunali.

Here’s a brief excerpt…

 

“I actually had no idea who David Bowie was until I saw him wearing my clothes onstage at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Yasuko Hayashi, my stylist, was doing work for David Bowie and gave him some of my clothes.

This was the first time I had ever met an artist who was wearing my designs. Before then, I didn’t know how immensely talented he was. At the time, David Bowie was all about transcending gender. I didn’t know anything about concepts like that, so I remember thinking ‘whoa’ when I saw him wearing clothes I had designed for women.

The clothes were influenced by hikinuki, the method of changing costumes quickly in kabuki. The audience in New York saw the costumes transform a few times during the show. I realised I had done something really cool when everyone in the audience got on their feet and clapped.”

 

Great stuff, “something really cool” has to be the understatement of the year!

Anyway, you can read the full thing online and view more pictures on VICE, 

Kansai on FB.

 

“Hot tramp, I love you so”

 

As exclusively announced here on DavidBowie.com and on the only official David Bowie FB page a couple of months back, the Rebel Rebel 40th Anniversary Picture Disc is out today.

 

“They can’t get enough of it all”

 

Remember the buzz when this came out last year, even though many wouldn’t be able to get their hands on a copy till the 11th or the 12th or even later?

Either way, it was well worth the wait, and yes, we mean the ten year wait!

Listen again on Spotify with the extras here.

 

“Gimme your hands cause you’re wonderful”

 

Well you may have already stumbled upon one of the images and half a story regarding David Bowie’s two Record Store Day releases for 2014.

So we’re pleased to be able to bring you the full details, including the usual exclusive on the images from both sides of each of these 40th anniversary picture discs. (Scroll to see both discs)

Rock ’n’ Roll Suicide will be an RSD world exclusive excluding North America who will issue 1984 instead. Both 45s were originally issued by RCA in 1974.

Rock ’n’ Roll Suicide was released as single on April 12th, 1974, with the Hunky Dory track Quicksand on the reverse. It reached #22 on the UK singles chart.

This 40th anniversary picture disc will be a double A side with the studio version of Rock ’n’ Roll Suicide on the A-side. The AA-side will have the same title from the very last Ziggy concert at the Hammersmith Odeon on July 3rd, 1973, as featured in Ziggy Stardust The Motion Picture.

The live version is prefaced by David’s farewell speech wherein he effectively killed off the Ziggy Stardust character, sending shockwaves around the globe.

The image on the A side features an outtake from the Ziggy Stardust album cover session in London’s Heddon Street, while the AA side features a live shot of David as the last bars of the Hammersmith performance reach a dramatic crescendo.

 

Here are the release details for Rock ’n’ Roll Suicide:

 

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL SUICIDE

40th Anniversary 7″ Picture Disc

Record Store Day Exclusive World Excluding North America

A-Side ROCK ‘N’ ROLL SUICIDE

AA-Side ROCK ‘N’ ROLL SUICIDE INC ‘FAREWELL SPEECH’ (Live Ziggy Stardust The Motion Picture version)

Catalogue No DBROCK40

 

1984 was originally released in America and Japan (in July and October respectively) neither of whom got Rock ’n’ Roll Suicide as a 45, though it was also released in New Zealand who did get the Ziggy Stardust curtain closer…go figure.

David Bowie has said that there is often a clue on each album signalling the direction he may be exploring for the next. This is certainly true of this Diamond Dogs track, which had an ear on the up-tempo soul sound of the likes of Barry White as it headed for Young Americans, fuelled by a Tony Visconti string arrangement. This final version was a long way from the song’s genesis as part of the 1984/Dodo medley showcased during the 1980 Floor Show in October 1973.

The AA side of this release will feature the vinyl debut of 1984 performed live on The Dick Cavett Show in December 1974.

The image on the A side is taken from a session featuring David and author William Burroughs in London in November 1973. The session was shot by photographer Terry O’Neill for a Rolling Stone magazine interview with the pair by A Craig Copetas. Titled Beat Godfather Meets Glitter Mainman, the piece was published in February 1974. The AA side features an image from the performance of 1984 on the Dick Cavett Show.

 

Here are the release details for 1984:

 

1984

40th Anniversary 7″ Picture Disc

Record Store Day Exclusive North America Only

A-Side 1984

AA-Side 1984 (Live On The Dick Cavett Show)

Catalogue No DB401984

 

Both picture discs are released on April 19th via Parlophone for Record Store Day 2014.

 

“All right, you want the young American”

 

David Bowie’s ninth studio album, the Bowie/Visconti/Maslin produced Young Americans, was released on this day in 1975.

A top ten album in both the US (#9) and the UK (#2) it also furnished Bowie with his first ever #1 single in the shape of the Bowie/Lennon/Alomar composition, Fame.

Young Americans still sounds a remarkable work today and that’s not just because it was written and sung by a 27-year-old white man, it’s a true classic however you look at it.

But don’t take our word for it, if you’ve not listened in a while, go check it out again on Spotify now.

 

“It can all but break your heart, in pieces”

 

March 6th 1970 saw the release of both an album and a single for David Bowie in the shape of the Mercury 45, The Prettiest Star/Conversation Piece, and the Decca album, The World Of David Bowie.

The Prettiest Star was the beautifully melodic and worthy follow-up to Space Oddity and yet another label change for Bowie. Mercury was the sixth label that David had released UK singles on.

However, it looked like the label’s faith was well-placed with the signs looking good for another top ten UK hit, as suggested by an  NME review of the single.

Sadly that was not to be and taking in to account the gentleness of both sides of the 45, it was an unusual follow-up considering David was plugging his new, rather loud, electric band, The Hype, in both the press and on stage around the time of the single’s release.

Bowie obviously recognised how strong a song The Prettiest Star was as he rescued it for the 1973 Aladdin Sane album, with Mick Ronson faithfully recreating Marc Bolan’s original solo.

The B-side, Conversation Piece, was also re-recorded thirty years later for the Toy project and finally issued in 2002 as a Heathen bonus track.

Despite their attitude towards Bowie’s post-Deram album offerings, DECCA realised it was time to cash in their chips following the Philips label’s success with Space Oddity, and they did exactly that withThe World Of David Bowie (SPA58) on March 6th 1970.

The compilation rounded up ten tracks from the original fourteen-track UK Deram album, (marked thus * in the tracklisting below) discarding We Are Hungry Men, Join The Gang, Maid of Bond Street and Please Mr. Gravedigger.

Joining the ten album tracks were The London Boys, plus three unreleased tracks recorded with Tony Visconti in 1968. Here’s the tracklisting…

 

Side 1

1 Uncle Arthur* 

2 Love You Till Tuesday* 

3 There Is A Happy Land* 

4 Little Bombardier* 

5 Sell Me A Coat* 

6 Silly Boy Blue* 

7 The London Boys (From Deram single DM 107)

 

Side 2

1 Karma Man (Previously unreleased)

2 Rubber Band* 

3 Let Me Sleep Beside You (Previously unreleased)

4 Come And Buy My Toys* 

5 She’s Got Medals* 

6 In The Heat Of The Morning (Previously unreleased)

7 When I Live My Dream*

 

Originally, the single versions of both Love You Till Tuesday and When I Live My Dream were meant to replace the album versions for this compilation, but this didn’t transpire.

Illustrated in the montage here is the original copy of the album, complete with the nineteen shillings and eleven pence recommended retail price sticker, (this was pre-decimal) as advertised in the trade press advert, also pictured.

As well as the German picture sleeve for The Prettiest Star, the other two items pictured are the UK 8-track cartridge along with its outer cardboard slipcase. This format had the same content as the vinyl version, albeit with the tracks in a different running order.

 

“Had to get the train, From Potsdamer Platz”

 

Monday’s Guardian newspaper in the UK has a front page blurb and an article inside by Josie Le Blond regarding the adapted V&A show in Berlin, which has tweaks relevant to Bowie’s time in the city.

You can read the full thing here and see our recent piece about the exhibition here.