Tag: David Bowie
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Iggy Pop, The Idiot, 1977 on RCA Victor
Iggy Pop is one of those threads that lives in the lineage of Bowie, Bauhaus, and Love and Rockets – lots of records i’ve posted lately. David Bowie produced The Idiot just before producing his own Low, though Low came out just before The Idiot. Bowie and Pop get cowriting credits, plus Carlos Alomar on…
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David Bowie, Hunky Dory, 1971 on RCA Victor
Bowie’s fourth full-length studio LP and one of my all-time favorites. This followed The Man Who Sold the World but all these early Bowie albums are so great they sound to me like they have just always existed. It can be hard to find decent early pressings of these but there have been many great…
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David Bowie, David Live, 1974 on RCA Victor
First live album from Bowie, recorded at the Tower Theater outside Philadelphia, on the first leg of the Diamond Dogs tour. Reissued in 2005 (on CD) with a new mix by Tony Visconti (with a 2017 3xLP version). My copy—via the Worcester Record Riot—is an RCA Indianapolis pressing on the orange labels.
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David Bowie, Lodger, 1979 on RCA Victor
Third album in the so-called Berlin trilogy (after Low and “Heroes”) in collaboration with Brian Eno and Tony Visconti. Recorded in Switzerland and New York city, and the first Bowie album to feature Adrian Belew alongside Carlos Alomar. A remastered Lodger came out in 2017 as part of the box set A New Career In…
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David Bowie, A Divine Symmetry, 2022 on Parlophone
Divine Symmetry was first available as a box set in 2022, with 4 CDs and a Blu-Ray disc (or a 72 track digital download). This single LP vinyl edition, with the subtitle An Alternative Journey Through Hunky Dory was released in February 2023. Hunky Dory is one of my all time favorite albums, so getting…
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David Bowie, Stage, 1978 on RCA
Bowie’s second live album, following 1974’s David Live. It’s a 2xLP release, drawing on concerts from Boston, Providence, and Philadelphia. Playing with Bowie here are Carlos Alomar, Dennis Davis, George Murray, Adrian Belew, Simon House, Roger Powell, and Sean Mayes. (In essence the group that would be on Lodger). Got criticized at the time for…
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David Bowie, The Lost Sessions, Vol 1, 2020 on Parachute Recording Company
Another Parachute Recording Company release, which collects radio broadcasts subject to different copyrights in the EU. In this case, that includes appearances Bowie made on: As is not uncommon with bootlegs, some tracks are misidentified / mislabelled: C14 is not Janine but the 4:42 version of “The Width of a Circle,” and C15 is not…
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David Bowie, Unplugged & Slightly Phased: Acoustic Broadcasts 1996, 2021 on Parachute Recording Company
Basically a live bootleg, this collects Bowie’s appearances at the October 1996 Bridge School Benefit. Parachute Recording Company labels these things as radio transmissions based on the difference in copyright law regarding things broadcast in the UK (and maybe the EU?). It was previously released as a bootleg under multiple names by different labels –…
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David Bowie, The Next Day, 2013 on ISO Records / Columbia
Bowie’s penultimate release, coming three years before Blackstar and a decade after Reality. Produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, and recorded at The Magic Shop in New York City in 2011-2012. Musicians include Earl Slick, Gerry Leonard, Sterling Campbell, Zack Alford, and Gail Ann Dorsey. I love the cover, which starts with the cover of…
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David Bowie, Young Americans, 1975 on RCA Victor
Mid-Seventies Bowie, with guests like Earl Slick, John Lennon, David Sanborn, abd Luther Vandross (who also did the vocal arrangements). Bowie called this “Plastic Soul” and he recorded in Philadelphia and New York. My copy via Todd’s Farm Flea Market in Rowley MA – as I gradually complete the full Bowie catalog up to 2016.
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David Bowie, Blackstar, 2016 on ISO Records / Columbia
Wow, what a final album. So much to say about Blackstar, recorded more or less in secret in New York with Tony Visconti and some local jazz musicians, and released two days before his death. My copy, like many I’ve seen in the used market, has a tear in the die cut cover which is…
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Phantom, Rocker & Slick; Phantom, Rocker & Slick, 1985 on EMI America
Self-titled debut album for Phantom, Rocker & Slick (I’ll forgive them for the lack of an oxford comma) from 1985. Slim Jim Phantom (drums) and Lee Rocker (vocals, bass) had been part of Stray Cats. They were joined by Earl Slick who had replaced Mick Ronson on the Diamond Dogs tour and played on Young…
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David Bowie, Tonight, 1984 on EMI America
Bowie’s follow up to Let’s Dance, produced by Bowie with Derek Bramble and Hugh Padgham, with many of the same musicians, but also with contributions by Iggy Pop and a guest appearance from Tina Turner. A couple of covers on the album: The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” and “I Keep Forgettin’” which is a…
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David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, 1972 on RCA Victor
I came to this album indirectly and backwards – from the Bauhaus cover (“Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with Weird and Gilley, and the Spiders from Mars”). But what a magnificent album it is. I think Bowie was at his greatest creative height in the early 70s (as much as I do love his later…
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David Bowie, Aladdin Sane, 1973 on RCA Victor
Bowie’s sixth studio album, this was the followup to Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. It features Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder, and Woody Woodmansey (aka the Spiders From Mars). It was recorded during breaks in the Ziggy Stardust tour. Includes a cover of “Let’s Spend the Night Together” as well as “The Jean Genie”…
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Tin Machine, Tin Machine II, 1991 on Victory.
Is this post going to get me flagged on various social platforms? The cover image is four Greek Kouroi, status of nude male youths. That led to the cover being changed in the US to airbrush out the bits you’d expect. (The Canadian covers followed the European releases). Tin Machine was a band fronted by…
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David Bowie, Diamond Dogs, 1974 on RCA Victor
Bowie’s eighth studio album, recorded following the disbanding of the Spiders from Mars, working (again) with producer Tony Visconti. The recording band includes Tony Newman and Aynsley Dunbar on Drums, Herbie Flowers on Bass, Mike Garson on Keyboards, and Bowie (credited only by last name) playing guitar, saxes, moog, and mellotron. The cover painting is…
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David Bowie, Space Oddity, (originally) 1969 on Mercury
An album so great they named it three times. 😉 Originally released with the album title “David Bowie” by Philips in the UK, but by Mercury in the US/Canada with the subtitle “Man of Words / Man of Music” added, in 1969; reissued in 1972 as “Space Oddity” to capitalize on the popularity of the…