Month: January 2013

“Oh no, not me”

“I was running at the speed of life”

While we’re on the subject of Bowie cover versions (see previous Lulu item), you must have seen or heard Momus’s rather clever rendition of ‘Where Are We Now?’

Apparently the Momus of Greek mythology was the god of satire and mockery among other things. In that case, it looks like the god’s smiled upon Nicholas Currie (Momus’s birth name), when he created this sincere and affectionate tribute.

It’s certainly got to be the quickest that anybody has ever turned around a Bowie cover version, seeing as it was released the same day as Bowie’s original. Here’s a brief excerpt from Momus’s explanation regarding both the track and the seemingly unconnected accompanying video.

How did you come up with idea to cover the song immediately?

In November I had some kind of premonition that Bowie might return in 2013. I did a spoof announcement on my Tumblr page about an album called Vivid Old Man. It envisaged something avant garde: “Over microtonal organ, harp and tambour backings drawing inspiration from early Penderecki, mid-period Messiaen and late Webern, Bowie sings avant-sea-shanties”. So when I heard the fairly mainstream sound of the new single, I already had this parallel world in my mind where he was doing something a bit more radical. I decided within an hour to extend that parallel world a bit with a cover version.

What makes a good cover-version in your opinion?

There has to be a rather peculiar mix of respect and aggression. You have to bring out the essence of your feelings about the artist, and the song. In this cover I really wanted to put in a lot of references to the Bowie that marked me most deeply, the 1970s Bowie. Hence the “do-do-do”s and thick bass synths from Fashion, the drum machine from Nightclubbing, the octaved backing vocals from The Bewlay Brothers. I suppose I wanted to out-Bowie Bowie.

Why did you pick Roddy McDowall’s 1968 home film of a make-up session for Planet of the Apes for the video-clip?

I’d watched it recently, and been struck by the creepiness of it. It seemed perfect for the video, for several reasons. I was aping the master, so the monkey was me. But also, so many Bowie documentaries show him being made up. It’s the perfect motif for his many self-transformations. There’s an allusion to the apes in the opening scene of Kubrick’s 2001, which triggered Bowie to write Space Oddity. And somehow the grotesqueness of the Cornelius character sums up how Bowie looked to me when I was 12. He was fascinating and terrifying in equal measure. Thin-lipped, not quite human. More than human!

As you can see, Momus also spoofed the cover of The Next Day to accompany ‘Where are We Now’?, an idea that has caught on via BuzzFeed’s Make Your Own David Bowie Album Cover.

Follow the complete timeline of the Momus cover, from conception to completion, on the official Momus page.

Naturally, David Bowie holds the record for fastest ever cover version, performing ‘Waiting For The Man’ live with The Riot Squad even before the first Velvet Underground album was released.

“Coco’s dog’s a poacher and she hides behind trees”

Director Tony Oursler’s enigmatic promotional film for David Bowie’s ‘Where Are We Now?’ has got folk wondering.

It’s not the first time Oursler has supplied a little weirdness to a Bowie video. One of David’s strangest promo films is the beautiful ‘Little Wonder’ where Oursler’s trademark projections lend a surreal air to proceedings.

We can’t explain everything you see in the ‘Where Are We Now?’ promo, but we do have a few interesting facts regarding it.

The most common misconception, or widely held theory, is that the woman accompanying David is Icelandic singer, Björk. It’s not. It is in fact Oursler’s wife, painter Jacqueline Humphries.

The room in the film which is jam packed with all kinds of weird and wonderful objects is actually the interior of Ousler’s downtown New York studio.

The dog seen wandering into view in the studio is Muffin, who belongs to Coco, David’s assistant and long time friend.

Muffin is also sister to Max, Lexi Jones’s dog.

The video was shot over two mornings.

So now you know. 

“Photograph King, watches you go…”

Here’s another treat from Jimmy King…an exclusive photograph of David Bowie taken while having lunch at a Japanese restaurant yesterday.

Now that is the look of a man at peace with himself having just heard about some of the reaction to yesterday’s announcements…possibly.

Isn’t it lovely that we are being spoilt so rotten on Bowie’s birthday?

 

“Secret secrets never seen…”

Welcome to the relaunched DavidBowie.com and a whole bunch of exciting new things that you’ve no doubt already found on the splash page.

The site is a work in progress right now as we continue to import historical data such as The Forum and past news, so please bear with us.
 
However, if you’re anything like us you’ll be too interested in David Bowie’s new music to worry too much about anything else right now.
 
We’ll leave you with the press release for The Next Day and Where Are We Now?, but be sure to pop back later today for more regarding all of this and more…

 

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Where is David Bowie?

New Single and Pre-Order of First New Album in 10 Years Exclusively Launching on the iTunes Store Today

New York, NY–January 8, 2013–In the early morning hours of Tuesday the 8th January, Iso/Columbia Records released a new single by David Bowie titled ‘Where Are We Now?’ exclusively launching in the iTunes Store in 119 countries. David Bowie’s first new album in ten years and his 27th studio recording, THE NEXT DAY is also available as a pre-order on iTunes with a wide release scheduled for March. January the 8th is of course David Bowie’s birthday, a timely moment for such a treasure to appear as if out of nowhere.

Throwing shadows and avoiding the industry treadmill is very David Bowie despite his extraordinary track record that includes album sales in excess of 130 million not to mention his massive contributions in the area of art, fashion, style, sexual exploration and social commentary. It goes without saying that he has sold out stadiums and broken ticket records throughout the world during this most influential of careers.

In recent years radio silence has been broken only by endless speculation, rumor and wishful thinking ….a new record…who would have ever thought it, who’d have ever dreamed it! After all David is the kind of artist who writes and performs what he wants when he wants…when he has something to say as opposed to something to sell. Today he definitely has something to say.

Produced by long term collaborator Tony Visconti,  ‘Where Are We Now?’ was written by Bowie, and was recorded in New York. The single is accompanied by a haunting video directed by Tony Oursler which harks back to David’s time in Berlin. He is seen looking in on footage of the auto repair shop beneath the apartment he lived in along with stark images of the city at the time and a lyric constantly raising the question Where Are We Now?

“The moment you know, you know you know” resonates from the new single’s lyric. Now we all know…David Bowie has been in the recording studio…just when we least expected it!!

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The Next Day tracklisting

Standard Version:

01. The Next Day 3:51
02. Dirty Boys 2:58
03. The Stars (Are Out Tonight) 3:56
04. Love Is Lost 3:57
05. Where Are We Now? 4:08
06. Valentine’s Day 3:01
07. If You Can See Me 3:16
08. I’d Rather Be High 3:53
09. Boss Of Me 4:09
10. Dancing Out In Space 3:24
11. How Does The Grass Grow 4:33
12. (You Will) Set The World On Fire 3:30
13. You Feel So Lonely You Could Die 4:41
14. Heat 4:25

Total (Approximately) 53:14   

Deluxe Version

01. The Next Day 3:51
02. Dirty Boys 2:58
03. The Stars (Are Out Tonight) 3:56
04. Love Is Lost 3:57
05. Where Are We Now? 4:08
06. Valentine’s Day 3:01
07. If You Can See Me 3:16
08. I’d Rather Be High 3:53
09. Boss Of Me 4:09
10. Dancing Out In Space 3:24
11. How Does The Grass Grow 4:33
12. (You Will) Set The World On Fire 3:30
13. You Feel So Lonely You Could Die 4:41
14. Heat 4:25

Bonus tracks:
15. So She 2:31
16. I’ll Take You There 2:44
17. Plan 2:34

Total (Approximately): 61: 03

“You’ve read it on the websites, and the track is on TV…”

The response to the news we exclusively revealed in the small hours has been incredible and what nicer way to wish David Bowie a Happy Birthday than with all the positive responses on TV, radio, newspaper and social media sites.

The reaction from iTune users has also been remarkable with both the album, The Next Day, and the single, Where Are We Now?, currently at #1 on the UK iTunes site.

If you’ve not already joined in the birthday well-wishing you may want to now via this Facebook birthday post which is fast approaching 100,000 likes!

You might also want to follow @DavidBowieReal if you’re a Twitter type of person with #bowie currently trending and #wherearetheynow and #thenextday popular hashtags too.

Congratulations to photographer Jimmy King for the wonderful Bowie portrait accompanying this story.

“The moment you know, you know you know…”

Jonathan Barnbrook has posted a fascinating piece on his blog regarding the sleeve design for The Next Day.

You probably know that Jonathan collaborated on artwork for the sleeves of both Heathen and Reality, not to mention producing the publicity material and book that will accompany the David Bowie is exhibition at the V&A in March.

Go see The Next Day piece on Barnbrook Blog and check out his Heathen and Reality pages while you’re about it.

“Time may change me, But I can’t trace time…”

On January 7th 1972, the day before David Bowie’s 25th birthday, RCA issued their first ever David Bowie single in the shape of Changes/Andy Warhol.

The track was the first to be lifted from Hunky Dory, an album these days considered by most to be one of the very best of all time.

However, despite being a Tony Blackburn Record Of The Week on BBC Radio 1 (a big deal back then), neither album nor single worried the UK charts upon release.

It’s hard to imagine how this situation arose viewing it from today’s perspective, but it seemed not to bother Bowie unduly, who was already well on the way to unleashing the world-conquering Ziggy Stardust upon the planet. See the Facebook version of this story (CHANGES SINGLE RELEASED 41 YEARS AGO TODAY) to view the US and UK press ads published in January 1972.

“You can’t say no to the beauty and the beast…”

Thirty five years ago today RCA released David Bowie’s Beauty And The Beast as a follow up to the title track from the the previous year’s “Heroes” album. The record was issued with a picture cover in the UK where there had been just five such sleeves, including this one, since 1972.

Despite the success of the accompanying #3 album and the picture sleeve, the single only reached #39 on the official UK singles chart. The slogan of “TOMORROW BELONGS TO THOSE WHO CAN HEAR IT COMING” that accompanied the “Heroes” campaign, seemed to bypass the singles buying public of the time who apparently weren’t quite ready for the sound of tomorrow!. See the Facebook version of this story (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST SINGLE IS 35 TODAY) to view some of the Beauty And The Beast press adverts that were published in the UK and the US in January 1978 .