Musical virtuoso DAVID BOWIE released his astonishing single SOUND AND VISION on 11 February 1977, today 47 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 stupendous after 47 years.
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…
DAVID BOWIE released single SOUND AND VISION on 11 February 1977,
today 43 years ago. One of the most accessible and appealing tracks from
one of my all-time favourite Bowie albums LOW. Together with co-producer Tony Visconti the late legend recorded the song originally 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. A glorious electronic diamond, still sounding as vital and magnetizing
as back then…
Musical centipede BECK covered ‘SOUND AND VISION‘, one of DAVID BOWIE‘s highlights of his groundbreaking electronic 1977 album LOW six years ago in a truly fantastic way, with an 157-piece orchestra on a slowly rotating stage creating an 360 audio version. The massive band was conducted by Beck’s father, the acclaimed arranger David Campbell. It happened at one-off event in Los Angeles on 5 February 2013. Enjoy the grandeur here…
The short, opening line I use for this ‘Classic‘ series – ‘When it’s timeless in sound & and vision, it’s a…‘ – refers, of course, to that remarkably synths driven electronic diamond SOUND AND VISION (originally recorded as an instrumental) on DAVID BOWIE‘s 11th LP LOW…
… an adventurous, experimental, schizophrenic, uncommercial (certainly the second, almost claustrophobic & darkly instrumental side of the record, with ‘Warszawa‘ being actually one of my favorite tracks) and unintended tour de force. “I had no statement to make on Low” said The Thin White Duke afterwards in an interview. He was actually in a really bad shape at the time. Lots of drugs (“I blew my nose one day and half my brains
came out” he later described, quite hilariously, his dangerous way of life) and other expensive excesses, while living in Los Angeles, led to mental, physical and financial problems and drove the late legend to a state of paranoia. We all know that many
artists produced their best work when their minds were about to explode and that’s
what probably happened here too I guess. Low was designed and written after Bowie‘s escape to West Berlin. It marked the first of three collaborations (followed by Heroes & Lodger, becoming the Berlin Trilogy, although Low was recorded in France) with sound virtuoso Brian Eno and producer Tony Visconti. Here’s a great review by Pitchfork.
And press the button, if you want to experience, once again, the full sonic odyssey – originally released 40 years ago, on 14 January 1977 – here…
