New Music Night And Day…
The March edition of Record Collector has rather cheekily beaten Uncut to the punch with a twelve-page-special on the ‘Berlin years’. The piece looks at each album from the period in some detail including the trilogy of Low, “Heroes” and Lodger, Iggy Pop’s The Idiot and Lust For Life and the live Bowie album from the 1978 tour, Stage. Gary Numan, Martin Fry and John Foxx talk about how the period influenced their own work, and that influence is further discussed in a piece that traces the continued importance of the works up to and including Radiohead’s Kid A.
While the article attempts to explode many of the myths that have survived across the years, it also continues to propagate some of the more tedious ones. Having said that, the sensationalism is countered to some degree by the attempt to study the content of this most magnificent body of work. The magazine also has an exhaustive discography that includes the uncommonly rare 7″ Low sampler at £500 ($700) and a red vinyl pressing of Low (of questionable validity) listed at the same price.
Of course I nailed my colours to the mast when I wrote a full page piece on the ‘Berlin years’ for the International Express three years ago. But it’s still wonderful to see so much interest in this most prolific and fascinating period of Bowie’s career.
Total Blam Blam – (European Correspondent)
EXCLUSIVE FOR BOWIE FANS:
Although “Uncut” posed a number of email questions to both DB and TV, which the boys very kindly answered in full, the bulk of the article is disappointingly yet another “cut and paste” job, sourcing much of its material from the same half dozen books that are always brought into the fray when Berlin is periodically trotted out. The same old myths and rumours. And sadly, much of the DB and TV interviews were not used, so, just for us, here are the ENTIRE ‘UNCUT’ Q&A sheets that were given and completed by our Berlin “Heroes”, David Bowie and Tony Visconti. Enjoy!!