On the new Albumtoalbum podcast. He was great to chat with, and lots of brilliant details about being in the studio with the Dame, Visconti and the band. We talked for ages, and I invited musician, writer and manager of the Visconti Studio at Kingston Uni, Leah Kardos to join in too. It made me re-listen to Blackstar and get over the loaded associations I had with it and really appreciate the joy and verve captured in the studio as Bowie and McCaslin’s band set each other off beautifully.
This is first of three episodes and hope you might enjoy!
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/davidbowie-albumtoalbum/id1355073030#episodeGuid=tag%3Aaudioboom.com%2C2020-06-21%3A%2Fposts%2F7612878
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/davidbowie-albumtoalbum/id1355073030#episodeGuid=tag%3Aaudioboom.com%2C2020-06-21%3A%2Fposts%2F7612878
Just put it on.
I loved the Guy Pratt ones but felt there was a bit too long an interval between them to sustain the enthusiasm to come back.
Terrific work on your part though and thank you for your dedication.
Just a wee gripe. Your audio levels are inconsistent. Hello @Fentonsteve.
Just finished. Looking forward to delving into the Blackstar tracks on the next episode. To be honest I only listened to Blackstar at the time and haven’t felt compelled to do so since, just because it seems so sad. So I’m hoping there’s a rainbow to this.
My goodness! I’m really looking forward to this. I’ll have to have a bath tonight.
Time your final lather and rinse for around the 37 min mark
Will do.
I’m interested. How do you persuade such luminaries to willingly give up so much of their time chatting about Bowie? Do you possess snake oil charm?
Let’s just say Mr McCaslin’s cat has been safely reunited with him, with its ears intact.
And how did you threaten Stuart Maconie? You wicked man!
Listened today – very interesting stuff and looking forward to hearing their take on the individual tracks. I love the album but I’ve also found it quite a difficult listen at times with it’s emotional context.
These podcasts always take me scuttling back to the albums. Heathen in particular was a revelation for me, having been a bit underwhelmed when I first heard it around it’s release. Going back to it after the podcast I couldn’t believe how stupid I’d been – Heathen is a great Bowie album with (now) at least a couple of my favourite Bowie tracks ever.
That was a lovely opener. Donny sounds like a great guy. I’m glad I singled him out for praise in the Afterword review for Blackstar, posted on the day it was released four and a half years ago. My goodness, four and a half years!
You are such a relaxed and well informed interviewer (with a voice like melting butter!) and you don’t mind Leah taking over asking the questions. The conversation just flows. The sound quality over zoom is great. Everyone must have a decent microphone. I notice a new sound bed beneath your introduction and farewell. Where did you get it from?
Can’t wait for the rest.
Thank you Tig, I’m genuinely chuffed reading this!
The music is from an excellent audio library I subscribe to. I occasionally do production shifts on the Guardian’s ‘Today In Focus’ podcast and this is where we source all music, stings etc – epidemic sound.com. Its the best audio library I’ve used. Donny had talked about providing some music for the intro etc but we couldn’t make it all work in time.
Leah and Donny both happened to use Bluebird mics (just like those bluebirds) and I used a Tascam recorder. Donny staying with his in laws in Atlanta was focused and expansive, despite his young children frequently popping up in the background to demand playtime. Leah is by far the expert here, she has fantastic insights, detailed knowledge and boundless enthusiasm so it was really wonderful she participated. I wouldn’t have come up with the calibre of questions she did, especially picking his brain on the demos Bowie recorded prior to the sessions and the way the band gelled with him over the course of the three main batches of sessions.
Well done! The whole package feels just right. Blackstar is shaping up to be the best albumtoalbum yet.
Fantastic stuff. And they do definitely sound better than some of the early ones!
I am really looking forward to the next instalments.
I saw Donny and band at Hull Truck in Culture year 2017, and met him afterwards, got a CD signed etc. He is a genuinely nice guy, and also very, very tall. The band was phenomenal.
Just a little update – Part two of the conversation with Donny M is up now. Enjoy!
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/davidbowie-albumtoalbum/id1355073030#episodeGuid=tag%3Aaudioboom.com%2C2020-07-06%3A%2Fposts%2F7624399
Lovely little fade from Blackstar to the incidental music and the time you start the introduction.
This is a great insight. Kudos to you for getting this history down.
I agree with Mr Bellows. This cast is fantastic and amounts to an important historical document. Leah’s presence teases out some fine detail but the most revealing answer was to your question on how working with Bowie has affected Donny’s current approach to writing and recording. Donny is really nice and understated. I just wish he could thank you for the complements. He sounds almost embarrassed by them.
Bravo!
Thanks Tig, that is lovely to hear! Donny was unbelievably nice, not only a generous and engaged conversationalist but happy to do three plus hours of interviews. Really decent bloke. Can imagine just how pleased Bowie must have felt to have found McCaslin and his band.
And so, the final chunk of my chat with Donny McCaslin is up. This is probably my favourite of the three episodes as Donny talks about the making of Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime) and losing his shit over the sax solo, much to the Dame’s delight
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/davidbowie-albumtoalbum/id1355073030?i=1000487630415
Marvellous! I’ve been impatient for this one.
Thoroughly enjoyed and impressed.
Bowie I think was a conduit and he knew it too.
I have a major beef though with the fidelity of the Blackstar album. It’s every song is distorted. I don’t know if that’s intentional or not but it leaves me wanting someone else other than Tony Visconti to revisit the master tapes.
Wow! Just wow! Your best albumtoalbum yet.
For a better translation of Girl Loves Me, try:
Woman so together, so clean up this boy
Party up man, no drugs round on Tuesday
Awful little airhead making all the men mad – Thursday
Police have been paid to turn a blind eye by Friday
Where the fuck did Monday go?
I’m done with this circus show
I’m anti-authority and they’re coming for me
Who the fuck’s gonna mess with me?
Girl loves me
Hey woman
Girl loves me
Girl loves me
Hey woman
Girl loves me
Where the fuck did Monday go?
I’m done with this circus show
Where the fuck did Monday go?
Look at the woman
Wonderful with the red lips
Making love face-to-face
That girl, watch her foxy ways
Sleeping at the police station
Steal an old man’s money
Look, Look at the woman
Girl loves me
Hey woman
My take is that girl has been arrested for extorting money from an older man, having promised to provide a service she failed to deliver. I love the track. It puts Bowie back in the London of his youth, mixing with the misfits and the outcasts, speaking their secret language and getting out of his gourd on drugs. On Blackstar it sounds like the ravings of an old man who has taken too many sips of oramorph. The other side of the coin of ‘Tis A Pity.
The other thing I’d say is that the tune of I Can’t Give Everything Away reminds me of A New Career In A New Town.
Brilliant work, slot. I can’t wait for the next one.