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Happy birthday Aladdin Sane: fifty years old today!

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It is exactly fifty years since Aladdin Sane was released. It was the first LP I bought on the day it came out and is the album I’ve listened to the most. Dave Ross wrote about it two years ago:

12 Bowie albums in 12 months: Aladdin Sane

I shared my thoughts a couple of years before that:

A Lifetime Of Aladdin Sane

There is a lovely looking book I will definitely be buying, pulled together by Chris Duffy, the son of the photographer who captured the famous cover image:

There is a show and exhibition at the Southbank

Here are The Spiders performing Drive-In Saturday on Russell Harty’s » Continue Reading.

Some Thoughts About Brilliant Adventure {1992-2001}

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And so the time had come once more for another David Bowie box. For the fifth time the David Bowie Archive had collected his recordings from a certain era of his career – {1992-2001} in this case. The set with the ghastly amateurish self portrait was duly bought, and over the following year or so I listened to it, examined and enjoyed the book, the side projects, the extra discs… compared and reacquainted myself with some tracks, and put together playlists with different themes for outside listening. You all know the music, but what about the box and its content? So what have we got? Is it any good? And what went wrong this time?

In the accompanying book the writing and recording process of the main albums – BLACK TIE WHITE NOISE, BUDDAH OF SUBURBIA, OUTSIDE, EARTHLING and HOURS – is explained at length in essays by the respective producers, and this is fascinating reading. It was new to me that Bowie didn’t »write« a single song in these ten years: he merely commissioned loops, rhythms and chord progressions from his musical directors (mainly Reeves Gabrels and Mark Plati, with Nile Rodgers in 1992/1993), which he then chopped up, » Continue Reading.

Robert Fripp’s Extracurricular Activities

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Robert Fripp dresses like a building society manager and is as smutty as a navvy. He is King Crimson and he has kept himself busy in The League Of Gentlemen and a series of collaborative projects, most notably with Brian Eno. However, he also ‘guests’ his coruscating guitar on other people’s work, sometimes uncredited. The majority of this extracurricular activity was between 1974 and 1981 when he broke up his band but he has continued to indulge throughout his career. The most famous, of course, is his contribution to Bowie albums but there are loads.

Inspired by sarah’s inclusion of The Roches singing The Hammond Song, I’m putting together a playlist in an attempt to prove to a relative civilian that Fripp is one of the greatest dirty, filthy guitarists of all time.

Any notable examples? I’ve provided a gentle example in Blondie’s Fade Away And Radiate.

KLAXON: Mike Millard live recording of David Bowie has been unleashed

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Anyone who has more than a passing interest in bootlegs and ROIO will be aware of the late Mike “The Mic” Millard. A LA based music fan whose surreptitious recordings of the concerts he attended were astonishing good, especially for the late 70s period when he was most active. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Millard

Some of his previously uncirculated recordings have started to become available, and today has seen the release of his recording of David Bowie on the Isolar II tour at the LA Forum in 1978. It’s currently being seeded on dimeadozen, and will no doubt start to become available on various blogs/YouTube/trackers/etc. I’ve just downloaded it and am listening with some Dead Man’s Fingers rum; both are utterly stellar.

Bowie ANCIANT replacement “Heroes” discs

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I’ve just posted this in another thread and I’ll post it here for those who missed. The tape dropout during the English version of “Heroes” in the most recent Bowie box has been addressed and replacement discs are available free of charge from Warners.

I won’t link to the SDE site as it breaks the AW, so here’s the text.

The record label have issued the following statement:

We can now confirm that the “Heroes” audio has been updated via all digital download and streaming partners. CD and LP discs (in a plain sleeve) will be ready to ship week commencing 11th December.

Those who have bought the ANCIANT box set and would like an updated disc of “Heroes” should send an email to heroes@wmgcustomerservice.com. Your email should contain the following info:

• NAME • SHIPPING ADDRESS (and any delivery instructions) • EMAIL ADDRESS • PHONE NUMBER (required by some delivery providers) • FORMAT PURCHASED (CD or LP) • PROOF OF PURCHASE (email attachment / photo / scan / screen grab / etc.)

Please ensure that you limit the content of your email to these details only so that the Warner Music Customer Services team can process your order as » Continue Reading.

You Cannot Be Serious Moonlight

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John McEnroe told a nice David Bowie anecdote on this week’s Desert Island Discs, after picking Suffragette City as one of his tracks:

“When I started to learn how to play guitar, I was here in London getting ready for Wimbledon and it turned out we were staying in the same hotel. So I’m playing Suffragette City, I’m butchering it very badly, and after a period of a few minutes I get a a knock on the door, and I open the door and it’s David Bowie. And he looks at me and says: “Hey, John, I heard you were here, great to meet you, would you like to come up for a drink?” And I thought, ‘Oh my God, David Bowie’s asking me upstairs for a drink, and I said: “Yeah, I’ll come,” and he goes: “Don’t bring the guitar.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08xxfz3

Bowie At The BBC

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I am disappoint.

There were loads of tantalising clips of live performances from TOTP, OGWT, Later, Parkinson and so on. None lasted much more than a minute. Other than that, we had a fair amount of official videos that we can all view elsewhere. And news features. Nothing makes more excited than a news reader making an announcement. Bowie provided a voice over, cut from a variety of interviews, some of which looked, when pictures were shown, very interesting.

I expecting to see full performances of songs at various points of career. As an example, I’ve added one in this post. Sadly, that did not happen. I would happily buy a DVD of all of his performances at the Beeb but I won’t be watching this again.

There was one astonishing moment. Jools Holland asked a good question!

https://youtu.be/WCRXt6Zstf4

David Bowie: The Last Five Years

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I thought it was a great documentary. The talking heads were all people who knew him, the older clips were used for context and the Bowie quotes were perfect. I was delighted that there wasn’t a single ‘critic’ or ‘uber-fan’ in sight. You got the impression he was full of beans, excitement and curiosity right through to the very end. He looked so fit and energetic. What a man! What a life!

I could have done with more of The Next Day band talking about and playing those songs. That band was much more engaging and interesting on the TV than the Blackstar one, although the opposite is arguably true on the records. I also felt the last few months were somewhat rushed, but, then, those last few months were probably very rushed in real life for the man himself.

The most moving part was Tony Visconti spotlighting Bowie’s vocal on the track Lazarus. Fair choked me up, it did.

What did you think?

Bowie`s Greatest Studio Albums

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David Robert Jones would have been 70 this coming Sunday, January 8th. So I think it`s time for a poll to find what the AfterWorders reckon are Bowie`s greatest/favourite STUDIO albums. There was a lot of feeling that `Black★Star`, the last studio album was The Great Man`s best.

So what do you think*?

Pick your FIVE choices numbered 1-5. Only your first 5 choices will be accepted. The scoring will be 5 points for your first numbered choice down to 1 point for fifth. If you fail to number your choices, the first 5 will be awarded 3 points each, the same applies for any entries with less than 5 choices not given preference.

Only STUDIO albums, no box sets, live albums or compilations allowed.

*i am very interested where `Black★Star` figures overall in D.B.`s superb catalogue, if you do not wish to participate, that is fine. I think we have posted our favourite D.B. albums before but not in a poll such as this. Let the thingy begin….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgcc5V9Hu3g

The Afterword Albums Of The Year 2016 – The Results

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The results are in. 97 Afterworders voted for a total of 612 albums, The scoring mechanism really focussed the mind. It was possible to get into the top fifty with just two votes, yet Mogwai’s Atomic languished in 61st place with ten votes. Where there is a tie for points, I’ve given the higher place to the album attracting more votes.

@salwarpe will be adding colour and flavour, comparing and contrasting different scoring systems. Still, there is a very clear winner no matter what system is used.

Here is the official top ten Afterword Albums of 2016:

1. David Bowie – Blackstar 703 points (48 votes) 2. Leonard Cohen – You Want It Darker 330 (29) 3. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool 274 (31) 4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree 252 (26) 5. Michael Kiwanuka – Love And Hate 252 (21) 6. Teenage Fanclub – Here 177 (20) 7. Paul Simon – Stranger To Stranger 169 (17) 8. Wilco – Schmilco 128 (14) 9. Case/Lang/Viers 115 (17) 10. The Avalanches – Wildflower 112 (10)

You can view everyone’s votes on the link.

Happy New Year!

https://theafterword.co.uk/the-afterword-best-albums-of-2016-poll/

Prince4Ever: Moonbeam Levels

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Prince has a new album out. Well, no, he doesn’t. He has another greatest hits package on the shelves and on Internet retail outfits. It’s his third Best Of and his previous one was in 2006. This isn’t quite as bad as Bowie whose recent Legacy follows on less than two years since Nothing Has Changed.

Prince4Ever is a pretty decent collection of his singles, plus one B side, up to 1993. (I think the world is crying out for a half decent post 1993 Prince collection. If the Purple People want some help, I’m willing to make suggestions.) The thing that upsets me is the inclusion of one, just one, previously unreleased track. It’s called Moonbeam Levels and was originally written in 1982, for 1999, and adjusted in 1989, but never actually issued. Elvis Costello covered it during Prince’s inauguration to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. I have all the other 39 tracks. Let’s hope I can download it separately. It’s rather nice but not worth forking out for the whole ‘album’.

The good news is the the Purple People plan to release a Purple Rain legacy edition next year, followed by a whole collection of » Continue Reading.

Hang in there, Ralpher.

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Mick Ralphs family have announced that, following the end of the recent Bad Company tour, Mick has suffered a stroke. He is recovering in hospital, but no further information is forthcoming. Mick was Mott’s guitarist at my first ever live gig, in 1971. I was at the first night of the first Bad Company tour and Ralpher has always been one of my heroes. He was also responsible for the Greatest Guitar Solo Ever Recorded, on Mott’s David Bowie produced version of Sweet Jane which, as all right thinking people know, is the only version you need. Get well soon, Mick.

https://youtu.be/79m8FXz7GEE

Have The Pretenders Turned Into Tin Machine?

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The Pretenders have a new album out. I think the only actual Pretender involved is Chrissie Hynde. It struck me that the backing band sound very much like Iggy Pop’s for Lust For Life. That band was, essentially, Tin Machine, David Bowie and all.

Not a bad album, in my view. Loving the simplicity, the grunginess and the noisy tub-thumping.

I wondered if any other bands have morphed into another. One other example I could think of was The Meters into Little Feat, or vice versa.

Best Albums Of 2016 So Far

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It’s been a strange year, musicwise. It started brilliantly with the release of Blackstar but that euphoria didn’t last long. I spent a whole month listening to nothing but Bowie and the best part of the next. It took a while to summon up the enthusiasm to listen to anything else. As a consequence, I am well behind on ‘new’ 2016 releases. My expenditure is down by close to 75%. I have a playlist on my iPod where I put all my new purchases. Compared to last June, it is puny.

Now, more than ever, I am genuinely interested to explore Afterword recommendations.

Here are my top ten of the year so far:

1. Blackstar – David Bowie 2. Lemonade – Beyoncé 3. A Moon Shaped Pool – Radiohead (I regard it as a single suite with ebbs and flows, the key combination being between piano, voice and strings. Utterly beautiful) 4. Man Made Object – GoGo Penguin 5. HITNRUN Phase Two – Prince (The 2015 Tidal release doesn’t count) 6. Into The Silence – Avishai Cohen 7. Hollowed – iTAL tEK (It may just be me, but electronica is having a poor year. This is an exception. Hollowed » Continue Reading.

Bowie Meets Tiny Tim – And Princess Margaret

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How about a picture of Tiny Tim meeting Princess Margaret in 1969 while David Bowie looks on?

Tim is flanked by Dusty Springfield and Lou Christie.

The Tiptoe Through The Tulips hitmaker routinely carried his ukes in a plastic carrier bag and on this occasion he went for a patriotic theme.

I assume it was some kind of charity gala Royal Variety-type event.

I found this on Danny Baker’s Twitter feed yesterday.

http://i.imgur.com/lQhOGWC.png

Unsung Sidemen

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David Bowie had many illustrious sidemen; Mick Ronson, Tony Visconti, Mike Garson, Carlos Alomar, Earl Slick, Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, Nile Rodgers, Gail Ann Dorsey, to name a few. Which one has the most songwriting co-credits with Bowie?

The answer is Reeves Gabrels. If I wasn’t posting on The Afterword, half of the readers would be open-mouthing “Who?” By my reckoning, he co-wrote forty-one songs between 1987 and 1999, far more than Eno and Alomar. Even if you include songs written with Iggy Pop for Iggy albums, Gabrels wins hands-down.

Gabrels met Bowie in 1987, a time when Bowie had enjoyed a good run of commercial success but endured a lot of criticism. Bowie was sick of playing hits and was ready for something different. Reeves persuaded him to stop being a pop star and become a member of a rock band. The democracy of being a band, led to collective writing of the songs.

Having set that precedent with Tin Machine, Gabrels and Bowie continued to write together through the nineties on Black Tie, White Noise, 1.Outside, Earthling and, finally Hours… Reading that list of albums might not make your heart zing with excitement (especially when you realise » Continue Reading.