German Rolling Stone exclusive Bowie vinyl

“Und wir sind dann Helden, Für einen Tag...”

As we’re focusing on "Heroes" this week, we thought it pertinent to mention that the October 2017 issue of Rolling Stone magazine in Germany, has an exclusive Bowie feature and cover-mounted 7" vinyl single of "Helden"/"Heroes".

The magazine/vinyl package is available to pre-order now, but it’s only available to addresses in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

Here’s the tracklisting of this future 33 1/3rd collectable.

Side 1: "Helden" (’89 remix version)
Side 2: "Heroes" (live version from Stage)

Stay tuned for more information regarding this issue, shortly.

#BowieHelden #BowieHeroes #RSDEBowie #ANCIANTbox #ANewCareerInANewTownBox #BowieVinyl

ANCIANT Album Focus: "Heroes"

“They don't walk, they just glide in and out of life”

(ANCIANT = A New Career In A New Town)

Here’s another instalment of our album focus on "Heroes".

This is Tony Visconti’s introduction from another set of very informative notes (from the ANCIANT book), regarding the recording of "Heroes"...

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‘"Heroes"’ began in Hansa Studios, West Berlin, by the Berlin Wall. The intense and diverse reaction to the experimental album ‘Low’ proved that the best path for
David, at this point in his career, was to continue to break all the rules. This continued to be the course of action with more or less the same team. Alomar, Murray and Davis returned, Eno and Bowie shared keyboard duties. The tracking sessions were recorded without a lead guitarist. Robert Fripp would arrive two weeks later.
True to form, we all congregated in Berlin with nothing more than chord changes and rhythm ideas, not yet songs. Carlos, George and Dennis instinctively knew what to do from the start but played harder than the previous album. ‘Low’ was like learning a new alphabet. ‘"Heroes"’ was the subsequent pulp fiction novel! Like
‘Low’, it didn’t take very long to record the seven band tracks. They took less than a week. Carlos stayed behind to add more guitar but the parts were more supportive than fiery. We were expecting Robert Fripp to start the fire.
It’s hard to believe that ‘Beauty And The Beast’ to ‘The Secret Life Of Arabia’ were just backing tracks arranged on the spot with no knowledge of titles, vocal melodies or lyrics. Once a riff was established, as in ‘Beauty And The Beast’, a lick, an interjection, a countermelody, a quirky drum fill all fell into place naturally. Somehow it was mutually sensed where singing would and wouldn’t be. Emotional music textures, not songs, were being recorded.

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"HEROES" FACT FILE:

Released in the UK as RCA PL 12522 on 14th October, 1977.
Peak UK chart position: #3
Peak US chart position: #35

Original Tracklisting

SIDE 1
1. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
2. JOE THE LION
3. “HEROES”
4. SONS OF THE SILENT AGE
5. BLACKOUT

SIDE 2
1. V-2 SCHNEIDER
2. SENSE OF DOUBT
3. MOSS GARDEN
4. NEUKÖLN
5. THE SECRET LIFE OF ARABIA

Bonus tracks on 1991 RykoDisc reissue:
Abdulmajid Previously unreleased track recorded 1976-79
Joe The Lion Remixed version, 1991

Original UK Singles:
"Heroes"/V-2 Schneider released September 1977 - (Peak UK chart position: #24)
Beauty And The Beast/Sense of Doubt released January 1978 - (Peak UK chart position: #39)

“TOMORROW BELONGS TO THOSE WHO CAN HEAR IT COMING” was the rather ironic tagline for "Heroes". Ironic in that the single only reached #24 in the UK upon release, but as time goes on the song has become more and more popular. This fact was highlighted when streams of Bowie’s music on Spotify reached one billion last week, with "Heroes" topping that list. Forty years later it seems tomorrow has finally arrived.

All songs written by DAVID BOWIE except ‘“HEROES”’ lyrics written by DAVID BOWIE, music written by DAVID BOWIE and BRIAN ENO, ‘MOSS GARDEN’ and ‘NEUKÖLN’ written by

DAVID BOWIE and BRIAN ENO and ‘THE SECRET LIFE OF ARABIA’ lyrics written by DAVID BOWIE, music written by DAVID BOWIE, CARLOS ALOMAR and BRIAN ENO.

Produced by DAVID BOWIE and TONY VISCONTI.
Recorded at HANSA BY THE WALL, BERLIN between 11th July and 8th August, 1977.
Engineers – TONY VISCONTI and COLIN THURSTON and MOUNTAIN STUDIOS, MONTREUX.
Assistant engineers – DAVID RICHARDS and EUGENE CHAPLIN.
Mixed at MOUNTAIN STUDIOS, MONTREUX.
HANSA BY THE WALL in-house engineer: EDUARD MEYER.

Don’t forget you can listen to the official David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town playlist here.

Pre-order ANCIANT here.

#ANCIANTbox #ANewCareerInANewTownBox #BowieHeroes

ANCIANT Album Focus: "Heroes"

“For ever and ever”

In the run up to the September 29th release of the David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982) box set (ANCIANT), the next release in our album focus is "Heroes".

If you’ve not listened to this classic from 1977 in a while, pop over to the official David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town playlist and reacquaint yourself.

Pre-order ANCIANT here.

#ANCIANTbox #ANewCareerInANewTownBox #BowieHeroes

Bowie reaches a billion streams on Spotify

“A billion dreams, A billion streams”

“The absolute transformation of everything that we ever thought about music will take place within 10 years, and nothing is going to be able to stop it. Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity” - David Bowie, June 2002.

Last week (Thursday, August 24), the music of David Bowie reached a major milestone with the one billionth stream on Spotify. The #1 streamed song, "Heroes", originally recorded in English, French & German, is this year celebrating its 40th anniversary and, as previously mentioned here, will be released as a special limited edition picture disc next month.

Bowie’s top ten most streamed solo tracks of all time on Spotify are:

"Heroes"
Let’s Dance
Space Oddity
Life On Mars
Starman
Rebel Rebel
Moonage Daydream
Changes
Ziggy Stardust
Modern Love

Bubbling under those are Fame, The Man Who Sold The World, China Girl, Oh! You Pretty Things, Sound & Vision, Where Are We Now? This Is Not America, Ashes To Ashes and Young Americans.

Thanks so much for making it happen, Kooks!

Play Bowie on Spotify here.

#BowieSpotify #BowieKooks

Iman talks about David to Vogue

“I want you most of all”

Just in case you missed this one, it’s well worth a read/view.

Iman has helped Vogue celebrate their 125th Anniversary with a look back at pictures of her and David that have appeared in their pages.

In a moving interview, Iman explained how the public’s outpouring of love has meant that David’s presence is always felt: “My husband's passing to me, his absence is ever present. You know, so it's not like he has left. From the public love and the public grieving and all that, he is constantly around.”

Of the main picture in our montage, taken by Irving Penn in 1994, Iman said this: “A perfect match. Penn did this photo, it was the first time, wasn't the first time I met Penn, but it was the first and the only picture actually he did of me and David.”

Iman also said this about the other photograph we’ve used: “And this is David and I dancing, that's my daughter's favourite.”

Read the full interview and watch the video here.

#DavidAndIman #‎ForeverLove

ANCIANT Album Focus: Low

“Don’t you wonder sometimes...”

Ahead of the release of the David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982) box set (ANCIANT) next month, here’s the second instalment of our album focus on Low.

This is Tony Visconti’s introduction from his superbly informative notes (from the ANCIANT book), regarding the recording of Low. As Tony says, it’s a story you may have heard before, but it bears repeating...

I was playing around with my new signal processing ‘toys’ in my home studio in Hammersmith when I got a phone call from David Bowie. I'd had a good business year and my accountant said, “Buy things for the studio. They are tax deductible”. My favourite new toy was the Harmonizer made by a new company called Eventide. David already mixed the ‘Diamond Dogs’ album with me in my home studio and we used an earlier Eventide gizmo, The Eventide Digital Delay, to great effect, very noticeably with the “Bro-bro-bro…” repetition at the end of ‘Big Brother’.
David was calling from his home in Switzerland and Brian Eno was on an extension. They told me they’d been writing songs for a couple of weeks and had ideas, one side being conventional songs and the other an instrumental side based on Brian’s ambient music compositions. I was asked, “What can you bring to the table?” (This is the first time I heard this phrase not referring to bottles of red and white wine). I said I have a new thing called the Harmonizer (the second sold in the U.K.). “What does it do?” they asked. Hmmm. This thing was so original and difficult to explain in simple terms, so I spontaneously came up with what most people have heard of by now, “It fucks with the fabric of time.” Then I heard big ‘whoops’ from both of them.

LOW FACT FILE:

Working Title: New Music: Night And Day (Last minute name change to the visually punning Low)
Released in the UK as RCA PL 12030 on 14th January, 1977.
Peak UK chart position: #2
Peak US chart position: #11

Original Tracklisting

SIDE 1
1. SPEED OF LIFE
2. BREAKING GLASS
3. WHAT IN THE WORLD
4. SOUND AND VISION
5. ALWAYS CRASHING IN THE SAME CAR
6. BE MY WIFE
7. A NEW CAREER IN A NEW TOWN

SIDE 2

1. WARSZAWA
2. ART DECADE
3. WEEPING WALL 4. SUBTERRANEANS

Bonus tracks on 1991 RykoDisc reissue:
Some Are (3:24) Previously unreleased track recorded 1976-79
All Saints (3:35) Previously unreleased track recorded 1976-79
Sound And Vision (4:43) Remixed version, 1991

Original UK Singles:
Sound And Vision/A New Career In A New Town released February 1977 - (Peak UK chart position: #3)
Be My Wife/Speed Of Life released June 1977 - (Peak UK chart position: N/A)

Did you know that both Mary Visconti (Nee Hopkin) and Brian Eno provide backing vocals on Sound And Vision, as does Iggy Pop on What In The World?

(Pictured on the right of our montage is the US advert for the Sound And Vison 45 and the UK ad for the Be My Wife single)

All songs written by DAVID BOWIE except ‘BREAKING GLASS’ written by DAVID BOWIE, GEORGE MURRAY and DENNIS DAVIS and ‘WARSZAWA’ written by DAVID BOWIE and BRIAN ENO.

All songs arranged by DAVID BOWIE except ‘WARSZAWA’ arranged by DAVID BOWIE and BRIAN ENO.

Produced by DAVID BOWIE and TONY VISCONTI.
Mixed by TONY VISCONTI at HANSA BY THE WALL, BERLIN.
Recorded at THE CHÂTEAU D’HÉROUVILLE and HANSA BY THE WALL, BERLIN between September and October, 1976.
‘SUBTERRANEANS’ originally recorded at CHEROKEE STUDIOS, LOS ANGELES, December 1975.

Don’t forget you can listen to the official David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town playlist here.

Pre-order ANCIANT here.

#ANCIANTbox #ANewCareerInANewTownBox #BowieLow

ANCIANT Album Focus: Low

“Share my life”

In the run up to the September 29th release of the David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982) box set (ANCIANT), we’ll be running a week by week album focus looking at each in chronological order.

As you’ve no doubt gathered, we’re starting with the first LP in the set, 1977’s Low.

Listen to this classic and hugely influential recording over at the official David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town playlist, updated regularly with instant grat tracks and including the material released by Bowie between 1977 and 1982:

Pre-order ANCIANT here.

FOOTNOTE: Something not quite right about that cover of Low? See why here.

#ANCIANTbox #ANewCareerInANewTownBox #BowieLow

ANCIANT unboxing video

“Come see, come see...”

Here’s an exclusive first look at the unboxing of the David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982) box set, due September 29th.

Pre-order here: https://lnk.to/ANCIANTMP

#ANCIANTbox

Visconti and Murphy talk DB in UNCUT

“We had a friend, a talking man”

The October 2017 issue of Uncut magazine has an interview with Tony Visconti and another with James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem.

Here’s a bit from Michael Bonner’s monthly introduction to the new issue...

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Tony Visconti gives us a sneak preview of his Lodger remix in the forthcoming David Bowie retrospective box set: “I found some little gems on the tapes,” he reveals, telling us about Arabic raps, the original Lodger sessions and Bowie’s later attitude to re-releases.
On the subject of records, LCD Soundsystem’s American Dream is our Album Of The Month – James Murphy shares a very good David Bowie story.
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Here’s a bit from the Visconti interview expanding upon that Arabic rap hint above...

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Visconti’s 2017 mix of Lodger is included in David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982), the third in a series of boxsets spanning Bowie’s career.
“I found some little gems on the tapes,” he reveals. “At the end of ‘Yassassin’, David does a little Arabic rap that didn’t make the record. I put it on the mix this time and it sounds wonderful. David was proud of these re-releases, but he didn’t want to get involved. There are so many capable people, including his own staff and myself, who could deal with it. He’d hear the final test pressing and say, ‘Great, it’s wonderful. Release it.’ But he always wanted to move on.”
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Elsewhere, James Murphy (who has featured here on a few occasions), is interviewed by Tom Pinnock regarding the new album, American Dream. Here’s a small excerpt from that...

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UNCUT: Does it feel strange referencing David Bowie in your music after you became friends with him?
James Murphy: Not to me. He was a remarkable person, in that you never had a negative collision between your vision of him and who he was, at least I didn't. And it wasn't because when you met him he seemed like Ziggy Stardust, or something – quite the opposite. He was an incredibly disarming and human person, really respectful, appreciative and thoughtful. But you were never disappointed because he was so incredibly good about being a person.
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Go here for more detail regarding this particular issue which is out now.

Go here for further details and full tracklistings for David Bowie: A New Career In A New Town (1977–1982).

#ANCIANTbox #BowieUNCUT #BowieVisconti #BowieJamesMurphy

Happy 17th birthday to Lexi

“You’re only seventeen”

We’re sure you will all want to join us in wishing many happy returns of the day to Alexandria Zahra Jones on her 17th birthday.

Lexi is 16 in this picture, which was posted by her mother, Iman, last year.

The colour pic (by DEZO HOFFMANN) is of her father, Davie Jones, in 1964, an ambitious 17-year-old King Bee himself with a very bright future ahead of him.

Happy Birthday Lexi, here’s wishing you a similarly bright future with love ‘n stuff from everybody here.

FOOTNOTE: Congratulations are also due to Iman on becoming a grandmother, with the arrival of baby Lavinia Rose Young to Iman’s daughter Zulekha and her husband Jason.

#HappyBirthdayLexi #Lexi17 #LexiLove #NanaLove

Labyrinth OST, don't forget the black vinyl

“Putting on the black vinyl, cranking out the white noise”

Back in June we told you about today’s release via UMe of the limited green and lavender vinyl editions of the Labyrinth soundtrack.

However, in our excitement, we neglected to mention the 180 gram heavyweight black vinyl edition with free download code (released on July 7th), though it seems enough of you noticed to get it to #4 on the following week’s Official Vinyl Albums Chart Top 40.

There are some that aren’t so keen for coloured vinyl releases, but, of course, black vinyl is a kind of coloured vinyl in itself, as the plastic used in the production of records is naturally clear before carbon black is added.

Anyway, forget all that, the main reason for posting this item is so that we can kick the weekend off with a delightful picture of Jareth and Sarah.

#Labyrinth #LabyrinthTheMovie #Jareth #LabyrinthBowie #JarethBowie #BowieVinyl