Here’s one for the “More To Own” section. Back in March EMI announced plans to try and squeeze a new revenue stream out of David Bowie’s back catalogue. Repackaged compilations of the Beatles and Queen have accounted for a major chunk of their recent recorded music sales, so the idea is to give the same treatment to artists like Bowie and Pink Floyd.
I don’t know about you, but as a fan who is ready and willing to collect Bowie CDs and merchandise, this news item made me sigh. Hasn’t there been a steady flow of Bowie reissues and compilations over the past few years? Does the world really need these same old songs in shiny new packaging? The Times Online reported that the plan’s architect, EMI Music Catalogue’s Executive VP Stephen Alexander, even expected Bowie to be reluctant of the scheme, saying “I’m told that he is not always easy to persuade, but we’ll try to see if we can work up serious plans that have credibility. We don’t know for certain where it will go, and maybe I’m being naive, but hopefully it will work.”
So it looks like the first release is going to be the Santa Monica ‘72 show, due out on June 30th. BowieNet’s press release states that “over the last 36 years this historic recording has only been occasionally available as a bootleg.” That depends upon who you ask. In 1994 it was released by the Golden Years label in the UK and then the following year in the US by Griffin Music. Bowie’s former management company, MainMain, was behind these “semi-legal” releases, so there you go. They certainly don’t have the commensurate bootleg computer-printer graphics. Bassman lists them as albums, so I’m calling them albums.
All catty arguments aside, it’s a great performance. Bowie has said:
“I can tell that I’m totally into being Ziggy by this stage of our touring. It’s no longer an act; I am him. This would be around the tenth American show for us and you can hear that we are all pretty high on ourselves. We train wreck a couple of things, I miss some words and sometimes you wouldn’t know that pianist Mike Garson was onstage with us but overall I really treasure this bootleg. Mick Ronson is at his blistering best.”
Posted in More To Own, News, Opinions | 1 Comment »Close your eyes and imagine a world where David Bowie turned down the role of Jareth in Labyrinth. Millions of little girls won’t have their eyes opened to the wonderful world of the male area by Bowie’s tights. Millions of little boys won’t look down at themselves and think, “Am I going to look like that in tight pants when I grow up?” Even more little boys won’t discover that girls aren’t that hot anyway, they’d much rather have what is dancing around onscreen. Labyrinth fanfic sites will never come into being and make gutter-minded Bowie fans blush, giggle, and pick up their jaws off the ground. Global warming will have come and gone and the world will be covered in gigantic glaciers, sleeping through an ice age. Well, that is apparently the world that Graeme Thompson from The Observer wants for us all to live in - a world where Bowie never donned the Jareth tights and hair extensions. Maybe it was a diversion from Bowie’s previous stage personas, but Mr. Thompson does not take into consideration that Bowie was absolutely perfect for the movie and the movie perfect for him. Without him, the movie would have gone the way of Gigli. Mr. Thompson I hope you never obtain a Time Machine. You will make the world a colder, darker, more boring place.
Posted in Opinions | No Comments »Apparently Neil Gaiman and your humble CrackedActor webmasters weren’t the only people to pick up on how much Johnny Depp sounded like Bowie in Sweeney Todd. Depp recently said that he did not draw a direct inspiration from Bowie, stating “I wouldn’t ever dream of attempting to channel David Bowie because he is one of my heroes. But if there is a similarity it wasn’t intentional. It’s a nice compliment though.” Hell, if someone told me I sounded like Bowie my response would be, “Yeah, that’s right I took some major inspiration from him. David Bowie rocks my socks and we can all thank him for most modern music.” But that’s just me.
Posted in News, Opinions | No Comments »As fan-boys and fan-girls are wont to do with a treasured book that is being adapted for the silver screen, MTV.com ran an article with their ideal cast for the eventual ‘Hobbit’ movie. For the part of Thranduil, king of the Elves of Mirkwood (Silvans to you Tolkien geeks), MTV.com would cast Bowie. On the surface it seems like an awesome choice…until you recall that Bowie is a bit campy in every movie he’s in. Except ‘The Prestige’, he did amazingly well in that movie. Not necessarily a bad thing, but the exact wrong thing for a movie adaptation of Tolkien. Anyhow. I don’t see Bowie as the type of actor who could disappear into a role like the part of Thranduil would require. This is a man who is used to projecting his facial expressions and body movements to thousands of people - it would be a complete mismatch. However, if there were talk of casting him as Cellophane in ‘Bored of the Rings‘ I would totally be on board with that.
Posted in Opinions | No Comments »Last week I read a review of Sweeney Todd in Metroactive in which the writer Richard von Busack made an interesting observation on Johnny Depp’s vocals in the first musical number of the movie. Von Busack noted that it seemed Depp had modeled his vocals after Bowie, particularly on the song ‘Please Mr. Gravedigger.’ I held off making a comment about this article on here CrackedActor until I had seen the movie and read a few interviews with Depp to learn who his influences actually were. As soon as I heard the first measure of Depp’s singing in ‘No Place Like London’ I came to the exact conclusion that Von Busack did. Johnny Depp sounded so much like Bowie in ‘Please Mr. Gravedigger’ that I squeed with fangirl delight. The day after I saw the movie I sought out some interviews with Depp to see who inspired him while recording the musical numbers. He did not list Bowie as an influence (though I could clearly hear shades of Bowie), but interestingly he did list Iggy Pop. I am interested to know if anyone else heard Bowie’s influence on Depp and his vocal style in Sweeney Todd. By the way, the movie was fantastic and I recommend it to anyone with a dark sense of humor and a stomach for cartoonish gore.
Posted in Opinions | 1 Comment »Every time I turn around there is another music-related list made. VH1 has turned into the List Network and barely shows videos anymore. Rolling Stone must release a gross of lists and slap each on their cover every year. The Herald Sun is no stranger to the trend, having just released a new list of the Top Ten Rock Legends of all time. Freddie Mercury rings in at #1 with David Bowie bringing up the rear at #10. Right smack in the middle, ahead of Bowie by five spaces, is Jon Bon Jovi. (insert David E. Kelley record-scratching sound here) Ex-squeeze me? Bon Jovi is ahead of Bowie? I beg to differ. Someone must have accidentally switched those two. That’s what I’m telling myself anyway. Yeah.
Posted in News, Opinions | No Comments »It was only a matter of time, really. With the advent of Guitar Queer-o, ahem, I mean Guitar Hero and the ability to virtually learn to play guitar riffs in popular songs, it is to be expected that David Bowie’s music would show up in a similar game. And it has. The makers of Rock Band, the new game that expands the virtual instrument-playing experience beyond the electric guitar, just released a new song pack with three Bowie songs - Moonage Daydream, Heroes, and Queen Bitch.
Kudos for the choice to include Moonage Daydream and Queen Bitch since they’re slightly less known than his hit singles, but I’m not sure how I feel about the overall idea of including Bowie’s music in a game that poorly simulates playing a musical instrument. Some may argue that it is an innovative way to expose Bowie’s music to a demographic that would not normally seek it out, but I’m ambivalent. This is not the first time that Bowie’s music has shown up in a video game. Most of the songs from “hours…” were featured in cut-scenes in Omikron: The Nomad Soul before the album was ever released. However, both Bowie and Iman had a hand in the making of that game and even lent their likenesses to in-game characters.
The Bowie song pack for Rock Band is a completely different thing. Technically, it’s not selling out since Bowie doesn’t need the money and his music has been featured in numerous commercials…but it still doesn’t sit well with me. Maybe I’m just thinking too hard about this. In any case, I think I’ll stick to learning Bowie’s music the good old-fashioned way, with my real instruments.
Posted in More To Own, News, Opinions | 2 Comments »With a voice that sounded like Dr. Frank N Furter’s eccentric great-uncle, David Bowie made his cartoon voice-acting debut to the tune of nine million viewers. The sizeable audience made Atlantis SquarePantis, SpongeBob’s first TV movie, the top-rated cable program of the evening. Bowie’s character, Lord Royal Highness (or L.R.H. to his friends) was one of the funniest cartoon characters the Webmaster and I have ever seen. Not just saying that because I’m a hopeless Bowie fangirl either. Bowie really did an excellent job with the voice of Lord Royal Highness, the red-booted, shiny-lipped King of Atlantis. Several times throughout the episode the Webmaster and I rolled on the couch in laughter like a couple of six-year-old kids. My only wish is that in the Behind the Pantis: How We Made Atlantis SquarePantis the SpongeBob producers had included some footage of Bowie doing the voice for Lord Royal Highness. The prancing, gesturing, and cracking up into laughter would have been a sight to behold.
Posted in Opinions | No Comments »Has anyone noticed the lack of mention on this blog of the newest Bowie box set? You have? That’s awesome. Because I’m pointedly ignoring it. I love Bowie and his music. The Webmaster loves Bowie and his music. Everyone who frequents this site loves Bowie and his music. And box sets are great for new fans who have a hard time finding singles and limited editions and such. But for the seasoned fans these box sets are the musical equivalent of school cafeteria Meat Pie Surprise - yesterday’s leftovers repackaged and sold the next day. Dammit, enough with the box sets. He’s richer than friggin’ Croesus already. He doesn’t need to release any more box sets unless he’s using them to finance a brilliant new album that sheep-like critics will pan and his fans will love. So how ’bout it? Let’s have some new stuff!!
Oh yeah, and happy Halloween! Be safe out there, Bowie Boys and Bowie Girls.
Posted in Opinions | 4 Comments »I always love to read other people’s stories on how Bowie has influenced or changed their lives. What I love even more is to read how Bowie fans have spread their love of Bowie and made an impression on someone else’s life. Carrie Stetler of The Star-Ledger recently wrote a great opinion piece about playing Bowie’s music for her kids while on a road trip. It’s fascinating how one can listen to a song one has listened to a hundred times and hear it as if through a new pair of ears. After almost ten years of being a Bowie fan, these types of moments are few and far between for me but I am always excited when I notice something in a Bowie song that I’ve never noticed before. Oh by the way, check out the caption on the picture that accompanies Stetler’s article.
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