Get a long-Low life…
As promised last week (01.25.2007 NEWS: TV IN THE TIMES TOMORROW…LONDON SIGNING NEXT MONTH) we have five copies to give away of
But before that, in the month that we celebrate thirty years since Low was released, (01.14.2007 NEWS: LOW RELEASED THIRTY YEARS AGO TODAY) here’s the first of two edited extracts from the book regarding the recording of the album…
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An edited excerpt about the making of Low from Tony Visconti, The Autobiography. Part 1 of 2
?during the long hot summer of 1976, David called me from his home in Switzerland; he had been silent for quite a while. David had befriended and was working with the wonderfully named Brian Peter St John Le Baptiste de la Salle Eno. Brian was listening on the extension.
?We?ve been experimenting with some ideas. We?re thinking of going into a studio in September for a month. We don?t have any actual songs yet but we?re trying to combine Brian?s ambient music techniques into writing rock songs. What do you think you would bring to the table?? It was the first time I?d heard the expression. I quickly thought and said, ?I have a new piece of equipment, only the second unit in Britain; it?s called a Harmonizer. I?ve been experimenting with it everyday, I?m coming up with sounds that I?ve never heard before.?
?Yeah, but what kind of sounds?? asked David.
?Well, it fucks with the fabric of time.?
If ever I pulled one out of the hat that was it. They ?oo-ed? and ?ah-ed? and said that they loved that description.
?Tony, before we start recording I have to say this is strictly experimental, and nothing might come of it in the end. Are you prepared to maybe waste a month of your time??
?Wasting a month of my time with David Bowie and Brian Eno is NOT wasting a month of my time.?
David has been known to change guitarists frequently and he had long since parted with Mick Ronson. He wanted me to recommend one. I had been working with Ricky Gardiner with whom I made a single for my Good Earth label. He was one of the most original and evocative guitarists I?d ever worked with. He had all the right guitar effects pedals and he knew how to combine them to produce amazing sounds; his playing had a touch of Hendrix about it. By now David had settled with Carlos Alomar, George Murray and Dennis Davis as his reliable rhythm section, all Americans of colour. To augment the band we now had Ricky Gardiner, every inch a tall, lanky Glaswegian, and Roy Young, a London rock ?n? roll pianist who had been living in Hamburg since before the Beatles arrived there. Added to which there was the very cerebral Brian Eno with his briefcase EMS Synthi synthesizer.
The sessions began with a bang. Instead of starting with the ambient experiment we jumped into a rock band situation and great backing tracks started to emerge on the very first day. True to form there were no melodies or lyrics, just grooves and chord changes. David called them ?demos? but I recorded them carefully, knowing full well that these could end up as masters, and they did.
Before we recorded the first piece, I had to get sounds from each instrument, and in the case of the drums, one for each drum. I immediately set up my Harmonizer and decided to use one of the coolest tricks I?d discovered before I?d left London. I sent a feed from the snare drum mic to the Harmonizer, I dropped the pitch by a semi-tone, and then I added feedback of this sound to itself. In simple terms it means a very deep snare sound that keeps cascading downwards in pitch; the initial impact had the ?crack? but then the ?thud? never seemed to stop, and, not only did it go on at length, but it got deeper and deeper in pitch, kind of like the sound a man makes when he gets punched in the stomach ? ?ugh?. Everyone was amazed.
David scratched his head and said, ?I agree it?s an amazing effect, but I?m dubious whether we?ll use it.? But as we grew more familiar with it ? we eventually loved it. Of course, it made the final cut and it has since been regarded as one of the most revolutionary drum sounds ever created.
The album was made in a relaxed atmosphere and the company made for interesting and stimulating conversation over meals. Dennis Davis amazed us with a story about when he was in the US Air Force. He accidentally walked through a restricted hangar and saw a crashed-up alien spacecraft.
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Great stuff. Thanx Tony. I should point out that these are Tony’s recollections of events as far as he remembers them, and that there was absolutely no corroboration with DB while Tony wrote the book. And while I’m not suggesting for one minute they’re inaccurate, well, David’s may be different at times. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see on that one.
Tony also kindly donated the above photograph from the Low sessions, and this is what he had to say about it: “Okay, this an exclusive for Bowienetters, it’s not even in the book. From left to right, David, Roy Young, Carlos Alomar and the top of Dennis Davis’s drum kit. I took it from the control room window. This is in the main studio at Chateau D’Hérouville. The lighting was pretty Low, so I apologise for the fuzzy quality of the photo.”
Well, despite Tony’s apology, I think it’s a beautiful shot. BowieNetters can view a larger detail of it
OK, on to the contest. As you know, the title of Tony’s book is: Bowie, Bolan and the Brooklyn Boy…But, just who is the Brooklyn Boy? Yes, it’s as easy as that.
When you think you’ve identified said Boy, send your answer to me here.
Usual BowieNet rules apply: Only one entry per BowieNet account, and please remember you must enter using your BowieNet e-mail or at least supply your BowieNet user name.
The contest will be open until midnight UK time on February 4th, so that the winners can be announced on the morning the book goes on sale on the 5th.
Tony informs me he will now be doing another
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Harrods Rocks department, 2nd Floor, Harrods. Wednesday, 7 February 2007, 5:30PM
As part of the Harrods Rocks exhibition Tony Visconti, a name synonymous with ground-breaking music, will be signing copies of his compelling life story. Further details: 0207 730 1234
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So there you have it. Get e-mailing your answer now.