Month: January 2015

 

“Without you, what would I do?”

 

Noel Gallagher has never made a secret of his appreciation for David Bowie’s music over the years, but now he’s gone a step further by suggesting that without David Bowie there’s: “no point getting up in the morning.”

He made the comments for an iTunes feature explained here:

 

“iTunes have asked me to put together a list of my favourite albums and songs. Your life will become instantly more interesting should you even consider buying any of this gear. ONWARDS!” – Noel Gallagher

 

Among those selections were these:

 

The Next Day – David Bowie

“No matter how hard they try (and they will try!) they’ll never beat the jaw dropping moment when “Where Are We Now?” was aired…the whole thing was mind blowing…properly mind blowing. A masterpiece.”

 

The Very Best Of The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground

“Without The Velvet Underground no David Bowie. No David Bowie, no point getting up in the morning”

 

He also selected In The Heat Of The Morning as one of his favourite tracks. Great taste that lad.

 

Noel Gallagher: itunes.com/noelfavourites 

 

“There’ll be others on the line filing past, who’ll whisper Low”

 

January 14 1977 saw the release of the first instalment of what came to be known as Bowie’s Berlin trilogy. That album was the Bowie/Visconti produced Low and it was followed later the same year by “Heroes” with the trilogy completed in 1979 by the arrival of Lodger.

Most of the music across the three albums wasn’t even recorded in Berlin, the unifying factor actually being Bowie, Visconti and Eno.

Much has been written about the brilliance and braveness of the music on Low, and rightly so. It’s probably hard to imagine with the ears of today how absolutely unique the record sounded back in 1977.

Apart from the obvious slicing of the album into two distinct sides (reflected better in the original working title of New Music Night And Day), Visconti gifted Low that distinctive drum sound, among other things, via his latest gadget, the Evantide Harmonizer. The Eventide was a machine that Visconti described to Bowie and Eno in a conference call before the sessions, thus: “It fucks with the fabric of time.”

Though Low was a record purportedly informed by the likes of Kraftwerk and other German musicians of the time, it actually sounded far more organic and not at all mechanised.

This was in no small measure due to the nucleus of the band Bowie had favoured during this whole period (starting with Station To Station), of Carlos Alomar (guitar), Dennis Davis (drums) and George Murray (bass).

Despite a very mixed press reaction to Low, the album was a commercial success, peaking at #2 on the UK Albums Chart and number 11 on the US Billboard Pop Albums chart. “Sound and Vision” and “Be My Wife” were released as singles; the former reaching #3 on the UK Singles Chart.

More recently, the album was also voted #1 on Pitchfork.com’s “Top 100 Albums of the 1970s”.

If you’ve not heard Low, go listen now on Spotify and prepare to be transported by its gloriously uplifting melancholia and majestic musical language from another time and place, that has yet to arrive.

Low sounds as fresh today as it ever did…thirty nine minutes of untouchable genius.

 

“Man, she punched me like a dude”

 

The January 2015 issue of Record Collector magazine has a review of the Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime) backed by ’Tis A Pity She Was A Whore, limited edition 10″ single.

Sue (already listed in NME’s best fifty tracks of 2014), has her equally compelling flipside, ’Tis A Pity She Was A Whore, at #38 in MOJO’s 100 greatest Bowie songs special, currently in stores.

Here’s the conclusion from that MOJO review: “’Tis A Pity She Was A Whore finds us (and Bowie too) with most of the map references of the last fifty years gone – exhilaratingly.”

Though you should be able to read both reviews in our montage, we’ll leave you with an edited version of the closing paragraph of Record Collector’s critique by Editor Ian McCann.

“Look, when you hear what passes for rock by most current artists, it’s just a joke compared to this. Bowie is an old man in pop terms yet he’s still kicking down boundary walls. I was anticipating a disappointment. I couldn’t have been more wrong, and this is a world better than The Next Day.”

 

“He said I was his friend…”

 

Forty one years ago today a 25-year-old Lulu released the first of a few career resurrections in the shape of the Bowie-penned Polydor 45, The Man Who Sold The World/Watch That Man.

Produced and arranged by David Bowie and Mick Ronson the track reached #3 on the official UK singles chart, Lulu’s first top ten hit for five years.

The unlikely coupling created lots of press for the release, the Daily Mirror article in our montage being just one such item.

The success of the record prompted RCA to take full page adverts for the Bowie album of the same name with the wording: Contains the original version of The Man Who Sold The World.

It’s a cracking record with a superb arrangement and a great Bowie sax riff and licks from Ronno that aren’t on the original Bowie version. Apparently DB is a bit partial to the Lulu version himself.

Lulu went on to record a couple more songs with David that ended up on his own Young Americans album after he decided to keep them for himself…but that’s another story.

Check out Lulu singing The Man Who Sold The World here on YouTube.

 

“Waiting for the gift”

 

Daniele from Sound & Vision has been in touch with details of what looks like a jolly good evening to be had if you’re in Italy today. (Saturday)

The 17th annual Italian David Bowie Bash, (Yes, that’s right, seventeenth!) has moved from Bassano del Grappa to Vicenza and the event organisers have promised this year’s event is going to be bigger and more exciting than ever!

Find out more on the Sound and Vision page, or keep reading for more details.

 

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Sound and Vision presents: The 17th annual Italian David Bowie Bash.

Venue: Totem Gallery, Via Vecchia Ferriera, Vicenza, Italy

Date: Saturday 10th January, 2015 from 9 pm 

 

BIGGER and more exciting than ever, this year the most eagerly-awaited event is moving from Bassano del Grappa to Vicenza, to gather a larger number of Bowie fans.

Famous Marco Castoldi aka Morgan – longtime Italian XFactor judge on his third time at the Italian Bowie Bash – will play songs by Bowie, Lou Reed, Marc Bolan, accompanied by Megahertz (Daniele Dupuis).

As tradition dictates, other musicians will join the event to celebrate David Bowie’s birthday. Main stage live starting from 9 pm on: Giuseppe Piol, Camilla Fascina, The Tyrannosaurus From Mars with frontman Alessio Zerbinati.

Camilla Fascina, a young singer songwriter, has been the first female singer ever joining the Italian David Bowie Bash. After her participation in a show by Lindsay Kemp in 2013, she now presents her freshly released EP fully dedicated to David Bowie.

 

“It’s happening now”

 

We’ve only just received details of this one, but if you happen to be in Berlin right now and you fancy celebrating David Bowie’s 68th birthday in the very bar the man used to frequent when he lived a few doors away, then it’s your lucky night.

All are welcome to join a very hospitable crowd of friendly and fun Bowie fans for what will no doubt be a very memorable evening.

Go here for further details or just get yourself here pronto!

 

“Not only are these the last shows of the tour…”

 

Sad to see the passing of The Netherlands’ favourite Bowie tribute, ECHO BOWIE.

The band are embarking on a mini-tour to say goodbye to fans, with the first date being a special celebration of David Bowie’s 68th birthday in Amstelveen (near Amsterdam).

Stay tuned to their Facebook page for updates and ticket details.

We’ll leave you with their official blurb and details of tomorrow’s show.

 

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ECHO BOWIE WAVE BYE BYE SHOWS

Echo Bowie wave bye bye. But…leave with a BANG! For nearly 15 years and more than 150 shows, praise from both fans and Bowie’s own team, the guys wish to call it a day. The apogee of the Golden Years Are Now theatre shows feels like the right moment for a Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide. But of course there will be an encore. For you and the band to kiss goodbye and to celebrate David Bowie’s music once more. And in true Echo Bowie style, there’ll be more than one encore. Not ‘one last show we’ll ever do’, but ‘four last shows we’ll ever do’. The first will be a special one: a celebration of David Bowie’s 68th birthday and the first of EB’s goodbye shows on January 10 in P60 in Amstelveen. The venue in which we had such a ball together celebrating Bowie’s 65th birthday.

 

DAVID BOWIE NIGHT ON JANUARY 10, 2015 IN P60 AMSTELVEEN:

– Echo Bowie perform hits and hidden gems by David Bowie

– DJ TV Queen Bitch from the UK spins Bowie (inspired) tracks

– ‘Berlin – A Journey inspired by David Bowie’ film by Villi Asgeirsson

– Mennomail’s and DJ Sandeman’s hailed mash-up video ‘A Tribute To – David Bowie In Sound And Vision’ (even Bowie’s own site shared the video)

 

“Wham Bam thank you fans!”

 

Elizabeth from BowieConference (http://smarturl.it/BowieConFB) got in touch yesterday to tell us about a David Bowie Birthday Message Flashmob 2015 from Russian and Ukrainian fans.

The message takes the form of a delightful and touching five and a half minute film, populated by fans displaying personal messages to David.

You can view the full thing here

 

Flashmob is made by David Bowie Fans vk group

Idea: Anastasia Zamashchikova

Director: Olga Twighlight

Producer: Lidia Mishchenko, Ekaterina Stetciuk

Edit: Wanda Bark, Aleksandr Olkha

PR, translate: Elizabeth Stoliarova

 

‪#‎davidbowie  ‪#‎davidbowiebirthday

 

“Fill your heart with love today”

 

We’re sure you’ll want to join us in wishing many happy returns of the day to David Bowie on his 68th birthday.

Happy Birthday David, and here’s to what looks to be a very promising 2015. Lots of love to you from all of us.

 

(Stay tuned for details of lots of Bowie birthday celebration fan events taking place around the globe over the next few days)

 

“Wild is the windy city”

 

If you’re in Chicago tonight and Friday and you’re missing the Bowie buzz since the David Bowie Is exhibition moved on, you can get another quick fix at two separate events.

DJ Heaven Malone has been in touch with details of both, but the quickest way to find out about them is to visit his FB page here.

 

Alternatively, visit these dedicated pages…

BOWIEBALL – David Bowie’s Birthday – Thursday, January 8th at Berlin Nightclub

BOWIE BIRTHDAY BASH – Friday, January 9th at Metro Chicago