Month: August 2016

 

“All right, You want the young American”

 

This week we’re focusing on The Gouster and Young Americans from the upcoming David Bowie – Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976) box set.

 

We’ve lumped them together because, in a nutshell, The Gouster is the previously unreleased album (a kind of Young Americans v1), on its way to being the final version of Young Americans, which was actually released in March 1975.

 

To kick us off, and in an attempt to try and make things less confusing, we’ve posted the tracklisting for each album below…

 

The Gouster tracklisting:

 

1 John, I’m Only Dancing (Again)

2 Somebody Up There Likes Me

3 It’s Gonna Be Me

4 Who Can I Be Now?

5 Can You Hear Me?

6 Young Americans

7 Right

 

Songs exclusive to The Gouster:

 

John, I’m Only Dancing (Again)

It’s Gonna Be Me

Who Can I Be Now?

 

Young Americans tracklisting:

 

1 Young Americans

2 Win

3 Fascination

4 Right

5 Somebody Up There Likes Me

6 Across The Universe (Lennon/McCartney)

7 Can You Hear Me?

8 Fame (Bowie/Alomar/Lennon)

 

Songs exclusive to Young Americans:

 

Win

Fascination

Across The Universe (Lennon/McCartney)

Fame (Bowie/Alomar/Lennon)

 

The cover photographs for both albums (and the main exclusive picture here), were all taken by Eric Stephen Jacobs.

 

 

#WCIBNBox  #WhoCanIBeNowBox  #BowieTheGouster  #BowieYoungAmericans

 

 

“Well, ain’t that poster love?”

 

For our final look at David Live (from the upcoming David Bowie – Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976) we’ve reproduced a few Diamond Dog tour items.

 

Clockwise from top left are the following:

 

Diamond Dogs tour programme #1 (with the legend ALIVE instead of BOWIE)

Diamond Dogs tour programme #2 (there were three variations in total)

Madison Square Garden programme/sheet

Madison Square Garden poster

Diamond Dogs press advert with tour dates

Diamond Dogs Record/Tour Coming Soon poster

 

As previously mentioned, David Live was recorded at the Tower Theatre, Philadelphia, in July, 1974.

 

After the Madison Square Garden shows the following week, the tour was paused while David recorded The Gouster/Young Americans. More of which, very soon.

 

Listen to David Live here.

 

 

#WCIBNBox  #WhoCanIBeNowBox  #BowieDavidLive

 

“In the centre of it all, Your eyes”

 

Congratulations are due to Jan Houllevigue for winning Best Art Direction at the @MTV VMAs last night.

 

If you’ve somehow managed to miss seeing Jan’s work on the ★ Blackstar video, join the 28,743,578 who have viewed it, here.

 

For those of you who aren’t a fan of the math, that’s almost 29 million views!

 

We’ll leave you with a reminder of exactly what ★ Blackstar was up against.

 

 

PROFESSIONAL CATEGORIES

Presented by Orbit® Gum

 

BEST ART DIRECTION

Winner: David Bowie – “Blackstar” (Production Designer: Jan Houllevigue)

Beyoncé – “Hold Up” (Production Designer: Jason Hougaard)

Fergie – “M.I.L.F. $” (Production Designer: Alexander Delgado)

Drake – “Hotline Bling” (Production Designer: Jeremy MacFarlane)

Adele – “Hello” (Production Designer: Colombe Raby)

 

 

#BowieMTVVMAs  #BowieMTV  #BowieBlackstar  #Blackstar  

 

“Five, four, three, two, one, lift off”

 

The limited edition 40th anniversary The Man Who Fell To Earth book is now available to purchase.

 

Limited to just 1,000 numbered copies, the lower numbers will go first.

 

The book has an introductory price of £100 but that cost will rise to £150 after publication.

 

Go here to secure your copy now.

 

 

FOOTNOTE: Today’s exclusive picture from the book is of David and Zowie (Duncan Jones) relaxing off set during filming of The Man Who Fell To Earth. Good to see that the young lad is in command of the remote-controlled plane.

 

 

#TMWFTEbook  #TheManWhoFellToEarth  #TMWFTE  #TJNewton   

 

“Like that sailor leaves, come back again”

 

For today’s look at David Live (from the upcoming David Bowie – Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976) we’re revisiting a part of Tony Visconti’s sleeve notes from the revitalised 2005 issue of the album. Over to Tony…

 

 

“After all was said and done David and I were reunited on Diamond Dogs as a mixing project. I also contributed a string arrangement to “1984,” a track on that album. The following album was still about mixing (and a little overdubbing). I was asked to mix multi-track tapes for a live album recorded at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia.

 

This project started after we chose Electric Lady Studios in New York just to listen to what was on the multi-tracks. We loved the spirit of the concerts, the performances were lively and the vibe was right. But there were some technical problems, which were no reflection on the engineer, Keith Harwood.

 

Anything can happen during a live recording and it usually does. There is no luxury of a take two. We would have to make this album a mixture of both nights. The drums were sounding good, but the bass was very thin sounding. The percussionist’s microphones had picked up everyone else’s instruments and the backing singers and horn players were often sporadically off microphone due to excitement, I guess. But David’s vocals sounded wonderful, which was reason enough to make this project work.

 

It was obvious that some things needed fixing. There was too much instrument spillage on their mix and their blend could’ve been better (they were ‘locked’ on one audio track, so rebalancing was impossible). Geoffrey and Gui sang their original parts in a few hours, but we used as much as the original vocals as possible. Some of the horn parts were also re-recorded because of technical difficulties.

 

I have been asked if David’s voice had been overdubbed in some cases, because it didn’t always match up with bootlegs of the Tower show. We did not fix David’s lead vocals, so those bootlegs must be from an alternate night. DAVID LIVE is David – live!” – Tony Visconti April, 2004.

 

 

Aside from the wonderful DAGMAR photograph, we’ve used the credit page from the original The Year Of The Diamond Dogs tour programme today. Interesting to note how close it is to the David Live tracklisting, apart from the absence of the two cover versions: Knock On Wood and Here Today Gone Tomorrow.

 

Listen to David Live here,

 

 

#WCIBNBox  #WhoCanIBeNowBox  #BowieDavidLive

 

“Turn to the left, Turn to the right”

 

We continue our delve into the David Bowie – Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976) box set this week with David Live.

 

The first official live Bowie album, David Live, is the document of The Year Of The Diamond Dogs Tour of Canada and North America in 1974.

 

The album was compiled from shows at the Tower Theatre, Philadelphia, in July and was released in October that year. Our montage shows the rather grainy original sleeve with a reversed image that really didn’t do the Dagmar photo justice. The other cover is the 2016 version with picture restored to its rightful quality and orientation.

 

The Who Can I Be Now? box includes both the David Live original mix, remastered double album (2 CD), and the David Live 2005 mix, remastered triple vinyl album (2 CD).

 

Before the Diamond Dogs tour morphed into the Philly Dogs tour later in the year, the show had a particularly theatrical bent, with a lavish stage production which some thought might overshadow Bowie’s actual performance. In the event, they needn’t have worried. Bowie’s stagecraft and experience won through, as evidenced by this excerpt from a Rolling Stone review by Richard Cromalin…

 

 

“The props were spectacular and effective. But the real moments, the screams and the hysterical assaults of the stage, were powered by Bowie himself and his mercurial parade of personalities – the empty, pretty-boy movie star, the playful, lascivious bar crawler singing the legend of “The Jean Genie,” and especially the unadorned, spontaneous David Bowie-as-entertainer with his audience in the palm of his hand.”

 

 

Listen to some of that magic captured on David Live.

 

 

#WCIBNBox  #WhoCanIBeNowBox  #BowieDavidLive

 

“You could look into my eyes”

 

As you know, we’re posting exclusive pictures from the 40th anniversary The Man Who Fell To Earth book throughout this week.

 

Register your name and email now for EARLY advance pre-order access, plus get the exclusive “10 Things You Didn’t Know about The Man Who Fell To Earth” PDF Booklet when you do. (http://smarturl.it/RegisterTMWFTEbook)

 

Swipe/scroll (or click on little dots) for extra images and come back tomorrow for more.

 

 

#TMWFTEbook  #TheManWhoFellToEarth  #TMWFTE  #TJNewton   

 

“Me, I’m fresh on your pages”

 

Wax Poetics Issue 65 has a 30-page cover feature, the main feature being a well-written, 20-page piece by A. D. Amorosi.

 

The magazine has this description of the Bowie content:

 

 

“Wax Poetics Issue 65 explores David Bowie’s time in Philly, recording David Live and much of his R&B masterpiece, Young Americans—at the iconic Sigma Sound Studios used by Gamble & Huff and countless Philly soul acts. The in-depth, 20-page story is told with the help of producer Tony Visconti; pianist Mike Garson; model, muse, and singer Ava Cherry; singer Robin Clark, and her husband, guitarist and collaborator Carlos Alomar. Rare photos of Bowie at Sigma by photographer Dagmar! We also offer a four-page “David in Philly” timeline and a five-page interview with Bowie photographer Steve Schapiro.”

 

 

Go here for more detail regarding this issue.

 

 

#WCIBNBox  #WhoCanIBeNowBox  #BowieWaxPoetics

 

“But he smiles like a reptile”

 

As you may have noticed, we’re posting exclusive pictures from the 40th anniversary The Man Who Fell To Earth book throughout this week.

 

Register your name and email now for EARLY advance pre-order access, plus get the exclusive “10 Things You Didn’t Know about The Man Who Fell To Earth” PDF Booklet when you do. (http://smarturl.it/RegisterTMWFTEbook)

 

Swipe/scroll (or click on little dots) for extra images and come back tomorrow for more.

 

 

#TMWFTEbook  #TheManWhoFellToEarth  #TMWFTE  #TJNewton   

 

“Turn to the left”*

 

We’re posting exclusive pictures from the 40th anniversary The Man Who Fell To Earth book throughout this week.

 

Register your name and email now for EARLY advance pre-order access, plus get the exclusive “10 Things You Didn’t Know about The Man Who Fell To Earth” PDF Booklet when you do. (http://smarturl.it/RegisterTMWFTEbook)

 

Swipe/scroll (or click on little dots) for extra images and come back tomorrow for more.

 

*OK, pedants might argue that DB is turning to the right. However, he is turning to his left, along with the figurines in the window behind him.

 

 

#TMWFTEbook  #TheManWhoFellToEarth  #TMWFTE  #TJNewton