Month: May 2015

 

“And it won’t be forgotten”

 

Though a Top 5 album, Lodger is frequently referred to by many as underrated or overlooked. But surely this 1979 release is now appreciated by a much wider audience than it was when it was first released 36 years ago. (May 18th in the UK)

Packed with absolute gems, this Bowie/Visconti-produced LP is a true Bowie classic and is the final release in the so-called (albeit misleading), Berlin Trilogy.

If you’re not familiar with Lodger, you really should be and here’s the brilliant evidence why on Spotify. 

 

FOOTNOTE: It seems the Bowie/Boshier designed gatefold sleeve for Lodger confused different territories around the world when RCA released the album in 1979.

Though the front cover was meant to show Bowie’s lower half with the postcard artwork in full view (like the UK version), it seems various art departments around the globe couldn’t handle the concept of Bowie’s face being absent from the front. So some of them flipped the cover to rectify this ‘problem’.

Check out the different versions over on the wonderful resource that is Ruud Altenburg’s The Illustrated db Discography.

 

“And the discs were small and yellow”

 

July 16th 2015 sees the release of a limited edition yellow vinyl Let’s Dance 7″ to celebrate the opening of David Bowie is at the Australian Centre For The Moving Image (ACMI) in Melbourne.

Originally released in March 1983, Let’s Dance (the video of which was famously shot in Australia), is the title track of the worldwide smash hit album. The A side is the single edit, while the AA side is a previously unavailable on vinyl live version of the track recorded in Vancouver in Canada in September 1983, during the Serious Moonlight tour. Both tracks have been remastered specifically for this release.

This Let’s Dance 7″ is exclusive to ACMI and is limited to just 550 copies. Also available at ACMI will be a further 500 copies of the limited edition iSelect red vinyl LP, which sold out when it was made available in limited quantities at the Paris showing of David Bowie is.

David Bowie is was created by the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London, where it premiered in March 2013 to widespread critical acclaim. It quickly became the V&A’s fastest selling exhibition and is on record as one of its most popular shows, since drawing over 1 million visitors to date on its international tour.

Now, in its only Australasian season, David Bowie is will visit Melbourne premiering at ACMI on July 16, 2015, as part of the prestigious Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series. With sell out seasons around the world, advance bookings for Melbourne are highly recommended.

Go here for tickets and more information. 

 

David Bowie Let’s Dance limited edition yellow vinyl 7″ for David Bowie is at ACMI.

 

A-Side Let’s Dance (Single Version)

(David Bowie)

Produced David Bowie & Nile Rodgers

 

AA-Side Let’s Dance (Live)

(David Bowie)

Mixed by Bob Clearmountain

Recorded live at Pacific National Exhibition Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, September 12th, 1983.

 

Let’s Dance is released via Parlophone on July 16th 2015.

 

“Blue, blue, translucent blue”

 

Due via Friday Music on June 23 is a translucent blue 180g audiophile vinyl pressing of Heathen, to be followed shortly thereafter by a clear vinyl issue of Reality.

Both albums were mastered by Joe Reagoso at Friday Music Studios and pressed at RTI. They will be presented in beautiful tri-fold sleeves featuring elements from the original artwork.

Due to the overwhelming global demand for vinyl, that June 23 date for Heathen may be adjusted. We will give you the definite date for Reality as soon as we have it.

You can pre-order Heathen here now.

Stay tuned for more news regarding Friday Music releases. 

 

“Is it any wonder?”

 

Ahead of the 40th anniversary of David Bowie’s Fame single release on RCA in July 1975, artist Morgan Howell is showing his SuperSizeArt painting of the Bowie classic at the prestigious 20|21 INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR at the Royal College of Art (RCA), in Kensington Gore, London SW7, from 14 – 17 May 2015.

If you’re able to get along, it’s worth a visit to see this thing in the flesh. Morgan’s paintings of classic 45s have now become highly collectable, selling for many thousands of pounds a pop (pun intended) and viewing them up close is the only way to appreciate the incredible attention to detail.

Of course, this isn’t the first of Morgan’s Bowie paintings. Fame joins Liza Jane (Vocalion), Space Oddity (Philips), Ziggy Stardust (RCA),Hang On To Yourself (RCA), The Jean Genie (RCA) and Rebel Rebel (RCA).

Scroll/Swipe the images here to see the completed Fame painting.

 

“Somebody sings my song in tune”

 

Ahead of the upcoming tour by Tony Visconti and Woody Woodmansey’s Holy Holy with Glenn Gregory and Marc Almond, The Huffington Post has published a great piece written by Glenn about how he got the gig singing the songs of his hero.

Typically self-effacing, Glenn explained that while he knows he could never fill David Bowie’s shoes, he’s nevertheless having a blast singing the songs from The Man Who Sold The World and other Bowie classics from the period 1969 to 1973.

Here’s the introduction from the piece where Glenn recounts the moment he was offered his dream job…

 

When I was asked to perform David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World live it was 16 May – my birthday – and little did I know I was about to get the best birthday present ever! I was walking back from picking my boy Louie up from school; he was running around shouting loudly with his friend James, Consequently I didn’t hear entirely correctly what was being asked of me.

I thought there was going to be a one off concert in London and Tony Visconti wanted me to sing one song, the title song from the fantastic album The Man Who Sold The World. “I’ve always loved that song” I replied, “I’d love to sing it, which other singers are doing the other songs”?

No one else, said Tom (Tom Wilcox who was putting the whole show together) “Tony and Woody want you to sing the whole album live, and if you’re up for it a few more songs for the second half of the show”.

“Really”, are you sure I replied, “I can’t be David Bowie”!

 

You can read the full thing over at The Huffington Post.

 

Tickets are available for the 16-date Holy Holy tour of the UK, Dublin and Tokyo (which kicks off at the Isle Of Wight Festival in a month’s time), here.

 

 “A connection named Paul, Holy low on money”

 

The Quietus film editor, Mat Colegate, recently interviewed Paul Weller and heard about his baker’s dozen favourite albums while he was about it.

Among the thirteen albums selected, Weller chose the Bowie/Visconti produced 1977 classic, Low. Here’s an excerpt from the item…

The Quietus: I was surprised by this being one of your choices. It’s one of those albums that you tend to hear of as an influence from more electronic contemporaries of yours. People like OMD or The Human League.

 

Paul Weller: They fucking wish, man! I fucking love Low. I remember being in Dingwalls, it must have been about ’76 or whenever, and I was with Joe Strummer and ‘Sound And Vision’ come on. We were like: ‘Fucking hell!’ Just to hear that drum sound. We’d never heard anything like that before. At the time it would have perhaps been something that you wouldn’t have expected me to like. I like the B-side as well, all the instrumental stuff. I love all those deconstructed pop songs on side one. Very short and in and out, they just burst in and then they finish. ‘Sound And Vision’, ‘Be My Wife’, with that mad bar-room piano. What I like about those songs is that it’s like you’ve walked in mid-conversation or mid-thought, so suddenly it just changes tack. I like the idea of that. I think there’s a little bit of influence, if I may say so, on some of the lyrics I’ve written recently. Where it’s almost like dipping in mid-stream and then they dart off and they’re about something else. Hopefully people will find their own meaning in them.

 

Read the full thing here.

 

“ONO, don’t say it’s true“

 

The exhibition of Masayoshi Sukita’s David Bowie photographs at Ono Arte Contemporanea art gallery of Bologna, Italy, that we told you about in March, closes its doors tomorrow evening (Sunday).

Well worth a visit if you’re in the area. Go here for details.

 

“You’ve really made the grade”

 

On May 10th 1970 David Bowie performed Space Oddity live for an audience at The Talk Of The Town in London.

The event was the Ivor Novello Awards and Bowie received the Special Merit Award for Originality.

Perhaps he was just very happy to be there, but it did seem at times like our man was rather amused by the whole affair.

And we’re not suggesting for one second that it was the musical contribution of the Les Reed Orchestra that may have tickled Bowie…no, he was clearly just overwhelmed by the occasion, probably.

Watch the performance, complete with special trousers, here.

 

“A million dreams“

 

Earlier today in Paris, Victoria Broackes, co-curator of David Bowie is and Norbert Hilbich, Head of Application Engineering, Sennheiser, proudly presented the millionth visitor to the David Bowie is exhibition with a David Bowie is collectors’ special edition catalogue containing this personal message from Bowie himself: ‘David Bowie is…amazed at how you worked out where to stand in line to make you 1,000,000th. Well done!!’

 

Sébastien Dormieu (pictured with Victoria Broackes), the very lucky recipient of the catalogue, also received a pair of Sennheiser special edition Momentum headphones, a V&A Shop goody bag and tickets for three concerts at the Philharmonie de Paris, the exhibition’s current venue.

 

On receiving the items Sébastien expressed his gratitude thus: “I was coming to rediscover Bowie’s universe having been listening to Ziggy Stardust, Diamond Dogs last night. I was not expecting such a good and surprising encounter with Bowie! It is an unforgettable day.”

 

Martin Roth, V&A Director, said: “David Bowie is really pushed the boundaries of what an exhibition experience could be, so we are thrilled so many visitors have been able to enjoy the exhibition internationally.”

 

Paul Whiting, President Strategic Collaborations at Sennheiser, commented: “Sennheiser congratulates the Victoria and Albert Museum on the extraordinary global success of David Bowie is. Today, in Paris, we are celebrating the one millionth visitor, and I am very proud that Sennheiser’s immersive audio technology is part of this truly exceptional exhibition.”

 

Scroll/swipe the images here for more from today’s presentation. (All pics © Francis Vernhet)

 

Keep reading for the full press release with some impressive statistics and news of a newly curated, second special edition of the catalogue, the David Bowie is Personal Portfolio, Black Edition.

 

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 V&A’s David Bowie is exhibition receives its millionth visitor

#DavidBowieis

 

Since opening at the V&A in London in 2013, the David Bowie is exhibition has toured to five international cities and has now been seen by over 1 million visitors worldwide, making it on track to become the V&A’s most visited exhibition in its history once its international tour is completed.

 

To mark the millionth visitor, a David Bowie is collectors special edition catalogue signed by David Bowie, a pair of Sennheiser special edition Momentum headphones, a V&A Shop go0dy bag and tickets for three concerts at the Philharmonie de Paris were presented today to Sébastien Dormieu a teacher from Niort, France by Victoria Broackes, co-curator of the exhibition and Norbert Hilbich, Head of System Design, Sennheiser, at its current venue, The Philharmonie de Paris.

 

In the book, Bowie wrote a personal message ‘David Bowie is…amazed at how you worked out where to stand in line to make you 1,000,000th. Well done!!’. Sébastien said; “I was coming to rediscover Bowie’s universe having been listening to Ziggy Stardust, Diamond Dogs last night. I was not expecting such a good and surprising encounter with Bowie! It is an unforgettable day.”

 

David Bowie is originated at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London in 2013, where it was seen by 312,000 visitors. The exhibition has since toured to Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (146,500 visitors); Museum of Image and Sound, Sao Paulo (80,000 visitors); Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (151,000 visitors); and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (193,000 visitors) where it set a new attendance record for the museum. Chicago declared an official David Bowie Day on 23 September 2014 to mark the success of the exhibition. It is currently in its final weeks at the Philharmonie de Paris (closing 31 May), where extended opening hours will be in operation for the last ten days. The exhibition will then travel to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne, Australia (16 July – 1 November 2015) and on to the Groninger Museum in Groningen, The Netherlands (15 December 2015 – 15 March 2016).

 

In order to ensure the best audio experience for visitors, the V&A has worked in partnership with audio specialist Sennheiser which, alongside two immersive audio installations, provided audio guides which intuitively transmit the music and soundtrack when visitors approach the exhibits and screens. This equipment is integral to the experience and has toured with the exhibition.

 

The David Bowie is accompanying catalogue has sold over 125,000 copies and has been translated into five languages. A newly curated, second special edition, the David Bowie is Personal Portfolio, Black Edition, will be available from the V&A Shop later this year. In April the feature film of the exhibition, David Bowie is Happening Now, was awarded a Silver Medal at the New York Film Festival. The film has been screened in the UK and across America and will be shown in cinemas in France and Switzerland on 1st June 2015 and later, Australia and the Benelux to coincide with the exhibition tour.

 

Martin Roth, V&A Director, said: “David Bowie is really pushed the boundaries of what an exhibition experience could be, so we are thrilled so many visitors have been able to enjoy the exhibition internationally.”

 

Paul Whiting, President Strategic Collaborations at Sennheiser, commented: “Sennheiser congratulates the Victoria and Albert Museum on the extraordinary global success of ‘David Bowie is’. Today, in Paris, we are celebrating the one millionth visitor, and I am very proud that Sennheiser’s immersive audio technology is part of this truly exceptional exhibition.”

 

The V&A started touring exhibitions internationally in 1992 and now has one of the largest touring programmes of any museum in the world. Previous popular V&A touring shows have included Vivienne Westwood (2004) which toured 11 venues across 10 countries and was seen by a total of 844,949 visitors; Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design (2007) was shown at four venues in four different countries and seen by 881,994 visitors; and Art Deco (2003) which toured eight venues in five countries with a total of 1,358,761 visitors, which is the current record. In 2014/15, 17 V&A exhibitions travelled to 36 venues in 10 countries worldwide, where they were seen by over 1.2 million people.

 

2014/15 was also a record year for the number of visitors to the V&A, with the total number to all sites being in excess of 3.7 million for the first time. The current Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibition, which will not tour to any other venues, is also breaking records; nearly 84,000 advance tickets were sold before it opened on 14 March and the accompanying book has already been re-printed three times, selling 26,830 copies to date. The V&A is operating extended opening hours to accommodate demand and ensure tickets are available to those who want to see the exhibition.