Month: October 2016

 

“You opened my eyes”

 

As you know, the Lazarus Cast Album is due for release on Friday (October 21), four days before previews for the Lazarus Musical start in London.

 

Meanwhile, we’re very happy to be able to tell you that the BBC now has exclusive first plays for two of the Bowie originals on the album tomorrow (Tuesday, October 18).

 

First up, the Shaun Keaveny show on BBC Radio 6 Music has a world exclusive first play of When I Met You. The show starts at 7:00am.

 

Then No Plan has its exclusive first play on BBC Radio 2’s the Jeremy Vine show which starts at midday.

 

 

#LazarusMusical  #LazarusLondon  #LazarusSoundtrack  #Lazarus  #TMWFTE  #TJNewton  

 

“Scanning life through the picture window”

 

The headline and graphic pretty much say it all. The exhibition runs from October 29 through to November 9 at the Mouche Gallery in LA.

 

Mouche Gallery

340 N. Beverly Drive

Beverly Hills, CA 90210

 

Call +1 310-858-8114

 

Read more about the Bowie By O’Neill book here.

 

 

#BOWIEbyONEILL  #MoucheGallery

 

“I’ve got a handful of songs to sing”

 

The #1 best-selling musical soundtrack in the UK right now (according to Amazon), is the Lazarus Cast Album, due for release on October 21, four days before previews for @lazarusmusical start in London.

 

The Bowie originals on the album have been singled out for praise by both Neil McCormick at The Telegraph and Dorian Lynskey at The Guardian. Here follows edited excerpts from both.

 

A last message from a lost icon: three more David Bowie tracks released – by Neil McCormick – The Telegraph

 

No Plan is a gorgeous, slippery jazz ballad, sweet and sad, that sings out with an almost mystically prophetic quality, as if Bowie was reporting from beyond the grave: “All the things that are my life/ My moods/ My beliefs/ My desires/ Me alone/ Nothing to regret/ This is no place, but here I am.”

 

It is a song evoking the displacement of the production’s central character, Thomas Jerome Newton, The Man Who Fell to Earth, but the line between the alien Newton and Bowie’s alienation has been blurred since he starred in Nicholas Roeg’s 1976 film.

 

Killing A Little Time is a thrillingly chaotic rocker, unwinding from a long spiel of guitar feedback, rumbling bass and jerky drums, as Bowie’s strangulated vocal evokes fear and rage at his perilous state: “I’m falling man/ I’m choking man/ I’m fading man.”

 

As the track builds, the jazz sax gets dialled up amidst a cascade of woodwind, and the arrangement gets progressively looser and more disharmonic, whilst Bowie grapples with “this furious brain” evoking “This symphony/ This rage in me”, and proclaiming, “I’ve got a handful of songs to sing/ To stain the soul/ To f— you over.” If ever there was a song raging against the dying of the light, this is surely it.

 

The final new song, When I Met You, comes from the end of the play, and offers a welcome sense of solace and relief. It is an off kilter pop ditty, the jaunty melody of a Sixties beat jingle run through a sonic wringer, a rising and descending bass figure and Bowie strumming an out-of-rhythm acoustic guitar.

 

The song is a loving dedication to someone who has saved the singer from himself: “I was the walking dead/ I was kicked in the head/ I was too insane/ Could not trust the game/ Before I met you.”

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David Bowie’s last three songs: decoding the final transmission – by Dorian Lynskey – The Guardian

 

Each one has its own flavour. When I Met You is the kind of briskly anthemic, self-quoting rock that Bowie delivered on his 2013 comeback album The Next Day, climbing a ladder of chords to a stirring chorus, until a swarm of overlapping backing vocals knocks it sideways, giving it a stranger, more chaotic quality. Killing a Little Time has the same neurotic momentum as Sue (Or in a Season of Crime) and a touch of Outside’s 1990s industrial clamour, pitching Bowie’s sinisterly theatrical vocal into shrieking, churning jazz-rock. Mark Guiliana’s astonishing, tentacular drumming alone confirms that Bowie’s last band, led by saxophonist Donny McCaslin, was one of his best, capable of anything. Bowie sounds like a man coming apart — “I’m falling, man / I’m choking, man / I’m fading, man” — but it feels like Newton talking. Bowie is just the cracked actor.

 

The best of the three, No Plan, is also the one most likely to inspire literal readings. It’s an exquisitely lush, star-speckled torch song, which refracts the late-in-life stocktaking of Piaf or Sinatra through the stasis and fatalism of Talking Heads’ Heaven. “All the things that are my life / All my moves, my beliefs, my designs / Me alone, nothing to regret / This is no place but here I am / This is not quite yet,” Bowie croons. Taken alone, it would be a hell of a swansong (“Am I nowhere now?”) but play it beside the feverish discontent of Killing a Little Time and it loses its soothing finality. Again, these are numbers from a musical. They might feel movingly true at times but they’re stories, from a master storyteller.

 

 

All pre-orders instantly receive downloads of the cast versions of Life On Mars? (sung by Sophia Anne Caruso) and Lazarus (sung by Michael C. Hall). Don’t forget Jonathan Barnbrook’s animated visuals for both can be viewed here: http://smarturl.it/LazarusLOM and http://smarturl.it/LazarusVevo.

 

Go here for pre-order links, etc.

 

Meanwhile, Michael C. Hall will perform on The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One in the UK on Sunday. The programme airs for one hour from 9:00am.

 

 

#LazarusMusical  #LazarusLondon  #LazarusSoundtrack  #Lazarus  #TMWFTE  #TJNewton  

 

“I sped from Planet X to Planet Alpha”

 

You may remember the Friday Music release of the David Bowie – A Reality Tour 180 Gram Audiophile Translucent Blue Vinyl box set released back in June.

 

The set, which includes three discs and two posters, is reissued by Sony today (Oct 14) to make it available to a wider audience at a cheaper price. Nice.

 

#BowieARealityTour  #BowieVinyl

 

“And prayer can’t travel so far these days”            

 

As you know, Donny McCaslin’s latest release, Beyond Now, is out today. Donny and his band are the musicians behind the sound of David Bowie’s ★ album.

 

Here’s an excerpt taken from a piece that we posted from The Guardian earlier this month…

 

 

The experience of creating music with Bowie proved so deep, and its aftermath so jarring, that McCaslin decided to turn his new album, Beyond Now, out 14 October, into a tribute. It includes several transformative covers of Bowie songs, including Warszawa from Low, and A Small Plot of Land from Outside, along with a song McCaslin wrote inspired by a piece Bowie left off Blackstar.

 

 

The uncommonly tall saxophonist has spoken to us about both of those Bowie covers.

 

 

WARSZAWA

We started performing Warszawa in mid-January. It was a raw, difficult time emotionally and playing that song every night was a way to channel all those feelings into the music. As Jason Lindner said, Warszawa was a bridge between David’s music and ours. I knew when we played it in January that I wanted to record it for Beyond Now.

 

A SMALL PLOT OF LAND

A Small Plot of Land was the suggestion of Beyond Now’s producer, David Binney. There’s a great version Mike Garson posted from a performance he did with Bowie in 1995; Bowie’s vocal is tremendous. Jeff Taylor killed the vocal on the new version.

 

 

Thank you Mr McCaslin. Stay tuned to Donny’s official page for live dates and the like.

 

Meanwhile, if you missed his DB Deep Cut Of The Day, check it out here.

 

 

FOOTNOTE: All pictures of Donny by Jimmy King. (When we say ALL pictures of Donny by Jimmy King, we don’t mean every picture of Donny that’s ever been taken were taken by Jimmy. But he did take all of the shots for the sleeve of Beyond Now, and, of course, the wonderful picture of Bowie and McCaslin that we’ve used today.)

 

 

#BowieMcCaslin  #DonnyMcCaslinBeyondNow  #BeyondNow

 

“Get me to The Doctor”

 

Join Titan Books and Nicholas Pegg for the launch of THE COMPLETE DAVID BOWIE (REVISED AND UPDATED 2016 EDITION)

 

Nick will be signing early release copies of The Complete David Bowie on SATURDAY OCTOBER 22nd at THE ROYAL GEORGE TAVERN from 2pm (please see below for full details). All this to a soundtrack of some of Bowie’s greatest hits and lesser known classics offering a celebration of his untouchable legacy.

 

Featuring over 70,000 words of new material, Pegg’s critically acclaimed book has been fully revised and updated, offering Bowie fans the most up-to-date encyclopedia of songs, albums, tours, films and videos ever published, from Liza Jane to Blackstar and all points in between.

 

Copies of the book will be available to purchase at the event.

 

Saturday October 22nd 2016, 2 – 8pm. Bar open to late.

 

Downstairs Bar

The Royal George Tavern

133 Charing Cross Rd, London WC2H 0EA

www.theroyalgeorgewc2.co.uk

Nearest tube: Tottenham Court Road – take exit 4 and turn right past Centre Point and then turn right by Starbucks into Gosslett Yard (under 3 minutes walk)

Nearest train station: Charing Cross (10 minutes walk)

 

“I’ve already bought four different editions of Nick’s book, and now I’m going to have to buy another one – but I’m not complaining. Vital for any Bowie-Nut. Unmissable.” – MARC RILEY, BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC

 

“Part biblical reference work, part engrossing general read … Nicholas Pegg is one of the foremost minds in Bowieology” – Q

 

“All Bowie books must now be measured against Nicholas Pegg’s The Complete David Bowie” – TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

 

“My go-to book for anything to do with Bowie. No other book delivers such fascinating and forensic detail into the great man’s work” – GARY KEMP, SPANDAU BALLET

 

“A feast for the Bowie fan. Nicholas Pegg’s brilliant labour of love leaves no stone unturned, no shadow unexplored” – MARC ALMOND

 

 

FOOTNOTE: You may be aware that Mr Pegg has ‘appeared’ as a Dalek on Dr Who, more times than you can shake a plunger at. He’s pictured here on an afternoon off, when he purloined the TARDIS and gate-crashed a photo shoot on London’s Heddon Street, early in 1972. Can’t prove it, but it is true.

 

 

#CompleteDavidBowie  #BowieBook

 

“But we’re Absolute beginners”

 

David Bowie’s ★ has received a Best Album nomination in The StubHub Q Awards 2016 in association with Absolute Radio.

 

Here’s the full list of nominations:

 

The 1975 – I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It

Bastille – Wild World

David Bowie – ★

Christine And The Queens – Chaleur Humaine

Coldplay – A Head Full Of Dreams

 

Vote for your favourite album here.

 

#QAwards  #QBowie

 

“A love that will last within your art”

 

On the eve of the Sotheby’s Bowie/Collector Hong Kong highlights preview exhibition, the auction house has posted the three London catalogues for your perusal.

 

Part I: Modern & Contemporary Art, Evening Auction, 10 November

Catalogue #1

Part II: Modern & Contemporary Art, Day Auction, 11 November

Catalogue #2

Part III: Design: Ettore Sottsass and the Memphis Group, 11 November

Catalogue #3

 

From 1–10 November, the full collection will be exhibited at Sotheby’s New Bond Street galleries in London, giving fans, collectors, art lovers and experts a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to immerse themselves in the extraordinary range of objects that informed Bowie’s private world.

 

The London Exhibition:

Tuesday 1 November, 12noon–5pm

Wednesday 2 & Thursday 3 November, 9am–5pm

Friday 4 November, 9am–5pm (with an all-night view)

(Experience Sotheby’s after dark at the Bowie/Collector all night view and enjoy music, talks, film screenings and more*)

Saturday 5 & Sunday 6 November, 10am–5pm

(A weekend of talks dedicated to celebrating David Bowie’s life as an icon, musician and collector*)

Monday 7 to Wednesday 9 November, 9am–5pm

Thursday 10 November, 9am–12noon

 

* Details of events to be released shortly

 

All Auctions will be ticketed. To register your interest and for more information, please email: Bowie@sothebys.com

 

We’ll leave you with details of the Hong Kong highlights preview exhibition.

 

HONG KONG | 12–15 October

5/F One Pacific Place

88 Queensway, Hong Kong

Opening hours:

10 AM – 6 PM Wed-Fri

11 AM – 5 PM Sat

 

Go here for more details.

 

 

#BowieCollector  #BowieArt  #BowieSothebys

 

“I’m stuck with a valuable friend”              

 

We’ve been lucky enough to receive a preview copy of David Bowie : Behind The Curtain from the folks at PSG. If you’re familiar with Andrew Kent’s photographs of Bowie, you’ll not be surprised to learn that it’s a thing of absolute beauty.

 

Here’s the back story explaining that title…

 

 

THE STORY

 

“David Bowie : Behind The Curtain” is a rare, exclusive, intimate, and very candid look at David Bowie during the rise of the Thin White Duke, his Station to Station tour, and numerous larger-than-life stories along the way. In 1975, rock ‘n roll photographer Andrew Kent landed the gig of a lifetime. He had been entrusted by Bowie to document, with unfettered access, anything and everything Bowie and his entourage encountered for the next two years. Backstage, on stage, private parties, birthday parties, limos, quiet hotel moments, dressing rooms, Berlin, Paris, New York, London, Helsinki, Moscow.

 

Also along during the Station to Station tour was an 18 year old Rolling Stone reporter researching a cover story on Bowie named Cameron Crowe. In 1976 Bowie took Iggy Pop, his manager Pat Gibbons, his personal secretary Coco, and Kent on an impromptu excursion by train to the Soviet Union. A mistake on the schedule at the train station caused the group to miss their return train to Helsinki leading the press to run frenzied headlines reading, “David Bowie Missing in Soviet Union!”. With his unprecedented access, Kent created a one-of-a-kind travelogue, capturing the unique and spectacular life of one of the most iconic musicians in rock ‘n roll history.

 

 

The book is available in three formats…

 

First Edition : $59.95. Hardcover, 11 x 13.5 x 0.8 inches, 160 pages.

 

Collectors’ Edition : $1,500. Hardcover, 11 x 13.5 inches, 160 pages. The Collector’s Edition box (see photos below) is an exclusive work of art limited to just 100 numbered copies. Each box is hand made by artisan craftsmen in Chicago; the box itself is solid Birdseye maple with ebony splining and lined with luxurious black leather. The box lid is numbered and engraved with a precision laser. Once opened, the box lid and base convert into a simple, but elegant, coffee table display for the book. But the trick is opening the box…which is locked, but has no apparent keyhole. The only way to open it is by using the “key” – a separate piece of wood (carved by hand) with magnetic inlays that correspond to magnets hidden inside the lid. Simple, but complex, with a secret or two…much like Bowie himself.

 

Edition of Five : $5,000. Hardcover, 11 x 13.5 inches, 160 pages. The Edition of Five is a very exclusive edition of this collector’s item limited to a total of 5 numbered copies. In addition to everything included in the Collector’s Edition, the Edition of Five also has included on the title page of the book an original, and very rare, backstage pass from the Station to Station tour in 1976.

 

Go here to peruse some of the images contained within the book and order the edition of your choice.

 

Swipe/scroll (or click on little dots) for images of the extraordinary Collectors’ Edition box, plus a 1976 picture of David Bowie and Iggy Pop in Red Square in Moscow, and David with drummer Dennis Davis looking on, prior to a show in Berlin the same year.

 

 

#BowieBehindTheCurtain  #DBBTCbook  #AndrewKentBowie

 

Facebook: @psgwire

Twitter: @psgbooks

Instagram: @psgbooks

 

“Oh man! Look at those cavemen go”

 

As we told you recently, all formats of the upcoming BOWIE – LEGACY best of compilation feature a previously unreleased version of the classic 1971 Hunky Dory track, Life On Mars?, remixed by its original producer, Ken Scott.

 

For those of you that have access to BBC Radio, the track will be premiering on the Radio 2 Arts Show with Jonathan Ross at 10:00pm tonight (Thursday).

 

Then tomorrow, BBC Radio 6 Music has Matt Everitt in conversation with Ken Scott on the Shaun Keaveny show. The show starts at 7:00am tomorrow (Friday), though the Ken Scott bit is scheduled for approx. 7:40am.

 

Read more about BOWIE – LEGACY here.

 

 

#BowieLegacy  #BowieKenScott  #BowieLOM