Not much to tell really, just another update to follow the progress of the upcoming War Child “Heroes” album that we’ve written about three times since we heard of it. The new release day is February 16, 2009. A tracklisting will be coming shortly. Too bad it won’t make it out for Valentine’s Day – it would be a fitting gesture of love to buy a gift for your significant other that supports a worthy cause.
Posted in More To Own, News | Comments Off on War Child Album Update!This week Criterion finally released it’s first set of blu-ray discs, which included The Man Who Fell To Earth. The L.A. Times has given it a good review, commenting that the special features including a commentary, interviews, and documentary make it worth the money. And assuming that it is the uncensored version, it would also feature full frontal nudity from David Bowie in hi-def. (How’s that for some remarks you won’t read on BowieNet?) Anyway, since the Webmaster and I don’t own a blu-ray player and probably won’t for some time, anyone who owns this new version is free to share their thoughts in the comments section.
Posted in More To Own | 1 Comment »Christie’s auction house in New York City will be holding it’s first auction of punk rock memorabilia this year. Memorabilia of David Bowie, the Sex Pistols, and the Clash will be among the items that are up for auction on November 24, 2008. Simon Lipman of Christie’s commented in an Associated Press interview that, “Ten years ago, punk memorabilia probably wouldn’t be something we’d be auctioning here. But now, people of a certain age have a certain ability to splurge on this material.” For more info read the official press release.
Posted in More To Own, News | 1 Comment »Update #3: It is official. The War Child album to which David Bowie is contributing his song “Heroes” to be covered by TV On The Radio will be postponed until 2009 due to more artists showing interest. Maybe we’ll get a double disc? *hopes*
Posted in More To Own, News | Comments Off on More War Child Album UpdatesUpdate #1: In my previous post about the upcoming War Child album “Heroes”, I reported that the song David Bowie was contributing had not been released yet. The official word from BowieNet is that the song will be….wait for it….don’t want to ruin the surprise….”Heroes“! I know, right? Knock me over with a feather. You will actually be pleasantly surprised to learn that TV On The Radio will be covering “Heroes”. They rock, everything they do is good.
Update #2: I hear tell that the War Child album will be delayed. I’m qualifying this as a rumor since there is no official word.
[edit]Since the delay has been confirmed I am removing this article from the Rumors, Lies, Stories They Made Up category.
Posted in More To Own, News | Comments Off on War Child Album UpdatesI know we bitch a lot on this site about the seemingly never-ending stream of David Bowie covers…either that or we ignore them like the latest Cat Power cover. However, the newest cover will be featured on the album Heroes being released on November 24 by the charity War Child. So I don’t even have the urge to bitch about it since it is for a good cause. The concept of the album is that music legends such as David Bowie, Paul McCartney, and The Clash will choose younger artists to cover one of their signature songs. No word yet as to what Bowie song will be included, but one of the songs will be Joy Division’s “Transmission” covered by Hot Chip. That makes me squee with delight – I love that song! I can’t wait to find out what the Bowie song will be and who he will choose to cover it.
Posted in More To Own, News | Comments Off on Another David Bowie Cover, But This Time For A Good Cause
“Life Beyond Mars: Bowie Covered” is the newest addition to the family of Bowie cover albums. In the spirit of themed David Bowie cover albums like “Goth Oddity“, this one is comprised of electronica covers. Truth be told, I’m not much of an electronica fan in general (though I do like the occasional electronic band) but there are a few fun covers on this album. The covers of “Loving The Alien“, “Sound + Vision“, “A New Career In A New Town“, and “Life On Mars” are quite ravetastic. I’m tempted to tie a pair of glowsticks onto the end of a couple of strings and dance around the house. On the other end of the spectrum, the covers of “Oh You Pretty Things” and “Sweet Thing” will make a great soundtrack for my next nap. And the cover of “Repetition” is disturbing – something about an upbeat song about domestic abuse seems so wrong.
Of course none of the covers can hold a candle to the originals, but it’s still a fun album for the hard-core Bowie fan…you know, not every cover can be as inspired as Bauhaus’ “Ziggy Stardust” or Xiu Xiu’s “Under Pressure”. If nothing else, the title of the album alone should be enough to get Bowie fans to buy it and add it to the collection – unlike “2.Contaminated Hopes of Every Outside Fan Everywhere“, ahem, I mean “2.Contamination“.
Posted in More To Own, Opinions | Comments Off on “Life Beyond Mars” Cover Album Released
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 »…You can now fill in those days where you have to wear *gasp* non-Bowie t-shirts with a brand spankin’ new shirt. Funny t-shirt site TeesMyBody now has a new David Bowie in Space shirt. The front of the shirt shows a cartoonish illustration of Aladdin Sane floating away from his spaceship in a spacesuit. I totally WANT one!
Posted in More To Own | Comments Off on In Case You Don’t Have A Bowie Shirt For Every Day of the Year…God bless The Jim Henson Company. They’ve just released Labyrinth for download on iTunes. Boys and girls, if you’ve not already got a copy of Labyrinth then now is the time to buy it. Don’t let another night go by where you have not experienced the awesomeness of Labyrinth. Oh yeah, the Dark Crystal is also available for download. I’ve actually never seen that one. Guess it’s about time.
Posted in More To Own, Movies, News | 2 Comments »