Month: December 2014

 

“One damn song that can make me, break down and cry”

 

As you’ve no doubt already worked out, the next limited David Bowie 7″ picture disc will be the 40th anniversary edition of Young Americans.

Originally issued in the UK on February 21st 1975, this 40th anniversary disc of Young Americans is scheduled to be released 40 years and 2 days on from that date.

Young Americans was the lead single from the album of the same name, and it gave Bowie another Top 20 45 in the UK.

The A-Side of this 40th anniversary edition features Tony Visconti’s 2007 Young Americans single mix, which makes its vinyl debut here.

The AA-side (which runs at 33 1/3 rpm), is It’s Gonna Be Me (with strings). This version was first released as a bonus track on the Young Americans special edition CD/DVD in 2007 and it’s also its first time on vinyl.

Here are the full details:

 

DAVID BOWIE – YOUNG AMERICANS / IT’S GONNA BE ME (WITH STRINGS)

LIMITED EDITION 40th ANNIVERSARY 7″ PICTURE DISC.

 

A-Side (DBYA40A)

Young Americans (2007 Tony Visconti mix single edit) (David Bowie)

Produced & mixed by Tony Visconti

2007 Mix by Tony Visconti.

Pro-Tools engineer Mario McNulty

Mixed at Looking Glass Studio, Studio B. With thanks to Dave d’Arcy

 

AA-Side (33 1/3 rpm) (DBYA40AA)

It’s Gonna Be Me (with strings) (David Bowie)

Produced & mixed by Tony Visconti

Pro-Tools engineer Mario McNulty

Mixed at Looking Glass Studio, Studio B.

String arrangements by Tony Visconti

Vocal arrangements by David Bowie & Luther Vandross

Recorded at Sigma Sound, Philadelphia, PA.

 

The black and white image on the A-Side of the disc is by the famous Hollywood photographer of the 1940s/50s, Tom Kelley. The image is probably more closely associated with the session that produced the cover for the CHANGESONEBOWIE album and Suffragette City single in 1976. However, this particular shot was first used for the Italian Fame 45 in 1975.

The photograph on the AA-Side was shot by Steve Schapiro, who recently had this to say about working with Bowie and this session in particular: “I think Bowie is very smart and I think he has a great sense of images and in coming up with new kinds of images. The first session I did with him started at four in the afternoon and ended at four the next morning when I did that picture of him on the motorcycle, and we used the headlights of a car to light it. He would constantly come up with new costumes and I would pick up my camera to photograph him and it would be an incredible outfit, but he would stop me and say, ’Wait a minute, I need to fix something,’ and he would go to the dressing room and come back 20 minutes later in something totally different. Fortunately, there would be a lot of things he would try on, so we would get a lot of pictures.”

 

Young Americans / It’s Gonna Be Me is released via Parlophone on February 23rd 2015.

 

“Battle For Britain“

 

The BBC has revealed the shortlist for British Artist of the Year in the inaugural BBC Music Awards.

The winners, as voted for by a BBC Music panel as well as leading music journalists, will be announced at the event being held at London’s Earl’s Court on Thursday December 11.

The shortlist was selected from the most played British artists of the year on BBC radio.

 

The nominees (in alphabetical order) for British Artist of the Year are:

 

David Bowie

Ed Sheeran

Elbow

Jungle

Royal Blood

Sam Smith

 

Hosted by Chris Evans and Fearne Cotton, the awards show will take place in front of a live audience of 13,500 and will be broadcast to millions more across the country as all the action is broadcast on BBC One, Radio 1, Radio 2 and at bbc.co.uk/music.

This will be one of the last events at Earl’s Court before the demolition of the historic Art deco London venue, which hosted shows by David Bowie in 1973 and 1978.

According to The Telegraph, the awards were launched as a rival to the Brits, and billed as the music version of Sports Personality of the Year, but there are only three categories: British Artist of the Year, International Artist of the Year and Song of the Year.

 

“Gee my life’s a funny thing“

 

Taped in New York for ABC TV, David Bowie’s appearance on The Dick Cavett Show was first broadcast on December 5th 1974.

Following Cavett’s introduction to a very appreciative audience, Bowie performed 1984 and Young Americans. This was followed by the interview, which, if you’ve never seen it, is not going to be done justice by trying to describe it here. The show ended with a performance of Footstompin’. Can You Hear Me was also taped but not broadcast.

It’s a wonderful bit of TV and a much-loved snapshot of a transitional period for Bowie (wasn’t every period transitional for Bowie?), and you can view the full thing on YouTube.

Read the transcript of the interview (one of the more bizarre Bowie has ever given) over on the superb The Young American website.

 

“This ain’t rock ’n’ roll”

 

In the year of its fortieth anniversary, Matthew Lindsay has written an incredible twelve and a half thousand words in appreciation of David Bowie’s 1974 masterpiece, Diamond Dogs, for The Quietus.

The read is well worth the time investment and with that word count in mind, we’ll let you get on and start reading, The Hideous Ecstasy Of Fear: Diamond Dogs 40 Years On.

 

“The third and the last are telling it all“

 

Parlophone have posted the third and final trailer in a series of shorts they created for Nothing Has Changed.

Go here to view part 3, which, as you’ve probably guessed, represents CD3 of the NHC 3 disc set.

 

Go here for part 1.

Go here for part 2.

 

Order the Top Ten Album, Nothing Has Changed, here:

3CD http://smarturl.it/BowieNHC3CD

2CD http://smarturl.it/BowieNHC2CD

Digital http://smarturl.it/BowieNHC3digital

Vinyl: http://smarturl.it/BowieNHCLP