Month: June 2015

 

“The jazz of life”

 

We told you about Orange Is the New Black star Lea DeLaria’s (Carrie “Big Boo” Black), new album of jazz renditions of the greatest hits of David Bowie, back at the start of February.

Now Lea has revealed the tracklisting foe HOUSEOFDAVID along with a new cover for the album, a spoof of Bowie’s own CHANGESONEBOWIE sleeve which featured an iconic black and white Tom Kelley shot.

Keep an eye on Lea’s FB page for updates.

 

We’ll leave you with the tracklisiting

 

HOUSEOFDAVID 

01 – Fame

02 – Space Oddity

03 – Golden Years

04 – Suffragette City (duet with JANIS SIEGEL)

05 – Starman

06 – Boys Keep Swinging

07 – Rebel Rebel

08 – Let’s Dance

09 – Life on Mars?

10 – The Jean Genie

11 – Modern Love

12 – Young Americans

 

“Please be mine, Share my life”

 

Today is the twenty third anniversary of David and Iman’s official church wedding at Saint James Episcopal Church, in Florence, Italy in 1992.

They had already married in a civil ceremony in Lausanne, Switzerland on April 24, with just two witnesses present and no guests.

The wedding in Florence was an altogether different affair with an invited guest list of family and friends and hundreds of curious well-wishers outside the church.

For the bride’s entrance, the couple chose a beautiful Bulgarian folk song called Kalimankou Denkou (The Evening Gathering) by Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares (solo: Yanka Roupkina), a Bulgarian female choir.

Bowie composed the other music played during the service, some of which ended up on the Black Tie White Noise album.

Iman wore a white dress designed by Herve Leger for the ceremony and David a suit by Thierry Mugler.

We’re sure you will want to join us in wishing the couple a very happy anniversary with many more to follow.

 

“Gotta get a word to Liza’s father”

 

No sorry, we’re not talking about Iman, we are celebrating 51 years since the release of David Bowie’s first ever 45. For it was on this day, Friday, June 5th 1964, that Vocalion Pop released a 45 with the catalogue number: V.9221.

That record, Liza Jane/Louie, Louie Go Home, was issued as Davie Jones with The King-Bees. Read more about the release in the piece we did for the 50th anniversary last year: http://smarturl.it/LJ50BNet

 

FOOTNOTE: The foreground images here were taken by Decca’s in-house photographer, David Wedgbury. Pictures from the session were used for the sheet music and for publicity stills at the time.

Bowie’s Deram debut is 48 today

 

“Did you ever have a Deram?”

 

David Bowie released his first album this day in 1967, albeit lacking the fanfare of Sergeant Pepper reportedly released on the same day by The Beatles. In fact Pepper was actually released a couple of weeks earlier. But that’s for Beatles’ buffs to explain.

Pictured here are the original stereo US (top left) and UK vinyl pressings and the impossibly rare US 8-track cartridge.

Issued on the Decca subsidiary, Deram, David Bowie is an album that has been unfairly dismissed by some over the years, even by Bowie himself on occasion.

This is a disservice that belies the fact that the record contained some classic Bowie recordings, including the likes of There Is A Happy Land, When I Live My Dream and Silly Boy Blue.

If you’ve not delved this far back, go listen to the most complete collection of songs from the period (including Karma Man, Let Me Sleep Beside You, In The Heat Of The Morning and the sublime The London Boys), on the 55-track Deluxe version of the album on Spotify now.

 

FOOTNOTE: Since we posted an image of the Deram album 8-track on April 1st, we’ve had a fair few people contact us to say that they didn’t fall for the April Fool joke and that they know there was no such thing. Well that was the twist in the tale. The 8-track is for real and it was manufactured in the USA. We posted it in a kind of reverse April Fool type doo dah.