Month: August 2016

 

“And he was alright, the band was all together…”

 

In celebration of the upcoming David Bowie – Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976) box set, we’re continuing our album focus on the next title in the box: David Live.

 

As previously mentioned, David Live is the document of The Year Of The Diamond Dogs Tour of Canada and North America in 1974.

 

It was the first official live Bowie album and it was preceded by the single Knock On Wood, which was taken from it.

 

Check it out now on Spotify.

 

 

#WCIBNBox  #WhoCanIBeNowBox  #BowieDavidLive

 

 

“The thinker sits alone”

 

As we promised yesterday, we will be posting exclusive pictures from the 40th anniversary The Man Who Fell To Earth book throughout the 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   

 

“It’s safe in the city, to love in a doorway”

 

Ahead of the release of the David Bowie – Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976) box set, we’re running a weekly album focus. Today is the last day of Diamond Dogs before we look at David Live tomorrow, the record of the tour that took Diamond Dogs on the road.

 

Despite the Diamond Dogs cover still depicting Bowie with the Ziggy look he was about to shed, one of the things that was striking about the album at the time was its incredibly fresh and new sound, unlike anything else around in 1974.

 

This intention is borne out by Tony Visconti’s Diamond Dogs liner notes in the new box set, from where, this excerpt:

 

 

“‘Diamond Dogs’ was probably David’s most radical album to date. It was very different from anything he’d done, it was the first self-produced album too. He played almost all the guitar on the album except for the ‘Rebel Rebel’ riff. Between us we conjured up sounds no one had ever heard or used before. It was the beginning of many new recording adventures I shared with my old friend, lasting until the present day.” – Tony Visconti (May 2016)

 

 

If you need reminding of some of those sounds Tony’s referring to, check out Future Legend, Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (reprise), Big Brother and Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family, via the Who Can I Be Now? playlist here.

 

Another thing about the release of Diamond Dogs, was the creation of the Bowie logo. Probably the best known of all Bowie logos and one that endures today.

 

Pre-order Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976) here.

 

FOOTNOTE: As you no doubt know, the picture of David and Tony in Trident Studio is from May 1971. Three years ahead of the release of Diamond Dogs.

 

 

#WCIBNBox  #WhoCanIBeNowBox  #BowieDiamondDogs

 

“I think that Mr Newton has had enough”

 

As you can see from the clapperboard in the picture here, forty one years ago today was the very day that the final scene of The Man Who Fell To Earth was shot.

 

Over the next week we will be posting some exclusive pictures from the 40th anniversary The Man Who Fell To Earth book.

 

As we told you yesterday, the seven-day countdown for the book pre-order is on. 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 a couple more images and come back tomorrow for more.

 

 

#TMWFTEbook  #TheManWhoFellToEarth  #TMWFTE  #TJNewton   

 

“I got seven days”

 

The seven-day countdown for the officially licensed, 40th anniversary The Man Who Fell To Earth book pre-order started this morning.

 

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.

 

With over 600 stunning images, many previously unpublished, the large format hardback book (240mm x 340mm) is limited to just 1000 numbered copies worldwide.

 

There will be an early bird introductory price of £100 (Plus P&P) for the limited edition. This special pre-order price will only be available up until publication date in late September, after which the normal price will be £150 (Plus P&P).

 

We’ve had a sneak preview of the book and it is magnificent, we will also be sharing some of the aforementioned previously unpublished pictures before publication.

 

Register here now.

 

 

#TMWFTEbook  #TheManWhoFellToEarth  #TMWFTE  #TJNewton   

 

“You like me, and I like it all”

 

As you know by now, In the run up to the release of the David Bowie – Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976) box set, we’re running a weekly album focus, with this week’s album being Diamond Dogs.

 

Today we’ve made a montage of a handful of the music press adverts, Including the UK Rebel Rebel 45, UK Diamond Dogs single and the American advert for 1984. The other two are both US adverts for the album.

 

Though Rebel Rebel was a top five hit in the UK, the Diamond Dogs single didn’t worry the Top 20 and 1984 in America was met with similar indifference from record buyers.

 

However, the album itself reached #1 in the UK and #5 in the US. The UK position won’t have been hampered by Chris Charlesworth’s full-page Melody Maker review, from which, this excerpt:

 

“The overall effect from the album is that Bowie is more concerned with good production than ever before – and that he’s consciously writing songs suitable for his upcoming stage show.

At least half the tracks on this set are bound to be firm stage favourites, especially if he can recreate the recorded sound.

David has produced another really good record.”

 

See if you’re in agreement with Mr Charlesworth by having another listen to Diamond Dogs via the Who Can I Be Now? playlist here.

 

#WCIBNBox  #WhoCanIBeNowBox  #BowieDiamondDogs

 

“Good god! was it really yesterday?”

 

The October 2016 issue of Uncut magazine has an 11-page cover feature that shines a light on the evolution of The Gouster/Young Americans, via the more-than-qualified memory banks of Tony Visconti and others, along with some rather tasty pictorial content.

 

There’s also a brief attempt to second guess what’s next in the world of forthcoming Bowie releases.

 

Go here for more detail regarding this particular issue: http://bit.ly/UncutOctoberRL

 

 

#WCIBNBox  #WhoCanIBeNowBox  #BowieUNCUT

 

“There’s a sailor who sings”

 

In case you missed the announcement on his FB page last week, Seu Jorge will present THE LIFE AQUATIC TOUR, a tribute to DAVID BOWIE in America in November.

 

Jorge first came to international prominence when he appeared as the enigmatic David Bowie-singing sailor, Pelé dos Santos, in Wes Anderson’s 2004 movie The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.

 

In his role as dos Santos, Jorge performed several of Bowie’s songs, including Rebel Rebel, Life On Mars? and Starman, albeit in Portuguese while accompanying himself with just an acoustic guitar.

 

His The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions album was released on the Hollywood Records label in 2005 and Bowie himself had this to say in the sleeve notes:

 

“Had Seu Jorge not recorded my songs in Portuguese, I would never have heard this new level of beauty which he has imbued them with.”

 

For the upcoming tour, the Brazilian singer/songwriter will reprise his Portuguese bossa-flavored Bowie covers during a series of Life Aquatic concerts. Images from the film will play on screens shaped like boat sails during the themed shows.

 

These are the dates for Seu Jorge’s The Life Aquatic: A Tribute to David Bowie concerts:

 

Nov. 4: Faena Theater, Miami Beach

Nov. 7: Union Transfer, Philadelphia

Nov. 8: The Howard Theatre, Washington, DC

Nov. 9: Boston Symphony Hall, Boston

Nov. 11 & 12: Town Hall, New York City

Nov. 14: Theatre Maisonneuve, Montreal

Nov. 15: Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Toronto

Nov. 17: Thalia Hall, Chicago

Nov. 20: Vogue Theatre, Vancouver

Nov. 21: Showbox, Seattle

Nov. 22: Revolution Hall, Portland

Nov. 25: The Regency Ballroom, San Francisco

Nov. 26: The Theatre at Ace Hotel, Los Angeles

 

Stay tuned for tour updates.

 

 

#SeuJorgeBowieTrib

 

“Hunt you to the ground they will, mannequins with kill appeal”

 

In the run up to the release of the David Bowie – Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976) box set, we’re running a week by week album focus for the LPs contained within it.

 

This week we’re looking at Diamond Dogs and today we’re picking up from yesterday, with a look at another artwork created for the album by Guy Peellaert.

 

The artwork we’re talking about was apparently produced originally for the inner gatefold of the sleeve. In the event a photomontage of a cityscape by Leee Black Childers was used instead.

 

Once again the painting Peellaert produced was based on photographs by Terry O’Neill of Bowie and a leaping dog, the iconic shot in our montage is from the same session.

 

The Peellaert image was reproduced as a limited edition poster by Mainman and sold through the Bowie fanclub in the mid 70s, along with the more familiar cover art, which was even more heavily censored than the actual sleeve.

 

The other inset picture in our montage is of Peellaert presenting Bowie with the first version of the artwork, soon after completion.

 

Meanwhile don’t forget you can listen to Diamond Dogs via the Who Can I Be Now? playlist here.

 

 

#WCIBNBox  #WhoCanIBeNowBox  #BowieDiamondDogs

 

“I give my, complete attention to a very good friend of mine…”

 

For those of you that haven’t already stumbled upon it, Geoff MacCormack has recently launched his own site of just a few of the pictures he took of his old mucker, David Bowie.

 

You all know Geoff’s story as David’s travel companion, band member and ‘holiday snapper’, as he would refer to himself. But if you don’t, you can read that incredible tale on the site and have a browse through some of the most beautiful photographs of David Bowie ever taken, while you’re about it.

 

Here’s the caption for the main image in our montage…

 

 

David Bowie: Fenton Lake, New Mexico, 1975.

 

This photo was taken when David had just finished shooting a gruelling scene in The Man Who Fell To Earth where his character Thomas Jerome Newton is vivisected by government scientists in order to find out who or what he is.  There is something of a Charlotte Rampling look about this shot.

 

 

As you may have already worked out, the other two pictures are of David and Geoff, around forty years apart.

 

Check out the site here: 

 

 

#GeoffMacBowie