Bowie Album-By-Album Thread- Second Run

The problem was 'Young Americans' hadn't been released and Bowie was giving people a new style without any new tracks in that style - just old tracks that weren't written for that style. The Young Americans tracks are waaay more successful as soul, or plastic soul, than anything on David Live. Now on Stage we had the crowd pleasing Ziggy tracks not feeling very comfortable in their new clothes. Things worked out well though in 76; due to the predominantly guitar, bass and piano arrangements of Station to Station he was able to successfully incorporate some of his older rock material. Panic In Detroit in particular was a good fit.

 

Yeah, I'm strongly noticing this on David Live - the Ziggy material in particular doesn't seem to work very well in the plastic soul style for the most part (with a couple of exceptions), and delivering a heaping helping of it probably pissed a lot of fans off, royally.

I wonder if he poisoned the well for Young Americans to some degree among fans who didn't care for the plastic soulification of his back catalog and were already sick of it by the time YA dropped. Whereas if he'd delivered a straight up rock tour and then dropped Young Americans they might have been more willing to go along for the ride...

 

Oh, forgot to mention - the cranked bass was due to a settings change in my audio player. Switched things back and all's normal - the bass on these high res releases is definitely stronger, but not that strong. I think they're more enjoyable than the Rykos - more rock - but they are a bit less clear in some regards.

It was very interesting to hear the different mixes of the Ryko bonus cuts (and the regular album cuts) on The Glouster. Wasn't expecting that at all...

 

Is it okay to post this youngster's vinyl collection video here, @sunspot42 ? It's fun and inspiring, maybe even as a reminder to us to finish this thread. He's a bit of a GH album fan who forgets all about Santa Monica, Nassau, Baal and Buddha etc. But to be honest, who of us spotted the Brazil vinyl of that one in a store (spare anyone ) ?

 

Sure.

Not a lot of love here for David Live. Have to admit, couldn't really get into either mix last week, and haven't been in the mood to revisit yet. Would listen at work, but Comcraps is effed up in the neighborhood, and I can't stream from home at the moment...

 

CHANGESONEBOWIE

Released just ahead of summer, '76, Changesonebowie was the first career-spanning collection of Bowie hits. Running from "Space Oddity" thru "Golden Years" with the tracks presented in (pretty much) chronological order, it sufficed as the only Bowie collection covering that period until K-tel released their Best Of Bowie collection in 1980, which provided coverage thru Scary Monsters.

I eyed this for years but never bought it. It was hard to track down on CD due to Bowie's spat with RCA. Then Ryko got the catalog and released the comprehensive Changesbowie, although I've always thought that should have been a two CD set - he certainly had enough material for it.

 

Never bought it. I couldn't rationalizing paying the money for one song I didn't have, "John, I'm Only Dancing". Never was much of a pure completist. It's a decent enough song, but not great. I could always live without it. Good record, though.

 

Surprised this one didn't spark more conversation, given its status as his only comprehensive hits package for quite a few years.

 

Perhaps because it was comprehensively covered here quite recently?

"ChangesOneBowie" random vinyl due in May

 

It's grrreat!

 

Blackstar is fairly strongly my #1 favorite Bowie album of all, bar none. Easily my favorite album of 2016, and one of the very best albums (of any genre) out of the last 10-15 years. I'd bought it on CD on release day (that Friday), and must have spun in at least 8-10 times over the weekend, before the news on Monday ("Where the **** did Monday go?" indeed). Coupled with the original Maria Schneider version of "Sue...", and the true-demo of "Tis a Pity...), and the three new Blackstar-related Bowie recordings from the Lazarus soundtrack -- this is my ultimate Bowie, and his magnum opus.

If Bowie had been 30-40 years younger (and not his final artistic statement), I would call it/this/him the new Radiohead (in terms of potential, future cultural impact).

 

Looks like the next record we didn't cover in the main thread was 1978's Stage.

Bowie was at something of a commercial low ebb at this point and the album didn't sell anywhere near as well as David Live. But it's widely regarded as the superior of the two. I've never owned a copy of it, and in fact I don't think I've ever heard a bit of it. How does this one rank compared to, say, his studio albums?

 

I like the versions of then recent songs on Stage a great deal, but not the "oldies". Can't recall exactly why, something with the arrangements.

 

Stage was my introduction to Bowie, ironically. I loved it as a teenager. I remember being shocked when I then heard the original versions of the songs, particularly of the Low and Ziggy material, which I felt were inferior to the 1978 versions. Now I'm not that impressed. Everyone seemed to say it was a huge missed opportunity and only Breaking Glass really scores in my opinion. And even the 2005 remix, which I so wanted to like and so wanted to live up to the album's original promise, did little for me. Too much technical fastidiousness on Mr Visconti's part in the recording? I guess even a Master like Tony Visconti can't get it right every time....

 

I like this band/record a lot more than the David Live band/record. I have no problem with the arrangements of the Ziggy songs, being not so fresh, they needed a change. I think it's a pretty darn good record, but like most any live record, you had to be there.

And yes, "Breaking Glass" kicks.

 

Not a chart statistics buff here, but I have a gut feeling it sold way better than David Live in Europe. Would be logical since 76 was his first European tour and the trilogy did quite alright.

Original mix was way too polished and audience hardly audible. Thought they could get away with it, but fans had the Glasgow or Stockholm boots. Reissues restored that a bit plus the original setlist order.
Still even with the crappy artwork and all and even though it is a bit of an over-polished car no DB collection qualifies without it. The Ziggy section I believe sounds so much more enjoyable than the helium vocal originals. So play some of Nacho's 78 videos and go get the dvd version.

 

I often hear about the crappy artwork on this record. I quite like the front cover photo.
They could've found something different for the back would be my only quibble.

 

It didn't do as well on the charts as David Live, in either the US or the UK. I'd be surprised if it outsold David Live pretty much anywhere.

 

Dutch album charts:
David Live #weeks: 1 and peak pos at #89
Stage #weeks: 13 and peak pos at #2

 

Congratulations! You found a place where it did better!

 

Have some for sale, you Jokerman. They're in demand, mind you Yellow or blue vinyl ?

 

Regarding the cover, I was forever trying to find more photos of him in that jacket on the 1978 tour. It wasn't part of the 'regular' costumes for the tour I believe - he usually wore the long plastic mac with the baggy leather pants I think for the first half, or the flappy collared shirts. It may even have been the same bomber jacket he was wearing a lot in 1977 when he has hanging out witb Iggy a lot. Does anyone have any photos?

 

I saw David at Bingley Hall, Stafford so David Live was a nice souvenir of that tour. I was disappointed that the song sequence was all messed up (later corrected) so I made a cassette with a more accurate set-list. However I hardly played the album then and I haven't spun it for decades. I'm not mad on the arrangements and it's all sort of going through the motions. Bowie needs to be seen really and it's a real shame that there isn't a high quality pro-shot DVD on the market.

 

"Widely regarded"? I am sure you can find some who prefer it but not universally. Personally I like David Live much better; Stage lacks energy though it is polished; David Live is a really interesting document and has lots of tension, also some great work from Mike Garson, who is not in the Stage band.

Tim

 

I agree with this. Sides 3 and 4 (Low and Heroes tracks) are the best.

Tim