Month: February 2007

Words are flowing out like endless rain…

The upcoming EMI Young Americans Special Edition CD & DVD has contributions from David Bowie peppered throughout David Buckley‘s excellent sleeve notes.

We thought you might like to read one or two of those contributions, not to mention a sneak preview of some of the booklet pictures (see above), ahead of the release date on March 19th. (North America May 8th: 02.23.2007 NEWS: BEST OF 1980/1987 AND YA DELAYED IN NORTH AMERICA)

Over to you, David…

?After I?d gotten Diamond Dogs out of my system, along with the disappointment of not being able to stage 1984 as a full blown theatrical and musical stage piece (George Orwell?s widow refused to grant me the rights) I needed to find a new and real challenge. Whereas some artists were moving into the disco thing which I wasn?t partial to, I sunk myself back into the music that I considered the bedrock of all popular music. R&B and soul. I guess from the outside it seemed to be a pretty drastic move. I think I probably lost as many fans as I gained new ones.?

Responding to Buckley’s observation that producer Ken Scott was reporting Bowie was big on Barry White, DB goes on…

?Actually it was Isaac Hayes and the Shaft sound. I wasn?t hip to Barry White?s Love Unlimited Orchestra until 1974. Gene Page, his fantastic string arranger had also created the wondrous ?You?ve Lost That Loving Feeling? for the Righteous Brothers and ?The In Crowd? by Dobie Gray among many classics. There was such great stuff being recorded during that time, I?m thinking 1973 to 1975. Eddie Kendricks, Bobby Womack, Tyrone Davis and The Staple Singers, Carlos Alomars? own The Main Ingredient and of course, the whole Philly sound, O?Jays, Harold Melvin and a live favourite of mine when I would go with Carlos up to the Apollo in Harlem, The Spinners.

When I was around 16, I was working at an advertising agency in London, and there was another commercial artist working with me called Ian. Ian sent me down to the record shop in Soho and said, ?Get me this John Lee Hooker album, and this James Brown album?, and I went crazy about both. ?The James Brown album was called Live At the Apollo, and from that moment on, my great dream in life was to go to the Apollo.”

We’ll post more excerpts and another exclusive picture when we run the contest to win ten copies of the Young Americans Special Edition CD & DVD around this time next week.

D A V I D, What shall I do?

Those of you already missing London club night GLAM-OU-RAMA (02.24.2007 REMINDER: GLAM-OU-RAMA’S FIFTH AND FINAL BIRTHDAY TONIGHT) will be pleased to learn of another Bowie night across town in Hoxton.

Here’s some stuff from organiser Paul Simmons…

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We had our first D A V I D party last August in Shoreditch – lots of press coverage and a great turn out – mixture of true Bowie fans, magazine staff, musicians and local club kids. The second D A V I D, at Underbelly is due to be even better – we have had people asking us about when the next one would be for the last 4 months so it was about time…

The concept is very simple – nothing cheesey or gimmicky. Just a night dedicated to the music performed/written and produced by David Bowie, as well as projections of Bowie related photography and film.

He’s the only artist with such a diverse body of work than you can play his stuff all night long, and still have an amazing party. Me and my bandmates from ULTERIOR curate it as he’s our biggest influence, and we wanted to put on a night of devotion.

Here’s a link to shots from the last D A V I D party.

Here’s the press release info…

D A V I D – The Return of The Thin White Duke
Saturday 3rd March 2007
9pm – Late
Underbelly
11 Hoxton Square,
London, N1 6NU,
Tel: 02076133105
Free before 10pm/ £3 after
www.zigfrid.com

A bi-annual celebration of all things Bowie. Music on the night is strictly tracks written, performed or produced by David Bowie. The music will also be complimented by 3 Bowie films being show on different screens as well as projected stills of the great man’s iconic stage shows. The night attracts east end style vampires and Bowie enthusiasts alike, with free entry to all those that ‘dress the part’. If last summer’s event was anything to go by, people should get down early to ensure entry. Music will be currated by techno three piece, Ulterior.

(Venue Review: “Located underneath the uber-trendy Zigfrid bar on Hoxton Square, Underbelly is a club with a difference. Dark, gritty, yet full of energy and oozing effortless charm – think David Lynch meets the Rolling Stones.”)

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Thanx to BowieNetter soniah for the pointer.

Well, I guess we must be looking for a different kind…

We did promise to run this contest this month (01.29.2007 REMINDER: OPTIMUM TMWFTE REGION 2 DVD OUT TODAY) and we just about managed it.

Don’t want to overdo the competitions here though, this is the fifth over the last two months of 2007 with three more already lined up for March, and I know how you don’t really like contests. 😉

Somebody on the MBs recently hinted at how much they’ve enjoyed the spot the difference type contests we have run here on occasions. So, just for a change…

I’ve posted two versions above of the same shot of T J Newton going a bit mental after watching too much TV in a memorable scene from The Man Who Fell To Earth.

To be in with a chance of winning one of five copies of the recently released Optimum double disc region 2 DVD of the film, all you have to do is spot the six differences between each version.

When you think you’ve located all of them, send them 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 ends next Sunday, March 4th at midnight UK time, and we’ll announce the winners on the morning* of the 5th.

*This will be Honolulu time for a change. Sorry to be so specific, but I have to oil the COGs occasionally.

Five years, what a surprise…

Tonight sees the 5th and final birthday party of GLAM-OU-RAMA, a London club that has kept the Bowie flag flying over fifty nights across the past five years.

It was always a nice surprise at a London gig to be handed a GLAM-OU-RAMA flyer, more often than not featuring the face of David Bowie…but alas, it will no longer be.

Here’s the blurb for tonight’s final fling…

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GLAM-OU-RAMAs’ 5th Birthday – Saturday 24th February 9pm – 4am

We’re delighted to invite you to the 5th birthday party of GLAM-OU-RAMA. Since 2002 we’ve provided a night time home to the best dressed and most glamorous people in London. We’ve literally filled the streets and ears of London with glitter love. It is now not only our 5th Birthday Party but also sweetly the 50th night that GLAM-OU-RAMA has run! We’re going to make this the most glittering night ever and ensure it’s only our lovely members and regulars who get in; like a true birthday party it is invite only (and this email is your invite). So we request that you either reply to this email with your name or add yourself to the “I’m Going” section of the events calendar. This will ensure our glamorous door assistant Dominic will let you and your guests in.

Like any good birthday party, there will be presents, cake, balloons and clowns! We’ve also invited back our favourite live band of 2006 to celebrate with us, the incredibly fun and outrageously glam rock stars, The Ape Drape Escape.

As Bowie says “We’ve got five years, that’s all we’ve got” and indeed he was right. You may already have heard the rumours but this will be the last ever Club Bohemia. Our beloved child shall ascend to the stars at the end of the night to seek out a brighter future in another galaxy. For us this is the end of a chapter. It’s been an amazing time doing Club Bohemia, but with Preston no longer in the country and myself very busy with other commitments we cannot give the club the attention it needs. So after our birthday we will be closing the doors on Club Bohemia forever. We realise as the last night and our 5th birthday it might be quite busy so we advise people to get there early. You should get there early for The Ape Drape Escape in any case as they are amazing!

It’s been a pleasure and an honour doing Club Bohemia for you beautiful people the last few years and we hope as many of you as possible can be there this weekend. Love & Glitter from the whole GLAM-OU-RAMA team; Kitten, Preston, David, Tallulah, Dominic and Tamara. X X X

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Sorry to see you go folx, hopefully you’ll hatch a similar night somewhere soon.

God is an American…

The two upcoming EMI CD & DVD releases of the Young Americans Special Edition and The Best Of David Bowie 1980/1987 have been put back in North America from March 19th to May 8th. The release date remains March 19th elsewhere.

As hinted at in the caption above, this isn’t the first delay for Young Americans in North America. The album’s original release in 1975 was apparently slightly delayed due to some sort of legal palaver.

Anyway, help will hopefully be at hand for at least some lucky North American BowieNetters when we run a contest to win ten copies of Young Americans courtesy of EMI sometime next week.

For the tracklistings of both Young Americans and The Best Of David Bowie 1980/1987 see the following two news stories respectively: 12.30.2006 NEWS: JOHN, YA SPECIAL EDITION DUE IN MARCH (AGAIN) & 01.23.2007 NEWS: BOWIE THE BEST OF 1980/1987 CD AND DVD DUE IN MARCH.

Catchphrase and wig and the jokes are lame…

The region 2 DVD of Extras series 2 (above) is to be released through Universal Pictures Video on March 26th.

Not sure of any, erm…extras right now, but hopefully the DVD will include some of the additional material filmed on the day. (06.07.2006 NEWS: BOWIE PART FILMED FOR EXTRAS & 06.09.2006 NEWS: NEW BOWIE PORTRAITS FROM EXTRAS SHOOT)

Obviously we’ll let you know as soon as we find out more.

He’s in the best selling show…

As reported last week (02.13.2007 REMINDER: LIFE ON MARS SERIES TWO ON BBC ONE TONIGHT) out now through Sony BMG is the soundtrack CD for the BBC’s hit TV series, Life On Mars.

Here’s the tracklisting:

01 Introduction – Dialogue – King Of The Jungle – Various Artists
02 Life On Mars? – David Bowie
03 Street Life – Roxy Music
04 Live And Let Die – Wings
05 10538 Overture – ELO
06 Tokoloshi Man – John Kongos
07 Devils Answer – Atomic Rooster
08 Rock On – T-Rex
09 Little Bit Of Love – Free
10 Jungle Lion – The Upsetters
11 Brief Interlude – Dialogue – Armed B******** – Various Artists
12 Blockbuster – Sweet
13 Cindy Incidentally – The Faces
14 Snow Flower – Ananda Shankar
15 Coz I Luv You – Slade
16 One Of The Boys – Mott The Hoople
17 Meet Me On The Corner – Lindisfarne
18 I Can’t Change It – Frankie Miller
19 Whiskey In The Jar – Thin Lizzy
20 I Had A Dream – Audience
21 Traveller In Time – Uriah Heep
22 I Wish I Knew – Nina Simone
23 Epilogue – Dialogue – I Want To Go Home – Various Artists

Click on the image above to get to the excellent Life On Mars soundtrack CD minisite where you can enjoy all manner of related goodies including the UK TV advert for the CD, a jukebox, a link to a dedicated MySpace page and more.

The Life On Mars OST is available as a limited digipak (which includes a fold out seventies poster inside) from your favourite CD emporium today.

It’s a trick to make you see wide…

As we told you last month, (01.20.2007 NEWS: PRESTIGE DVD AND BLU-RAY PLUS TMWFTE REGION 2 DVD) the region 1 DVD and the Blu-ray disc of The Prestige are released in North America today.

Extras include the following…

~ Available Subtitles: Spanish, French
~ Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 2.0), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0)
~ The Director’s Notebook: The Cinematic Sleight of Hand of Christopher Nolan
~ The Art of the Prestige Gallery

Also, as previously mentioned, the region 2 DVD is released on March 12th and we can now confirm that the HD-DVD is due on May 14th.

We’re painting our faces…

Hot-on-the-heels of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars album cover limited edition art print produced by UK based company, St Pauls Gallery, (10.11.2006 NEWS: LIMITED EDITION SIGNED ZIGGY ART PRINT DISCOUNT UPDATE) it gives us great pleasure to announce that both David Bowie and Terry Pastor of Main Artery have given the go ahead for the same treatment of the Hunky Dory sleeve. (That’s just a mock-up above)

Tune in next week for that contest to win an Artist’s Proof of Ziggy Stardust that we promised previously, along with an exclusive interview with Terry Pastor regarding his work on both sleeves.

Immensely marvellous…

When EMI released the download version of the BAAL EP last month, (01.01.2007 REMINDER: DB 1965! AND BAAL DOWNLOAD EPs AVAILABLE NOW) they produced a rather exclusive promotional item to tie in with it, and, as promised then, we’ve got one to give to a deserving BowieNetter.

The item above is one of only ten hand-numbered 7″ vinyl BAAL EPs produced by our good friend Nigel Reeve at EMI, (the man behind many of our more exciting competitions) …and it could be yours!

I’m sure you’re aware just how rare and collectable an item like this must be, suffice to say, it’s very unlikely you’ll ever see one on eBay.

However, we’re only displaying the A-side label in an attempt to discourage bootlegers…so if you ever do get offered one, contact us and we’ll tell you if it’s legit or not by what information you can give us about the B-side label.

OK, onto the contest. A tiny bit harder than usual perhaps, but I’m sure you’ll have fun finding the answers if you don’t already know them.

Question 1: Above is a grab from the David Mallet directed video for The Drowned Girl. What we want to know is, who is the clean cut young guitarist to David’s left, and what was his connection with the Baal studio recordings?

Question 2: Above are the sleeves for the digital EPs released at the start of the year: BOWIE 1965! and the BAAL EP. EMI originally released one of these EPs with identical tracks (albeit with a different title and a different sleeve) on vinyl in 1979. Which of the above has the same tracks as that release? BOWIE 1965! or the BAAL EP?

If you’re struggling with the second question, you may want to check out these news stories: 10.20.2006 NEWS: BOWIE 1965! DOWNLOAD EP AND BAAL EP UPDATE & 01.01.2007 REMINDER: DB 1965! AND BAAL DOWNLOAD EPs AVAILABLE NOW. If you’re struggling with the first question, you may want to give BowieNetter Keiths a call…only joking. He knows nothing.

When you think you have the answers to both questions, send them 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. There are still people who send in their entry with neither and are probably wondering why they have never won anything.

We’ll give you a couple of weeks for this contest, and we’ll be accepting entries no later than midnight on Friday March 2nd. The solitary lucky bastard winner will be announced sometime the next day. Good luck, whoever you may be.