NEW David Bowie album: Blackstar (January 8, 2016)

I am saddened. That release is a disgusting price and is again a blatant cash grab!

 

At $44.99 Euro that white record is more expensive than buying the album! Collector's gone mad!

 

My thoughts exactly, they're milking the stuff incrementally instead of putting the 4 tracks on a true Blackstar deluxe, which of course could still become a reality as well...

 

The No Plan EP is identical to the second CD of the Lazarus soundtrack, I believe.

 

I love that picture of him and I would love to hang it in his memory but I can't help but feel like we are being ripped off in a very sinister way by Parlophone here. The picture is designed to hook us all into an emotional purchase and making it 'made to order' and numbered where normally these things are just 'limited and numbered' to say 1000 makes this that little bit more accessible.... but at a price. A very, very wrong price. I have supported DB since I could hold a paper round but if this is the way forward then I am out. Just my thoughts on this release and I hope all of you buying it enjoy it very much. I have the songs on the Lazarus ST so I am good.

 

Which I already have and will do me just fine.

 

1050x700 hang him on my wall

 

Here’s the non-vinyl version, available for free streaming (but no physical fondling or ogling) in Apple Music:

 

Awesome! thank you

 

There's a thread for the No Plan EP here. You guys can whine about the horror of the lithograph price over there too if you want. I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread but Bullmoose has a colored indie exclusive listed as well.

 

And then it would match the album color, too.

 

And it IS Blackstar.

 

Y'know, when I picked up the Barnes & Noble exclusive pressing of Leonard Cohen's You Want It Darker (a stunning album) pressed on white vinyl, I wondered to myself whether I really do want it darker, that is, pressed on black vinyl.

 

Does anyone know from other pressings whether the laser etching on the vinyl B-side could have any effect on sound quality?

 

None. There's no music on that side. There are, I believe, 4 tunes on side 1. Instead of a groove being cut into side 2, it's just the etching.

 

There was quite a nice remix of I Can't Give Everything Away posted up here a couple of weeks back that's worth a listen - David Bowie - I Can't Give Everything Away (Farewell Mix) - [uncredited] . Not sure where it's from, but whoever done it obviously had access to the isolated vocal track of the song. Maybe it will show up on an upcoming Blackstar expanded edition!

 

Grammy ★ harvest

David Bowie wins 4 posthumous Grammys

I hear you say, well how important are the Grammys then, all things considered ? The article has your answer:

"Before Blackstar, Bowie had only earned one Grammy in 1985, for best short-form video for Jazzin' for Blue Jean"

Plus Maria Schneider won the jazz arrangement Grammy for Sue last year.

 

I've read rumors that Trent Reznor made it and uploaded it anonymously as a tribute to his old friend/mentor, and it sounds like he could've done it.

 

★★★★★

USA Today have updated their initial count of 4 to the correct five Grammys. Here's the official:

★ wins all five nominated GRAMMYs - David Bowie Official Blog

Duncan's proud reaction:

Duncan Jones Tweets following ★ Grammy wins - David Bowie Official Blog

And Donny's words of acceptance, thanking all of you

 

Does anyone find it odd that the band plays The Who rather than David Bowie as the music to accompany the award?

 

It took me about two seconds to decide to add this release to my "ignore list". Since Bowie died things have gone crazy - sellers ramping up prices on second hand vinyl, officially reissued different coloured vinyl with no new material, a much heralded TMWFTE OST that turned out to be incomplete and released in different parts, and having the Blacksar extra tracks being welded to the much detested Lazarus musical ost to force us to buy it (and whose very presence is burning a hole in my cd shelving and into the back of my brain), thus unwillingly contributing to it's undeserved acclaim.
£45 for a 12 inch ep is a corporate surreal horror show. Yes folks - everything you thought was true about the record industry really is! They really do treat the record buying public as cash cows (or should I say SHEEP). Well, they can all go eat s**t.

As for the Grammys, there's no way they should belatedly be giving Bowie 5 awards just for being dead. It's too late. It should have been Aretha awarding him Best Artist That Ever Lived in 1975, not making an obnoxious joke at his expense in front of millions of people.
She should have had more class.
And don't start me on about Beyonce and Adele. Both are hyped up over-emotional exhibitionists benefitting from group-think brainwashing.
There, now I'll have a bit of a lie down.

 

That is one hell of a statement. And I'm sure you meant she could have done that in 1975 and not even this sunday.

But honestly, the recording and music industry milking to the max is nothing new. The fact that Bowie Inc seems to be leading the masses is most disturbing.

 

It pis*es me off when artists get awards just coz the've died. I like Blackstar as an album, but there's no way it's 5 Grammys better than STS, Diamond Dogs or any of his 70s albums. Scary Monsters, 1.Outside and Earthling are better albums too. They're just awarding him for being dead and coz they're feeling guilty for their snobby attitude ignoring him for all those years when he was at the top of his game and showing everyone else to be 2nd class.
If they had given him the award for "Best Choreographed Expiration in Rock" it would have meant something. All he got while he was alive was an award for the Blue Jean video which was Julian Temple's. At least he got a couple of Brits while he was alive.

It just goes to show that awards mean bugger all.
I just laugh as Adele conquers the world with vacuous emptiness.
"To date, the best thing about Adele has been her personality, her continuous swearing and the fact that she was a bit on the fat side and didn’t give a **** about it."
Why I hate Adele's vapid, deathless ballads | Coffee House

Bowie Inc is really turning out to be showing the most and worst corporate greed repeatedly rehashing the same material in different packaging. I am a bit ashamed, and although Bowie did play his part in that leading up to his death it seems to have gone crazy over the last year. Even I have stopped buying most Bowie reconfigurations. Give me the full Last Panthers mix of Blackstar on vinyl and I'll go for it though.

 

Quite right, them Grammy folks are trying to buy off their burden of shame for ignoring masterpieces.

Yes BowieInc are in lazy fill the shelves mode. Even Visconti must be frustrated 'bout the time they take to release his mixes. Hope they dump Parlophone and find a label with dedication, creativity, high audio standards and guts.