The late great musical genius DAVID BOWIE released
striking singleSOUND AND VISION on 11 February 1977,
today 45 years ago.
A high from his masterly album LOW,
one of my all-time favorite Bowie LPs.
The track was co-produced with Tony Visconti and was originally meant
to be released as an instrumental (bar the backing vocal performed by Visconti’s wife, Mary Hopkin) but Bowie decided later to add vocals, one
night when everybody had already left the studio.
An electronic diamond, still
astounding 45 years later…
Today, already 6 years ago – 10th January 2016 – since pop/rock genius DAVID BOWIE passed away. He was only 69. A day to play my TOP 5 of BOWIE ALBUMS .
Yesterday lost album TOY by the late genius DAVID BOWIE was released
and today The Thin White Duke would have turned 75 (born 8 January 1947).
Happy B. Bowie!
TOY was a record Bowie wanted to release in 2001, but didn’t see the
day of light at the time. The LP leaked in 2011, but wasn’t followed by
an official release until yesterday.
The late hero recorded the LP after Glastonbury 2000 with his live band at
the time, featuring songs he originally had put on tape between 1964-1971
The idea was to capture a live-in-the-studio feel and drop the album by surprise.
But for technological problems, it didn’t happen and Bowie started working on
the 2002 Heathen album.
Mark Plati (musician/producer/songwriter) who produced Toy together with Bowie: “Toy is like a moment in time captured in an amber of joy, fire and energy. It’s the sound
of people happy to be playing music. David revisited and re-examined his work from decades prior through prisms of experience and fresh perspective — a parallel not lost on me as I now revisit it twenty years later. From time to time, he used to say “Mark, this is our album” — I think because he knew I was so deeply in the trenches with him on that journey. I’m happy to finally be able to say it now belongs to all of us.”
In addition to the standalone Toy release, also an expanded edition called Toy: Box featuring all sorts of alternate takes and mixes plus B-sides, is
available. More info here.
The Daily Mail (English newspaper): “The most striking thing is the sheer verve of the performances. Toy was made in the weeks before Bowie’s wife, Iman, gave birth to their daughter, Lexi, and the singer, on a roll, is the energetic hub of a band featuring Garson, guitarists Earl Slick and Mark Plati, bassist Gail Ann Dorsey and drummer Sterling Campbell.” Full review here. Score: 4/5.
Bowie: “It started out as a parody of a
nightclub song, a kind of throwaway”.
A solid gold classic.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Turn and face the strange
Ch-ch-changes
Don’t want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Turn and face the strange
Ch-ch-changes
There’s gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can’t trace time
Yesterday, Variety Magazine revealed that the DAVID BOWIE ESTATE sold
the late genius’ publishing catalogue to Warner Chappell Music for a price
reported to be upwards of $250million (£186million).
The catalogue spans Bowie’s career from 1968 to 2016, including songs from
the musician’s 26 solo studio albums and the two albums from his Tin Machine
side project.
Guy Moot (CEO of Music Chappell Music): “All of us at Warner Chappell are immensely
proud that the David Bowie estate has chosen us to be the caretakers of one of the most groundbreaking, influential, and enduring catalogs in music history. These are not only extraordinary songs, but milestones that have changed the course of modern music
forever.”
Holly came from Miami, F.L.A.
Hitch-hiked her way across the U.S.A.
Plucked her eyebrows on the way
Shaved her legs and then he was a she
She says, “Hey, babe
Take a walk on the wild side”
Said, “Hey, honey
Take a walk on the wild side”
Give Ireland back to the Irish
Don’t make them have to get it
Give Ireland back to the Irish
Still makes Ireland Irish today
Great Britain, you are enormous
And nobody knows that better than me.
But really, what are you doing there?
In that land over the sea?
Tell me how you think
When you on your way to work
Would you be stopped by Irish soldiers?
Would you lie down and do nothing?
Would you give in or go mad?
Golden Nose Slim Golden Nose Slim
I know’s where you’ve been
Purple Pie Pete Purple Pie Pete
Your lips are like lightning
Girls melt in the heat
Telegram Sam
You’re my main man
It’s been a long time since I rock and rolled
It’s been a long time since I did the stroll
Ooh let me get it back, let me get it back
Let me get it back, baby, where I come from
There’s a starman waiting in the sky
He’d like to come and meet us
But he thinks he’d blow our minds
There’s a starman waiting in the sky
He’s told us not to blow it
‘Cause he knows it’s all worthwhile
He told me
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie
We all came out to Montreux
On the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile
We didn’t have much time
Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Were at the best place around
But some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground
Smoke on the water
A fire in the sky
Smoke on the water
I don’t want to drink my whisky like you do
I don’t need to spend my money but still do
Don’t stop now a c-‘mon
Another drop now c-‘mon
I wanna lot now so c-‘mon
That’s right, that’s right
I said Mama but we’re all crazy now
I said Mama but we’re all crazy now
Mmm yeah!
Women think I’m tasty, but they’re always tryin’ to waste me
Make me burn the candle right down
But, baby, baby, don’t need no jewels in my crown
In the mornin’ you go gunnin’ for the man who stole your water
And you fire ’til he is done in but they catch you at the border
And the mourners are all singin’ as they drag you by your feet
But the hangman isn’t hangin’ and they put you on the street
You go back, Jack, do it again, wheel turnin’ ’round and ’round
You go back, Jack, do it again
Released: 8 November 1972 – second LP Charts: #13 in the UK, #29 in the USA, #12 in Australia
AllMusic wrote: “The sound and style of Transformer would
in many ways define Reed’s career in the 1970s, and while it
led him into a style that proved to be a dead end, you can’t
deny that Bowie and Ronson gave their hero a new lease on
life, and a solid album in the bargain.” Score: 4.5/5
TUTV: Lou took a vicious walk on the wild side
on a perfect day, found a satellite of love, and
scored his first masterpiece.
2. ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’ by DAVID BOWIE
Released: 16 June 1972 – 5th LP Charts: #5 in the UK, #21 in the USA
AllMusic: “Bowie succeeds not in spite of his pretensions but because of them,
and Ziggy Stardust, familiar in structure, but alien in performance, is the first
time his vision and execution met in such a grand, sweeping fashion.” Score: 5/5.
Released: 12 May 1972 – the band’s 12th LP Charts: #1 in the UK, US, Canada, and all over Europe
Rolling Stone wrote: “There are songs that are better, there
are songs that are worse, there are songs that’ll become your
favorites and others you’ll probably lift the needle for when
their time is due.”
TUTV: With only its best 9 tracks out of the total
of 18 tracks, this would have been a masterpiece.
Ps: Recently The Who’s Roger Daltrey (commonly known as the dumbest Who)
said that the Stones sounded like a pub rock band. He also said after his beloved
England turned into Brexshit that British bands still could tour Europe without extra
financial problems. Yes, the rich ones, you dickhead. And last but not least the greedy
billionaire defended the fact that The Who charge exorbitant prices for their gigs lately
with “We are worth it” I think if Keith Moon was still alive he
would smash Daltrey‘s brains in. Fuck you fake rock star.
Artist: DAVID BOWIE
8 januari 1947 – New York, 10 januari 2016
R.I.P.
Anniversary album: HUNKY DORY – his 4th LP Released: 17 December 1971 – 50 years ago today Charts: #3 in the UK
AllMusic: “Hunky Dory is a kaleidoscopic array of pop styles,
tied together only by Bowie’s sense of vision: a sweeping, cinematic
mélange of high and low art, ambiguous sexuality, kitsch, and class.”
Score: 5/5.
Turn Up The Volume: His first commercial success. The top-tier
harbinger for masterpiece The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and
the Spiders from Mars released a year later.
Artist: DAVID BOWIE Artwork: Front of his covers LP PIN UPS (with famous British 60s photo model Twiggy
by his side). His second No 1 album in the UK, 48 years ago today, on 3 November 1973.
Artwork: Cover of a new boxset titled Brilliant Adventure 1992 – 2001. Content: vinyl versions of Bowie’s albums ‘Black Tie White Noise’, ‘The Buddha
Of Suburbia’, ‘1. Outside’, ‘Earthling’ and ‘hours…’, alongside ‘Toy’, an LP of non
album singles, b-sides, and more called ‘Re: Call 5’, a hardback book and more
stuff. Out: 7 January 2022. Order info here.
