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“Secret secrets now you’ve seen”
We suggested you watch this space earlier today and at last all has been revealed.
In the style of Duncan Jones’ tweet about his father’s new album back on January 8, we teased thus: “We know something that you’re going to know shortly about Duncan Jones‘ new project!”
Go check out the good news in full over at Hollywood Reporter.
Well done to Duncan and his team and good luck with the new project.
“Friday On My Mind”
We are currently gathering a full list of release dates for The Next Day but this is how things stand right now.
March 8 Germany
March 11 UK
March 12 USA/Canada
March 15 Australia
As you may have noticed, this means the Australian release date has been put back a week and as things stand Germany will see the album first.
However, international release dates may vary and we will update the information as we have it.
“The Gospel According To Tony Steven”
Despite David Bowie refuting them himself, rumours have persisted over the years that our man was once so down on his uppers (or was that up on his downers?), he had to resort to session work as a vocalist for budget release cover version albums.
While this line of work may have suited a struggling Reginald Dwight, Bowie didn’t contribute to any such releases and now the real culprit has stepped forward to end any further speculation once and for all.
The February edition of Record Collector magazine (411) has a piece by Chris Groom on the actual singer of the songs mistakenly credited by some to Bowie, Tony Steven. Here‘s an edited excerpt from the article.
“One particular rumour that has been circulating for quite some time is that the cover version of Penny Lane which turned up on the budget-priced Hits ’67 LP was sung by one David Bowie, and despite repeated denials from the artist involved, it has failed to go away.
The idea of Bowie singing The Beatles is certainly a tantalising thought and although the album was once a staple of charity shops and car boot sales, Bowie collectors have snapped up copies for heavy prices just in case the fantasy became reality.
The truth is that the vocalist on this track is Tony Steven, formerly with the Johnny Howard Band and a highly respected session singer in his own right.
It was early in 1967 that Tony recorded the session that has sparked the “is it David?” rumour – or “Bowiegate”, as Tony calls it. The album in question was Hits ’67 (MFP 1089), the first budget collection of cover versions issued on the MFP (Music for Pleasure) label, and Tony recorded two tracks, covering The Beatles’ Penny Lane and The Monkees’ A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You. It was never his intention to mimic anyone, he confirms, and he was not trying to imitate Paul McCartney, let alone David Bowie.
It has often been noted that Bowie circa 1967 can sound like Anthony Newley and Tony can certainly take off Newley with ease – so maybe therein lies the answer to the vocal riddle.”
If you‘re a subscriber to Record Collector you can read the full article online now. It‘s fascinating stuff.
“I’m just the space cadet…he’s the commander”
On the evening of Sunday 26th January 1975, BBC 1 premiered Alan Yentob’s Cracked Actor documentary as part of the Omnibus series.
Thirty eight years later it’s almost impossible to calculate just how important the broadcast was to Bowie-starved fans in the UK.
In America, not only did fans have the Diamond Dogs/Philly Dogs tours, but they also enjoyed the luxury of both The 1980 Floor Show and Ziggy Stardust The Motion Picture broadcast on TV.
After the seismic shock of ‘Starman’ on TOTPs in 1972 and Bowie’s first proper television interview on Russell Harty Plus in January 1973, there had been little to sate the appetite of the hungry Bowie fan on UK TV.
Cracked Actor was filmed in California and Philadelphia during the legendary Diamond Dogs Tour of 1974 and it captured Bowie at a transitional stage in his life.
The BBC had unique access to Bowie on and off stage, in the recording studio and while travelling. This gave fans a rare glimpse of the private Bowie and it made for compelling viewing.
As with the aforementioned UK TV appearances, Cracked Actor had a profound effect on Bowie fans. Like much of the dialogue from The Man Who Fell To Earth (coincidentally it was Cracked Actor that inspired Nicolas Roeg to approach Bowie for the film), many fans would learn parrot-fashion the majority of the one-liners that Bowie uttered throughout: “Bleedin’ wax museum in the middle of the desert…you’d think it would melt”, “I never wanted to be a rock ‘n’ roll star. Honest guv, I wasn‘t even there. But I was, you see, I was there”.
And thank goodness he was there! If you’ve not seen it yet, you should make it your priority to track down a copy.
“Atomic Sunrise stream flickers on me”
The Radar section of Saturday’s Independent newspaper in the UK (Jan 26), has a double-page spread regarding an event that took place in London forty three years ago.
Of course we’re talking about the birth of Glam Rock and the performance by David Bowie’s “new electric band”, The Hype, during the week long Atomic Sunrise festival at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm between 9 and 15 March 1970.
Three songs of the band’s performance on March 11 1970 were captured on film and have finally surfaced to be screened forty three years to the day at the very venue they were originally filmed.
Sadly the accompanying sound has been lost over the years and the tracks have now been dubbed, albeit pretty convincingly, with other Hype sessions from the time.
Here’s a bit from the Radar article…
“But for many, what will excite most about the film is the unique footage of The Hype, filmed just weeks before Bowie recorded The Man Who Sold The World with their bassist, Tony Visconti, acting as producer. Here, we see the birth of the classic rock’n’roll partnership between Ronson and Bowie, the essential axis that made up the Spiders from Mars, in glorious 16mm vintage colour. Given the media’s shock and awe surrounding the release of Bowie’s first single in 10 years, “Where Are We Now?”, and the forthcoming exhibition of his costumes at the V&A, the poignancy and vibrancy of this early footage rescued from oblivion is worthy of real celebration.”
Read the full piece online at independent.co.uk.
You can also enjoy a sneak preview of the Bowie footage on YouTube and if you’re quick you may just snap up one of the few remaining tickets for the two March screenings at The Roundhouse.
“Such is the stuff from where dreams are woven”
As the headline says, David Bowie’s Station To Station album is thirty seven today.
Considered a classic among fans and critics alike, the record was unusual for a Bowie album in that it contained just six tracks, even though it still clocked in at just over thirty eight minutes.
Four of those six songs were released as commercial A-sides by RCA, with “Golden Years” being the pre-album hit. Here’s the tracklisting:
1. Station To Station (10:08)
2. Golden Years (4:03)
3. Word On A Wing (6:00)
4. TVC15 (5:29)
5. Stay (6:08)
6. Wild Is The Wind (5:58)
Pictured here is how the withdrawn colour version of the sleeve would have looked had it hit the racks. The two-colour version (red and black ink on a white sleeve) is the one that was actually released.
Whether it was the intention or not, the released version was more in keeping with the monochromatic look of the 1976 Station To Station tour, or the Isolar tour as it’s since become known.
See the Facebook version of this story to view a couple of the press adverts published at the time.
“One magical moment”
NME has announced the nominees for the NME Awards 2013 and David Bowie has been selected in three different categories.
Bowie is up for Music Moment of the Year as well as the Best Music Video and Hero of the Year awards and here’s who he’s up against in each category.
MUSIC MOMENT OF THE YEAR
David Bowie returns
The Stone Roses play Heaton Park
Olympics opening ceremony
The Rolling Stones play London’s O2 Arena
Green Day’s secret set at Reading Festival
Pussy Riot’s punk prayer
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Oblivion Grimes
Bad Girls MIA
Where Are We Now? David Bowie
R U Mine? Arctic Monkeys
Don’t Save Me Haim
Feels Like We Only Go Backwards Tame Impala
HERO OF THE YEAR
David Bowie
Bradley Wiggins
Pussy Riot
Barack Obama
Frank Ocean
Dave Grohl
The awards will be held at the Troxy in east London on February 27. Bowie fans can show their support by voting on the NME awards page if they so fancy.
“Just about the best you can hear”
Back in the first week of this month, the Top 10 biggest selling vinyl albums of 2012 were announced by The Official Charts Company in the UK.
And, as you may already know, David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars was placed at #2 on that chart.
In celebration of that fine achievement, EMI has kindly donated ten copies of the 40th Anniversary Vinyl/DVD Edition, along with an A4 print of Mr Stardust himself taken by Brian Ward, the man responsible for the original Ziggy album cover shoot.
This 40th Anniversary edition of Ziggy Stardust was remastered by original Trident Studios’ engineer Ray Staff and reviews of the release single out just what a great job he has made of it, with everybody in agreement that the recording hasn’t sounded better since its original release in 1972.
Check out the tracklisting for both the vinyl and DVD over at EMI Catalogue.
For your chance to win this Ziggy Stardust Vinyl/DVD/Print package, go to the contest page.
The competition ends at midnight UK time on 31st January 2013. Winners will be notified directly, shortly afterwards.
“With you by my side, it should be fine”
The exclusive Jimmy King shot of David Bowie that we posted a couple of days ago was actually a crop from the photograph accompanying this item.
The picture shows, from L to R, Bowie, Jacqueline Humphries, wife of Tony Oursler, and Oursler himself at the video shoot for ‘Where Are We Now?’.
As we pointed out last week, it is Jacqueline who appears in the video with David even though she hadn’t appeared in her husband’s work previously.
She is a successful artist in her own right and you can view some of her work from 1990 through to 2011 on her official page.
Meanwhile, if you missed them the first time, check out Tony’s interviews regarding working with Bowie on the BBC’s Front Row (Weds 16 Jan) and in the Independent on Sunday.