David Bowie

 

“In the world of today, for tomorrow’s man”

 

The advertising strapline ran with the legend: “Tomorrow Belongs To Those Who Can Hear It Coming”, appropriate considering how much more appreciated “Heroes” seems to be by a wider audience now than it was forty years ago.

 

Having said that, the Bowie/Visconti-produced LP peaked at #3 in the UK album chart in November 1977, a year in which it was also named Album Of The Year in both NME and Melody Maker. No mean feat considering the other great music that was released that year, not least of all, both of Iggy Pop’s first solo releases, The Idiot and Lust For Life, two records which Bowie also had a very big hand in.

 

The main image in our montage shows Robert Fripp, David Bowie and Brian Eno during the recording of “Heroes” at Hansa studios in Berlin, taken from the superb book accompanying the David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982) box set.

 

Bottom right are two initial designs for “Heroes”, also to be found in the book along with other unpublished artwork and related memorabilia.

 

 

#BowieHeroes #ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  

 

While attempts were made to maintain the integrity of the issue that existed on the original master tape of the “Heroes” album, fans’ concerns have been listened to and a new master is being created to replace the current one.

 

As soon as the new file is available, the digital versions will be updated and those of you who would like a replacement “Heroes” album will be eligible for one. Further details on how to obtain your replacement CD and/or vinyl will follow in due course. In the meantime please retain your proof of purchase.

 

Thank you for your continued patience and sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused.

 

 

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  

 

“It’s a twenty-four hour world service”

 

The BBC is marking the 40th anniversary of the release of the “Heroes” LP with a 53-minute documentary presented by Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine. Florence is a big Bowie fan and she doesn’t mind who knows how much she loves Tin Machine either. (See inset picture proof)

 

With contributions from Iggy Pop, Brian Eno and Tony Visconti, the show airs three times on the BBC World Service on Saturday, Oct 7, with the first broadcast at 14:06 and it’s repeated on BBC Radio 2 on Tuesday, Oct 10, at 22:00.

 

We’ll leave you with the BEEB’s blurb…

 

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David Bowie’s “Heroes” 40th Anniversary

Music Extra

 

Florence Welch, from the British band Florence + The Machine, marks the 40th anniversary of the release of David Bowie’s seminal “Heroes” LP by exploring the personal and musical factors that influenced the album’s writing and recording in Berlin in 1977.

 

Florence will feature archive of the late David Bowie explaining why he chose to live and work in Berlin and the impact the city’s history had on the masterpiece he created. She’ll also meet the album’s producer Tony Visconti to get an insight to the unique recording techniques he employed to interpret Bowie’s creative vision and how the characteristics of the famous Hansa Studios, which are situated in a huge former chamber music concert hall, contributed to the album’s influential sounds. Iggy Pop, who was living with Bowie in Berlin during the recording of the album, recalls how a battle with drug addition, bankruptcy and a legal dispute with his ex-wife for access to his son all provided inspiration for the album’s lyrics and Brian Eno, who collaborated with David throughout the LP’s recording, explains the unique musical structures he and David employed to compose the innovative songs.

 

Berlin’s radical cultural diversity had always fascinated Bowie and Florence will explain how the opportunity to live and work in the city during the turbulent political period prior to the fall of ‘the Wall’ provided the perfect austere environment for David and his collaborators to experiment with music inspired by several German techno bands of the 70’s, including Neu!, Kraftwerk and Can.

 

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#BowieAtTheBEEB  #BowieBBC  #BowieHeroes  

 

“FANtastic Voyage”

 

My Bowie Story – Memories of David Bowie By Dale K. Perry (ISBN: 9781532030116), is a remarkable selection of stories told by sixty Bowie fans and collected together by Dale K. Perry.

 

The 316-page book is available now via the publisher, iUniverse and other online book emporiums. Here’s the blurb from the back cover…

 

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Dale K. Perry can still picture herself at a shopping center at age twelve, pooling her money with her best friend so they could buy the album with that “Space Oddity” song.

A few years later, she went to her first Bowie concert, and even though she arrived to discover her seat was behind the stage, it didn’t matter: She was in the same building as David Bowie.

In My Bowie Story, she teams up with sixty other storytellers to look back on more than four decades of memories featuring Bowie. Filled with heartfelt stories and photographs, the fans describe how Bowie’s music, personas, and creativity changed their lives.

The eighty-five stories also offer a glimpse of Bowie’s kindness as he interacted with his admirers while relating the impact his message had on the sexuality, education, and the lifelong achievements of multiple generations.

From Space Oddity to Blackstar, the tales include personal encounters with Bowie and offer deep insights that long-time fans and those just discovering his brilliance will cherish.

 

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The snaps along the bottom of our montage are of Jasmine and Bowie (J. Storm), David and Zane, 1997 (M. Kanevsky) and David and Sandra (Spidey), 2002 (S. Atkins). Just a small sample taken from the many in the book.

 

Dale has said that any royalties she receives from the book will be donated in David’s memory to charity, most likely to Save the Children.

 

Stay tuned for more pictures and some excerpts from My Bowie Story – Memories of David Bowie.

 

 

#MyBowieStory  #BowieKooks  #BowieFreaks

 

(ANCIANT = A New Career In A New Town)

 

The ANCIANT box set issued via Parlophone last Friday (29th) has entered various charts around the globe. Here are a few where it charted in the top 30.

 

UK: #2 (vinyl chart) / #19 (album chart)

Denmark: #13 (vinyl chart) / #24 (album chart)

France: #4 (catalogue album chart)

Germany: #24

Italy: #10 (vinyl chart)

 

ANCIANT charted the highest of the Bowie box sets so far. Here are the three titles’ comparable debut weeks:

 

Five Years – #45 – (Oct 15)

Who Can I Be Now? – #21 – (Sept 16)

A New Career In A New Town – #19 – (Oct 17)

 

Thanks to all of you for making this set such a success.

 

Get ANCIANT here.

 

 

#BowieOCC  #ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox

 

“New York’s a go-go”

 

We’re proud to announce that the critically acclaimed David Bowie is exhibition will make the final stop of its world tour at the Brooklyn Museum next year, from March 2nd to Jul 15th.

 

This will be a timed ticketed exhibition. Lightning Bolt tickets, which give attendees priority access to the exhibition, are available now, along with various other special ticket deals.

 

Member tickets will be available on Nov 8th before standard tickets go on sale to the public on Nov 15th.

 

Go here for more details and tickets now.

 

 

Album cover shoot for Aladdin Sane, 1973. Photograph by Brian Duffy. © Duffy Archive & The David Bowie Archive.

 

 

#DavidBowieIs  #davidbowieisbkm

 

“Untitled No. 2”

 

Congratulations are due to Duncan and Rodene Jones with the posting of their happy news on Twitter.

 

Duncan made the announcement and quickly followed it up with an impressive brag…

 

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Duncan Jones ‏@ManMadeMoon – 11:05 PM – 1 Oct 2017

Incredibly excited to be able to announce that the Jones gang is growing again!  @rodeneronquillo cooking up a little… girl!

 

Duncan Jones ‏@ManMadeMoon – 11:31 PM – 1 Oct 2017

So for all the cynics out there… YES! I have had sex with a lady at least TWO TIMES!!

 

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Well done to all involved.

 

 

#DuncanAndRodeneJones  #BabyJones  #BabyJones2  #GranddadJones  

 

“Beep Beep”

 

(ANCIANT = A New Career In A New Town)

 

In October 1980, Fashion was released as the second of four singles from Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps).

 

David Mallet directed again, this time inside New York’s HURRAH nightclub. The opening shot of the clip features Bowie and band on the HURRAH stage which was draped in khaki canvas for this shoot.

 

The faceted mirror walls surrounding the dance floor can be seen in the background of various shots, and all the band scenes are shot in this club setting. Some of the dancers can be seen doing the ‘shaker dance’ reemployed for the Blackstar video in 2016.

 

Other locations around Manhattan are intercut throughout the clip with various participants (May Pang among them), proffering the message: “Beep Beep!”

 

Record Mirror readers in the UK voted “Fashion” and “Ashes to Ashes” the best music videos of 1980.

 

Watch the full Fashion video here.

 

 

FOOTNOTE: The Bowie concert performance of Station To Station featured in the movie Christiane F., was filmed at the same club in NY the day before Fashion. This was because DB was performing in the Elephant Man on Broadway several nights a week at the time, and could not shoot in Berlin. The mass concert scenes were actually from an AC/DC concert in Germany and the audio of Station To Station accompanying the performance was lifted from Stage.

 

 

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieFashion  #BowieVideo

 

“I was running at the speed of life”

 

 (ANCIANT = A New Career In A New Town)

 

We’re celebrating today’s release of the David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982) box set with another superb Helen Green animation.

 

View it over on DBFB and scroll the images here for individual stills.

 

Get ANCIANT here.

 

 

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #HelenGreenArtBowie

 

“We can beat them”

 

The “Heroes” limited edition 40th-anniversary 7″ picture disc issued via Parlophone last Friday (22nd) has entered today’s chart at #1. (29 September 2017 – 05 October 2017)

 

It joins three other Bowie releases in the Official Physical Singles Chart Top 20 right now.

 

#01 – “Heroes”

#11 – No Plan EP

#12 – Be My Wife

#17 – Sound And Vision

 

“Heroes” is also at #25 in the overall singles sales chart. Pretty good considering it was only released on vinyl and it’s up against all those downloads, CDs, vinyl and the like by popular kids of today.

 

Much gratitude to all of you for making it so.

 

 

#BowieHeroes  #BowieOCC  #BowieVinyl