Month: February 2010

Raw Power honey just won’t quit…

I know this story has been kicking around for a few days, but I wanted to locate the above 1973 record store poster to illustrate it…which I’ve obviously now done.

They got it right when they said: “Most rock bands would be better off listening to Iggy and The Stooges mixed by David Bowie”.

There has always been a portion of fans of Iggy and The Stooges’ Raw Power unhappy with the way it sounded and ready to blame Bowie for that.

However, I have to say I’ve always loved the sound of Bowie’s original mix and Raw Power has been my favourite album of its genre since 1973.

I think I played Iggy’s 1997 remix just the once and wondered what the point of it was…it was certainly no improvement and to my ears it actually sounded generally less impressive.

But what do I know? Let’s leave it to some of the other people actually involved with the making of the album…James Williamson and the late Ron Asheton have both stated that they prefer Bowie’s original mix of Raw Power to Pop’s 1997 effort…

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Williamson: ?I personally think [the remixed by Iggy Raw Power] sucked…I have to say that overall, I think Bowie did a pretty good job.?

Asheton: ?Don Fleming goes, “You know what? When Iggy’s Raw Power mix comes out, I’ll bet you’re gonna go, ‘We always used to say how bad the original David Bowie mix of Raw Power was.’ When you hear Iggy’s mix, I guarantee you’re gonna say, ‘Man, remember that great mix that David Bowie did?'”

“So I heard it, I got the advance copy from his manager, and listened to it. Then I called Fleming and I’m going, “Gee, Don, I just listened to Iggy’s mix of Raw Power. Man, I sure loved that old David Bowie mix. Was it ever great.”…Basically, all that Iggy did was take all the smoothness and all the effects off James [Williamson]’s guitar, so his lead sounds really abrupt and stilty and almost clumsy, and he just put back every single grunt, groan, and word he ever said on the whole fuckin’ soundtrack. He just totally restored everything that was cut out of him in the first mix, and I thought, Damn, I really did like the old Bowie mix better.”

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Anyway, whichever version you prefer, (obviously Bowie’s if you have a full set of working ears) the RAW POWER: LEGACY EDITION 2-CD package will be available at both physical and digital retail outlets starting April 13th, 2010, through Columbia/Legacy. While the RAW POWER: DELUXE EDITION 4-disc package (in 7-inch square slipcase) will be available EXCLUSIVELY through www.iggyandthestoogesmusic.com from April 27th, 2010.

Here’s the full breakdown from the official press release…

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IGGY AND THE STOOGES RAW POWER – 15 PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED 1972-1973 BONUS TRACKS INCLUDED ON DELUXE EDITION OF RAW POWER; CLASSIC ALBUM PROVIDED BLUEPRINT FOR MID-?70S PUNK ROCK EXPLOSION – DECADES LATER, PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED TRACKS SHED LIGHT ON CLASSIC ALBUM, PRODUCED BY IGGY POP, MIXED BY DAVID BOWIE

RAW POWER: LEGACY EDITION 2-CD package:
? Original 8-song, 34-minute album Raw Power CD restores the original release as it was produced in the fall of 1972 at CBS Studios in London by Iggy Pop, and mixed in Hollywood by David Bowie. This 2010 version is newly remastered by Grammy®-winning Sony Music engineer Mark Wilder, and should finally put the lie to years of stigma attached to Bowie?s mixes. With Wilder on board, Bowie?s mixes, unjustly skewered, now turn out to be up-to-the-task and beyond.
? Full-length one-hour show at Richards in Atlanta, October 1973 ? plus two previously unreleased bonus tracks from album sessions and rehearsals
? Booklet with essays by U.S. and UK journalists, plus introductions by Iggy, James Williamson, and Scott Asheton
? LEGACY EDITION available at both physical and digital retail outlets starting April 13, 2010, through Columbia/Legacy

RAW POWER: DELUXE EDITION 4-disc package (in 7-inch square slipcase):
? Original album (CD One) and Richards show plus bonus tracks (CD Two)
? CD Three: Rarities, Outtakes, & Alternates from the Raw Power Era
? Disc Four ? DVD : The Making of Raw Power documentary
? 48-page softcover book adds essay by Henry Rollins; photographs by Mick Rock, Robert Matheu & more; testimonials by Lou Reed, Joan Jett, Tom Morello & more
? Five exquisite 5×7-inch prints, suitable for framing
? Japanese pic-sleeve 45 single repro: “Raw Power” b/w “Search And Destroy”
? DELUXE EDITION available EXCLUSIVELY through www.iggyandthestoogesmusic.com with an April 27th release date

ON TOUR 2010: April 14th and 16th in France; May 2-3rd at HMV Hammersmith Apollo in London; August 7th in Stockholm; and 3rd annual “All Tomorrow’s Parties” festival in Monticello, NY, September 3rd.

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Pretty exciting stuff and Raw Power at Hammersmith WITH Suicide as support…see you there both nights!

Let’s dance, to the song the Bowie tribute band is playing…

Dancing on the Valentine is an annual benefit concert for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

This is the fifth benefit to date and DOTV 5 is a David Bowie tribute night.

If you’re local to this event but hadn’t heard about it till now, don’t panic. As I post this, (18.30 UK time) you still have nine hours to get on your satin ‘n tat and check out venue details etc, here.

I leaned back on my radio o o…

A Reality Tour live is Album Of The Day on the BBC’s 6 Music…which is pretty cool and just goes to show that the hippest of all the BBC stations knows where it’s at.

While you’re listening to see who plays what from the album, you can check out the BBC’s review of it by Mike Diver here.

Time, He’s waiting in the wings…

If you’ve not already entered yet, don’t forget that our contest to win the above, by sorting out the below, closes on Sunday February 14th at midnight, New York time, with the winners being announced the following day on the 15th.

If this means nothing to you but a bunch of familiar, flashing fonts, you’d better start here: 01.08.2010 NEWS: WIN ROYAL MAIL ZIGGY STARDUST FDC SIGNED BY BOWIE…or here: 01.31.2010 NEWS: ROYAL MAIL ZIGGY FDC FINAL DAY and work backwards.

It is with much sadness that we learned of the death this morning of forty-year-old London clothes designer, Alexander McQueen.

The following statement is from alexandermcqueen.com.

Bowie fans are well aware of the work Alexander produced with David, beautiful examples of which are pictured on this page.

The solid book we wrote cannot be found today…

Under the heading of: The greatest literary hoax ever? today’s Guardian carries an interview with William Boyd, author of Nat Tate: An American Artist 1928-1960.

The double-page spread from the G2 section of the newspaper kicks off with this: A French philosopher has been caught out by a literary prank. But it’s nothing on the tale of the forgotten artist Nat Tate.

I’m sure you all remember well the book and the hoax itself which David Bowie had a hand in when he provided this quotation for the inside cover of the dust jacket…

At the launch party for the book, (published by Bowie’s own 21 Publishing company) at Jeff Koons‘ studio in Manhattan on March 31st, 1998, (April 1st eve) Bowie read extracts from the book to a gathering of art world types, all too cool to admit they had never even heard of Nat Tate!

However, the British launch of the book was a damp squib by comparison, as David Lister, the then arts editor of the Independent who was also in on the hoax, apparently broke the story ahead of the British launch party for the book. Even though in his original unveiling in The Independent, and in his follow-up two days later, he hints that Boyd had pretty well held up his hands to the hoax long before the British launch.

Either way, you can read the full Boyd G2 interview here and you can also read his ten year celebration of the hoax in The Guardian here.

All I want to know is, where does it leave me with my copy of the book, above, actually signed by Tate using his trademark green ink and a quill? Offers anybody?

The ones you left, our friends deserted…

You’ve hopefully had a chance to have a good listen to David Bowie’s iPod playlist as published in The Observer a couple of weeks back. (01.24.2010 NEWS: DB REVEALS HIS CURRENT iPOD PLAYLIST IN THE OBSERVER)

The tracks were available either via Spotify or iTunes, though both versions of their playlists omitted a couple of tunes.

Sadly, one of the tracks missing from both was Boxharp‘s All These Deserters, which DB described as “Mystical country. An eerie yellowing photograph.”.

I got in touch with Scott and Wendy, (Boxharp essentially) and explained that there was nowhere for people to hear All These Deserters aside from on their long out of print first album, The Tailored Soldier.

They kindly responded by making All These Deserters available on the Boxharp MySpace page.

I also asked them how they felt at learning DB had singled them out for inclusion on his playlist…this was their response:

?To have David Bowie?s ear, and be sitting next to Gavin Bryars, Godspeed, and Scritti Politti has quite taken our breath away.?

As if their generosity with All These Deserters wasn’t enough, they’ve also made their wonderful new single, Rainbirds, available as a free download.

“I know what kind of welcome you’re gonna give to…Jeff Beck!”

The Sunday Times has published a double-page interview with Jeff Beck ahead of shows with Eric Clapton and the April release of his Emotion & Commotion album.

As it often does, (04.28.2009 NEWS: GEELING NG AND JEFF BECK REMEMBER BOWIE FILMING) the conversation soon turned to Beck’s guest appearance with David Bowie at the July 3rd, 1973, show at Hammersmith Odeon, and the non-appearance of his contributions from the gig in Ziggy Stardust The Motion Picture.

Here’s an edited excerpt from the interview with Andrew Smith, the man behind MOONDUST: In Search of the Men Who Fell To Earth (04.05.2009 NEWS: EXCLUSIVE MOONDUST COMPILATION ALBUM DETAILS)…

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During this period, [his ?wilderness years?] he played the final Ziggy Stardust show with David Bowie, who had reportedly wanted him for the Spiders from Mars before settling on Mick Ronson, and had described Ronson as ?my Jeff?. Sometimes, as in the case of Bowie, he only faintly understood what he was dealing with. ?Oh, yeah. I just felt so out of my depth… all these girls screaming their heads off, then I start playing and they were screaming some more. I thought, ?This is good!? I?d never played that audience.?

The glorious downside was Bowie?s failure to tell Beck that the show was being filmed, meaning the guitarist wore ?the most disgusting pair of dirty-white stack-heeled shoes you?ve ever seen?. For a while, he actually refused to allow the footage to be used. ?And Bowie rang me about 10 times and said, ?Look, man, I understand about the shoes, ?cos I didn?t like what I was wearing either…??

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“For a while, he actually refused to allow the footage to be used.” For a while? Does that mean he’s no longer blocking it? We can but hope.

You can read the full interview here online.

JUST FOR FUN: The black & white picture of The Jeff Beck Group in the Sunday Times interview, features three musicians who have had some musical involvement with David Bowie. Can you name them?

Who will love a lass insane?

Under the headline: ‘I was called fat, ugly and told no one would love me?, The News Of The World’s Fabulous magazine has an interview with Elly Jackson, aka La Roux.

Though La Roux has made no secret of her love of David Bowie and his work, (06.26.2009 NEWS: THE RETURN OF THE 80s AND THE BOWIE INFLUENCE IN Q) I’m pretty sure that the Aladdin Sane flash was added post shoot.

Still, it’s not the first time a magazine has superimposed the iconic lightning bolt on somebody’s visage. Remember issue #80 of Q magazine from May 1993?

So, did Bowie sit through another gruelling make-up session just for the cover of Q? You bet your shiny metal ass he didn’t! Here’s the explanation from editor Danny Kelly in the 100th special edition of Q published in January 1995…

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“One of the problems with “Q” is that although we get fantastic access to huge stars, it’s sometimes difficult to remind readers of what it was they loved about these people in the first place. This Bowie picture for the cover of “Q” #80 was, when it arrived with us, just a rather nice contemporary portrait.

We needed somehow to link it into the glories of David’s past. We had the idea of the cover of Aladdin Sane, and after much telephoning, discovered that a computer enhancement company called Jones Bloom, just down the road from us in fact, had the very frontier technology we needed to convincingly paint David’s skin. They did a fantastic job.

We didn’t receive a single letter saying, That isn’t the real Aladdin Sane flash. Indeed, dozens of people asked, “How the hell did you get him to agree to do that? I got a message back from Bowie himself saying that it was ‘cheeky’.” – Danny Kelly (1995)

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So there you have it…you’re in great company, Elly.

Thanx to BowieNetter Swebby for the pointer to Fabulous magazine.

Hallo Spaceboys…

The news that NASA has launched it’s David Bowie Concept Mission, Project Starman, is a truly remarkable development and you really have to read the story for yourself to believe it.

Rather annoyingly however, is the fact that The Onion has scooped us on this one and there’s really no point in me elaborating when you can just go and read the whole report here .

The Onion’s attention to detail is astonishing and this particular item is everything we’ve come to expect from “America’s Finest News Source’.

Now, I bet if this had been posted on April 1st nobody would have believed a word!