Month: May 2003

Now I need you more than ever…

The competition we set a few days ago (05/20/03 NEWS: WIN ONE OF TEN ALADDIN SANE ANNIVERSARY CDs) was another popular one with around fifty percent of entrants providing correct answers. I’ve slowed down the animation and put the titles back on the sleeves of the above five Aladdin Sane related picture cover 45s.

As you can now see, the A-side titles that the winners supplied were Let’s Spend The Night Together (x3), The Jean Genie and Time. Some of you even went as far as listing the B-sides and the country of origin, there was no need, but well done anyway.

The one sleeve that threw most of the 50 per cent of you with wrong answers, was the white one, which was in fact the Brazilian release of Let’s Spend The Nigth* (sic) Together. Many of you mistook this for similar variations of the Drive-In Saturday sleeve.

Anyway, here are the ten winners, who will no doubt be pleased to learn that their prizes will be posted this very morning, depending on how heavy a night Postmistress Susans has had… only jokin’ Sus!

peter999
johnb
geraldcraig
bulgakov
lowlodgerheroes
daffy
poozles
theodora
lowe
paw

* Those of you worrying about this dreadful typo will be relieved to learn that the mistake was corrected for later editions of the sleeve.

Who will love Aladdin Sane…

The Aladdin Sane double disc 30th anniversary edition has started to appear in the press, including, among other things, the two full-page adverts above, (UK and France) and an eight out of ten review in the current NME… We all know the album deserves a ten out of ten, but believe me, that’s an uncharacteristically generous rating for NME! To put it into perspective, no other album (new or reissue) had a higher rating this week. Here’s a bit of that review:

How much of a roll was David Bowie on by 1973? The kind that saw him giving away songs of the calibre of ‘All The Young Dudes’ to Mott The Hoople (who took it to Number One) and releasing this, the wired hangover to ‘Ziggy Stardust…”s superstar excess.

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Ian McCulloch and The Matrix.

While we’re flipping through the NME, this week’s Burn It guest is Ian McCulloch. Ian has been featured on this site a few times over the years, and he’s made his love of DB’s music very clear. But do you think he chose a Bowie song? Well, he did choose The Velvet Underground, Iggy and The Stooges and The Dandy Warhols among others, but he didn’t think of including a Bowie tune! That’s because his daughter selected John I’m Only Dancing for him:

My eight-year-old daughter mentioned this. So I’m choosing this because I’ve got a really cool daughter who’s a right little rock ‘n’ roller.

As if Ian wouldn’t have chosen a Bowie track without encouragement from his daughter! Ian’s cover of The Prettiest Star that he recorded for the UNCUT Ziggy special (01/09/03 NEWS: UNCUT ZIGGY SPECIAL CD TRACKLISTING) will be one of the B-sides on his next single, Love In Veins, due on July 7th. Love In Veins is the second single to be taken from his latest album, Slideling. Coincidentally, an original working title for Aladdin Sane was Love Aladdin Vein.

Elsewhere the NME’s news section has a half-page about The Matrix production team fulfilling a long-held dream with the possibility that they may mix some of David’s new songs. We’ll obviously let you know if anything comes of that.

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Aladdin Sane competition update and pre-order site.

Don’t forget the Aladdin Sane competition that we set a couple of days ago (05/20/03 NEWS: WIN ONE OF TEN ALADDIN SANE ANNIVERSARY CDs) ends tomorrow night. It seems most of you have managed to work out the right answers, certainly a few hundred more of you than the ten BowieNetters who’ll be winners.

Aladdin Sane is due on Monday here in the UK, and EMI international have assured me that the world-wide release date should be the same, except for the one-day delay in the USA. But I have had conflicting information on this, with some listing the US date as far away as June 24th. However, if your local record emporium is not giving you a satisfactory guarantee that they’ll be stocking it quickly enough for you, you may want to pre-order from the BowieNet store instead.

You can reach the Aladdin Sane pre-order page by clicking on the image above.

If you’ve not been keeping an eye on the recent news items about this release, you can find out all you want to know about it by checking out the press release here.

But you made Everyone…

You should have all received an e-mail regarding the exciting new PlayStation2 game, Amplitude. But just in case you didn’t, here’s the official blurb contained within that e-mail:

WHAT IS AMPLITUDE?

Welcome to the world of Amplitude – a high energy, immersive, musical environment where only the fast fingered will survive! Jam with top artists such as David Bowie, Pink, blink 182, P.O.D., Run DMC, Papa Roach, Weezer, Dieselboy and Garbage as you mix and remix their songs within pulsating, addicting game environments and musical highways. And when you’ve had enough of the surging rhythms offline, hop online and perform in a live jam session with other FreQs nationwide! Do you have what it takes to keep the beat alive?

GAME FEATURES

Fast, addictive arcade-style gameplay featuring music from major recording artists including Garbage, Pink, David Bowie, P.O.D., Weezer, blink 182, Quarashi and more!

Perform, mix and remix hit songs within more than 20 immersive levels.

Experience musical immersion in single player mode or jump online and play against FreQs nationwide in a live jam session!

Stake your claim to top DJ with online features including full chat support, ladder rankings, remix uploads and friend and song search.

Remix repositories will be playable online where artists will choose the best track created and then they’ll do their own remix online for people to play.

Click on the screen grab above to take you to the Amplitude website. Can’t wait for my copy to arrive, when I’ll hopefully give my son a complete thrashing for getting further than me in Crash Bandicoot!

Watching him flash away…

Courtesy of EMI, we’ve got ten copies of the Aladdin Sane double disc 30th anniversary edition that we’ve told you about a couple of times here. (05/08/03 NEWS: ALADDIN SANE 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION DUE SHORTLY & 03/16/03 NEWS: ALADDIN SANE 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION DUE IN MAY)

The CD is due next week, and this competition ends midnight this Friday UK time, so some of you will hopefully receive your prize on, or shortly after, the day of release.

I’ve tried to create this competition in such a way that you can all enter, regardless of your Bowie knowledge. Flashing away above are five single sleeves related to Aladdin Sane, in that the A-sides are all tracks from the album. I have removed the titles from the sleeves… you guessed it, all you have to do is tell me what those five A-sides are.

I’ve made it a little harder by animating the covers at a ridiculous speed, but if it proves too hard for most of you, I’ll slow it down a bit. You should be able to find all of the sleeves online (I just found four of them in about 30 seconds), but I’ve thrown in one not so easy to find… again if this proves too hard for most of you I’ll remove it.

So, all I need from you are five song titles, and it’s not necessarily five different titles… though it could be! Send your answers to me at TotalBlamBlam@davidbowie.com with a subject line of “Irritating Aladdin Sane singles competition.”

Usual rules apply: i.e. you must send from your BowieNet address, or at least supply your user name if this is not possible. Only one entry per member. If possible, include your real name and address in your e-mail to speed things up for the winners.

Competition ends midnight Friday UK time, when ten winners will be randomly selected and sent one of these very special packages. Good luck! };-)

First thing you learn is that you always gotta wait…

Due to a wonderful bit of generosity from Lou Reed, we have extended the competition that we set last week (05/10/03 NEWS: LOU REED TALKS ABOUT NYC MAN AND DAVID BOWIE) to the end of the month. It looks like we’ll be getting five signed Lou Reed CDs as opposed to the one prize we originally offered. If you’ve not yet entered the competition then visit the aforementioned news story to take part.

Thanx a lot Lou, and don’t forget kidz…the 31 track, 2 CD, retrospective NYC Man – The Ultimate Lou Reed Collection is on the shelves now. Stay tuned for another BowieNet competition in the next couple of days.

Classic David Bowie Album, Aladdin Sane Includes Bonus CD of Unreleased and Rare Tracks
Digitally Remastered and Beautifully RepackagedIn Stores June 24, 2003

(Hollywood, CA ? April 10, 2003) Virgin Records will release a 30th Anniversary edition of Aladdin Sane on June 24, 2003. The 2CD set includes the classic album, now digitally remastered, and a bonus disc of unreleased and rare tracks from the Aladdin Sane era. Beautifully packaged – in keeping with the style of the 30th anniversary edition of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust issued last year – the Aladdin Sane special edition will feature sleeve notes by David Buckley. Also included are unseen photos by Mick Rock, single sleeves, an Aladdin Sane chronology and other memorabilia.

Recorded during and after an American tour with his group, The Spiders From Mars, Aladdin Sane was released in May 1973 to an unsurpassed wave of public interest. It marked the last time that Bowie – who co-produced the album with Ken Scott – played with The Spiders on record.

Among the high points were the rockers ?Watch That Man? and ?Panic In Detroit?, and two classic Bowie singles, ?The Jean Genie? and ?Drive-In Saturday?.

With Aladdin Sane, Bowie showed that he was on a roll – one of the greatest rolls in rock history

Aladdin Sane Tracklisting:
CD 1:

1. Watch That Man
2. Aladdin Sane
3. Drive-In Saturday
4. Panic In Detroit
5. Cracked Actor
6. Time
7. The Prettiest
8. Let’s Spend the Night Together
9. The Jean Genie
10. Lady Grinning Soul

CD 2:

1. John, I’m Only Dancing (Aladdin Sane session version)
2. The Jean Genie (Original UK Single mix)
3. Time (single edit)
4. All The Young Dudes
5. Changes (Recorded live at the Music Hall, Boston 10/1/72) **
6. The Supermen (Recorded live at the Music Hall, Boston 10/1/72) **
7. Life On Mars? (Recorded live at the Music Hall, Boston 10/1/72) *
8. John, I’m Only Dancing (Recorded live at the Music Hall, Boston 10/1/72)**
9. The Jean Genie (Recorded live at the Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica 10/20/72)
10. Drive-In Saturday (Recorded live at the Public Hall, Cleveland on 11/25/72 *

* previously unreleased
** previously only available on the extra disc in the Sound and Vision box set

It’s happening now…

With the Aids Walk New York now underway, BowieNetter Jim Hyde (aka Floidoip) only needs another $85 to reach his new target of $1,500. Kimberly Smith (aka Chamomile) has now passed her target of $500 by $25, and it seems BowieNetters really made a difference to the funds of both walkers.

If you’re not there in person, I’m sure you are in spirit, and you’ll join me in wishing Jim, Kim and Leeza the best of luck.

Let’s turn on with me and you’re not alone…

The Ziggy Stardust Motion Picture DVD continues to garner great reviews since we posted a bunch of them a couple of months back. (03/22/03 NEWS: ZIGGY STARDUST MOTION PICTURE COMPETITION) Recent praise includes a four star review in the current June issue of Mojo, and a top of the list placing in the UNCUT (June issue also) recommended DVDs of the last three months.

But possibly one of the more enthusiastic pieces was hi-lighted by BowieNetter Susans who sent in a great review from the May edition of Classic Rock, (She’s a hard-rockin’ chick!) from which the picture above was taken. The review, by Ian Fortnam, is worth reproducing here in its entirety (almost):

Hello Goodbye – The night when Bowie spectacularly killed off his greatest creation

A CARICATURE ROCK SHOW if ever there was one, Bowie’s ‘farewell’ performance at London’s Hammersmith Odeon on July 3, 1973, still serves to epitomise the ultimate dream gig for every fledgling pop idol that has ever postured heroically before their bedroom mirror.

Streamlined to greasepaint-splattered weasel slickness; accentuated beyond earthly dynamism by eye-boggling costume changes, expertly choreographed, androgynous provocation and arms-aloft, guitar god gurnings; its star deified by a pansexual phalanx of mesmerised and submissive stormtroopers stretching their hands toward the stage while unself-consciously drizzling their dolly-brooched Biba drag with desperate tears of unrequited, loin-lubricated lust.

It made the Beatles at Shea Stadium look like a vicar’s tea party, and set an unattainable benchmark that will guarantee the likes of Manson and Molko teddy bear-strangling sleepless nights of unbidden jealousy for the rest of their natural lives.

Oh yes, it was (by all accounts) quite a gig. But you don’t have to take received glam rock wisdom’s word for it, because DA Pennebaker (a filmmaker who previously alerted the planet to Jimi Hendrix’s epoch-scarring guitar conflagrations via Monterey Pop) immortalised every last Stardust death throe.

Bowie’s performance is exemplary, his 2,500-strong supporting cast of pit-bound glitterati compelling in their exquisite distress, and the Technicolor sonics of the Mick Ronson-arranged Spiders majestic.

But I guess you all knew that anyway. };-)