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"...Subterraneans...Shine Bright..."
Having reviewed and loved
Box Sets 1 and 2 in this ongoing series covering his entire output - like most
diehard David Bowie fans I'd pre-ordered Box 3 with more than a degree of
finger-licking excitement. And in recognition of my contributions to Dublin,
London, Margate and humanity in general – Parlophone had kindly arranged to
have it especially released the day after my birthday - Friday, 29 September
2017 (swear to God).
It arrived, I cracked
"A New Career..." open, enjoyed "Low" (way better than I
remember) and then I get to "Heroes" and the proverbial contaminant
hit the fan. At a hundred quid - I couldn't believe what I was hearing -
volumes up and volumes down in an obvious mastering glitch not mentioned
anywhere in the liner notes. Then like so many others affected by his horrible
loss - a certain disgust and anger crept in. Truthfully Box No. 3 sat on my
desk unloved and un-reviewed for two weeks - and then unable to bear looking at
what I perceived to be a sloppy and exploitive little bugger anymore - I
finally sent it back for a refund.
Months passed - Brexit
lingered - builders drank strong tea with three sugars - and then Amazon did
one of those surprise culls of stock. Suddenly Box No. 3 was dropped in price
to sixty-five quid (bloated racks no doubt from all the enraged reviews and
returns). So I thought maybe they've rectified the mastering problem in abject
shame - and even if they haven't - I'd live with the glitch on his most beloved
song "Heroes" and dig the rest anew.
Well here we are in March
2018 – and we’re still left with what was issued. But now on re-examination and
totally digging the fabulous new Ray Staff/Tony Visconti audio throughout - my
real problem is not "Heroes" at all - but the dog that is
"Lodger" which we're laughably given here in two useless dollops
masquerading as 'Bonus' material. Even the catalogue padding that has always
been "Stage" sounds better (Visconti’s very clever re-sequencing of
it as a 2017 Version is a revelation – way better than I expected as I’m sure
many fans are discovering). So before I get a hernia and lose even more hair in
my delicate medical and mental state - let's get to the 'Vorsprung Durch
Technik's - if you know what I'm saying...
UK released Friday, 29
September 2017 - "A New Career In A New Town [1977 - 1982]" by DAVID
BOWIE on Parlophone DBX 3 - 0190295843014 (Barcode 0190295843014) is an 11-Disc
Box Set (4 Studio Albums, 2 Live Double-Albums, 1 EP, 1 Remixed Album and 1
Compilation) with a Hardback Book that plays out as follows:
Disc 1 "Low"
(39:03 minutes):
1. Speed Of Life [Side 1]
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
8. Warszawa [Side 2]
9. Art Decade
10. Weeping Wall
11. Subterranean
Tracks 1 to 11 are his 11th
studio album "Low" - released January 1977 in the UK on RCA PL 12030
and in the USA on RCA CPL1-2030. Produced by DAVID BOWIE and TONY VISCONTI - it
peaked at No. 2 in the UK and No. 11 in the USA.
Disc 2 "Heroes"
(40:44 minutes):
1. Beauty And The Beast
2. Joe The Lion
3. Heroes
4. Sons Of The Silent Age
5. Blackout
6. V2 Schneider [Side 2]
7. Sense Of Doubt
8. Moss Garden
9. Neukoln
10. The Secret Life Of
Arabia
Tracks 1 to 10 are his 12th
studio album "Heroes" - released October 1977 in the UK on RCA PL
12522 and in the USA on RCA AFL1-2522. Produced by DAVID BOWIE and TONY
VISCONTI - it peaked at No. 3 in the UK and No. 35 in the USA.
Disc 3 "Heroes
E.P." (19:25 minutes):
1. Heroes/Helden (German
Album Version)
2. Helden (German Single
Version)
3. Heroes/Heros (French
Album Version)
4. Heros (French Single
Version)
First of four exclusive to
this CD set
Disc 4 "Stage"
(Double-Live Set):
CD1 (34:09 minutes)
1. Hang On To Yourself [Side
1]
2. Ziggy Stardust
3. Five Years
4. Soul Love
5. Star
6. Station To Station [Side
2]
7. Fame
8. TVC 15
CD2 (39:32 minutes)
1. Warszawa [Side 3]
2. Speed Of Life
3. Art Decade
4. Sense Of Doubt
5. Breaking Glass
6. Heroes [Side 4]
7. What In The World
8. Blackout
9. Beauty And The Beast
CD1 and CD2 is the original
mix of the live album "Stage" - released September 1978 in the UK on
RCA PL 02913 and in the USA on RCA CPL2-2913 as 2LP sets. Produced by TONY
VISCONTI - it peaked at No. 5 and No. 44 in the UK and USA
Disc 5 "Stage
(2017)"
CD1 (49:16 minutes):
1. Warszawa
2. "Heroes"
3. What In The World
4. Be My Wife
5. The Jean Genie
6. Blackout
7. Sense Of Doubt
8. Speed Of Life
9. Breaking Glass
10. Beauty And The Beast
11. Fame
CD2 (47:51 minutes):
1. Five Years
2. Soul Love
3. Star
4. Hang On To Yourself
5. Ziggy Stardust
6. Suffragette City
7. Art Decade
8. Alabama Song
9. Station To Station
10. Stay
11. TVC 15
Exclusive to this set
Disc 6 "Lodger"
(34:58 minutes):
1. Fantastic Voyage [Side 1]
2. African Night (Flight)
3. Move On
4. Yassassin
5. Red Sails
6. D.J. [Side 2]
7. Look Back In Anger
8. Boys Keep Swinging
9. Repetition
10. Red Money
Tracks 1 to 10 are his 13th
studio album "Lodger" - released May 1979 in the UK on RCA PL 13254
and in the USA on RCA APL1-3254. Produced by DAVID BOWIE and TONY VISCONTI - it
peaked at No. 4 and No. 20 in the UK and USA.
Disc 7 "Lodger (2017
Tony Visconti Mix)" (35:05 minutes):
As per Disc 6 - Disc 7 is
exclusive to this set
Disc 8 "Scary Monsters
(And Super Creeps)" (45:48 minutes)
1. It's No Game (No. 1)
[Side 1]
2. Up The Hill Backwards
3. Scary Monsters (And Super
Creeps)
4. Ashes To Ashes
5. Fashion
6. Teenage Wildlife [Side 2]
7. Scream Like A Baby
8. Kingdom Come
9. Because You're Young
10. It's No Game (No. 2)
Tracks 1 to 10 are his 14th
studio album "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)" - released September
1980 in the UK on RCA BOWLP 2 (PL 13647) and in the USA on RCA AQL1-3647.
Produced by DAVID BOWIE and TONY VISCONTI - it peaked at No. 1 in the UK and
No. 12 in the USA
Disc 9 "Re:Call 3"
(67:38 minutes):
1. "Heroes"
(Single Version)
2. Beauty And The Beast
(Extended Version)
3. Breaking Glass
(Australian Single Version)
4. Yassassin (Single
Version)
5. D.J. (Single Version)
6. Alabama Song
7. Space Oddity (1979
Version)
8. Ashes To Ashes (Single
Version)
9. Fashion (Single Version)
10. Scary Monsters (And
Super Creeps) (Single Version)
11. Crystal Japan
12. Under Pressure (Single
Version) - QUEEN and DAVID BOWIE
Bertolt Brecht's BAAL:
13. Baal's Hymn
14. Remembering Marie A.
15. Ballad Of The
Adventurers
16. The Drowned Girl
17. The Dirty Song
18. Cat People (Putting Out
Fire) (Soundtrack Album Version)
19. Peace On Earth/Little
Drummer Boy (Mono) - DAVID BOWIE and BING CROSBY
Exclusive compilation to
this Box Set
Like Box 1 and 2 - the
hardback book of 150+ pages for Box 3 is a thing of beauty and something fans
will lap up. Again each album is discussed and pictured in release date order
with rare posters, unused artwork, single picture sleeves, release info and
track-by-track info distributed amidst the text. Bud Scoppa's article on
"Low" is here, Matt Damsker's April 1978 review of Bowie's return to
the live setting with his concerts at the Spectrum Stadium in Philadelphia in
front of 18,000 adoring fans (used for the "Stage" double) - but more
important to real Bowie lovers are Tony Visconti's first hand accounts of
recording iconic sets like "Heroes" and "Scary Monsters..."
as well as his mission to remix "Lodger" which he's made fractionally
longer. The oversized Mini LP replica sleeves are sweet – the stickered
track-list on the back of "Low" with the Fan-Club invite too – the
Euro-Sleeve for the German and French language versions of "Heroes" -
inners and inserts for "Stage", "Lodger", "Scary
Monsters..." and a pensive Bowie in the Studio on the cover of the new
"Re:Call 3..." compilation (itself with an inner sleeve). Very tasty.
But for me what is most thrilling
is the RAY STAFF and TONY VISCONTI Remasters - I had the 1999 versions of
"Low" and "Heroes" and these new cuties are 'huge' in
comparison. The rhythm sections on each CD are in your face and not amped for
the sake of it. Yet when I look at the huge number of names and contributors
thanked on the last pages - that mastering mistake on "Heroes" seems
all the more inexplicable. Still, there is the music...
I can recall feeling that a
year after the high of 1976's soulful "Station To Station" - the new
jagged-sounding 1977 Bowie (watching walls in Berlin with his pals Brian Eno,
producer Tony Visconti, guitarist Carlos Alomar and occasional drop-in vocalist
Iggy Pop) - was a disappointment. I've always thought the instrumental
"Speed Of Life" a waste of space – but improvement wasn’t far away
with "Breaking Glass", "What In The World" and the funky
"Sound And Vision" – an obvious single and rightly deserved hit. But
my poison here is the fabulous "Always Crashing In The Same Car" - a
very human song wrapped around typically innovative Bowie sounds that somehow
worked for it and not against. The audio here is superb - huge bass from George
Murray.
The second single from the
album "Be My Wife" features piano runs from Roy Young that are
suddenly audio-new. The album’s other winner is the Box Set's chosen title -
"A New Career In A New Town" - Ricky Gardiner joining Alomar on
guitar whilst Eno plays all keyboards and synths. Bowie plays everything on
"Weeping Wall" and here the Audio is spectacular - almost a goof-off
of a tune - like Todd Rundgren on a Prog "Initiation" tip - I love
it. But that is merely a prologue to the album's masterpiece
"Subterraneans" - and again Murray's bass is in your face for all the
right reasons as are Bowie's 'ah' voices swirling around the speakers before he
goes into that Soulful Sax solo (I never did find out who 'Peter and Paul' on
Piano and A&P are?). "Low" divides people (I know some who can’t
abide it) - but this Ray Staff/Tony Visconti Remaster is the very best I've
ever heard the album – nice one.
As Bowie goes into his ooh
intro to "Beauty And The Beast" – the Remaster is fantastic – can’t
say no to this one. But half way through the six-minute album version of
"Heroes" – there’s a sudden surge in sound then a dropdown in volume
that ruins an otherwise improved track. It’s maddening because those background
guitars and noises are more to the fore and in all the right ways. The shame
was on the other side indeed. At least "V-2 Schneider" kicks, as do
the doomy piano chords that open "Sense Of Doubt". There’s a
pronounced serenity to those plucked notes in "Moss Garden" where our
David goes all Osaka on our Berliner butts (always loved this dreamy soundscape
of a tune). Sand in my eyes for "The Secret Life Of Arabia" – a
forgotten chugger (could have been a single) on an album dominated by its epic
title tune. Speaking of which – the 4-track 2-languages "Heroes E.P."
feels like a bit of a Box Set faff – single and album tracks that could easily
have been tagged onto the UK LP proper and the box’s price dropped. In fact as
you play the German version – you’re left wondering when the foreign language
is going to kick in (2:15 roughly).
Keyboard whizz-kid Roger
Powell of Todd Rundgren’s UTOPIA joined up with guitarists Carlos Alomar,
Adrian Belew and Violinist Simon House as part of Bowie’s house band for the
"Stage" double live. I have to say that I’ve mixed feelings towards
this perennial rack-filler (always the first to be sold when a punter is stuck
for a few bob). Even though the recordings and band are tight – the hugeness of
the venue is obvious in the vibe and I’ve always thought it did for the
recordings. The echoed-vocals on "Five Years" try to lift the song
while "Star" just feels ever so slightly yesterday for David Bowie.
Side 2 starts to feel better with a trio of tracks he actually wanted to play –
the huge train synths of "Station To Station" eliciting wolf whistles
(amazing guitar work from the boys). But its the in-keeping with the times
Funk-Rock of "Fame" and "TVC 15" that suddenly elevate
proceedings (loose and hard to swallow). But it’s not until you get to
Visconti’s new sequencing of the double that you begin to understand. He
includes more and starts with tracks from "Heroes" rather than
earlier crowd-pleasers. Following "Station To Station" with
"Stay" and putting the winner of "Fame" at the end of Disc
1 is a very smart play. And the inclusion of "Alabam Song" works
better too.
I can remember Bowie's light
and rep dipping with "Lodger" - an album that mostly annoyed people
instead of thrilling. Tony Visconti clearly feels that this much-maligned album
deserves reappraisal as his 2017 versions of "Fantastic Voyage" and
"D.J." are filled with new oomph. They sound huge all of a sudden
(massive rhythm sections) - his mix of "Boys Keep Swinging" being
better too. The inner gatefold of the new version foregoes the strange collage
of photos that greeted fans on the 1979 original - instead we get a slight
outtake of the crooked-nose shot and the white-insert of the original LP
becomes black for the new 2017 version. But tracks like "African Night
Flight" and the mock Buddy Holly of "Move On" feel like they're
still testing my patience. I still can't quite say whether "Yassassin"
(Turkish for "Long live" apparently) and the finisher "Red
Money" are dead rhythms or genius ahead of its time.
"Scary
Monsters..." and the awesome video to "Ashes To Ashes" made him
a star all over again - revisiting Major Tom also putting him back at the top
of both the singles and LP charts. Between it, "Under Pressure" and
the economic single edits on "Re:Call 3" all of which feel punchier
for their brevity - it's enough to replenish your faith in his greatness. And
Mono or not - but that duet with a crooner (Bing Crosby for Gawd's sake) has to
be one of the best and most unlikely hits imaginable. But then we're talking
about David Bowie.
Typical of corporate greed -
the price has returned to its former rip-off status just to ranker us once more.
But at least I'm coming around to owning it - mistakes and all. I just wish
that someone would actually do the original Space Kid the solid he so obviously
deserves and fix this. And maybe even release the "Re:Call" sets from all 3 as
stand-alone compilations.
"Art Decade" he
sang on "Low" 41 years ago - busy inventing Art Rock and everything
else musically chameleon as he went along. Will we ever see his extraordinary
like again. RIP you genius...
