“(Sad sad) Get off your telephone” – DB calls John to tell him that he’s going
to be out till the early hours dancing, again. Picture by Steve Schapiro, 1975.
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:
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.