another bowie thread (sorry, hey look it's a free country)

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i'm having a phase since reading
that UNCUT article.
i'll be watching 'labyrinth' come the weekend.

the 72/73 and the 76 tours DB tours where
meant to be the best
of the 70's, but all his official concert
recordings are notoriously tatty and don't
capture the 'magic'.

there are some dead famous bootlegs ('santa monica 72' and
'wembley wizard...' to name two) but are they
any better ? if not which are ?

― piscesboy, Friday, 7 February 2003 14:12 (twenty-three years ago)

I've heard Santa Monica 72 and it is the best live Bowie thing I've heard (though I think parts of the last Ziggy concert LP do capture the 'magic'). Great, crisp and crunchy guitars, top stuff. It was from a radio show hence the half-decent quality of the sound (for a bootleg) if you get a good tape. He starts the gig with an excerpt from the 'Clockwork Orange' soundtrack, then kicks into 'Hang onto yourself'. Great intro, and it stays interesting from there. He does a crap Warhol impression that seems to go completely over the heads of the audience but it's very funny.

― James Ball (James Ball), Friday, 7 February 2003 14:43 (twenty-three years ago)

hahaha !! - a warhol impression he did *for money*
in that film about Basquiat ! never seen the film but he's
got a lousy wig on in the photos.

have you heard 'bowie at the beeb' james ?
i keep meaning to.

― piscesboy, Friday, 7 February 2003 14:51 (twenty-three years ago)

piscesboy! get.bowie.at.the.beeb!! the phase you're in will be significantly prolonged...

― willem (willem), Friday, 7 February 2003 15:41 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes, second that. Absolutely essential.

― James Ball (James Ball), Friday, 7 February 2003 16:06 (twenty-three years ago)

Beeb great, Santa Monica '72 equally so. The latter did finally surface officially in 1994 or something, which was good since I could replace my bootleg (same with when Beeb came out).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 7 February 2003 16:35 (twenty-three years ago)

I didn't even know it had come out officially. And now (just checked) it's out of print. Arse! At least my tape's still going strong.

― James Ball (James Ball), Friday, 7 February 2003 16:44 (twenty-three years ago)

I'd take the Santa Monica Civic Center boot over Bowie at the Beeb.

― Sean (Sean), Friday, 7 February 2003 17:12 (twenty-three years ago)

The Santa Monica concert is apparently out under the ever so creative title Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders From Mars - Live. Also, they're re-releasing "Ziggy Stardust the Motion Picture on DVD in March. Hooray!

― Hayden Nicholls (Pop the Weasel), Saturday, 8 February 2003 09:10 (twenty-three years ago)

At the Beeb has many interesting recordings (try and get the 3disc version the 2000 performace isn't bad). It focuses half on the time before Ziggy and about half on that time (nothing after 72). I haven't heard Santa Monica 72. The ZIggy Motion picture rerelease is suppose to come out on april 1st. I too want to get more live recordings of Bowie the only one I have is Bowie at the Beeb.

― A Nairn (moretap), Saturday, 8 February 2003 16:17 (twenty-three years ago)

things i've leared from my 2 weeks (+ counting) bowie phase :
despite all the talk and the hoo-ha over
the berlin era ('low' and "heroes") it's no way as
interesting a time as the weighing 6 stone/hollywood madness
era ('young americans' and 'station to station') nor is the music
any where near as good. in fact 'young americans' is the
big ignored classic that should sit easily in the critix canon next to
ziggy/aladdin/dogs/hunky bla bla bla, and the reason it doesn't ?
could it perhaps be the preponderence of something called 'soul' ?
howver plastic it was meant to be.
also - 'cracked actor' (tv show) makes him
*actually look like a skeleton*.
'is there anything behind us (sniff) hope we're not followed(sniff)..'
and "heroes" (the album) really does sound like it was made
up as they went along.

what a hero though.

― piscesboy, Tuesday, 18 February 2003 16:33 (twenty-three years ago)

V perceptive piscesboy - Young Americans is Bowie's best record.

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 16:38 (twenty-three years ago)

The best song from those sessions didn't even appear until the 1990 reissue, though! ("Who Can I Be Now?")

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 16:49 (twenty-three years ago)

right - off to soulseek i go.
which album is it on ned ? is it on the newest re-release ?
any more unknown classics knocking around ?

― piscesboy, Tuesday, 18 February 2003 16:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Not the newest reissue, no. For whatever reason, Bowie decided to leave off all the bonus tracks that originally appeared on the 1989-1992 reissues of the seventies stuff, so you'll have to scrounge away for that one, alas.

In terms of other goodies not on the current series of reissues, the solo acoustic alternate of "The Supermen" is wonderful, the demos of "Ziggy Stardust" and "Lady Stardust" really grand (though those might have ended up on that bonus edition of Ziggy that came out, I don't have that one), and the song(s) from the Cat People soundtrack that just feature Bowie's wordless vocals -- REALLY haunting and captivating. There's quite a lot out there, you'll just have to keep searching!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 17:03 (twenty-three years ago)

'Young Americans' is vastly under-rated, I'd agree. Used to be my favourite album of all time.

They knocked 'Who can I be now' and 'It's gonna be me' off 'Young Americans' when he bumped into Lennon, so it could've been even better. Ok, 'Fame' is great and got him his first US number one, but 'Across the Universe' is utter shite.

― James Ball (James Ball), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 17:05 (twenty-three years ago)

it's charles kennedy's fave album of all time too.
why did they knock those tracks off because of lennon ?
were they b.sides too ?

― piscesboy, Tuesday, 18 February 2003 17:29 (twenty-three years ago)

No, fully unreleased -- I don't recall why.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 17:30 (twenty-three years ago)

They had the planned album ready, but he met up with Lennon and suggested doing something together in the studio afterwards. Maybe he thought that because it was Lennon he should find room for the tracks even if they were SHITE (in the case of 'Universe'). Or maybe he was so off his face he just couldn't make a decent judgement.

― James Ball (James Ball), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 17:34 (twenty-three years ago)

apparantley he can only recall recording 'station...' in
hollywood because he was told that's where he was.

by all accounts, the director of 'just a gigolo' (some ex member of
television or something) also filmed the tour in the late 70's and
it's just sitting in the vaults, even tho bowie has decided he likes it now (having hated it before).

there's still no definitive answer re: the victoria station 'salute', but it would make sense considering. on the other hand he abso-lootly
denied it on his son's life. who knows i guess.

― piscesboy, Tuesday, 18 February 2003 18:08 (twenty-three years ago)

"Just a Gigolo" was directed by British actor David Hemmings ("Blow Up"). It's bad, but watchable in its badness.

Where did you locate the "Cracked Actor" documentary? I've wanted to see that for years.

― Sean (Sean), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 20:03 (twenty-three years ago)

both "Who can I be now" and "It's Gonna be me" can be found on the rykodisc re-issues (now out of print i believe...), though i do see one 2nd hand sometimes here in the netherlands. if you're interested i'll keep an eye open for one... (or send a copy of mine :-))

― willem (willem), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 22:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Sean--they showed Cracked Actor on BBC America last year. They had a Bowie weekend or something. They also had screenings at the Museum of Broadcasting Bowie Festival last summer. You could probably visit the Museum next time you're down here and have a look at it.

Young Americans would be in my Bowie top five were it not for the preponderance of someone called David Sanborn. And "Across the Universe" really is atrocious.

― Arthur (Arthur), Wednesday, 19 February 2003 01:54 (twenty-three years ago)

Bowie fans are positively nuts, that's all I have to say. I'll stick with that two-CD singles thing (or at least I would if I didn't already own Station thru Scary Monsters).

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 19 February 2003 01:59 (twenty-three years ago)

haha thank you Anthony, I sometimes have the terrible suspicion I'm the only one here who doesn't know every Bowie LP by heart! (tho I do like him)

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 19 February 2003 05:13 (twenty-three years ago)

I'll stick with that two-CD singles thing

And yet you have the complete Limp Bizkit discography. ;-) No, I tease. THIS time. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 19 February 2003 05:17 (twenty-three years ago)

three years pass...

'cracked actor'
tonight 10.30 bbc4 (uk)

Raar!

― piscesboy, Friday, 7 April 2006 14:13 (nineteen years ago)

The final Ziggy concert followed by Cracked Actor, great viewing.

― MitchellStirling (MitchellStirling), Friday, 7 April 2006 21:24 (nineteen years ago)

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