Month: September 2017

 

“I’ll give you eyes of blue”

 

Following the success of Sukita’s ‘Blows Up’ Bowie and Iggy exhibition in Japan back in January, the photographer is taking his ‘DAVID BOWIE 1977 IGGY POP’ show to Snap Galleries in London, the venue of many previous Bowie photo exhibitions.

 

Over to SNAP for the lowdown…

 

 

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DAVID BOWIE 1977 IGGY POP – Photographs by Masayoshi Sukita

 

Masayoshi Sukita’s photographs need no introduction to fans of David Bowie. We celebrated Sukita-san’s photographs of Bowie-san with a broad retrospective in 2013. Now we turn the spotlight on 1977 when Sukita-san photographed David Bowie and Iggy Pop – a pivotal year in the career of both musicians.

 

In April 1977, David Bowie and Iggy Pop visited Japan to promote The Idiot, Iggy Pop’s debut album, which David Bowie had produced. At short notice, Masayoshi Sukita photographed David Bowie and Iggy Pop at Harajuku studio in Tokyo during the visit. He sat them at a small table and photographed them separately. David Bowie tried on a number of leather jackets during the session, while Iggy wore a white shirt and a jacket.

 

Photographs from that session would be used on the front cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes” album, released in October of that year, and on the front cover of Iggy Pop’s Party album, released a few years later.

 

 

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Sukita also photographed the pair at the dual press conference to promote both Low and The Idiot, where our boys did a fair bit of larking around.

 

The main picture in our montage is of Bowie with fan and birthday boy Iggy in Tokyo on April 21, 1977, Pop’s 30th Birthday.

 

The two page RCA Japanese advert at the top was to promote both Low and The Idiot. Note that both utilise images from the session described above, and this was probably the first use of them.

 

The Bowie shoot would surface later in the year for the “Heroes” campaign, as would shots from the Iggy session for the Lust For Life tour programme. Four years later one of the Iggy portraits eventually graced the sleeve of 1981’s Party LP and the German Lust For Life 12″ single in 1982.

 

The snap top left of our montage is Sukita’s signed print of the photographer with his subjects.

 

We’ll announce full details of dates, location and content of the exhibition shortly.

 

 

#BowieSukita  #BowieLow  #BowieIggy  #LFL40  #LustForLife40  #BowieSnap  

 

“Ohhh, Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am!”

 

With just two weeks to go until the release of ANCIANT, we thought you might like to hear this previously unreleased live version of Suffragette City.

 

The track was omitted from the original Stage album in 1978 and from the 2005 reissue. However, a tape containing this recording from 29th April, 1978, at the Spectrum Arena in Philadelphia, was uncovered during research for the ‘A New Career In A New Town’ box set. 

 

Listen to it here now and pre-order the box set here,

 

 

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieStage

 

“Heaven loves ya, The clouds part for ya…”

 

(ANCIANT = A New Career In A New Town)

 

This is the second instalment of our album focus on David Bowie’s Lodger.

 

Here follows an excerpt from an old UNCUT interview with David about the confusingly named Berlin Trilogy. This snippet is from the part regarding Lodger. UNCUT never published the full interview, but you can read the unedited version of it here.

 

 

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LODGER

 

UNCUT: An album which really divides Bowie fans – it is either devout love or total indifference. Can you understand both reactions?

 

Bowie:  I think Tony and I would both agree that we didn’t take enough care mixing. This had a lot to do with my being distracted by personal events in my life and I think Tony lost heart a little because it never came together as easily as both Low and Heroes had. I would still maintain though that there are a number of really important ideas on Lodger. If I had more time I would explore them for you…but…you can probably pick them out as easily.

 

UNCUT: Moving away from pure electronic sounds – was this a deliberate strategy to stay ahead of the synthesizercopycat bands who were busy aping ‘Low’ and “Heroes”?

 

Bowie:  I think it’s the lack of instrumentals that give you the impression that our process was different. It really wasn’t. It was a lot more mischievous though. Brian and I did play a number of ‘art pranks’ on the band. They really didn’t go down too well though. Especially with Carlos who tends to be quite ‘grand’.

 

UNCUT: Was the backwards tape of ‘All The Young Dudes’ for ‘Move On’ originally an accident? And does this song have any connection to the unfinished Iggy collaboration ‘Moving On’?

 

Bowie:  Not really an accident but I did stumble upon it. I had put one of my reel to reel tapes on backwards by mistake and really quite liked the melody it created. So I played quite a few more in this fashion and chose five or six that were really quite compelling. Dudes was the only one to make the album, as I didn’t want to abandon the ‘normal’ writing I was doing completely. But it was a worthwhile exercise in my mind. It has the same title as the song I wrote for Iggy. But as the one for Jim was a working title, I passed it onto the Lodger song.

 

UNCUT: The final refrain in ‘Red Money’ – “project cancelled”. Is this significant? A curtain being drawn on the Eno triptych?

 

Bowie:  Not at all. Mere whimsy.

 

UNCUT: What is ‘cricket menace’?

 

Bowie:  Little crickety sounds that Brian produced from a combination of my drum machine (I would, and still do, use one to write with when I’m on my own) and his ‘briefcase’ synth. You can hear them on African Nightflight.

 

UNCUT: Moving to New York – had Berlin served its purpose? Was New York chosen for musical reasons?

 

Bowie:  It was an irreplaceable, unmissable experience and probably the happiest time in my life up until that point. Coco, Jim and I had so many great times. But I just can’t express the feeling of freedom I felt there. Some days the three of us would jump into the car and drive like crazy through East Germany and head down to the Black Forest, stopping off at any small village that caught our eye. Just go for days at a time. Or we’d take long all afternoon lunches at the Wannsee on winter days. The place had a glass roof and was surrounded by trees and still exuded an atmosphere of the long gone Berlin of the twenties. At night we’d hang with the intellectuals and beats at the Exile restaurant in Kreutzberg. In the back they had this smoky room with a billiard table and it was sort of like another living room except the company was always changing.

 

Sometimes we’d go shopping at KaDeWe, the giant department store in the Centre of West Berlin, which had the hugest food counters anyone could imagine with displays that are only imaginable in a country which either must have been seriously deprived of food at one time or where the populace just plain likes to eat a lot. We’d stock up occasionally on what felt like luxuries at the time like chocolates or a small tin of caviar. One day, while we were out, Jim had come in and ate everything in the fridge we had spent all morning shopping for. It was one of the few times that Co and I were truly mad at him. I could write a lot more on all this…but.

 

I had not intended to leave Berlin, I just drifted away. Maybe I was getting better. Jim decided to stay on a while longer as he had pretty much hitched up with a girl he’d met there and had by now gotten his own apartment, next door to ours. Then Elephant Man came up, which caused me to be in the US for a considerable spell. Then Berlin was …over.

 

 

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LODGER FACT FILE:

 

Working Titles: Planned Accidents and Despite Straight Lines

Released in the UK as RCA PL 13254 on 18th May, 1979.

Peak UK chart position: #4

Peak US chart position: #20

 

Original Tracklisting

 

SIDE 1

1. FANTASTIC VOYAGE

2. AFRICAN NIGHT FLIGHT

3. MOVE ON

4. YASSASSIN (TURKISH FOR: LONG LIVE)

5. RED SAILS

 

SIDE 2

1. D.J.

2. LOOK BACK IN ANGER

3. BOYS KEEP SWINGING

4. REPETITION

5. RED MONEY

 

Bonus tracks on 1991 RykoDisc reissue:

 

I Pray, Olé (Previously unreleased track recorded 1979)

Look Back In Anger (New version recorded 1988)

 

 

Original UK Singles:

Boys Keep Swinging/Fantastic Voyage – released April 1979 – (Peak UK chart position: #7)

D.J./Repetition released – June 1979 – (Including limited edition green vinyl) (Peak UK chart position: #29)

 

Significant non UK Singles:

Boys Keep Swinging/Fantastic Voyage – released April 1979 – (Spain only promo picture disc – First official Bowie 7″ picture disc)

Yassassin/Repetition – released July 1979 – (Netherlands)

Yassassin/Red Money – released July 1979 – (Turkey)

Look Back In Anger/Repetition – released August 1979 – (North America)

 

Pictured in our montage clockwise from top left: UK Lodger front cover, UK limited edition D.J. green vinyl single, Yassassin Turkish picture sleeve, Yassassin Netherlands picture sleeve, Boys Keep Swinging, Spanish promo picture disc.

 

Videos were made for Boys Keep Swinging, D.J. and Look Back In Anger.

 

 

 

All lyrics written by DAVID BOWIE.

All music written by DAVID BOWIE and BRIAN ENO except:

‘MOVE ON’, ‘YASSASSIN’ and ‘REPETITION’ written by DAVID BOWIE

‘D.J.’ written by DAVID BOWIE, BRIAN ENO and CARLOS ALOMAR

‘RED MONEY’ written by DAVID BOWIE and CARLOS ALOMAR

 

Produced by DAVID BOWIE and TONY VISCONTI.

Recorded at MOUNTAIN STUDIOS, MONTREUX, SWITZERLAND, September, 1978 and March, 1979.

Engineers – TONY VISCONTI and DAVID RICHARDS.

Assistant engineer – EUGENE CHAPLIN.

Mixed at RECORD PLANT STUDIOS, NEW YORK CITY.

Engineers – TONY VISCONTI and ROD O’BRIEN.

Assistant engineer – GREG CARUSO.

 

Listen to the original Lodger on the official David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town playlist.

 

Pre-order ANCIANT here: https://lnk.to/ANCIANTMP

 

 

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieLodger

 

“Sometimes I feel, The need to move on”

 

(ANCIANT = A New Career In A New Town)

 

Two and a half weeks till the September 29th release of the David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982) box set (ANCIANT), and the subject of our album focus this week is Lodger.

 

Have a listen to the third and final album in the so called ‘Berlin Trilogy’ on the official ANCIANT playlist.

 

Pre-order ANCIANT here.

 

 

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieLodger

 

“Here comes my face, Out of the crowd”

 

We posted a piece back in March celebrating the 40th anniversary of Iggy Pop’s debut solo album, The Idiot. 

 

Well, today is the 40th anniversary of Lust For Life, the follow up to The Idiot. Yes, it’s an Iggy Pop album, but it’s also an important part of David Bowie’s recorded history.

 

Bowie co-wrote seven of the nine tracks on the record and suggested the title Lust For Life, after having composed the riff on a ukulele with the Armed Forces Network staccato TV station ident for inspiration, as the pair watched TV one evening.

 

Bowie, Pop and engineer Colin Thurston produced Lust for Life under the pseudonym “Bewlay Bros.”

 

Here’s the album’s personnel:

 

Iggy Pop – vocals

David Bowie – keyboards, piano, organ, backing vocals

Carlos Alomar – rhythm guitar (lead on “Lust for Life” & “Turn Blue”), backing vocals

Ricky Gardiner – lead guitar, backing vocals, (drums on “Fall in Love with Me”)

Warren Peace – keyboards and backing vocals on “Turn Blue”

Tony Sales – bass, backing vocals, (guitar on “Fall in Love with Me”)

Hunt Sales – drums, backing vocals, (bass on “Fall in Love with Me”)

 

Along with Bowie, the Sales brothers later made up three quarters of Tin Machine.

 

The album reached #28 on the official UK album chart and it might have performed far better if people could have actually bought the thing. RCA had shifted their pressing facilities to the production of Elvis Presley’s back catalogue following his death the previous month.

 

Nevertheless, it remained Iggy’s highest album chart position until the release of last year’s Post Pop Depression.

 

This is the tracklising for Lust For Life…

 

Side 1

Lust for Life

Sixteen

Some Weird Sin

The Passenger

Tonight

 

Side 2

Success

Turn Blue

Neighbourhood Threat

Fall in Love with Me

 

Bowie later recorded his own versions of Tonight and Neighbourhood Threat. He also performed the title track live occasionally during his 1996 summer festival shows.

 

Success was released as the single from Lust For Life, but ironically, it was a complete flop.

 

1977 was a great year for Bowie and Iggy with the releases of Low, The Idiot, “Heroes” and Lust For Life, four classic albums which just grow in stature as time passes.

 

In the unlikely event that you’re not already familiar with this masterpiece, listen here.

 

 

#BowieIggy  #LFL40  #LustForLife40

 

“All you have to do is win…”

 

How do you fancy a set of impossibly rare, white label, vinyl test pressings from the upcoming David Bowie ‘A New Career In A New Town’ box set?

 

The set includes the following five albums: Low, “Heroes”, Lodger (Original mix), Lodger (TV 2017 mix) and Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), all courtesy of Parlophone.

 

For your chance to win, follow the official ANCIANT playlist here.

 

 

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieVinyl  

 

“The boy in the bright blue jacket, jumped up on the stage” *

 

(ANCIANT = A New Career In A New Town)

 

Today we continue our album focus on Stage, the recorded document of the ISOLAR 2 tour, or, as it was known at the time: The 1978 World Tour.

 

Here’s the introduction of Matt Damsker’s review of one of the Spectrum Arena shows in Philadelphia, where much of Stage was recorded.

 

 

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Flamboyant David Bowie Returns — in Triumph. By MATT DAMSKER of The Bulletin Staff

 

Even without the benefit of a current hit record, David Bowie continues to assert his eminence among ‘70s rock heroes with one of the year’s most impressive tours and last night at the Spectrum the flamboyant British star returned in triumph to a near-capacity houseful of more than 18,000. As in past appearances here, Bowie alternately transfixed and roused the audience with his coolly cultivated performing style and daringly original music.

 

Announcing at the onset of last night’s show that it was being taped for yet another album of in-concert material – his first, “David Live”, was recorded in 1974 at Upper Darby’s Tower Theatre – Bowie made clear that Philadelphia remains the most inspiring market for his stage efforts.

 

 

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STAGE FACT FILE:

 

Originally released in the UK as RCA PL 02913 on 8th September, 1978.

Peak UK chart position: #5

Peak US chart position: #44

 

Produced by DAVID BOWIE and TONY VISCONTI.

Mixed by TONY VISCONTI.

Live sound mixed by BUFORD JONES.

Recorded by TONY VISCONTI with the RCA MOBILE UNIT

 

MUSICIANS

DAVID BOWIE – vocals, chamberlain

CARLOS ALOMAR – rhythm guitar

ADRIAN BELEW – lead guitar

DENNIS DAVIS – drums, percussion

SIMON HOUSE – electric violin

SEAN MAYES – piano, string ensemble

GEORGE MURRAY – bass guitar

ROGER POWELL – keyboards, synthesizer

CARLOS ALOMAR, ADRIAN BELEW, SEAN MAYES,

GEORGE MURRAY and ROGER POWELL – background vocals

 

Stage was recorded live at the Spectrum Arena, Philadelphia, 28th and 29th April, 1978, Civic Center, Providence, 5th May, 1978 and New Boston Garden Arena, Boston, 6th May, 1978.

On 14th November, 2005, an expanded and recompiled version of Stage was released on EMI on CD 836 4362 and also in 5.1 on the DVD-Audio EMI 863 4369.

The 2017 version has been further augmented by the inclusion of ‘The Jean Genie’ from the Boston show and ‘Suffragette City’ from the Philadelphia show.

 

Stage 2017 Tracklisting:

 

SIDE 1

1. WARSZAWA

2. “HEROES”

3. WHAT IN THE WORLD

 

SIDE 2

1. BE MY WIFE

2. THE JEAN GENIE

3. BLACKOUT

4. SENSE OF DOUBT

 

SIDE 3

1. SPEED OF LIFE

2. BREAKING GLASS

3. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

4. FAME

 

SIDE 4

1. FIVE YEARS

2. SOUL LOVE

3. STAR

4. HANG ON TO YOURSELF

5. ZIGGY STARDUST

6. SUFFRAGETTE CITY

 

SIDE 5

1. ART DECADE

2. ALABAMA SONG

3. STATION TO STATION

 

SIDE 6

1. STAY

2. TVC 15

 

 

Associated UK release:

3-track Breaking Glass EP released November 1978 – (Peak UK chart position: #54)

Tracks: Breaking Glass/Art Decade/Ziggy Stardust

 

Associated US release:

3-track promotional only white vinyl 12″.

Tracks: Star/What In The World/Breaking Glass

 

Associated Japanese release:

Soul Love/Blackout

 

Stage’s release was delayed somewhat from the original scheduled date. Apparently this was in no small part due to Bowie having seen a report in the French magazine Best, regarding the US leg of the tour. The review included an unauthorised shot by Gilles Riberolles, which so enamoured DB that he delayed the release of the album to have the cover changed to the one we now know.

 

Don’t forget you can listen to the official David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town playlist here. Pre-order ANCIANT here.

 

* No, we’re not colour-blind. The green jacket in our illustration was originally a sort of blue, blue…electric blue.

 

 

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieStage

 

“…want to know the past, want to know the real deal”

 

(ANCIANT = A New Career In A New Town – LLV = Long Live Vinyl magazine)

 

Available now is the October issue of LLV. This relatively new publication (this is issue 7), has already featured Bowie regularly within its pages, including a superb DB album discography and collectors’ special by Andrew Price in Issue 1.

 

The October issue has a 10-page feature focusing on ANCIANT as outlined in this blurb:

 

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The October issue of Long Live Vinyl celebrates the release of David Bowie’s incredible 13-disc boxset A New Career In A New Town. Gareth Murphy tells the inside story behind the creation of Bowie’s iconic Berlin Trilogy before running the rule over the boxset and speaking to remastering engineer Ray Staff about Tony Visconti’s breathtaking 2017 mix of Lodger. For Bowie fans, it’s essential reading.

 

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Aside from the 10-page feature, there is a 10 out of 10, 2-page review for ANCIANT, also by Gareth Murphy, in which he suggests that ANCIANT is: “real-deal luxury you will treasure for life”, the inspiration for today’s lyric quotation.

 

On top of that is the cover and a full-page advert for ANCIANT bringing the content up to 14-pages, that’s not including the introduction by Editor Gary Walker and a brief piece placing the Japanese Lady Stardust picture disc in the £150 bracket.

 

More information and ordering links here.

 

 

David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982) box set is released on September 29th.

 

 

 

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieVinyl  #LLV

 

 

“One man in his time plays many parts” *             

 

(ANCIANT = A New Career In A New Town)

 

Just over three weeks till the September 29th release of the David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982) box set (ANCIANT). 

 

This week our album focus is on the second of Bowie’s official live album releases, 1978’s Stage. Check out a cool little animation here.

 

Pop over to the official David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town playlist and have a listen to the 2005 version ahead of the 2012 release, which contains two extra tracks.

 

 

*Some of you may be wondering why we have quoted Shakespeare today, instead of using a Bowie lyric quotation. The line from The Bard’s As You Like It was used in the award winning advertising campaign for Stage and we think you’ll agree it’s wholly appropriate for Bowie.

 

 

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieStage

 

“You can’t say no to the Beauty and the Beast”

 

(ANCIANT = A New Career In A New Town)

 

Ahead of the release of ANCIANT later this month, here’s the next part of our album focus on “Heroes”.

 

As mentioned previously, there were just two singles taken from the “Heroes” album in the UK.

 

“Heroes”/V-2 Schneider released September 1977 – (Peak UK chart position: #24)

Beauty And The Beast/Sense of Doubt released January 1978 – (Peak UK chart position: #39)

 

Pretty well everyone with a full set of working ears is familiar with the title track, but those not acquainted with the Bowie back catalogue might not know Beauty And The Beast. As with many Bowie single releases, the track sounded like nothing else on the radio at the time.

 

As with its predecessor, perhaps the public en masse just wasn’t ready for the latest Bowie sound, with Fripp’s guitar again taking centre stage and that ahead of the curve Bowie/Visconti production…“TOMORROW BELONGS TO THOSE WHO CAN HEAR IT COMING”.

 

However, the song was certainly strong enough to be the “Heroes” album opener, and though it may have been considered an unusual choice for a single, it was just as viable as any of the other tracks on the album.

 

Tony Visconti confirms that the line: “Someone fetch a priest”, was originally recorded with a different F-word to fetch. A wise decision to change it perhaps, or it may not have received quite the airplay that it did.

 

Though there had only been four previous Bowie picture sleeve singles released commercially in the UK (Starman 1972, Life On Mars? 1973, Space Oddity 1975, Suffragette City 1976), Beauty And The Beast was issued in one (basically the album cover), but the single still only just scraped into the Top 40 on the official UK singles chart. Nevertheless, Bowie picture sleeves would become de rigueur from Beauty And The Beast onwards.

 

An extended version was released as a promo only 12” single in the US and commercially as a 12” single in Spain. Listen to it now on Spotify.

 

The track can also be found on the official David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town playlist.

 

 

FOOTNOTE: Check out our video featuring David Bowie’s handwritten lyrics for Beauty And The Beast, here.

 

 

#ANCIANTbox  #ANewCareerInANewTownBox  #BowieHeroes