David Bowie

[botley]

posted a page or two back, but it's really something! i love old string synths, personally. the solo fripp tracks are really interesting as well. i remember seeing the handwritten lyrics on paper as part of the david bowie is... exhibit when i was in toronto and i teared up while looking at it. they also had eno's suitcase synth.

Same here, that was my favourite room in the whole exhibition.

I'm now tracking down the best digital masters to use in my marathon listening session, hahahah (NERD ALERT). For the Deram era, the 2010 deluxe David Bowie 2-CD version works fine, both for the main album and bonus tracks. It's also available on most streaming services. If you want the 1966 Pye singles or earlier stuff, just about any digital version will do.

For Space Oddity, all the bonus tracks are present on Re:Call1 from the Five Years box set, but for the main album I think RCA's Japan-made CD released for North America in the 1980s sounds better than the 2015 remaster (which suffers from drop-outs that seem to have been poorly patched with digital repairs, resulting in unnecessary noise). The Japan-for-USA CD has the catalogue number PCD1-4813, and these are the peak volume values when you rip the CD in Exact Audio Copy: 69.3 / 73.6 / 44.4 / 85.8 / 85.0 / 57.7 / 64.4 / 50.8 / 80.9 ...on this version, however, the fragment "(Don't Sit Down)" is missing, which is accurate to the 1972 RCA American edition of the album (this CD also uses that '72 alternate album cover shot for the booklet artwork). The fade-out at the end of the title track also ends kind of abruptly, too, so I made a repaired version of the disc for my own listening that reinstates those missing bits from later CD versions — hopefully with more finesse than the 2015 edition uses.

[allegro]

Yeah, it was a night of programming dedicated to Bowie. A two-hour episode of "Biography", narrated by Eddie Izzard, followed by "Live by Request", if memory serves me right.

I thought this BBC doc was REALLY good:

[thevoid99]

Do you guys like the movie Absolute Beginners?
i love it, despite its bad reviews.

It's flawed, especially in its third act. Yet, I'm fond of that film because of the music as well as the culture of jazz in the film's first act. Bowie, of course, stole the fucking film as I just loved the "That's Motivation" sequence from start to finish. Bowie with the fedora looked like Frank Sinatra while if he was ever going to convince me to sell out in that kind of style. You goddamn right I'd sell out with him.

[SarahConnor]

Did Reznor speak on the matter of Bowie's passing?

[Space Suicide]

Did Reznor speak on the matter of Bowie's passing?

Haven't seen, read or heard anything about Reznor's opinions and mindset on the matter. Hopefully sometime. His twitter and the nin.com site has been quiet since mid December so.

[screwdriver]

posted a page or two back, but it's really something! i love old string synths, personally. the solo fripp tracks are really interesting as well. i remember seeing the handwritten lyrics on paper as part of the david bowie is... exhibit when i was in toronto and i teared up while looking at it. they also had eno's suitcase synth.

yeah, its always interesting to hear how the old "cheesy" sounds end up getting used really emotionally. like that brass sound.

also interesting to me was how much of a mess Fripp's guitar sounded like to me -- i think there must have been some really good mixing of the three parts to get it into the state we love it

[Deadpool]

Did Reznor speak on the matter of Bowie's passing?

The closest we've received to a comment = his recent Twitter likes: https://twitter.com/trent_reznor/likes (miraculously, one of those tweets is mine )

[frankie teardrop]

The closest we've received to a comment = his recent Twitter likes: https://twitter.com/trent_reznor/likes (miraculously, one of those tweets is mine )

he wrote a large piece for a music magazine that should be out v. soon. source: my wife works there and has read it.

[Deadpool]

he wrote a large piece for a music magazine that should be out v. soon. source: my wife works there and has read it.

That's GREAT news! Can't wait.

[fillow]

If anyone feels a need to complete his Bowie experience, here's some suggestions of Bowie-related albums that feature his collaborators and band members:

Holy Holy: The Man Who Sold The World - Live In London (2015). Live album by Bowie tribute band featuring Tony Visconti, Mick Woodmansey and Erdal Kizilcay
Mick Ronson: Slaughter on 10th Avenue (1974). Ronson solo album with Trevor Bolder on bass, Aynsley Dunbar (Pin Ups, Diamond Dogs) on drums and Mike Garson on keys, plus Bowie as co-writer of several songs
Mick Ronson: Play Don't Worry (1975). Ronson solo album with Trevor Bolder on bass, Aynsley Dunbar and Tony Newman (Diamond Dogs, David Live) on drums and Mike Garson on keys, includes White Light/White Heat (recorded at Pin Ups sessions)
The Spiders from Mars: The Spiders from Mars (1976). One-off semi-reunion album featuring Trevor Bolder, Mick Woodmansey and Mike Garson
Mike Garson: The Bowie Variations (2011). Solo piano album with covers/improvisations based on Bowie songs
Lou Reed: Transformer (1972). Featuring Bowie, Herbie Flowers, Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder (on trumpet), produced by Bowie/Ronson.
Iggy Pop: The Idiot (1977). Produced, co-written and co-performed by Bowie, also featuring Carlos Alomar, George Murray, Dennis Davis
Iggy Pop: Lust for Life (1977). Co-produced, co-written and co-performed by Bowie, also featuring Carlos Alomar, Ricky Gardiner (Low), Warren Peace, Tony & Hunt Sales
Iggy Pop: TV Eye Live 1977 (1978). Live album featuring Bowie on keyboards, plus Ricky Gardiner, Stacey Heydon (Nassau Coliseum), Tony & Hunt Sales
Iggy Pop: Blah-Blah-Blah (1986). Co-produced and co-written by Bowie, also featuring Kevin Armstrong (Tin Machine, Outside) and Erdal Kizilcay

Then there is a bunch of record with smaller connection or of less importance, such as: Fripp & Eno records; King Crimson albums with Fripp, Belew and Tony Levin (who played on Heathen and The Next Day); Iggy live video with only Carlos Alomar; a bunch of Chic albums featuring Nile Rodgers and Tony Thompson; Jerry Harrison album which reunited Adrian Belew and George Murray; The Fragile by NIN (LOL!). I'm not even gonna mention dozens of one-off songs and guest appearances.

[SaintNoir]

I would throw in Mott the Hoople's All the Young Dudes.

What magazine is the TR interview in?

[fillow]

I would throw in Mott the Hoople's All the Young Dudes.

Well, performance-wise there's not much from Bowie on that album. He produced it and wrote a title track, plus Ronson played "strings and brass" on a different one.

[SaintNoir]

Well, performance-wise there's not much from Bowie on that album. He produced it and wrote a title track, plus Ronson played "strings and brass" on a different one.

As much as some of the others, no? My understanding of Blah-Blah-Blah is it has no Bowie performance on it (just as an example and I could be wrong, and he def wrote a lot of it).

[frankie teardrop]

As much as some of the others, no? My understanding of Blah-Blah-Blah is it has no Bowie performance on it (just as an example and I could be wrong, and he def wrote a lot of it).

he wrote a ton of it, but unlike some of the other songs, he doesn't sing backup on any of the record. if you're going for all the collaboration/vocal tracks though, 'play it safe' from soldier features vox by bowie & half of simple minds.

[fillow]

^^
Yeah, but at least BBB has Armstrong/Kizilcay (who are both recurring Bowie sidemen from 80s/90s) on all songs and not just two tracks.

Anyway, my list is purely subjective, feel free to throw in anything else.

[Your Name Here]

....................

[Nyx]

http://liisaladouceur.com/ashes-to-a...uence-on-goth/
A timeline of Bowie's influence on goth

[thevoid99]

As brilliant a musician as I see Bowie, I also see him as an artist, be it painting or acting. To me whatever he set his creative mind to his expression could be just as powerful in other forms of artistic expression. I always felt he fucking nailed his performance as Andy Warhol in Basquiat, I also liked him The Hunger and I do enjoy The Man Who Fell To Earth which seems like an art school film to me but I still love it.

Bowie as an actor was miles away from what is often seen from pop stars where he could play a role and not be seen as Bowie. In Basquiat, he brought Warhol back to life and he got that man down. It shouldn't have been a surprise considering that Bowie knew Andy.

[Your Name Here]

..................

[mqhanlon]

he wrote a ton of it, but unlike some of the other songs, he doesn't sing backup on any of the record. if you're going for all the collaboration/vocal tracks though, 'play it safe' from soldier features vox by bowie & half of simple minds.

There is the demo of Fire Girl off of "Where the Faces Shine - Vol. 2" with Bowie backup vocals. If you don't want to shell out for the seven disc set, you can also pick it up on iTunes. Anyone that's into Blah Blah Blah should really check it out. I dream of more similar demos...

[Frozen Beach]

Every time I go to David's wikipedia page to find information about a release, I notice the word "was" and it's a kick in the nuts every time. I don't think I'll ever get used to this.

[innerturmoil]

Reznor comments:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...sober-20160126

[allegro]

Oh boy, everybody here can sleep, now. Reznor hath commented.

[Space Suicide]

Anyone think this is better than the original or is it just me?

[screwdriver]

Oh boy, everybody here can sleep, now. Reznor hath commented.

people here are actually pretty cool. reading the comments on this as its been posted and re-posted on different websites is depressing as fuck.

[orestes]

How come I never noticed a similarity between the two?
Exhibit A

[orestes]

Exhibit B

[allegro]

people here are actually pretty cool. reading the comments on this as its been posted and re-posted on different websites is depressing as fuck.

Celebrity response to a death is always stupid to me. It's like, "but what does our messiah say about this?" And in this case, people seemed pissed about no response; "we're waiting for a response, where is our response?"

Um, as William Shatner said ...

[allegro]

meanwhile ...

[thevoid99]

Anyone think this is better than the original or is it just me?

I think it's an improvement as it's more direct and to the point. It is clear that there were a lot of songs Bowie between Let's Dance and the first Tin Machine album, with the exception of a few soundtrack material, where I think he had some good ideas but he probably compromised and got sucked into what was trendy in the world of production. I have a book on Bowie where Reeves Gabrels talked about hearing the demos for Tonight and thought they sounded great but when they became the songs in the album, the production sucked away much of its soul. I do like "Time Will Crawl" in its original but the MM Remix is a total improvement.