Month: March 2002

Good time love…

This month’s gratuitous use of a David Bowie picture in Q magazine, is a splendid little shot from 1996 taken with The Pet Shop Boys backstage at Top Of The Pops, when they performed ‘Hallo Spaceboy’ together. The picture is used in the regular Q feature, Cash for Questions, and as far as I can tell the only reason to have used it was to illustrate a question from an Eduard Meyer who asked whose ego out of Bowie’s, Liza’s, Dusty’s, Tina’s and Kylie’s was the most “challenging” to work with.

Neil explained, rather diplomatically, that “they were all incredibly nice and co-operative”, while singling out Dusty’s perfectionism as the thing that probably made her the hardest to work with. So, no real mention of David, but enough of one to get that regular Bowie shot in. You may think that the fact I haven’t mentioned the monthly Bowie Q pic recently is an indication that there hasn’t been one, think on…

Last month’s issue (March) had a picture of the Ziggy Stardust sleeve to illustrate a piece by the brilliant Ricky Gervais (The Office, XFM etc.) in which he chose his five favourite albums, and the February edition had a Tibet 2001 shot to illustrate a piece about Bowie Bonds, not to mention the four self-portraits that we mentioned at the time. (02/19/02 NEWS: WIN MATTHEW COLLINGS’ ART CRAZY NATION) One of these days I’ll sit down and work out how far back this unbroken chain stretches, unless somebody out there….

The toppest top of all the tops…

David has expressed a desire to find out what your five favourite Bowie studio albums are. An impossible task for most of us I’m sure, but the governor wants to know…so you better get choosing. Click on the crazy animation above to take you to the lovely little voting panel that webmaster Alex has knocked up for us.

To give you lazy sods a little more incentive, we’ll send a signed ‘Heathen’ promotional CD to five lucky random entrants around the time of the album’s release on June 11th. And then, when you’ve all done, I guess it’ll be a case of: The crowd say Bo selected!*

*With apologies to the Artful Dodger featuring Craig David.

The toppest top of all the tops….

David has expressed a desire to find out what your five favourite Bowie studio albums are. An impossible task for most of us I’m sure, but the governor wants to know…so you better get choosing. Click on the crazy animation above to take you to the lovely little voting panel that webmaster Alex has knocked up for us.

To give you lazy sods a little more incentive, we’ll send a signed ‘Heathen’ promotional CD to five lucky random entrants around the time of the album’s release on June 11th. And then, when you’ve all done, I guess it’ll be a case of: The crowd say Bo selected!*

*With apologies to the Artful Dodger featuring Craig David.

Just one living chance

Starman : TOTP2 (UK) : 04/02/02

The UK TV show, Top of the Pops 2, celebrates its 250th show next week, with 20 all time favourite performances as voted for on the TOTP website by viewers of the programme. The show will include, in 12th place, that historic rendition of Starman, cited (and often quoted in our BowieNet news pages) as a life-changing moment by a large number of famous artists and music fans alike. Showing on BBC2 in the UK on Tuesday 2nd April, at 7.05PM, and also on various BBC digital channels as listed in our calendar.

Lyricist : New York Times : 03/10/02

Billy Joel was interviewed in the New York Times recently, and had this to say about lyric writing:-

“I always wanted to be a better lyric writer than I was. I wanted to write surrealistic lyrics like David Bowie or abstract lyrics like Dylan or philosophical lyrics like Leonard Cohen. Lyrics that weren’t so bloody literal.”

Thin White Duke : Guardian : 03/24/02

In a Guardian profile of Lenny Kravitz, we are given a brief glimpse of his early inspirations:-

“Kravitz’s musical career began in the mid-Eighties when he left home and lived in a Ford Escort, hired for $5 a day. Inspired by Bowie and the New Romantics, he called himself Romeo Blue, dyed his hair and wore blue contact lenses. ‘I wasn’t the thin white duke,’ he once said. ‘I was the thin brown duke.’“

Starman : ‘Ted and Alice’ : 04/04/02

A new romantic comedy series starts on BBC1 in the UK on Thursday 4th April at 9.00PM and the trailer, currently airing, uses Starman as theme music. “Ted is an alien, an outcast on his own planet where he is a rare single-sex being condemned to a life in search of a mate. Alice’s life seems set to change when Ted, who is not only looking for love but also a place to hide his spaceship, appears on her doorstep.” ( blammo)

Space Oddity : NME : 03/27/02

Space Oddity, from The Langley Schools Music Project (11/09/01 SNIPPET: BOWIEPHILES), makes the Top Ten list of NME Stereo “Turn Ons” this week. The album ‘Innocence And Despair’, from which the track is taken, is released in the UK on Basta, on April 29th. There is also a story about this album, from the Telegraph, here.

(contributors : blammo, spaceface)

:))

Pray and ‘Heathen’ will appear…

Columbia Records has signed David Bowie to a multi-record deal through his own ISO Records, and ?Heathen?, his first studio album in three years, will be the first release on ISO on June 11th.

Columbia Records Chairman Don Ienner had this to say of David and the new album: “David Bowie is simply one of the most distinctive, influential and exciting artists of our time, and Heathen is a remarkable addition to his incredible body of work. The album is filled with amazing songs and performances that evoke vintage Bowie without ever looking backward.”

Regarding his signing to Columbia, David said, “I can’t think of a better home for the music that will be made for ISO than Columbia.”

David is expected to perform at a series of European and American festival dates, following the release of ?Heathen?, this summer.

“The Sun Machine is Coming Down, and We’re Gonna Have a Party!”

See below for the full official press release.

Total Blam Blam – (European Correspondent)

——————————————————————————————————————————

COLUMBIA RECORDS ANNOUNCES THE SIGNING OF DAVID BOWIE
NEW ALBUM “HEATHEN” DUE ON JUNE 11TH.
FIRST STUDIO ALBUM IN 3 YEARS MARKS
NEW “ISO RECORDS” MULTI-ALBUM DEAL

Columbia Records announced today that it has signed David Bowie to a multi-record deal through the artist’s ISO Records, and will release ?Heathen?, his first studio album in three years, on June 11.

The album marks the artist’s first studio collaboration in more than two decades with producer Tony Visconti, who has worked with Bowie on numerous albums throughout his career, including ?Young Americans?, ?Low?, ?Heroes? and ?Scary Monsters And Super Creeps?.

According to Columbia Records Chairman Don Ienner, “David Bowie is simply one of the most distinctive, influential and exciting artists of our time, and Heathen is a remarkable addition to his incredible body of work. The album is filled with amazing songs and performances that evoke vintage Bowie without ever looking backward, and I think it’s the album that his worldwide audience has been waiting for. Music needs David Bowie right now, and we couldn’t be more proud that he has chosen Columbia as his new home.”

Regarding his signing to Columbia, Bowie said, “I can’t think of a better home for the music that will be made for ISO than Columbia. After my first couple of meetings with the guys at Columbia it was apparent that their enthusiasm for what Tony and I are doing right now borders on boundless.”

Following the release of ?Heathen?, Bowie is expected to perform on a series of European and American festival dates this summer. He will also act as curator of the prestigious Meltdown Festival in London during June.

——————————————————————————————————————————

This club’s called The Blitz, it’s this month’s pick…

Ex-Visage singer and club entrepreneur, Steve Strange, has a newly published autobiography. ‘Blitzed!’ is the latest in a line of books by Eighties pop icons who have acknowledged the influence of David Bowie upon their careers. Off the top of my head, previous biographies with a similar message include those by or about, Boy George, Holly Johnson, Marc Almond, Joe Jackson, Gary Numan and Billy Mackenzie. I’m sure to have forgotten a few, but even this short list is some indication of just how David Bowie helped shape the sights and sounds of that very fertile late Seventies/early Eighties period.

Steve has a lot of good stuff to say about DB, including how his walls were covered with posters of the man who inspired the haircut that got Steve thrown out of school. He also talks of the birth of the New Romantic movement from it’s humble beginnings as a regular Bowie Night in a 250-capacity club in 1978, (where more people were turned away every week than actually managed to squeeze in) to the infamous Blitz club, which David visited one night in search of extras for his ‘Ashes to Ashes’ video. Here’s a small excerpt from Steve’s memory of that evening:

“Word soon spread like wildfire that David Bowie was there. He was probably the reason most people at the club had got into pop music in the first place. Travel back to the childhood bedroom of most Blitz habitués and you’ll find a David Bowie poster on the wall. He had changed his look and his sound so many times, there were more than enough images to go round. The alien from Low and The Man Who Fell To earth. Aladdin Sane. Diamond Dogs. Ziggy Stardust.

He was the one person that everyone there would cite as an influence, even more important than punk. Everyone wanted to go upstairs and see him. We had to have extra security to keep people back. He said it was a great scene and asked me if I would like to appear in the video for his next single, Ashes to Ashes.”

You can watch a small snippet of Steve talking about the ‘Ashes to Ashes’ video on HTV Wales by clicking on the book cover above. ‘Blitzed!’ The Autobiography of Steve Strange is out now on Orion.

Columbia Records announced today that it has signed David Bowie to a multi-record deal through the artist’s ISO Records, and will release ?Heathen?, his first studio album in three years, on June 11.

The album marks the artist’s first studio collaboration in more than two decades with producer Tony Visconti, who has worked with Bowie on numerous albums throughout his career, including ?Young Americans?, ?Low?, ?Heroes? and ?Scary Monsters And Super Creeps?.

According to Columbia Records Chairman Don Ienner, “David Bowie is simply one of the most distinctive, influential and exciting artists of our time, and Heathen is a remarkable addition to his incredible body of work. The album is filled with amazing songs and performances that evoke vintage Bowie without ever looking backward, and I think it’s the album that his worldwide audience has been waiting for. Music needs David Bowie right now, and we couldn’t be more proud that he has chosen Columbia as his new home.”

Regarding his signing to Columbia, Bowie said, “I can’t think of a better home for the music that will be made for ISO than Columbia. After my first couple of meetings with the guys at Columbia it was apparent that their enthusiasm for what Tony and I are doing right now borders on boundless.”

Following the release of ?Heathen?, Bowie is expected to perform on a series of European and American festival dates this summer. He will also act as curator of the prestigious Meltdown Festival in London during June.

It’s gonna be me…

Originally scheduled for today, but put back until April 15th, the Scott Walker produced new Pulp single has a few funny Bowie links. The single sleeve (above) features a coloured up version of the picture we first mentioned last October, which depicts a 13-year-old lad recreating the Ziggy Stardust sleeve. That lad is non other than Pulp guitarist Mark ‘Zig’ Webber who also has a very brief cameo in the hilarious spoof of the Band Aid video that accompanies the single.

As you all know, there is a Bowie look-a-like in the video too, but nobody seems to have spotted yet that the chap playing the part of David Bowie is our old friend John Mainwaring. Yes, he of Bowie tribute band, Jean Genie, who Spaceface interviewed for a piece that you can find in the Special Features Archive. We’ll have more from John about the video shoot in the next couple of days.

And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear…

Auction number ten has ended with yet another new high-bid record with a staggering $700 final bid for a shirt designed by Paul Smith and worn and signed by David. The third of the five signed limited edition prints of David Bowie and Tony Visconti also went for a very respectable $182.50.

Today we have another one of David’s shirts. This time it’s a brown Dolce & Gabbana affair and despite the fact that David clearly didn’t bother hanging it up properly (tut-tut!), it’s still just as lovely as the last couple of shirts we’ve posted on eBay.

The Iman T-shirt that we posted briefly last week makes a re-appearance today, still can’t believe you all thought it was an Isolar shirt!

Dolce & Gabbana shirt worn and signed by David Bowie!

Iman T-shirt

You’ll lose your mind and play…

David recently pointed me in the direction of what looks to be another essential Syd Barrett book. Due out as a hardback in October, ‘Madcap’ by Tim Willis is published by Short Books and “promises to both set the record straight and shatter a few long-held myths in the process.” Eskimo Chain, the Syd site that David recommended last month, (02/12/02 NEWS: DAVID RECOMMENDS ESKIMO CHAIN!?) has a tantalising interview with author Tim Willis.

Willis claims to have the ultimate scoop with this one, in that he has actually talked to Barrett for the book, but when pushed to give a reason why Syd has decided to break his thirty-year silence, the author teased: “The interesting thing is not why he talked, but what he said. And, for that, you’ll have to wait ’til publication…” Indeed we will, and what a long wait it’s going to seem. 🙁

Of course Mick Rock’s brilliant Syd Barrett book, PSYCHEDELIC RENEGADES, (in which Mick recalled his first meeting with David, see story above) has the first real Syd exclusive with 320 copies of the book being signed by the Madcap himself. Only a handful of these editions are left now, so if you don’t want to be kicking yourself forever more, you best nip over to Genesis Publications by clicking on Mick’s picture of Syd above.