Month: September 2016

 

“It will tumble from the sky”

 

Following the first nationwide screenings of the newly restored 4k The Man Who Fell To Earth in the UK, it seems the film has been very warmly received in sold out cinemas throughout the land.

 

If you didn’t get to attend any of the first night events, don’t forget that the film is showing for a few days in many of the participating cinemas.

 

Check the schedule for the updated UK and Republic of Ireland dates and times, here.

 

Aside from the cinema run, The Man Who Fell to Earth is re-released as a Collector’s Edition DVD, Blu-Ray and download from October 24.

 

Meanwhile, there’s been some great coverage of the film, the soundtrack, the book and possibly even the T-shirt, across all platforms in the last week or so.

 

We’ll leave you with some of the more substantial items…

 

RADIO

Radio 2 Arts Show with Jonathan Ross discussing TMWFTE book with Jay Glennie and Darryl Webber (1:40:20 in)

 

REVIEWS

The Times: David Bowie steals the show in The Man Who Fell To Earth by Kate Muir – 5 out of 5

The Guardian: A freaky concept album of a film by Peter Bradshaw – 5 out of 5

The Irish Times: Bowie and Roeg at the height of their powers by Donald Clarke – 4 out of 5

 

FEATURES

The Times: Still loving the alien by Dan Cairns

The Guardian: Bowie and the missing soundtrack: the amazing story behind The Man Who Fell to Earth by Chris Campion

The Telegraph: Bowie’s co-star Candy Clark remembers making The Man Who Fell to Earth by Neil Armstrong

 

 

#TheManWhoFellToEarth  #ManWhoFellToEarth  #TMWFTE  #TJNewton  

 

“I believe in magic, Angel for life”

 

Iman has taken to social media with this disclosure: “My first night out attending an event since last year!”

 

On Wednesday she made an appearance at New York Fashion Week with a touching tribute to her late husband.

 

Iman revealed to fashion stylist and journalist Joe Zee for Good Morning America at the Tom Ford show, that she was wearing a gold necklace in memory of Bowie.

 

“I’m wearing this until my death. Hedi Slimane made it for me. It just says ‘David.’”

 

Read more over at People.

 

 

#DavidAndIman  #‎ForeverLove

 

“What is this music Farnsworth keeps sending me?”

 

As you are no doubt aware, to tie-in with the theatrical release of STUDIOCANAL’s 40th Anniversary 4K release today of The Man Who Fell To Earth, Universal Music Catalogue (UMC) has released for the very first time in any format, the original movie soundtrack containing music by John Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas fame (who composed specifically for the film), and Stomu Yamash’ta.

 

This UMC version (order here), makes available both musicians compositions used in the film, along with many other of John Phillips’ pieces that didn’t make the final cut.

 

If you know TMWFTE well, you’ll be astonished how evocative each piece is, conjuring immediately the scene from whence it came.

 

Go here for the full tracklisting of the CD version and the upcoming vinyl and the deluxe 2CD/2LP box set due November 18th.

 

We’ve been privileged enough to see the sumptuous artwork for all of the versions, and it has to be said that one of our favourite designers, Phil Smee, has produced a thing of beauty.

 

FOOTNOTE: Today’s ‘lyric’ quotation is actually dialogue from the film between Thomas Jerome Newton and Mary Lou, from the scene depicted in our picture. In it, TJ is particularly irritated by a piece of music (playing on the ahead-of-the-curve WE digital player), that Oliver Farnsworth has supplied.

 

TJN: What is this music Farnsworth keeps sending me? I don’t like it.

ML: Some German composer

TJN: I’d like to hear people singing, let’s have singing, find some singing.

 

Mr Newton will be pleased to learn that the soundtrack does indeed have people singing. He might also be relieved to find out that the particular piece that displeased him so, didn’t make it to the CD.

 

 

#TMWFTEsoundtrack  #TheManWhoFellToEarth  #TMWFTE  #TJNewton  

 

“Transition, Transmission, Transition, Transmission”

 

For those of you who weren’t able to access the 2010 Harry Maslin Mix of TVC15 last week, here it is now on Spotify.

 

This mix was previously available on the 5.1 surround sound DVD only, as part of the 2010 Deluxe Edition of Station To Station.

 

Here’s a bit from Mr Maslin’s sleeve notes regarding the difficulty of mixing tracks in a pre-computer aided studio, taken from the David Bowie – Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976) book set book.

 

“The project was mixed at The Hit Factory in New York which was my home studio and wherein I was chief recording engineer. We had a custom built console utilizing the now classic API 550 equalizers in each channel module. It had no automation, so like all mixing in those days, the mix was somewhat of a performance in itself. Every pass had small differences and sometimes it came to editing different takes together to achieve the “final” mix. TVC 15 is a classic example of this. The 24 track tapes were packed with different instrument information ending up on the same track at times. This of course made it impossible to add EQ and dynamics processing to a track for a continuous mix pass. One cannot affect a piano, saxophone and maracas in the same manner; hence the song was mixed in sections. My assistant added a second pair of hands for the most demanding sections. The multi-track machine was an Ampex MM-1000…a beast of a machine, but very reliable and the 2 track machine was an Ampex AG-440. The outboard possessing equipment was very similar to what Cherokee had in L.A..” – HARRY MASLIN – June 2010

 

Our picture is of Harry and David in the studio, taken by Geoff MacCormack.

 

 

#WCIBNBox  #WhoCanIBeNowBox  #BowieTVC15  #BowieS2S #BowieStationToStation  #ThinWhiteDuke

 

“All you’ve got to do is win”

 

Win tickets to the UK premiere of David Bowie’s unreleased album, The Gouster, on 21st September in London.

 

Richer Sounds has teamed up with Cambridge Audio to give away 40 pairs of tickets to an exclusive preview of the album, two days before its official release date.

 

To enter and for more enticing information about the prize(s) and the contest, go here.

 

 

#WCIBNBox  #WhoCanIBeNowBox  #BowieTheGouster  #BowieYoungAmericans  #BowieWIN

 

“Such is the stuff from where dreams are woven”

 

This week Station To Station is the selected album from the upcoming David Bowie – Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976) box set.

 

Station To Station celebrated its 40th birthday earlier this year (January 23rd 1976). Considered a classic among fans and critics alike, the record was unusual for a Bowie album in that it contained just six tracks, even though it still clocked in at a little over thirty eight minutes.

 

For the first time ever, a David Bowie album was a bigger commercial success Stateside than in the UK. It reached #3 on the Billboard 200 and #5 on the official UK album chart.

 

Four of Station To Station’s six songs were released as commercial A-sides by RCA, with Golden Years being the pre-album hit. The song scored Bowie yet another top ten just in time for the Christmas UK chart in 1975, where it remained right up to the release of the album in January 1976.

 

Here’s the tracklisting:

 

1. Station To Station

2. Golden Years

3. Word On A Wing

4. TVC15

5. Stay

6. Wild Is The Wind

 

Remind yourself of the Duke’s majesty via the WCIBN playlist.

 

 

#WCIBNBox  #WhoCanIBeNowBox  #BowieS2S  #BowieStationToStation  #ThinWhiteDuke

 

“Fame, makes a man take things over”

 

We’re looking at The Gouster and Young Americans from the upcoming David Bowie – Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976) box set (smarturl.it/Bowie7476AZ), before we move on to Station To Station next week.

 

One of the more obvious differences between The Gouster and Young Americans is that the latter contained Bowie’s first ever #1 single. (Compare tracklisitings here.)

 

Fame was the second 45 released from the Young Americans album (the title track was the first), and it reached the top spot on the American Billboard Hot 100 in October, 1975.

 

1975 was a good year for Bowie chart action. Following the success of Fame, the re-issued Space Oddity gave him his first UK #1 the following month.

 

Fame was famously co-written with John Lennon (and Carlos Alomar), we’ll leave you with more of Tony Visconti’s fascinating sleeve notes from the box set on that very subject…

 

“I mixed ‘The Gouster’ (indeed there are tape boxes with ‘The Gouster’ written in bold letters on them) in London with instructions delivered from New York by David in the form of long telegrams, over twenty pages long. “Listen to the snare drum on this record…listen to the bass on that record…put a slap back on the congas on the ‘Young Americans’ breakdown…” Using DHL I sent the mixes back to New York where David listened and felt the album was not yet finished. Some songs could use real strings, including the two songs we recorded later in New York with Harry Maslin, ‘Fascination’ and ‘Win’. To me that also meant those songs might be contenders for ‘The Gouster’ so some others would have to go.

 

At the same time I was working on the strings and new mixes something was afoot in New York. David personally phoned me to tell me he had met up with John Lennon and got him into the studio with a band now consisting of Carlos Alomar, Dennis Davis and bassist Emir Ksasan. They wrote and recorded ‘Fame’ in one evening, also recording Lennon’s ‘Across The Universe’ for good measure. David said, “I’m sorry Tony, but they have to be on the album.” I also met John Lennon earlier for the first time with David and responded with, “If you gave me a day’s warning I would’ve flown myself on the Concorde to do that session.” I was quite upset. Well, anyway, ‘Fame’ is a great song; a great record and we all love it.” – Tony Visconti (May, 2016)

 

 

#WCIBNBox  #WhoCanIBeNowBox  #BowieTheGouster  #BowieYoungAmericans  #FameNumberOne