Month: May 2010

Secret secrets never seen…

Every once in a while something emerges for Bowie fans that just knocks us all for six.

Back in October last year when we mentioned photographer Brian Duffy‘s take on the Aladdin Sane session, (10.15.2009 NEWS: DUFFY TALKS ABOUT ALADDIN SANE SHOOT ON BBC) it was unclear what, if anything, survived of his David Bowie album sessions.

Then in January, with the broadcast of The Man Who Shot the 60s, (01.14.2010 NEWS: UNPUBLISHED BOWIE SHOTS IN DUFFY BBC FOUR DOCUMENTARY) things were looking up.

Previously unknown sessions with Duffy, such as the 1972 one above, surfaced on the documentary and it became clear that none of the Bowie sessions had been torched during Duffy’s infamous bonfire in 1979, and that they would indeed be made available as prints.

For years, it was feared that the only images from the Aladdin Sane session that still existed, were the two on the album sleeve itself and one alternate head shot that was used on the front of the 1973 album and tour leaflet, pictured at the top of this piece.

I spoke to Duffy’s son, Chris, around the time of the broadcast and he confirmed that the full Aladdin Sane session still existed…and here for the first time is proof of that…

How good is that?

Well, not only are the above colour Ziggy shots now available for purchase as a limited edition signed print, but so too is the above Aladdin Sane session contact sheet.

As if that wasn’t enough, all the other Bowie by Duffy sessions are now available to purchase, including the following previously unpublished images…

~ The Spiders From Mars from the Aladdin Sane session from 1973
~ The Thin White Duke photographed at White Sands, New Mexico, at the time of The Man Who Fell To Earth shoot in 1975 (see below)
~ Lodger front cover and behind the scenes outtakes from 1979
~ Scary Monsters cover shoot and make-up session with Richard Shara

Check out the Bowie section on the Duffy site under the sales tab, where you can also download a Bowie sizes and prices PDF containing all of the images available for sale.

However, there will be a new version of the PDF posted shortly that will include more affordable, smaller versions of some of the prints and we are also working on a discount on all of the prints for BowieNet members…so stay tuned for that update shortly too.

For those of you outside of the UK that missed The Man Who Shot the 60s, there’s a permalink on the Duffy site under the exhibits and links tab.

I’ll leave you with two more shots…below left is pretty obvious and below right is of DB either getting dressed or undressed for the Lodger session…you decide…

All photographic images in this news item are the sole copyright of The Duffy Archive Limited.

NEU! Career In A New Box…

I think everything I need to say about this is encapsulated within that headline…basically, every note NEU! ever recorded is here in this box, including a fair amount of previously unreleased material.

I’m sure you’re all aware of David’s love of the ‘Düsseldorf sound’, If you’re not, here’s his contribution to the NEU! box sleevenotes in their entirety…

You can read more about the contents of the NEU! vinyl box over at neu2010.com.

Lennon’s on sale again…

You probably won’t remember, but a year ago to the day we posted an item about a Hunky Dory feature in Record Collector, (05.04.2009 NEWS: TWELVE PAGE HUNKY DORY FEATURE IN JUNE RC) wherein Rick Wakeman praised Bowie and described Hunky Dory as “an absolute classic”.

In the June edition of Classic Rock magazine in a feature where Rick singles out various musicians that have had an impact on him, he had this to say about DB…

As you can read in the caption in the Lennon/Ono shot above, he also made comparisons between Bowie and Lennon in the section on John Lennon. However, if you want to read the rest of it I’m afraid you’ll have to buy the magazine.

He was a young American…

Not sure why it’s taken me so long to succumb to the charms of Adam Lambert, he’s been pronouncing his love of all things Bowie since his days as a contestant on American Idol and he’s proud to wear Bowie on his chest, see inset above.

His debut album is called For Your Entertainment (a pun on Roxy Music’s For Your Pleasure perhaps?) and that’s Rolling Stone magazine’s take on an alternative cover for the album above.

Adam has been in the UK promoting the release and he talks about the influence that Bowie has had on him yet again in this interview with MySpace UK.

He admits that the influence is probably more visual than anything and though he’s had the royal seal of approval from Boy George, I have to say I think he looks more like a Glam Elvis than he ever did David Bowie.

And as for the heading: Is Adam Lambert The New David Bowie? over on gather.com, well really, how rude!

To be honest, as much as Master Lambert is clearly a lovely lad, the real reason I’ve decided to run this piece is that Rexer threatened to send the boys round if I didn’t give Adam more column inches…I think that’s what he said at least.

Free games for May… (Actually it’s between ?3 and ?6)

Ziggy Stardust finally gets to play live in mainland Europe, albeit on the silver screen. The delightfully French Jérôme Soligny has been in touch with details of …well, these details actually…

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From May 5 to May 30, Le Studio cinema in Le Havre, my town, will show the Ziggy Stardust movie every Wednesday à 20h30, Saturday at 18h30 and Sunday at 14h30. I will introduce the movie (and possibly debate after) on May 7 (Friday) at 20h30. I’m really happy to have been asked to do this as I wrote the French press release for it when it went to DVD a few years ago!

I still live in Le Havre, but rarely “work” in my town as all the French music business gravitates around Paris. Talking of which, I was in Paris yesterday evening for the French premiere of “Oil City Confidential”. My son Thomas and I then had the pleasure to have dinner with the production team and the director of this great rockumentary about Dr Feelgood: the one and only Julian Temple. Not exactly an absolute beginner, but a very talented film-maker!

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As you can see, Jérôme himself will be introducing the film on the evening of Friday the 7th and if you’re thinking of attending at any time, you can find more information here in French.

Here I stand, foot in hand…

This one’s just for fun…all will be apparent when you click on the chap throwing the strange shape above.

A bit of friendly advice, if you don’t get past the first one, I’d give up if I were you!

Just for one photo shoot…

Following on from his performance of Starman at the recent Rock For Pussy Bowie Tribute, (04.21.2009 NEWS: BOWIE TRIBUTE FOR CATS IN MINNEAPOLIS FRIDAY) American singer/songwriter Jeremy Messersmith has been promoting his latest album, The Reluctant Graveyard, with a wacky photo session for City Pages.

If you’re not sure which Bowie album cover Jeremy is parodying in the above shot from the session, I wouldn’t bother with the next item if I were you.

TO BE PLAYED AT MAXIMUM VOLUME…

The Vernon Morning Star (That’s Vernon, British Columbia, Canada) published a review of the A Reality Tour live double CD at the end of last month that’s worth a read if you haven’t already seen it.

You can read the full thing here, but here’s the concluding paragraph to make sense of today’s lyric quotation…OK, it’s not a lyric, but you get my drift…

“Hearing his music live gives it a surprising context ?? it still sounds from the future ?? and renews the original vision. It?s music that seems removed, but feels deeply connected, and demands the decibels that the stage provides. Bowie proves that age doesn?t matter, passion does.”