Here it is !!

http://www.davidbowie.com/news/new-website-album-single-and-video-birthday-boy-47841

The Next Day tracklisting

Standard Version:

01. The Next Day 3:51
02. Dirty Boys 2:58
03. The Stars (Are Out Tonight) 3:56
04. Love Is Lost 3:57
05. Where Are We Now? 4:08
06. Valentine's Day 3:01
07. If You Can See Me 3:16
08. I'd Rather Be High 3:53
09. Boss Of Me 4:09
10. Dancing Out In Space 3:24
11. How Does The Grass Grow 4:33
12. (You Will) Set The World On Fire 3:30
13. You Feel So Lonely You Could Die 4:41
14. Heat 4:25

Total (Approximately) 53:14  




Really Good News  :nomames :wow :nooslajaleisk :loloncemore :aimama :forfucksake :smilebrian

Wonderful news! The great surprise of this morning. The return, after 10 years. In his B_Day the annoucement.. great artists always cant resist to stay doing nothing.. they will always get back

http://youtu.be/ZRATYEnGGN0

Bowie rocks.  :whydontcha

The Return of the Thin White Duke!

This one came from nowhere - amazed how they kept things so secret.


Brilliant news - never thought we'd ever get any new music again from him. The single doesnt really grab me on first listen to be honest, but its great to have him back.

Great news is right! he does things so differently, there's that pic of him blacked out, wonder what that's about? it's been 10 years since he's done anything, the return of The thin White Duke.

I don't like the song or the video.

I'm SURPRISED!

thought he really retired.

Glad to see David Bowie is back.

and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY 2 YA.

I drew some attention when I read about Bowie's return on the train to work this morning. Very, very happy.

Great article towards how Bowie did much of this without any fanfare.....Thanks Mobbs!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/9787215/David-Bowies-Where-Are-We-Now-first-review.html

By Neil McCormick9:58AM GMT 08 Jan 2013113 Comments
Lush, stately, beautifully strange, weaving resonant piano chords, decaying synths and echoing drums around a simple chord progression and a weary, tenderly understated, quietly defiant vocal, David Bowie’s elegiac new single may be the most surprising, perfect and welcome comeback in rock history.
Last year, when he was spotted carrying a packed lunch in flat cap, faded jeans and sweatshirt, the Daily Telegraph was reporting that Bowie had slipped into a quiet, comfortable retirement with his wife, Iman, and daughter, Alexandria, in New York. Even those who work closest with him in his UK office claimed to be surprised by his sudden reappearance. He regularly turns down all offers of work, rebuffing requests to headline the Olympic opening ceremony and denying reports that he was involved in curating an upcoming Bowie exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum. All the while, it turns out he has been working away in the studio with producer (and New York neighbour) Tony Visconti, collaborator on 12 of Bowie’s classic albums, including The Man Who Sold The World, Scary Monsters and the Berlin triptych of Low, Heroes and The Lodger.

It is to the slightly wonky retro-futuristic ambience of late 70s / early 80s rock electronica that Where Are We Now returns, evoking memories of Berlin not only in the mix of thick synth sound and dramatically poised vocal presence, but also in a lyric about “walking the dead” through the German city’s streets. Bowie describes himself as “a man lost in time” and the song resonates with qualities of melancholic memory, dripping with a sense of time and place and highly personal nostalgia, before building around rolling drums and swimming synths to a hopeful, if ambiguous, conclusion, in which Bowie sings “as long as there’s me, as long as there’s you.” It’s not a big, dramatic comeback and all the better for it. Rather it is a small, perfectly formed, poetic song, that doesn’t quite yield its mysteries and leaves you longing for more.

happy birthday mr jones!

Fantastic news!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A Tour would be amazing as it's a huge reget of mine never to have seen him live.

Happy Birthday David.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a73/LadyJane1/david-bowie_zpse162eb39.jpg

Happy Birthday, David !

http://www.youtube.com/embed/m5zxeLwUSdk?rel=0

Nellcote wrote on Jan 8^th, 2013 at 8:57am:

Great article towards how Bowie did much of this without any fanfare.....Thanks Mobbs! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/9787215/David-Bowies-Where-Are-We-Now-first-review.html By Neil McCormick9:58AM GMT 08 Jan 2013113 Comments Lush, stately, beautifully strange, weaving resonant piano chords, decaying synths and echoing drums around a simple chord progression and a weary, tenderly understated, quietly defiant vocal, David Bowie’s elegiac new single may be the most surprising, perfect and welcome comeback in rock history. Last year, when he was spotted carrying a packed lunch in flat cap, faded jeans and sweatshirt, the Daily Telegraph was reporting that Bowie had slipped into a quiet, comfortable retirement with his wife, Iman, and daughter, Alexandria, in New York. Even those who work closest with him in his UK office claimed to be surprised by his sudden reappearance. He regularly turns down all offers of work, rebuffing requests to headline the Olympic opening ceremony and denying reports that he was involved in curating an upcoming Bowie exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum. All the while, it turns out he has been working away in the studio with producer (and New York neighbour) Tony Visconti, collaborator on 12 of Bowie’s classic albums, including The Man Who Sold The World, Scary Monsters and the Berlin triptych of Low, Heroes and The Lodger. It is to the slightly wonky retro-futuristic ambience of late 70s / early 80s rock electronica that Where Are We Now returns, evoking memories of Berlin not only in the mix of thick synth sound and dramatically poised vocal presence, but also in a lyric about “walking the dead” through the German city’s streets. Bowie describes himself as “a man lost in time” and the song resonates with qualities of melancholic memory, dripping with a sense of time and place and highly personal nostalgia, before building around rolling drums and swimming synths to a hopeful, if ambiguous, conclusion, in which Bowie sings “as long as there’s me, as long as there’s you.” It’s not a big, dramatic comeback and all the better for it. Rather it is a small, perfectly formed, poetic song, that doesn’t quite yield its mysteries and leaves you longing for more.

FWIW :
Here are the original stories from October they were referring to - guess I missed these at the time as they came out pretty much the same day as the Stones premiered Crossfire Hurricane and announced the anniversary shows :

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopmusic/9620242/David-Bowie-relaxes-into-his-golden-years.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/9616778/David-Bowie-singers-pale-appearance-reignites-health-fears.html

What a pleasant surprize!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy 66th Birthday David! a tour would be fantastic as Lady Jane mentioned, glad to see him back, he's got to much talent to waste it, by the way, I just heard on T.V. on the news his new single is #1 on i Tunes.

Young Ronald git-ahh-ing on Dave The Rave's versh of
'Growin' Up' in 1973:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htx16yR3sBs

---

Great news!  Happy Birthday David!

David Bowie Returns With First New Music in 10 Years
Singer celebrates 66th birthday with surprise single
http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/david-bowie-returns-with-first-new-music-in-10-years-20130108/1000x306/bowie-306v-1357653286.jpg
January 8, 2013 7:30 AM ET
David Bowie
Jimmy King

David Bowie celebrated his 66th birthday this morning with a surprise for everyone else: he broke a long musical silence with the new single "Where Are We Now?" from a forthcoming album, The Next Day, which is due in March. Recorded in New York with longtime collaborator Tony Visconti producing, the unexpected album is Bowie's first collection of new material since 2003.

100 Greatest Artists: David Bowie

The Next Day, Bowie's 30th studio recording, follows 46 years after his self-titled 1967 debut. It's the latest chapter in an iconic career that has veered from the glam of Ziggy Stardust to a stylized Eighties pop sound to the wide-ranging musical sensibilities of albums like Heathen in 2002 and Reality in 2003. Bowie has also produced landmark LPs by Lou Reed and Iggy Pop.

Bowie also released a video for "Where Are We Now?" Shot by Tony Oursler, the clip revisits Berlin, the site of no small measure of rock & roll decadence for Bowie in the Seventies, and watches as the singer revisits places he knew then, including an auto repair shop downstairs from his old apartment.

The Next Day is available for pre-order in standard and deluxe editions through iTunes.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/david-bowie-returns-with-first-new-music-in-10-years-20130108#ixzz2HQEXqOgC
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

WaiteringOnAFiend wrote on Jan 8^th, 2013 at 1:26pm:

Young Ronald git-ahh-ing on Dave The Rave's versh of 'Growin' Up' in 1973: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htx16yR3sBs

Is this a Bruce Springsteen song? sounds like it.

Tony Visconti On New David Bowie Material Luke Turner , January 8th, 2013 17:42
In BBC interview, producer gives a fine bill of health and promise of rockier tracks!


More great news on David Bowie, following the surprise appearance of the brilliant new track 'Where Are We Now' this morning. Tonight, the BBC has spoken with Tony Visconti, and the producer talked not only about the recording of the new material, but also given very encouraging reports about Bowie's health. "David is extremely healthy, he's rosy-cheeked, he smiles a lot," Visconti said via Skype from New York. "During the recording he was smiling, he was so happy to be back in the studio. From the old days I recall that he was the loudest singer I've ever worked with. When he starts singing I'd have to back off, and go into another room and just leave him in front of a microphone, he still has that power in that chest and in his voice. We all know he had a health scare in 2003, 2004, but he's a very healthy man I can assure you, I've been saying this for the past few years. I couldn't explain why I know that, but I worked with a very healthy and happy David Bowie in the studio."

Visconti also gave some insights into the sessions for forthcoming album The Next Day "We never spent more than two to three weeks at a time recording, then we might take off as much as two months," he said. "Usually we'd work on one or two songs in an afternoon, and whip them into shape so they'd sound like great rock tracks. At that part there won't be any final vocals, there won't be lyrics. That's the way I've been working with him since The Man Who Sold The World, he hasn't really changed in his approach."

Intriguingly, Visconti said he was as surprised as anyone else by Bowie's choice of track to make his return on his 66th birthday, and says that the album, when it arrives, is very diverse: "I think it's a very reflective track for David. He certainly is looking back on his Berlin period and it evokes this feeling… it's very melancholy, I think. It's the only track on the album that goes this much inward for him. It's quite a rock album, the rest of the songs, so I thought to myself why is David coming out with this very slow, albeit beautiful, ballad why is he doing this? He should come out with a bang. But he is a master of his own life. I think this was a very smart move, linking the past with the future, and I think the next thing you hear from him is going to be quite different.

"I've been listening to this on headphones walking through the streets of New York for the past two years, and I have not tired of a single song. I think the material on this album is extremely strong and beautiful, and if people are looking for classic Bowie they'll find it on this album, if they're looking for innovative Bowie, new directions, they're going to find that on this album too."



http://thequietus.com/articles/11067-tony-visconti-on-new-david-bowie

Heart Of Stone wrote on Jan 9^th, 2013 at 6:04am:

WaiteringOnAFiend wrote on Jan 8th, 2013 at 1:26pm: Young Ronald git-ahh-ing on Dave The Rave's versh of 'Growin' Up' in 1973: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htx16yR3sBs Is this a Bruce Springsteen song? sounds like it.

Yep...Bowie recorded it during the 'Diamond Dogs' sessions in late 1973.

Wasn't released for several years however   Never knew that Woody was on these sessions, though until now! Bill isn't credited on the record, though - which makes it a bit strange.

After a couple of shrugs of the shoulders on the first listen, I have to say I'm really warming to this new record.

GREAT TUNE..LOVE IT !

Gazza wrote on Jan 9^th, 2013 at 6:30am:

Tony Visconti On New David Bowie Material Luke Turner , January 8th, 2013 17:42 In BBC interview, producer gives a fine bill of health and promise of rockier tracks! More great news on David Bowie, following the surprise appearance of the brilliant new track 'Where Are We Now' this morning. Tonight, the BBC has spoken with Tony Visconti, and the producer talked not only about the recording of the new material, but also given very encouraging reports about Bowie's health. "David is extremely healthy, he's rosy-cheeked, he smiles a lot," Visconti said via Skype from New York. "During the recording he was smiling, he was so happy to be back in the studio. From the old days I recall that he was the loudest singer I've ever worked with. When he starts singing I'd have to back off, and go into another room and just leave him in front of a microphone, he still has that power in that chest and in his voice. We all know he had a health scare in 2003, 2004, but he's a very healthy man I can assure you, I've been saying this for the past few years. I couldn't explain why I know that, but I worked with a very healthy and happy David Bowie in the studio." Visconti also gave some insights into the sessions for forthcoming album The Next Day "We never spent more than two to three weeks at a time recording, then we might take off as much as two months," he said. "Usually we'd work on one or two songs in an afternoon, and whip them into shape so they'd sound like great rock tracks. At that part there won't be any final vocals, there won't be lyrics. That's the way I've been working with him since The Man Who Sold The World, he hasn't really changed in his approach." Intriguingly, Visconti said he was as surprised as anyone else by Bowie's choice of track to make his return on his 66th birthday, and says that the album, when it arrives, is very diverse: "I think it's a very reflective track for David. He certainly is looking back on his Berlin period and it evokes this feeling… it's very melancholy, I think. It's the only track on the album that goes this much inward for him. It's quite a rock album, the rest of the songs, so I thought to myself why is David coming out with this very slow, albeit beautiful, ballad why is he doing this? He should come out with a bang. But he is a master of his own life. I think this was a very smart move, linking the past with the future, and I think the next thing you hear from him is going to be quite different. "I've been listening to this on headphones walking through the streets of New York for the past two years, and I have not tired of a single song. I think the material on this album is extremely strong and beautiful, and if people are looking for classic Bowie they'll find it on this album, if they're looking for innovative Bowie, new directions, they're going to find that on this album too." http://thequietus.com/articles/11067-tony-visconti-on-new-david-bowie

Thanks Gazza, what a great article, him & Tony Visconti go back as far as '69, when they did a show at the Roundhouse as the Hype, Tony played Bass in the band, long before Bowie's success.

David Bowie Worked in Secret on Comeback LP For Two Years
Producer says 'The Next Day' is 'quite a rock album'
http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/david-bowie-worked-in-secret-on-comeback-lp-for-two-years-20130109/1000x306/20130109-bowie-next-day-306x306-1357748634.jpg      
By Andy Greene
January 9, 2013 11:45 AM ET
David Bowie, 'The Next Day'
David Bowie, 'The Next Day'
ISO Records

David Bowie shocked the world yesterday by releasing the mournful single "Where Are We Now?" and announcing that a new album called The Next Day – his first LP in a decade – would hit stores in March. Bowie has yet to talk publicly about his comeback, but his longtime producer Tony Visconti told the BBC that they'd been working in secret on the disc for two years.

"I've been listening to this on headphones, walking through the streets of New York, for the past two years," Visconti said. "I have not tired of a single song. I think the material on this album is extremely strong and beautiful. If people are looking for classic Bowie, they'll find that on this album. If they're looking for innovative Bowie, some new directions, they'll find that on this album too."

David Bowie Returns With First New Music in 10 Years

Visconti was surprised that Bowie selected the downcast "Where Are We Now?" as the leadoff single. "It's a very reflective track for David," he says. "Maybe the only track on the album that goes this much inward for him. It's quite a rock album, the rest of the songs, so I thought to myself: 'Why is David coming out with this very slow, albeit beautiful ballad? Why is he doing this? He could come out with a bang.' I think the next thing you hear from him is going to be quite different."

Bowie and Visconti first joined forces in 1970 on The Man Who Sold the World. They worked together on many of Bowie's most enduring albums, including Low, Heroes, Lodger and Scary Monsters. After a long break they re-teamed in the early 2000s for Heathen and Reality.  

They worked on the new album at a very slow pace. "We never spent more than two to three weeks at a time recording," Visconti said. "And then we'd take off as much as two months. We'd usually work on one or two songs in an afternoon and we'd whip them up to shape where they'd sound like great rock tracks. At that point there wouldn't be any final vocals or lyrics. This is the same way I'd been working with him since The Man Who Sold the World. He hasn't really changed in his approach."

Bowie's 2004 tour was cut short when the singer underwent emergency heart surgery for a blocked artery. Rumors spread that Bowie's long absence from the music scene was related to health problems, but Visconti says that isn't the case. "He's a very healthy man," the producer says. "I assure you. I've been saying this for the past few years. I couldn't explain how I know that, but I worked with a very healthy David Bowie in the studio and a very happy David Bowie in the studio."

The Next Day hits stores in early March. It's unclear whether or not Bowie will support the disc with a tour.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/david-bowie-worked-in-secret-on-comeback-lp-for-two-years-20130109#ixzz2HW3W5ewt
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

Steel Wheels wrote on Jan 8^th, 2013 at 6:52am:

I don't like the song or the video.

:booze  :booze  :booze  :interestingstuffronnie  :whatapostronnie  :whydontcha  :wtf3  :Youmakeagrownmancrylikejoey  :stinkypost  :scary  :tongui  :forfucksake

Gazza wrote on Jan 9^th, 2013 at 6:53am:

Heart Of Stone wrote on Jan 9th, 2013 at 6:04am: WaiteringOnAFiend wrote on Jan 8th, 2013 at 1:26pm: Young Ronald git-ahh-ing on Dave The Rave's versh of 'Growin' Up' in 1973: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htx16yR3sBs Is this a Bruce Springsteen song? sounds like it. Yep...Bowie recorded it during the 'Diamond Dogs' sessions in late 1973. Wasn't released for several years however   Never knew that Woody was on these sessions, though until now! Bill isn't credited on the record, though - which makes it a bit strange. After a couple of shrugs of the shoulders on the first listen, I have to say I'm really warming to this new record.

Sozzy, Gazza - didn't mean to cause confusications. RW was on the track, from 1973 - and I just posted the photo (from 1974, I think, at Peter Sellers' party) to illustrate the Bowie-Stains linkage.

How about this one...?

---

Yes, Ron Wood, Bill Wyman, Bowie at Peter Sellers party in '74, links here.
http://www.sfae.com/index.php?pg=303200&c=7

www.bowiewonderworld.com/tours/tourvar.htm

http://www.bowiegoldenyears.com/1975.html

Heart Of Stone wrote on Jan 9^th, 2013 at 4:42pm:

Yes, Ron Wood, Bill Wyman, Bowie at Peter Sellers party in '74, links here. http://www.sfae.com/index.php?pg=303200&c=7 www.bowiewonderworld.com/tours/tourvar.htm http://www.bowiegoldenyears.com/1975.html

peter sellers miss him alot, the silly PP still bring as much a roar as the rest

No Stones. But Bowie will be at Coachella. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Coachella-2013-Lineup/325592057549986

EXCLUSIVE: GUITARIST EARL SLICK DISCUSSES DAVID BOWIE’S NEW ALBUM

Earl Slick needs no introduction. A killer rhythm guitarist and long-time David Bowie collaborator, the 60-year-old played on John Lennon’s ‘Double Fantasy,’ has recorded with Ian Hunter and played in the post-Stray Cats group Phantom, Rocker & Slick.

In recent years, the Staten Island native toured with the New York Dolls (including the summer 2011 tour with Motley Crue) and started designing a line of hand-painted guitar straps called Slick Straps. He also regularly visits School Of Rock outposts all over the U.S., jamming and speaking with the students.

Slick is already having quite a busy 2013: He has plans to make a record with Austin guitarist Rosie Flores, and he’s in the works of setting up some of his own tour dates sometime before the end of the year—“depending on what happens with the other guy that just put a record out [Tuesday] for the first time in 10 years,” he laughs dryly.

That “other guy,” of course, is Bowie, who released a new single, ‘Where Are We Now?’ and announced a new album, ‘The Next Day,’ on his birthday, Jan. 8. Slick has played with Bowie off and on for better part of the last 40 years, both on tour (including Bowie’s last round of concerts, in the early ’00s) and on classic albums such as ‘Young Americans’ and ‘Station To Station.’ During a 45-minute interview, Slick was clearly happy to finally be talking about the new Bowie album — for which he recorded parts in summer 2012.

“I’ve had a gag on since last May,” he says. “David got in touch with me out of the blue, and he said, ‘I’m ready to go back in. What are you doing? Are you around? Are you touring?’ I said, ‘No, just get me some dates.’ We started banging dates around — and he was already recording — and I went in and did all my stuff in July. But do you have any idea how many interviews I’ve done since May, with this under my belt, which I couldn’t say anything about? It was horrible!” Slick laughs.

‘The Next Day’ also features contributions from an impressive lineup of musicians in addition to Slick, including familiar Bowie collaborators such as drummers Sterling Campbell and Zachary Alford, guitarists Gerry Leonard and David Torn, and bassist Gail Ann Dorsey. Tony Visconti, who also produced ‘The Next Day,’ contributes bass, as does Tony Levin, who’s known for his work with Peter Gabriel.

Slick gave UCR some insights into ‘The Next Day,’ talking about his contributions and how the rest of the album shaped up.

Were you surprised when Bowie called you to do some recording?

Nothing he ever does surprises me. It doesn’t surprise me when he shows up; it doesn’t surprise me when he disappears. It’s just DB.

I was really impressed by the secrecy. That’s almost unheard of, for no news to leak about something like this.

Oh, I know. And especially because I had the cover for the Christmas issue of ‘Guitar Player’ magazine. That was the hardest one — it’s a double issue and it stays on the stands longer, and they did a 14-page spread on me, and I’m thinking, “Christ, and I can’t even say anything.” Anyway, he appreciated that — and I got a nice thank you for keeping my big mouth shut.

Was the secrecy built in from the start?

Oh yeah, right from the beginning. Because he didn’t know when it was going to be done.

You did all your parts last summer. How much of the record was done when you came in?

It was weird; I’m not really sure, because he had been cutting tracks. And then I went in and I cut three from scratch with me and David and Sterling Campbell on drums, and Tony Visconti playing bass. And then he had other tracks that were already done, that were missing some guitars he needed from me, and I did those.

Do you even know what the entire album sounds like? Have you heard the entire record?

Yes, I have. I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s really, really, really good. And it’s a bit eclectic, so it’s not all like what you heard.

Tony Visconti did an interview with the BBC earlier this week, and he said that the single is very different in tone from the rest of the record.

It is. Okay, so he’s let the cat out of the bag a little bit, then — good. It’s rocking. There’s a lot of rockers on there, I can tell you that.

That’s what he said: “It’s quite a rock album, the rest of the songs.”

Yeah, it is. I mean, there’s a few kind of really cool mid-tempo ones in there as well, but I’m the go-to guy for the rock stuff with David. And that’s why I’m always there.

What was your methodology when you were adding your music? How did you motivate the performance you wanted to get? How much direction did you get?

You know, we’ve been doing this since day one, and what we’ll do is, we’ll sit down and we’ll listen to the stuff. And he’ll ask me how it hits me — how does this hit you, how does that hit you? Or he’ll go, “This one you gotta be on.” And we’ll sit down, we’ll listen to the song — well, we’ll sit in the control room with a couple of acoustic guitars and then we just bang ideas around. I’ll go, “What do you think about this?” He goes, “What do you think about that?” It’s not like taking direction as a session player would take direction, because that’s why I don’t do sessions—cause I can’t take direction. [Laughs.]

What he’s done since day one — and still continues to do — is, he knows exactly what it is that I bring to the table, and that’s what he wants. He doesn’t want me to sound like anybody but me. So we just sit there and we just hash through ideas until something hits one of us, and then we record it. It’s real casual — you know, you throw a couple cups of coffee on the table and you pick up a few guitars and we listen through some tracks. And he already knows pretty much what he wants me on, but then I’ll say, “Well, let me play you these and see if these hit you. If they do, let’s work out some parts.” It’s really casual. And that’s why it gets done quickly and efficiently, because it’s all done organically.

The music I really like tends to be the more spontaneous music — not very meticulous. There’s a time and a place for that, but it can sound so airless and stuffy.

It’s really funny, as sophisticated as some of his records sound, he’s not anal about this stuff. And neither am I, and that’s why we get along so well. I’ll do a take that’s really not perfect, but it is perfect, because it feels great. Therein lies the perfection: It lies in what it feels like and what it does to you emotionally, not the exact notes. I can play a note that’s a little bit on the outside — like, “What the hell was that?” — and then we listen back to it and we go, “Wow, that felt really good.” And we just leave it alone. Whereas some guys will sit there and they’ll try to fix a weird note. Those weird notes, to me, is what really makes it happen. Of course—listen to the Stones. Keith Richards is my hero. In my mind, he’s the best guitar player ever. And Keith’s stuff has definitely got some urgency to it, and it’s definitely not perfect. But boy, when it comes to feel, it doesn’t get any more perfect than Keith.

I think the term is “loose.”

It is — it’s loose, and it’s emotional. That’s what it is. And that’s, to me, what rock and roll is supposed to be about. If you want perfection, go see a symphony orchestra.

How was the studio atmosphere? People might be surprised to hear that it might be relaxed.

That’s what it is. It’s just a really relaxed, casual, hanging out… I wouldn’t liken it any different than if we were just sitting in my living room, only there happened to be a recording machine in here. That’s what it feels like.

When you were collaborating, did you get any inkling as to why now finally it was time for Bowie to put out a new record?

You know, I don’t even bother asking. Obviously, it was time.

There are some things you don’t question.

No, you know, you really don’t. I don’t question much of anything like that; it’s not in my nature. I don’t need to know why — I just need to be there, that’s all. [Laughs.]

When you guys were bouncing ideas off of each other, were there any specific influences you wanted to bring? Or any that stood out to you that ended up happening?

Well, I can tell you that there’s a couple of the rock songs…cause, you know, admittedly — and it’s not any big mystery — my rhythm guitar playing is very likened to Keith [Richards]. Because he’s the guy I’ve been listening to — and still do every single day — since I’ve been 12 years old. You’ll be getting some of that on some of the rock tracks from me. He would say, “Do that you-know-what.” [Laughs.] You know somebody that long, and if he says “you-know-what,” you completely get it. [Laughs.] And you know what, not only is it awesome—it’s priceless.

When you’re playing with someone for so long…

Almost 40 years!

How did this experience compare to some of the other times you guys have recorded in the past? Was there anything that stood out to you?

The only thing was is that this one had a lot more secrecy going on. [Laughs.] I mean, one day I went out to have a cigarette in front of the studio, and something felt weird. Cause I would hang out in the doorway, in a little alcove; I didn’t even walk into the street. And something felt weird, and I peered across the street, and there was a guy there with a camera on a tripod. So I put my cigarette out and went back inside. [Laughs.] Cause if they see me, they can put two and two together.

That’s kind of fun to think you’re making a record and nobody knows about it. It’s like you’re on a spy mission or something.

It was fun for a little while, but then when I started doing interviews — and after I got all excited after I finished doing the tracks and I was bursting — it wasn’t fun anymore.

Are there any thematic things that really stand out to you on the album? Everyone has said the lead single is very introspective and inward-looking and looking backward…

It’s not all like that. Some of them, the lyrics are as straight ahead as David can write a lyric — cause he’s not known for writing straight-ahead lyrics. He hadn’t finished the lyrics when we were in there, either. The way he writes is, we’ll get a basic thing down, and he’ll have a basic melody going on, but it’s done so much organically and off-the-cuff, that he will go back later and finish the lyrics. You get an inkling when you’re in there, but you’re not quite sure what it’s going to be until later. There’s a bit of mystery that we even have, because I left the studio thinking…I mean, I played on it, and I’m going, “Boy, I’m curious to hear what this is going to sound like!” [Laughs.]

Is Bowie going to be touring? I think that’s what everyone wants to know.

We don’t know. Obviously, we want him to. But right now, that’s a big if. Like I said before, sometimes he shows up and sometimes he doesn’t. I could get a phone call tomorrow saying, “Hey, you know what? Here’s the setlist.” I don’t know. I can’t speak for him or the organization. Obviously, the band would love to go out. Even if it’s not a huge tour, we would like to go out and do some gigs. But that’s yet to be seen.



http://ultimateclassicrock.com/earl-slick-david-bowie-new-album-interview/

sweetcharmedlife wrote on Jan 9^th, 2013 at 8:56pm:

No Stones. But Bowie will be at Coachella. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Coachella-2013-Lineup/325592057549986

So basically they posted that 'rolling stone' teaser photo just to wind people up?

the comments on the facebook page would suggest that this is - like the Stones one - another spoof line-up.

Gazza wrote on Jan 10^th, 2013 at 6:47am:

sweetcharmedlife wrote on Jan 9th, 2013 at 8:56pm: No Stones. But Bowie will be at Coachella. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Coachella-2013-Lineup/325592057549986 So basically they posted that 'rolling stone' teaser photo just to wind people up? the comments on the facebook page would suggest that this is - like the Stones one - another spoof line-up.

Maybe,but I'd say it's more palusible than the Stones.  Any Stones shows will be later in the year won't they?

Seen Bowie about 6 times. Not a single for me but if the rest of the album is rocking, like thay say I'll take it. First time for me was 74.

DAVID BOWIE RULES OUT TOUR

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/david-bowie-rules-out-tour/


Well, that joy wore off quickly. After the surprising the world on his birthday (Jan. 8) with a new single, ‘Where Are We Now?‘ and an album, ‘The Next Day,’ due in early March, fans of David Bowie were hoping that he would return to the stage. However, in a new interview, his longtime producer Tony Visconti has ruled that out.

“He’s fairly adamant he’s never gonna perform live again,” he told NME. “One of the guys would say, ‘Boy, how are we gonna do all this live?’ and David said, ‘We’re not.’ He made a point of saying that all the time.”

Bowie has not toured since the 2003-04 ‘Reality’ tour, which ended abruptly due to health problems on Bowie’s part with 15 dates in Europe cancelled. He has not appeared on a stage since 2006, when he made a couple of guest appearances.

In our exclusive interview with Earl Slick, the guitarist admitted he was skeptical of the chances of Bowie going on tour. “We don’t know,” he said. “Obviously, we want him to. But right now, that’s a big if. Like I said before, sometimes he shows up and sometimes he doesn’t. I could get a phone call tomorrow saying, “Hey, you know what? Here’s the setlist.” I don’t know. I can’t speak for him or the organization. Obviously, the band would love to go out. Even if it’s not a huge tour, we would like to go out and do some gigs. But that’s yet to be seen.”

sweetcharmedlife wrote on Jan 10^th, 2013 at 11:15am:

Gazza wrote on Jan 10th, 2013 at 6:47am: sweetcharmedlife wrote on Jan 9th, 2013 at 8:56pm: No Stones. But Bowie will be at Coachella. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Coachella-2013-Lineup/325592057549986 So basically they posted that 'rolling stone' teaser photo just to wind people up? the comments on the facebook page would suggest that this is - like the Stones one - another spoof line-up. Maybe,but I'd say it's more palusible than the Stones.  Any Stones shows will be later in the year won't they?

I'm not sure, to be honest.  I dont think it necessarily follows that they'll wait until the summer. If they're playing 'residencies' these could take place at any time.  I'd personally be surprised if we're waiting as late as June for more Stones gigs.

Nellcote wrote on Jan 12^th, 2013 at 2:02pm:

DAVID BOWIE RULES OUT TOUR http://ultimateclassicrock.com/david-bowie-rules-out-tour/ Well, that joy wore off quickly. After the surprising the world on his birthday (Jan. 8) with a new single, ‘Where Are We Now?‘ and an album, ‘The Next Day,’ due in early March, fans of David Bowie were hoping that he would return to the stage. However, in a new interview, his longtime producer Tony Visconti has ruled that out. “He’s fairly adamant he’s never gonna perform live again,” he told NME. “One of the guys would say, ‘Boy, how are we gonna do all this live?’ and David said, ‘We’re not.’ He made a point of saying that all the time.” Bowie has not toured since the 2003-04 ‘Reality’ tour, which ended abruptly due to health problems on Bowie’s part with 15 dates in Europe cancelled. He has not appeared on a stage since 2006, when he made a couple of guest appearances. In our exclusive interview with Earl Slick, the guitarist admitted he was skeptical of the chances of Bowie going on tour. “We don’t know,” he said. “Obviously, we want him to. But right now, that’s a big if. Like I said before, sometimes he shows up and sometimes he doesn’t. I could get a phone call tomorrow saying, “Hey, you know what? Here’s the setlist.” I don’t know. I can’t speak for him or the organization. Obviously, the band would love to go out. Even if it’s not a huge tour, we would like to go out and do some gigs. But that’s yet to be seen.”

Bummer. :(

Not a big surprise, to be honest.

Quite a few albums in the past werent followed by tours (Low, Scary Monsters, Tonight - to name but three)

I only got to see him twice - Milton Keynes Bowl in 1983 and Slane Castle in 1987. He finally played Belfast in 1995 - and I got the flu and for the only time in my life missed a concert because I was sick.  Didn't think at the time I'd not see him perform again!

Well, people around Bowie didn't think he was ever gonna record a new album as well, so I think I'll only believe the 'no tour' comment when Bowie himself is quoted, and even then..

For now the new record will do just fine. It's an unexpected pleasure and the news plus the release of the new track pretty much made my week.  

Would love to see him hit the road again though, as I saw him only once. Shortly before he cancelled the rest of the European Reality tour. My wife and I were both in awe, because it was an amazing show.

The inside story of how David Bowie made The Next Day

David Bowie sprang the biggest surprise the pop industry has seen in years by recording his new single Where Are We Now? and a new album in complete secrecy. Producer Tony Visconti, guitarist Earl Slick and others in the know reveal how it happened – and spill more about the singer's plans


Alexis Petridis
The Guardian, Saturday 12 January 2013

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/1/8/1357656982969/David-Bowie-in-his-music--010.jpgDavid Bowie in his music video for Where Are We Now?
Mystery man ... David Bowie in the music video for Where Are We Now?

On Tuesday morning, the astonishment that greeted the release of David Bowie's first single in a decade seemed almost universal. The shock was not merely that Bowie – long since presumed retired – was back, with an album, The Next Day, to follow in March; it was that one of the biggest stars in the history of rock music had managed to spend two years making a record without even a hint of rumour reaching the wider world. This in an age of cameraphones and gossip websites and social media.

"We haven't seen this before, a real legend dropping the announcement, the music, the photographs, everything in the blink of an eye," says Tim Ingham, editor of music industry magazine Music Week. "At 66, he's run the whole machinery of the music industry and the music media ragged, and he's run social media ragged too. Social media by its very nature demands facts or – in the absence of facts – speculation; if it doesn't know, it'll make it up itself. But the lack of chatter enhanced the PR impact. In terms of a basic product announcement, which is all this is, he's come back with more of a media storm than any other artist has produced in recent years."

At least part of the reason Bowie was able to keep his comeback a secret until the last minute is down to the remarkably low-key nature of his business arrangements: a reaction, long-standing producer Tony Visconti suggests, to the early 70s, when Bowie's management company Mainman "had about 45 people looking after him, or allegedly looking after him", an arrangement that ended in chaos and litigation. Today, his New York office has a staff of one. He has no official manager, relying instead on his business manager Bill Zysblat – a figure "as low-key as you can get," according to Bowie's biographer Paul Trynka – who began life as the Rolling Stones' tour accountant before joining Bowie in the early 80s, and his fiercely loyal PA Corrine "Coco" Schwab. The latter is something of a legend in Bowie mythology and rumoured to be the subject of his song Never Let Me Down. "She's been with him since the mid-70s," says Trynka. "Some of the musicians who worked with him hated her, but they invariably point out she's smart, sometimes intimidatingly so, and utterly devoted to Bowie. He trusts her absolutely."

David Bowie - Where Are We Now? on MUZU.TV.

"It means you can react to things very quickly, you can do things incredibly secretively, which you couldn't do if it was one of those situations where there are 20 different managers involved," says a source close to Bowie. "When David comes into Britain to do something like his appearance on [Ricky Gervais sitcom] Extras, nobody knows he's here. He's very good at being low-key. How many times over the last 10 years have you seen pictures of him? There have maybe been two or three paparazzi shots of him in a decade. He's not a recluse, but he's seen when he wants to be seen."

His deal with his record label seems equally unique: he has no A&R man supervising his work, which, says Visconti, "is not normal for any star". Even Rob Stringer, the president of the Sony Music Label Group and one of the most powerful men in the music industry, only became aware of The Next Day's existence a month ago, when he was invited to the studio in New York to hear some tracks. "We still haven't given him a copy of the album," chuckles Visconti. "He came to the studio. He was thrilled. He said 'what about the PR campaign?' And David said, 'there is no PR campaign. We're just going to drop it on 8 January. That's it.' It's such a simple idea, but Bowie came up with it."

Tony Visconti @Tonuspomus

So relieved to talk about the new DB album after 2 years of silence on the subject, like a dam broke.
9 Jan 13


Meanwhile, when I contact the British arm of Sony, they won't discuss the project at all, which could be related to rumours that while Bowie's UK PR company, the Outside Organisation, were given notice last Friday, the label itself knew nothing right up until the point at which Where Are We Now? materialised on iTunes at 5am on Tuesday. "They certainly seemed as surprised as the rest of us," notes Ingham wryly.

By contrast, the people who actually worked on the album seem not so much happy as desperate to talk about The Next Day. "I was on the cover of Guitar Player magazine," laments Earl Slick, the Bowie sideman responsible for, among other things, the astonishing soloing on 1976's Station to Station. "It was the Christmas issue, the one you want to be on the cover of, the one that's on the newsstands twice as long. And I'm making a new Bowie album and I can't tell them anything. The only person I told was my manager."


http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Columnist/Columnists/2011/10/18/1318937942626/David-Bowie-005.jpg
David Bowie Bowie in Paris, 1977. Photograph: Christian Simonpietri/Sygma/Corbis

Tony Visconti, who says he only finished work on the album last week and wasn't expecting it to be announced on Tuesday – "I thought they were just going to put out a single" – also seems delighted to be rid of two years of subterfuge, non-disclosure agreements and, as he bluntly puts it, "bare-faced lies". He told only his partner and his children what was going on. "People would ask 'what are you working on at the moment?'. About a year ago, I started saying well, I'm working on a very big project but I can't tell you what it is. That satisfied most people, but then a few people would say 'it's Bowie, isn't it?'. And I'd go, I can't tell you who it is, even if you said the person's name I can't say yes or no. And they'd go 'it's Bowie'. And I'd go 'no, really it isn't'. I was a little uncomfortable with that, but it was the only way to do it."

Now he's free to gush about the album at will. The elegiac balladry of Where Are We Now? isn't particularly representative, he says. "The album is eclectic, it's got five really blistering rock tracks. The rest is really mid-tempo, mysterious and evocative. He's been obsessed with medieval English history, which, believe it or not, makes great material for a rock song. And contemporary Russian history, which makes a great rock song. The subject matter he choses to write about is amazing. The Next Day is a song about a tyrant, let me leave it at that. One thing the album's got is a lot of substance. You're going to have to listen to it many times, because the lyrical content's going to take a long time to absorb.

He's been obsessed with medieval English history, which, believe it or not, makes great material for a rock song.


"It's got an instantly familiar sound, because the band are rocking away and it's David Bowie's voice. He's singing very low-key on the single. A lot of people have misinterpreted that, thinking that he's going to sound old and frail on this record, but for that song he wanted to sound vulnerable. Big difference. Elsewhere, he's singing in full voice, that voice you hear on Heroes, so loud that I literally had to step away from him in the studio."

Visconti says he wasn't surprised when Bowie contacted him about recording two years ago, despite the fact that the singer had told him barely a year before that he had no interest in making more music and furthermore hadn't written any songs, a statement he now thinks was a fib. "You know, he's an artist, he can't sit on his creativity forever. You could tell from the beginning that the songs were stunning even in primitive form. They were obviously things that had built up over the past 10 years, sketches he had all along."

Complete secrecy was a precondition from the start: early on, they were obliged to move studios after the owners allegedly leaked information about who was working there. "We told them to keep it a secret and they blew it within 24 hours. We hadn't even started the album but we got a phone call: 'is it true you're making a record at such and such a studio?'. We just denied everything. Even when we made the first demos, we were sworn to secrecy. The three musicians working on them – me, Sterling Campbell on drums and Jerry Leonard on guitar – had to sign a non-disclosure agreement. It was unnecessary with the the three of us, we were long-time Bowie people – if he'd just said keep it a secret and don't tell a soul, we would have done that without signing – but later on, as the crew on the album got bigger, the NDAs were necessary because we didn't know everyone that well. We got lucky with the studio, a place called The Magic Shop in SoHo. Normally there are interns at studios, but whenever we were there, they gave their interns time off. They didn't want them to witness it. When we were working there, they had a skeleton staff of two, which is not normal."

Did the secrecy affect the sessions? "Definitely. We had to talk about it about it as a group, share our experience of the insanity, the frustration. And David would just sit there smiling. The fun we were having in the studio overshadowed all the neuroses, but there definitely were neuroses."

Even with security so strict that when Earl Slick turned up to work on the album last July, not even his own roadie was allowed in the studio – "I told him to pick me up Tuesday at 1pm and drop me off at the studio, but I said, they got guys to haul the gear in at the studio, you just sit in the truck" – Visconti seems astonished than no one found out. "The evidence was there, but no one put all the pieces together. He was photographed near the studio. Over a year ago, he asked Robert Fripp to play on the album and Robert Fripp put it on his blog, something like 'David Bowie's asked me to play on his album but I'm too busy', and no one believed it! If someone was actually monitoring all these leaks, they could have put it together."

I know we have the makings of another album

No one did, enabling an artist who has always thrived on mystique to return in suitably mysterious style. "There might be a lesson in there for the wider music industry," suggests Tim Ingham. "We live in an age when distraction is everywhere, consumers are multi-screening – and multi-screening is actually an acceptable verb – and the industry assumes that to get what marketing departments call cut-through or mind-share for music you have to bombard people: artists are supposed to be in a constant dialogue with their fans, via Twitter or blogs or Facebook. It's a timely reminder that mystique is a valuable commodity. You can perhaps give people more by giving them less."

As for Bowie, Tony Visconti seems confident that The Next Day is a new beginning rather than simply one last hurrah. They ended up recording 29 songs, he says, and even on the deluxe edition of the album, there are only 17 tracks. "We have tracks left over that are really great, that just didn't fit with this batch, so I know we have the makings of another album. And I know he wants to keep recording. I'm not sure when, but I think he'll be back in the studio later this year."

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2011/10/8/1318033183678/David-Bowie-007.jpg
David Bowie Bowie with his wife Iman. Photograph: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for DKMS

Meanwhile, despite the fact that no live dates have been announced for the forseeable future, Earl Slick says he'd like to tour the album. "Of course I would! I'm the biggest roadhog on the planet." He's not holding his breath, he says, but "as far as I'm concerned, anything he says or does could change. Nothing he does surprises me, ever. Never has, never will. When he contacted me about working on the album it was like, what's this about? 'Are you available?' Yeah, I'm available, what's going on? 'Well I wanna do some recording,' – like he was asking you to go have a cup of tea."

In the meantime, he says, he's trying to work out which of the songs on The Next Day feature him. "You gotta understand, I haven't heard the finished thing yet. He was still finishing and polishing the lyrics when I left. I can't actually figure out the titles I've seen. I don't know which ones I actually played on."

The last time Slick heard from Bowie, he says, it was via email: "I got a nice message from him saying 'thank you for keeping quiet'." He laughs. "He knows what I'm like. I'm a Brooklyn Italian, you know what I mean? I got a big fuckin' mouth."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/jan/12/david-bowie-how-made-next-day?intcmp=239

Thanks for this article, the intrigue of this is terrific.
I'm not from Brooklyn, but I'm Paisan enough to understand Slick's ending comment...

Great article, Thanks Gazza.

David Bowie's 'The Next' Day' Album: A Track-by-Track Preview
Longtime producer Tony Visconti says Bowie may do a single concert to celebrate new LP
http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/david-bowies-the-next-day-album-a-track-by-track-preview-20130115/1000x600/bowie-600-1358191789.jpg      
Tony Visconti,David Bowie, and Brian Thorn at The Magic Shop Recording Studio.
Kabir Hermon
By Andy Greene
January 15, 2013 7:00 AM ET

Tony Visconti has been producing David Bowie's albums since Space Oddity in 1969. They've worked together on many of Bowie's greatest triumphs, including Heroes, Young Americans and Scary Monsters. After a long break, they joined forces again in the early 2000s for Heathen and Reality. Two years ago, he started working with Bowie on his long-awaited new album, The Next Day.

Rolling Stone spoke to Visconti about the pair's secret sessions, how medieval English history inspired some of the songs and why it's unlikely that Bowie will tour – though a single show remains possible. As the producer noted, his other longtime collaborator, Morrissey, has the opposite plan. . . but he'll get to that.

Was there ever a point over the past few years where you thought that Bowie would never record again?
I was a little scared after he had his heart condition. He had a little scare himself. I didn't speak to him for a year after that. He was just recovering and just not talking to anybody. But I was one of the first people he emailed afterwards and we were steadily in contact since then. But he never really brought up music until two years ago. So he never said to me he retired, and every time I saw him in person, he looked in really good health.

On Daily Beast: David Bowie's Eclectic Style Evolution

All these rumors started going around about his health. Every time I had lunch with him, or coffee with him, I'm looking at him and my dear old friend was looking really good.  But music didn't interest him until two years ago; that's when he made the call. He said, "How would you like to make some demos?" And I was a little shocked, quite honestly; it was just so casual. It was just the next topic in the discussion.

How did the process begin?
I was working on another project in London, and he didn't know that. He said, "Well, when are you going to get back?" I said, "In a few days."  The next morning after I returned, I was in the studio with him playing bass. We had Sterling Campbell on drums, Gerry Leonard on guitar and David on keyboards. We were in this little studio down in the East Village doing demos for a week. I was pinching myself. I couldn't believe it was really happening. From nothing, right into this demo situation.

Did he have fleshed-out songs at this point?
Yes, he wrote them at home.  He had an eight- or 16-track digital recorder. They were quite fleshed out. He had nice bass line ideas and drum patterns. We quickly took down the names of the chords and we scribbled it out on paper. Gerry Leonard and I read from the chord sheet. The room was about eight-by-eight, which included a drum kit. We were on top of each other, gasping for air after an hour or two.

What sparked all this? He had been gone for so many years at this point
He just said, "I feel like writing again." I don't know long prior to that he began writing. He just came up with about eight songs.

How many days did you spend demoing in that East Village studio?
We spent five days, and we didn't record anything until the last day. We just kept writing down notes. On the fifth day, it was hard to try to remember what we did on the first day. But we got them down and this guy at the studio had a basic Pro Tools rig, and we got them down. This is November 2010. Then he disappeared for four months and said, "I'm gonna start writing now." So he wrote more songs and then he fleshed those out even more. He came up with lyrics and melodies, which he didn't have at first. But that's typical of every record I started to work with him.  Scary Monsters, every album started out with maybe one finished song and 10 ideas, so this is typical.

What happened next?
In April of 2011 we went into a downtown New York studio. We only worked for two-week periods. We would take as long as two months off after each period, and he would go and write some more stuff. I would listen to it and get some ideas, sketch out some overdub things, and we'd be in constant communication during those periods. So this is about 18 months ago. If you added up all the weeks in the studio, we probably actually spent three-and-a-half months.

You've said that the first single, "Where Are We Now," isn't like any other song on the album. Do the other songs look back on his life like that one?
Not really; that's the only one. It's really the only one of its kind. Everything else on the album is kind of observations. He's writing in the third person. Some of them belong to his life, but some of them are things like social commentary. He was reading a lot of medieval English history books, and he came up with one medieval English history song. That's the title track, "The Next Day." It's about somebody who was a tyrant, very insignificant; I didn't even know who he was talking about. But if you read the lyrics, it's quite a horrific story.

You've said there are five rockers on the album.
Yeah. "The Next Day" rocks out. Same with "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" – that rocks out, too.

Are the non-rockers more mellow? What's their vibe?
They're more funky, mid-tempo songs. Very evocative. "Dirty Boys," the second song on the album, is very sleazy.

Sleazy in what sense?
It's dark and it's sexy.  There's a fantastic sax solo. You know, David plays baritone sax, but he invited his friend Steve Elson to do the baritone on this album. I think Steve was in the Saturday Night Live band. He's a little guy, and he's got a huge baritone sax, and he plays this dirty solo in it that sounds like stripper music from the 1950s. Old bump-and-grind stripper music . . . It wouldn't be out of place on Young Americans.

Tell me about "Dancing Out in Space."
That's a very uptempo one. It's got a Motown beat to it, but the rest of it is completely psychedelic. It's got very floaty vibe. There's a guy called David Torn who plays guitar, who we use; he comes with huge amounts of equipment that he creates these aural landscapes. He uses them in a rock context with all that ambient sound, and he's bending his tremolo arm and all that. It's just crazy, completely crazy sound on that track.

How about "Boss of Me?"
That is one of the slower, funky ones. It's really solid. There's a little Young Americans in there. But that's really not proper . . . It's a new kind of direction for him, melodically. Doesn't sound like typical Bowie, that track. But it's a very good track.

OK. Tell me about "Heat."
Well that's the closer of the album and it's very dramatic. And I'm not quite sure what he's singing about on it, but it's a classic Bowie ballad. He's singing in his handsomest voice, a very deep, very sonorous voice. And I can't give too much away about it because honestly, I don't know exactly what it's about, if it's about being in a real prison or being imprisoned in your mind. Again, it's certainly not about him; he's singing as the voice of somebody.  

Tell me about "I'd Rather Be High."
There's a few songs about world wars, about soldiers. One is "How Does the Grass Grow" and it's about the way that soldiers are trained to kill other soldiers, how they have to do it so heartlessly. "How Does the Grass Grow" is part of a chant that they're taught as they plunge their bayonets into a dummy. "I'd Rather Be High" is about a soldier who's come out of the war and he's just burnt out, and rather than becoming a human being again, I think he laments, "I'd rather be high/I don't want to know/I'm trying to erase these thoughts from my mind."

Who exactly is the band on the album?
We had two drummers. The main drummer was Zachary Alford, and Sterling Campbell played on several tracks, too. It's unfortunate. Sterling was at the demo sessions in the beginning but then he didn't know when the album was gonna start, and he already committed to a tour with the B-52s. We called Zach in to substitute for him, and Zack played amazing drums on the album. But Sterling is in there as well on songs like "Valentine's Day" and "(You Will) Set the World on Fire," which is another steamer, another big rock song on the album.

Bass was predominantly Gail Ann Dorsey, and she played phenomenally well on the album, and she also did some backup vocals with David. The other bass player who played on about four or five tracks was Tony Levin. The guitars are Gerry Leonard who played on Heathen and Reality, and he's David's music director. David Torn on the other ambient guitar. And then we got Earl Slick to play some fantastic guitar solos and heavy guitar on some tracks. I played bass on the album for two songs, and that's about it. David played his own keyboards; he played also some acoustic guitar, some electric guitar as well.

How hard was it to keep this a secret?
It was very easy to keep it a secret because we're very loyal to him. I've known him 45 years, and everybody knew him for more than 10 years in the band. We just love the guy. He said, "Keep it a secret, and don't tell anybody. Not even your best friend." I said, "Can I tell my girlfriend?" He says, "Yes, you can tell your girlfriend, but she can't tell anybody." So everybody had to explain why they were leaving for work in the morning, you know where they were going and who they were recording with.

The real trick was just not telling even your best friend. Bowie fans are just unpredictable – if they hear news like this, the cover would have been blown years ago. Now one person did leak it, but nobody believed him . . .

Who?
Robert Fripp! He was asked to play on it, he didn't want to do it and then he wrote on his blog that he was asked. And nobody kinda believed him. It was a little flurry for a few days, but everyone said,  "How could that be true? We haven't heard it from anyone else?"

The big question: Do you think Bowie will tour?
He says that he will only play if he feels like it, but no tour. Like, if wanted to do the odd show in New York or, I don't know, London, he would if he felt like it. And he made that very clear to the label that he wasn't going to tour or do any kind of ridiculously long album promotion. It was his idea to just drop it at midnight on his birthday and just let things avalanche.

Do you really think it's possible he'd do just one show?
It's possible, if he feels like it. I don't know. I spoke to him two days ago and he said, "I'm really adamant I'm not gonna do a tour." And he said, "If I might, I might do one show." But who knows when.  

The album cover is sort of intriguing . . .
I only just got that. I wasn't sure that was the cover.

It's real.
I thought some fan made a joke cover.

I though that too, but it's real.
[Laughs]

Thoughts on that?
I think it's great! It gives him a nice space to sign his autograph in the middle of it.

Do you think that you and Morrissey will ever work together again?
Hopefully we will. I'm going to see him Friday night in Brooklyn. We email a lot. We talk a lot. He's very reluctant to have a deal with anybody. 'Cause nowadays, the problem is, when a label signs you – right now, he has no label – so if I sign a new label deal, he has to sign a 360 deal. They want a piece of everything. If you write a book, if you write a song, if you're in a movie, they want part of your fee for all these things. So that's the deal that the big labels are offering now and that's because sales are so low and they have to make up their money some way. He's totally against that. He's old-school. Actually I don't blame him.

He could pull a Radiohead and post it online for a fee.
I know. He's also old school about paying for it himself. Traditionally, the label's gotta pay for him. I understand that, and there's an old saying in show business that you never invest your own money in a show. It kinda follows onto recording to some extent, but that attitude has changed.

He could also sign to an indie label that wouldn't make him sign a 360. . . But beyond that, he has enough fans that he'd make a killing charging $10 for an album online?
Yeah, he'll make his money back, yeah. He's playing his new songs onstage, they're being recorded on cell phones every night of the week and they're wonderful songs

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Q&A: David Bowie Guitarist Earl Slick on Secret New Album Sessions
'There's some rockers on there,' says Bowie's longtime collaborator
http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/q-a-david-bowie-guitarist-earl-slick-on-secret-new-album-sessions-20130125/1000x600/20130123-david-bowie-earl-slick-x600-1358981913.jpg      
David Bowie guitarist Earl Slick
Kevin Mazur/WireImage
By Andy Greene
January 25, 2013 9:00 AM ET

David Bowie has worked with a lot of guitarists over the decades, but he always comes back to Earl Slick. They first teamed up in 1974 for the Diamond Dogs tour. When that wrapped, Slick entered the studio with Bowie to record Young Americans and Station to Station. When Stevie Ray Vaughan walked out of the Serious Moonlight tour at the last minute, Bowie called in Slick. After a long break, Slick reunited with Bowie in the early 2000s for Heathen and Reality and their supporting tours.

Bowie called Slick into the studio last summer for to work on his comeback album, The Next Day, but until this month Slick was forbidden to tell a soul about the secret sessions. Rolling Stone spoke to Slick about the new songs, the possibility of a tour and his memories from the famously debauched Station to Station sessions in 1975.

David Bowie's 'The Next Day' Album: A Track-by-Track Preview

A few years ago, did you start to think that Bowie would never record again?
My mindset would go back and forth both ways. One thing I did know is that once you're an artist, you're an artist until the day you die. The urge is always going to be there. I was never sold on the idea that he was done. Never.

How did you first hear about this project?
I heard about it directly from David last May. We were talking on the phone and he goes, "What's your schedule like?" I said, "I'm around. What have you got in mind?" One conversation led to the other, and we scheduled to go into the studio in July.

How did that first session begin?
He had already been working on it, unbeknownst to me. He had already cut some tracks. On my first day it was myself, David, Tony Visconti and drummer Sterling Campbell. We cut some new ones. When we finished those up David played me bits and bobs from the rest of the record. He said, "Oh, what do you think about this or that?" We then picked out some songs for me to play on.

The whole thing was very casual, and it's all done as a group effort. We'll sit down and he'll play me a song and I'll say if I have a part in mind. It's a very give-and-take, very casual way of working. Sometimes he'll play me a little rough sketch on the guitar and say, "That's the idea. Now take it where you want it to go."

How many days were you there?
I was only there for a week. I did all my work in a week.

When was that?
Last week of July, or something like that. All I know is that it was hot as hell outside.

Tony says the single "Where Are We Now" sounds radically different than the rest of the album.
I don't know what the final outcome of the album is, but I know a lot of the stuff I played on was very different than the single.

Are they at all similar to the songs on Heathen or Reality? How would you describe the sound of the songs?
Oh God, I don't know if that man has ever done a record in his life that sounded like the last record he did. Think about it. You do Young Americans and then less than a year later you do Station to Station. You're talking apples and oranges. Those records, they don't even . . . it's a typical Bowie thing. It's unmistakably David Bowie, but as usual, it's unlike . . . Obviously, there's flavors from everything. You might think, "Oh, that sounds like Station to Station and that one sounds a little like Low." But there's no overall sound other than I can tell you it's just another David Bowie album that sounds different than the last one.

Do you know how many songs he used you on?
I haven't heard the album yet, but I'm gonna guess I'm on anywhere from five to seven of those. I've seen the titles these past few days, but they don't mean anything to me. They all had working titles when I was in there.

Can you describe the sound of the songs a little more?
Two of the songs sounded a little Stones-y in the same way the title track from Diamond Dogs had a very Stones-y sound, especially when we played it live. It's not a great secret that I'm a big lover of Keith Richards, so I do have a lot of that in my playing. I did do some rhythms on some of the tracks that were very reminiscent of that.

For the rest of the album, it's a touch of Bowie across the board. There's some rockers on there. I did probably hear some songs that didn't make the album, but there was one with a mid-tempo, almost an R&B feel. I can't even describe it, but it was really cool. It was almost the same tempo as "Wild Is the Wind." I played electric on it.

You've worked with Bowie a lot over the years. Was the process of this one different at all from the other albums?
It hasn't changed in 40 years. I've worked with a ton of people, and he's always the easiest. He doesn't come with a strict, "This is what it is, and you have to play these exact notes through the amp this way." Some artists do that, and that's why I rarely do sessions. I'm just too belligerent.

There's a certain magic when I sit in a room with David. That's why you'll see different guitar players working with him. He doesn't expect me to do what Adrian Belew does. He doesn't expect Adrian to do what I do, or Gerry Leonard, or vice versa. When I'm there, he needs me to do what I do best. "Here's the basic guidelines. What are the chords? Oh, I think it's in the key of G. OK, great." So we sit down, we bang around a couple of acoustic guitars sitting around some espresso and biscotti in the control room, and we just talk it through for a couple of minutes. Then I strap my guitar on and play until we both are happy with what I hit on.

The big question: Any chance you guys play live?
I knew that was the next question. That's another mystery. I mean, the band would love to do it. Obviously, we'd love to go out and do some dates. With David, and this has always been the case, he does what he's gonna do when he's gonna do it. A lot of the time it just comes from nowhere. I mean, I wasn't terribly surprised to talk to him about making another record. I wouldn't be surprised if he did call about live dates, and I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't get the call. I can tell you right now there's no touring plans that I've heard of.

Not enough people appreciated it at the time, but that last tour felt very special.
Out of every tour I've ever done in my life – and that includes David and my own tours – that, hands down, was the most fun I'd ever had. It was the best configuration of guys we'd ever had.

If he calls you tomorrow and says, "Hey, I want to go on a huge 18-month tour," what do you say?
What do you think?

I presume you'd do it.
[Laughs] Of course.

Just a random question. I've read so much about the making of Station to Station over the years – all the drugs and the all-night sessions and the general madness. Is any of it myth?
No, it's not a myth at all.

What's your memory of the single strangest moment?
The whole damn thing was strange! I mean, at the time it seemed perfectly normal to me. But in hindsight . . . I remember one night where we didn't even have the studio booked. How old was I? Christ, I was 24. It was L.A., and we were out ranting and raving every night, just having a blast. I was at the Rainbow Bar and Grill. As we used to say, I was "under the weather." Suddenly one of the roadies comes in. They search the whole place and find me at a back table. He says, "Time to go to work." I say, "It's one in the morning and I'm drunk." He says, "That's OK. David's at the studio. There's a car outside." So I paid my tab, jumped in the car and worked all night. I mean, that was not an unusual thing to happen.

David claims to be unable to recall most any of it.
Trust me, there's a lot of blank spots for me as well. I was living at the Sunset Marquis ,and it would be daylight when I got back. I'd be sitting out on my balcony drinking a beer at 10 a.m., just getting back from work.

Roy Bittan from the E Street Band was on keyboards, right?
Yes.

He always seemed so straight and professional to me. I can't imagine him in the middle of all that madness.
You know why? He's a New York boy, that's why. He's used to being around that. The first time I ever met Roy was in New York while I was working with some band called Tracks or something. I met Roy, and we became fast friends. We were doing Station and it came up that we needed a piano player. David asked everybody in the band and I said, "You know what? Bruce Springsteen and the guys are staying at my hotel. My friend Roy is in the band. Why don't I bring him down?" That's what happened with Roy.

I've always wondered how that worked for him. It was directly in the middle of the Born to Run tour. How did he have time?
I can't swear to this because I have a lot of blanks myself, but I think it was when Springsteen did two nights at the Roxy. It was the same time he was on the cover of Time and Newsweek. He was just exploding, and he was in Los Angeles for a little while. We were all at the same hotel. Again, there's a lot of blank spots, and I don't know if Roy was only in the studio for a day or two.

It's pretty amazing that the album turned out so perfectly.
I gotta tell you, out of every record I've played on, and I've played on a few records, that is still one of my favorites. As crazy as it was, and I can't specifically remember a lot, the memories I have are good. [Laughs] It makes me feel good thinking of the album, so it must have been fun.

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Fantastic read - thanks for posting.

TomL and I saw that last tour and it was a fantastic show.
He really did have a super band that tour -- hope his health is good and they hit the road again!

David Bowie 'Likes the Struggle' of Winning Fans, Says Drummer Zack Alford
Onetime Springsteen sideman reveals more about secret 'The Next Day' sessions
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By Andy Greene
February 1, 2013 8:00 AM ET
Zachary Alford and David Bowie
Frank Ockenfels

For the past year and a half drummer Zachary Alford has been forced to walk around with the secret that he plays on David Bowie's new album. "It's been torture," he says. "Everyone always says to me, 'So, what's David up to?' I just had to shrug my shoulders and say, 'I wish I knew.'"

Now that the secret is out, Zachary is finally able to talk to us about the secretive recording sessions for The Next Day. We also spoke with him about his tenure in Bruce Springsteen's "Other Band" in 1992-'93.

Let's start at the very beginning. Tell me how you first heard about this new Bowie album?
David sent me an email asking if I was available in the first two weeks of May of 2011. It was out of the blue. I mean, we'd been in email contact, but there was never any talk about work.

What was your first reaction?
I said yes. [Laughs] Luckily I was available, so I was just really happy about that. But I didn't know what it was. But whatever it was, I'm available. [Laughs]

Flashback: Bowie Belts Out 'Heroes'

He asked if you were available, but he didn't tell you it was for a new album?
There was a time where I didn't know what it was. He wouldn't even say where it was or what it was. I remember [bassist] Gail [Ann Dorsey] and I talking about it, like, "Oh, did he contact you too?" "Yeah, he contacted me." "What's it for?" "I don't know."

We didn't know if it was a performance or a recording or anything. It wasn't until maybe a week before that he said, "Yes, be here at this studio on this day." Then somehow it leaked out.

What do you mean?
Well, I got an email from David saying, "Do you know a photographer named so and so?" I could find the name, but I don't remember offhand. I said, "No." It's a good thing I didn't know him. [Laughs] Apparently this photographer had called someone from David's office and asked if it was OK for him to take pictures of David at the studio. They were like, "What? Who told you there was even a session?" Obviously, someone from the studio leaked it out. We got an email after that saying, "OK, change of plan. We're doing it at Magic Shop."

By this point, are you shocked to learn that he's making a new album?
Um . . . I'd say I was relieved that he's finally back in the saddle, and I was relieved that I got the call.

Tell me about the first day of recording. Did he lay out his vision for the album, or did you just start cutting tracks?
It was all very matter-of-fact. We weren't allowed to hear any of the songs before that, because he didn't want anything out there circulating. So we basically walked in, and there wasn't much discussion. It's like, "Here's the first tune." Usually he'd play us a demo. It would be a home demo with a drum machine and a synth. Then he'd play a rehearsal demo, because they had actually rehearsed some of the material up from the initial demo stage in November. I guess that was in 2010. And so we listened to both, and then we'd go in the room and start playing it.

Is this you, Gail, Gerry Leonard and David?
Yes, and David Torn. The first week in May we actually had both guitar players, David Torn and Gerry Leonard. Gail was on bass and David was on either synths or he'd play acoustic guitar or piano, depending on the song.

Gerry would hand out charts while we listened to the song so we'd have something to follow, and we could make any notes we needed. We listened to the songs about two or three times, and then it was time to go play it. That was the drill.

I assume David told you that you couldn't tell a soul about the sessions.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He handed out nondisclosure forms for everyone to sign.

Did you even tell your family?
Yes. I told my wife and my kids. But we home-school, so I didn't have to worry about them blabbing it all over school.

It's pretty amazing in this day and age that it didn't get out there.
Yeah. I think it's a real testament to the value of privacy. This is zero promotion. Basically, him saying nothing is almost promoting the record itself.

Being quiet a whole decade and doing no interviews makes him this real mysterious character. It's almost like he's this ghost, and I can understand why he's reluctant to give that up.
In this day and age, people are so distracted that it's hard to show them anything they'll pay attention to. By actually giving them nothing, they want to know more.

I've only heard the single, but everyone keeps telling me the rest of the album sounds much different than that song.
Oh yeah. There's definitely a lot of up-tempo material. That's some kind of Sixties doo-wop-ish material. Although I don't remember a lot of the songs. I mean, it'll be two years in May since we did it. I haven't heard any of it since. I hope to have the chance to hear it soon myself.

So you basically only spent three total weeks working on the album?
Yeah.

Can you walk me through your average day of recording? What was the routine?
Well, the routine was very much like going to work. It was a lot of fun for me, because I don't live in the city anymore, but I grew up there. This was a nice way to come back. Every morning I'd stroll through Soho to go to the Magic Shop. I'd show up around 10:30 a.m. David was almost always already there. He'd be in the control room strumming away on something. Then he'd come back when we were all gathered and drinking our coffees. He'd then throw on a demo. Gerry would hand out charts, we'd take notes, and after hearing it two or three times he'd say, "Everybody ready?" We'd say "Yeah," and we'd go in and play it through. We'd only do two or three takes and he'd say, "Either we've got it or we don't."

On one occasion I recall we came back in and he still wasn't happy, so he wanted us to move on. He'd rather keep the momentum going and keep the juices flowing than sit there and hammer out a tune until it's perfect.

So we'd do the first one, then we would break for lunch. Then the same drill. We'd listen to another one, takes notes, go in . . . Usually we'd finish by five or six.

Roughly how many takes do you think you did of most of the songs?
I would say between two and five takes for all the songs.

Is that sort of low in your experience?
That is low, actually. It may not sound like it, but you can do a lot of takes in no time. Because they're all rehearsals. I can't tell you how many sessions I go to and I say, "Oh, wow, let's listen to the third take. That was the best one." And someone will say, "That was actually the sixth take." You forget how many times you've done something. So this was pretty low. On a couple of occasions it was only one take.

You said some of the songs were sort of doo-wop. Earl Slick told me some were Rolling Stones-esque. Can you describe the sound of the songs a little more?
There are a couple that remind me of the Scary Monsters period, because they're a bit more angular and aggressive-sounding, so I would approach them that way, because naturally I'm trying to tie the material into my association of what Bowie music sounds like.

There's another number that's a straight-up country song. There was another one that was based on a blues riff, but we had specific instructions to not make it sound like the blues. There were two songs that sort of had a Bo Diddley feel. I remember specifically shying away from that because I didn't want it to sound like "Panic in Detroit."

Do you know any of the songs titles?
They've changed. The only ones that have remained from my initial days are "The Stars (Are Out Tonight) and . . . is there one called "Ya Ya?"

I don't think so.
I remember "Boss of Me." We cut that with Tony Levin on bass. I remember specifically thinking, "Oh, this one sounds kind of funky. Wouldn't it be great if he played the [Chapman] Stick?" I suggested that, and Tony wasn't thrilled with that, because there were a lot of chord changes. He doesn't like to do songs with chord changes on the Stick, but everybody thought it sounded great. That sounded almost Peter Gabriel-like, like something from the "Big Time" era.

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I cant remember the last time a new record by anyone was  anticipated so much. And a huge part of that is because it appears to have come from nowhere and because Bowie still hasnt uttered a public word about it and appears to have no plans to do so.

As Zack says "Basically, him saying nothing is almost promoting the record itself".

David Bowie and Iggy Pop Biopic to Focus on Berlin Years
Film will chronicle their collaborations in the Seventies
     
February 7, 2013 11:35 AM ET
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Iggy Pop and David Bowie in New York City.
Busacca/Larry

A new biopic titled Lust For Life will focus on David Bowie and Iggy Pop's legendary collaboration in West Berlin in the 1970s, The Hollywood Reporter reports.

Gabriel Range (Death of a President) is attached to direct the movie, which will chronicle Bowie and Pop during the period that resulted in what are regarded as some of their best albums: Bowie's Low and Pop's The Idiot and Lust for Life. Robin French wrote the screenplay based on sources including Paul Trynka's books Starman: David Bowie and Open Up and Bleed: Iggy Pop.

Q&A: David Bowie Guitarist Earl Slick on Secret New Album Sessions

Berlin-based producer Egoli Tossell said in a statement that Lust for Life "is not a traditional rock biopic, for no one dies at the end," and added that the film's central character will be the divided city of West Berlin, which attracted all sorts of artists, activists and pleasure-seekers during the Seventies.

Bowie's time in Berlin was a central part of "Where Are We Now," the musician's first new song in 10 years, which will appear on his 30th studio record The Next Day, set for a March release. The video for the song shows Bowie walking around the city, revisiting places from his past, including an auto repair shop downstairs from his old apartment.

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David Bowie Guitarist Gerry Leonard: 'Odds of a Tour Are 50-50'
Longtime collaborator also talks about playing on new album
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David Bowie perfoms in New York City.
KMazur/WireImage
By Andy Greene
February 20, 2013 4:55 PM ET

David Bowie is doing no interviews or appearances of any kind to promote his upcoming LP, The Next Day. Thankfully, he's allowing everybody else involved with the record to talk publicly. In recent weeks, Rolling Stone spoke with producer Tony Visconti, drummer Zack Alford and guitarist Earl Slick. At the risk of going completely overboard, we also chatted up guitarist Gerry Leonard earlier this week. He's been Bowie's musical director and guitarist on all of his recent albums and tours.  

The guitarist is more optimistic than many about whether or not Bowie will tour. "I would say that it's 50-50," he says. "A couple of times, when we played back one of the more kick-ass tunes from the new record, he'd be like, 'This would be great live!' Of course, everyone was like, 'What? Did he just say that?' But other times he'd just roll his eyes if someone brought up playing live."  

Twelve Albums We're Looking Forward to in 2013: David Bowie, The Next Day

He continues, "If he gets the bug in him to do it, it'll happen. His voice is sounding great and he's looking great, too. He could totally do it. You never know with David, though. I feel he might want to make another record before he plays shows. He's being really prolific right now."

Rolling Stone also spoke with Leonard about his earliest days with Bowie, the premature end of the 2004 Reality tour due to Bowie's heart condition and the secret sessions for The Next Day.  

How did you first come into contact with David Bowie?
I'd always lived in Dublin, and I moved to New York around 1997. I just worked my way up as a guitar player and I got to meet all of these wonderful people, like Laurie Anderson and producer Mark Plati. It was through him that I met David, since they were working together at the time. He knew my kind of ambient guitar style and asked me to play on a track for Bowie's [ultimately shelved] Toy record. Then he called me in to play on a few tracks on [2002's] Heathen.

Then David asked to me audition for the [touring] band. I do a solo thing called Spooky Ghost and he came down to see me in a tiny club with about 50 people. They need a guitar player to cover the Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew parts. . . the more kind of wacky stuff. David turned to Mark and said, "Can Gerry rock?" I do this kind of very improvised thing with looping and textures with a little trio. He really liked it and he invited me into the band.

Your first show was at Roseland Ballroom in 2002 when Bowie did Low straight through. That's a pretty intense way to start.
Yeah, it was very intense. We played Heathen and then Low straight through. I had talked him into letting me play this very elaborate loop on one of the Heathen tracks. I set the whole thing up and then the band comes in around me. I'm just about to walk onstage and he taps me on the shoulder and says, "Don't fuck it up, Gerry."

How well did you know Bowie's catalog at that point? That's a lot of material to learn.
Yeah, I had my gaps. Growing up in Dublin, some of that stuff filtered through, like the Berlin trilogy, and the earlier records were around. But I didn't have much money, so I had cassettes of my friends' records. When I got the job, I had to do some brushing up. When I took over as his musical director, I asked him to send me a bunch of records. I had just bought this old house and I had this table I knew was eight feet long. I had two rows of CDs laid out on this table. That's sixteen feet of CDs, just to start out with. That's a lot of songs.

I'm sure it was surreal to find yourself onstage at Roseland playing Low straight through.
That was really fun. We went on and played a few shows and I remember one night, we were playing at this tiny place in Berlin, maybe 1,200 people or something like that. It was a real pressure cooker. We're getting called back for a second and third encore, and after that David goes, "Let's do the Low record." We were like, "Sure!" The audience just freaked out. Can you imagine it's the third encore and he just comes on and said, "We're gonna play Low?" It was totally spontaneous, but we had it in our back pocket by that point.

By the time you launched the Reality tour the following year, the repertoire had really grown.
We'd work up new songs in soundcheck all the time and work them until we were ready to have him sing with us. We got to do [1970's]  "The Supermen" and all this stuff that was really left-of-center, but really great album tracks. The fans were really going crazy for it.

Every period of his career got some love. You're doing "Station to Station" and "Loving the Alien" and "The Motel."
Yeah, we did "Suffragette City" and "Blue Jean," "Bewlay Brothers" and "Fantastic Voyage" and then we'd do "All the Young Dudes" and "Changes" and all his hallmark songs. We were all over his catalog. He had a love/hate relationship with "Let's Dance," but when we hit Australia and he hadn't been there in years, he would do it. If we were playing Britain or something, we'd focus on more obscure stuff.

Do you remember the Oslo show when a fan threw a lollipop and hit him real hard in the eye?
I do. Somebody else said that it somehow contributed to the demise of his touring at the time, but it was just a little speed bump. My understanding is that it was a Korean girl and she threw it as a form of affection. But it hit him right in the eye. We eventually laughed about it and carried on.

Things changed when he started getting that chest pain [a few days later]. We were onstage in Prague [on June 23rd, 2004] and I could tell. I saw him walk off after four songs and I was like, "What the hell is going on here?" We played a couple of instrumental songs from Low. Then we played another one where Cat Russell was able to sing the lead. Then he came back and we did "Station to Station," which is a monster kind of song. He was like, "You know, I can do it." He just didn't feel well. It was kind of a mystery.

I guess nobody knew how serious it was.
He's been working out with his trainer. The general consensus was, "Oh, maybe he overdid it." They would do some of this boxing, sparring stuff as part of his training. I think he felt like he pulled a muscle in his shoulder.

A couple days later we did the Hurricane Festival in Germany. Afterwards we were holed up at a hotel and somebody said, "We're going home, taking a break." It was a huge disappointment. Everybody felt like David was at the top of his game.

What do you remember from that final show in Germany? Was he in pain?
I've seen some footage from it and it feels like a very relaxed show. It feels almost like we were in the rehearsal room. I don't remember him being in pain, but it was more of a mellow show. I didn't really see him afterwards. I think he took some painkillers and got through the show, but he was exhausted afterwards. Then, obviously, they did some more tests and found the real culprit, which was a blocked artery. They put the stint in and that was it.

He announced a comeback concert in 2007 as part of the Highline Festival. Did he contact you about that?
We'd hear these rumors, but he never contacted us directly. We'd hear a little bit from the office, but with David, stuff is always really under wraps.

How did you first hear about this new record?
I got an e-mail from him in November of 2010. The subject line was "Schtum." That means "keep quiet." It was a little e-mail saying, "Are you available to come work on some new demos? I just want to get together in this little room. Please keep it to yourself. Don't tell a soul." It was obviously one of the most exciting e-mails I got all year. I was like, "Whoa! He's going to do something? Amazing."

It was myself, Tony Visconti, Sterling Campbell and David. We went into this tiny, tiny little rehearsal room downstairs in the East Village. It was like a little dungeon. We went there from Monday to Friday one week. He would pull these songs out of a hat. He's very old-school. He had this book bag with a legal pad and a little four-track recorder where he'd cut these little scratch demos. He would pull out a song and we'd chart out the chords and try to figure it out. We'd play it through a few times, kind of extend it a bit, come up with a form, and then put it away. By the end of the week, we'd cut all these demos, just for him.

It was really exciting, but it was totally under wraps. We just went there, put our heads down and worked on the new music. I was really thankful he was writing again, and he was in great form. He was really excited as we brought all these songs to life. On the Friday, I said goodbye and he went, "See ya!" That was it until May of 2011 when I got the call saying, "Okay, we're going into Magic Shop. Are you available these two weeks?"  They did two weeks in May. I was involved in about eight days where we basically tracked live.

That summer, he came up to visit me in Woodstock. He asked me if I had a drum machine. He said, "Okay, I'll come over for coffee and maybe we'll do a little more writing." I didn't actually have a drum machine, so I ran over to my friend's house. He has a nice old Roland TR-808. I said, "Ed, I'm borrowing your drum machine. I can't tell you what for, but I need to take it right now." David came over and we wrote a couple of songs together. Then we went back into the studio and did two of those songs. It was such an honor. This session was over two weeks in September of 2011.

What happened in 2012?
I heard they were doing vocals and a little bit of strings or saxophone or piano. He would disappear for a few months and then call up Tony Visconti to book another couple of weeks. I went back in March of 2012 for a couple of days to do more guitar over drums.

This is all taking a really long time. Did you worry he was going to wind up shelving the whole thing?
Absolutely. All the time. When I went back in 2012 they played me some partially mixed stuff. I'm always the one who fears the worst, but at that point I realized it was actually going to happen. Before that I was thinking, "Maybe he's going to scrap it, or maybe he's going down to Zimbabwe and make a record with people down there."

Why do you think he's been so quiet? It doesn't seem like he's going to promote the record by doing any interviews.
I think he's reinventing the wheel. He's in a world where everybody is Tweeting and Facebooking. He's doing the complete opposite, and then he comes completely out of the blue with this thing. The silence is part of it. He's letting the record come out, letting the artwork out, letting the video out. In his mind, those are the artistic statements - not getting on the phone with everybody and setting it up with all kinds of chatter. So I really think it's just part of his aesthetic right now.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/david-bowie-guitarist-gerry-leonard-odds-of-a-tour-are-50-50-20130220#ixzz2LZaZeVCB
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http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/music/the-stars-are-out-tonight-well-it-wouldnt-be-david-bowie-if-it-was-sane-8511427.html

http://www.standard.co.uk/incoming/article8511248.ece/ALTERNATES/w620/David+Bowie+The+Stars+%28Are+Out+Tonight%29

Thanks Lantern for the new video, I didn't care for the song but the video was great, music has got got to grab me sometimes when I know it's good, you know how from first hearing a new song it just gets you, this just sounds like countless other songs, no hook.

LanternHigh wrote on Feb 26^th, 2013 at 7:13am:

http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/music/the-stars-are-out-tonight-well-it-wouldnt-be-david-bowie-if-it-was-sane-8511427.html http://www.standard.co.uk/incoming/article8511248.ece/ALTERNATES/w620/David+Bowie+The+Stars+%28Are+Out+Tonight%29

A kind of new China Girl !!

Stars are out Tonight !!   get your Rocks Off....

I Tunes is streaming the new lp for a few days
Sounding good...

In case ya dont have i-tunes, here it is on You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FPXXTBNX5Ms

Loving it so far. 'Love is Lost' is marvellous.



Ol' Two Eyes Is Back and his voice is fucking soaring .....

HE'S SO FANTASTIC.
ALWAYS SO INNOVATIVE AND COOL.
PERKS DIGS IT.

(You Will)Set The World On Fire-my pick to click-Big ass geetar!

Gazza wrote on Mar 1^st, 2013 at 2:12pm:

In case ya dont have i-tunes, here it is on You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FPXXTBNX5Ms Loving it so far. 'Love is Lost' is marvellous. Ol' Two Eyes Is Back and his voice is fucking soaring .....

Not on youtube anymore. >:(

Listen to entire album for free here, oh it's perfectly legal as well. http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/03/listen-to-david-bowies-first-album-in-10-years-for-free-online-legally/

Nellcote wrote on Mar 1^st, 2013 at 8:12am:

I Tunes is streaming the new lp for a few days Sounding good...

On spotify now too

David Bowie Teams With Paul Smith for 'The Next Day' Shirt

POSTED: March 6, 12:35 PM ET
http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/blog_entry/1000x306/bowie-306v-1362590956.jpg
David Bowie
Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images

David Bowie has teamed with designer Paul Smith for a new T-shirt celebrating his new album The Next Day. The shirt features "discreet" Paul Smith artwork designed by Jonathan Barnbrook, and takes inspiration from the cover for Bowie's 1977 album Heroes. It's just one of many planned collaborations between Bowie and Smith this year.

100 Greatest Artists: David Bowie

"David Bowie has worn a lot of Paul Smith throughout his career and I was excited and delighted when asked if I would do the official T-shirt for his album, The Next Day," Smith told the U.K. edition of Vogue. "There will also be some other great things coming up later in the year."

The David Bowie and Paul Smith shirt will be available March 7th on Smith's website. The Next Day, Bowie's first studio album in ten years, is out March 12th, and streaming now on iTunes.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/blogs/thread-count/david-bowie-teams-with-paul-smith-for-the-next-day-shirt-20130306#ixzz2MnoB2d7l
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Seems he's going to tour after all. Who says so ? - well, his wife does, it would seem....


http://idolator.com/7446259/david-bowie-tour-wife-iman


David Bowie Will Tour, According To His Wife Iman
Carl Williott March 13th, 2013 //

http://cdn.idolator.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/13/101871147-600x450.jpg

David Bowie will, in fact, be touring to support his new album The Next Day, at least according to an out-of-context statement his wife Iman made to a British magazine. Bowie and Iman live in New York City with their daughter Alexandria, and Iman seemed to imply that she’d stay home with the 12-year-old while Bowie tours to support his first album in a decade. “[W]e are stuck, we can’t travel. Our schedule is around her, so I don’t know. We’ll have to go visit him, but we won’t be on tour with him because she’s in school.”

She said the secret word! Still sounds like it could be a hypothetical scenario, but it’s more promising than statements made by Bowie’s longtime collaborator Tony Visconti earlier this year. In January, Visconti told NME that there would be no tour in support of the new album, or ever. “He’s fairly adamant he’s never gonna perform live again,” Visconti said. “One of the guys would say, ‘Boy, how are we gonna do all this live?’ and David said, ‘We’re not.’ He made a point of saying that all the time.”

[via WENN]

Fuck I forgot. Got to grab that tomorrow.

http://www.nme.com/news/david-bowie/69172

http://static.nme.com/images/gallery/DavidBowieaughp.jpg

His album is very good.  Enjoyed to listen it.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5he1fDjLy1r8lacho1_400.jpg

For Gazza....



http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a465781/david-bowie-battles-bon-jovi-for-first-us-no1-album.html

David Bowie battles Bon Jovi for first US No.1 album

Published Thursday, Mar 14 2013, 17:23 GMT | By Lewis Corner | 2 commentsRecommend 4
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David Bowie will battle Bon Jovi for his first ever US number one album.

The singer's comeback collection The Next Day is expected to top the Billboard 200 next week.

http://i2.cdnds.net/13/02/300x225/music-david-bowie-2.jpg   http://i1.cdnds.net/11/24/music_bon_jovi.jpg

Industry analysts have predicted that the set could shift around 90,000 copies during its first week on sale, making it Bowie's first ever number one collection in the USA.

The star's previous peak on the Billboard 200 was number three for his 1976 album Station to Station, reports Billboard.

However, Bon Jovi are also looking likely to sell around 90,000 copies of their new collection What About Now.

If the band manage to deny Bowie his first US chart-topper, it would mark the fifth time they have hit number one in the US.

Meanwhile, Bowie's The Next Day is currently the fastest-selling album of 2013 in the UK and looks set to be his first British chart-topper in nearly 20 years.

David Bowie has done it once again. Second favorite artist behind you-know-who.

If he does tour..... :keithpunky

Bowie sounds like he has ( once again) channeled Scott Walker...which is a GREAT thing.

TONY LEVIN plays on 5 or 6 tracks!!!!

I do wish walker would come out of recluse and work with Bowie...He is a huge fan of the 30 Century Man

I could see a limited tour...clubs and such...The mellow Bowie playing his more intimate stuff and the new stuff...which is quite nice, indeed...Boss Of Me being a fave of mine...and Set The World On Fire is AMAZING!!!

To all my friends in the US

If the much lauded comeback album by the great David Bowie is beaten to the top spot by an album which even Bon Jovi fans are describing as a dud then your country will lose a century of musical credibility at a fucking stroke.

It would be the musical equivalent of some deadbeat fecal matter from the Jerry Springer show running for President and being elected.

Do NOT let this happen.

Gazza wrote on Mar 15^th, 2013 at 11:29am:

To all my friends in the US If the much lauded comeback album by the great David Bowie is beaten to the top spot by an album which even Bon Jovi fans are describing as a dud then your country will lose a century of musical credibility at a fucking stroke. It would be the musical equivalent of some deadbeat fecal matter from the Jerry Springer show running for President and being elected. Do NOT let this happen.

...Please... don't blame me...I will buy Bowie's new album. :booze

Gazza wrote on Mar 15^th, 2013 at 11:29am:

To all my friends in the US If the much lauded comeback album by the great David Bowie is beaten to the top spot by an album which even Bon Jovi fans are describing as a dud then your country will lose a century of musical credibility at a fucking stroke. It would be the musical equivalent of some deadbeat fecal matter from the Jerry Springer show running for President and being elected. Do NOT let this happen.

Calm down Gazza. They (Con Jovi) are not worth it  :interestingstuffronnie

sc uk

FIRST CD NEW RELEASE I WILL BUY SINCE SUPERHEAVY.
HOPE IT'S AS GOOD !

dear mr gazza
do not fret this is our way
de tocqueville said so
here in the swamps of joyzee and the suburban wastelands the favorite is the shiny haired one
the stadiums will be filled, the tanning booths will be occupied and the salons will be packed

the new all bongiovani station to debut on siriusxm on march 22
no word on an all bowie station
i have purchased the new bowie deluxe disc
played it for the family
it is a wonderful record
sad that mr fripp could not reprise his role but looks like his affect was achieved
i will give it another spin this evening after dinner and brandy........

Gazza wrote on Mar 15^th, 2013 at 11:29am:

To all my friends in the US

Do you think sending out a message to 3 individuals will really make a difference?!?   ;D ;D ;D

Seriously...after my 4 straight through listenings to this album today...I am INCREDIBLY IMPRESSED...

Side topic...the "charts"have now become a non-issue except for vanity bragging rights...now they are including YOU TUBE hits into the formula...Even, I know, that a very simple program can be written to repeat/request a video to be played...ANYONE can play a video on You Tube...and somehow that now counts as something significant???

Paranoid Android wrote on Mar 15^th, 2013 at 7:03pm:

Gazza wrote on Mar 15th, 2013 at 11:29am: To all my friends in the US Do you think sending out a message to 3 individuals will really make a difference?!?   ;D ;D ;D Seriously...after my 4 straight through listenings to this album today...I am INCREDIBLY IMPRESSED...

Just got it and totally digging it so far


Quote:

Side topic...the "charts"have now become a non-issue except for vanity bragging rights...now they are including YOU TUBE hits into the formula...Even, I know, that a very simple program can be written to repeat/request a video to be played...ANYONE can play a video on You Tube...and somehow that now counts as something significant???

Rebecca Black has about a trillion views of "Friday." I saw her at the House Of Blues in Anaheim last December. Could have walked through there with my arms outstretched without hitting anybody.

Bluzdude wrote on Mar 15^th, 2013 at 4:15pm:

Gazza wrote on Mar 15th, 2013 at 11:29am: To all my friends in the US If the much lauded comeback album by the great David Bowie is beaten to the top spot by an album which even Bon Jovi fans are describing as a dud then your country will lose a century of musical credibility at a fucking stroke. It would be the musical equivalent of some deadbeat fecal matter from the Jerry Springer show running for President and being elected. Do NOT let this happen. ...Please... don't blame me...I will buy Bowie's new album. :booze

I just bought it too.......So I'm innocent. :Youmakeagrownmancrylikejoey

I bought it on Tuesday when it was released.:-)

Need to update...EDIT...whatever, any previous posts...

THIS ALBUM IS FUCKING AMAZING!!!

Bowie seems to be drawing form Vintage Bowie...Scott Walker...Jack White...and more Bowie...
I am not sure, but there may even be a touch of auto-tuner in there at times...an effect that works perfectly...just think Scary Monsters or Be My Wife...

I keep finding more sonic glory with every listening...

BUY THIS RECORD!!!

Love it! it's the best record I heard in years, he put a lot of work in this, of course he had lots of time to do it, Love "the stars are out tonight" it's about time we got some good music in this day & age.

Heart Of Stone wrote on Mar 16^th, 2013 at 7:52pm:

Love it! it's the best record I heard in years, he put a lot of work in this, of course he had lots of time to do it, Love "the stars are out tonight" it's about time we got some good music in this day & age.

You have said so. Did you get my thought. And it was time for the good music!!

Number 1 in the UK.

Over to you, Yanks.

You know what to do.


http://i89.servimg.com/u/f89/13/19/24/63/bj_cop10.jpg

Now I'm, motivated. I still have to go old school and buy Bowie's cd along with Claptons which just dropped this week. Then add to my Ipod.

Rick

Gazza wrote on Mar 17^th, 2013 at 2:03pm:

Number 1 in the UK. Over to you, Yanks. You know what to do. http://i89.servimg.com/u/f89/13/19/24/63/bj_cop10.jpg

Yes, let us wake up & make it #1, I'm in Canada but I copied this line from an article.
The question will now be how the recording fares in the United States, where Bowie has never had a number one album.

He still hasn't.



DAVID BOWIE gets this highest ever charting album debut in the USA at position NUMBER TWO with The Next Day. Sales of 83,000 in the first week.

Bon Jovi took the number one slot with sales of 100,000.

David's previous highest position for a debut album in the USA was #3 with Station To Station.


http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_li69zrA8vP1qhp6ako1_500.jpg


FOR FUCK'S SAKE!!!!!!!!!

Gazza wrote on Mar 19^th, 2013 at 5:35pm:

Bon Jovi took the number one slot with sales of 100,000.

BECAUSE WE CAN!!!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chXJFjrl-Q4

On the Charts: David Bowie and Bon Jovi Debut Strong
Justin Timberlake already Number One on iTunes as pre-order
     
By Steve Knopper
March 20, 2013 12:25 PM ET
http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/on-the-charts-david-bowie-and-bon-jovi-debut-strong-20130320/1000x306/bowie306v-1363783231.jpg
David Bowie
Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images

WINNER OF THE WEEK: David Bowie. Yes, technically, Bon Jovi's What About Now is Number One (95,000 copies sold) and Bowie's The Next Day (85,000) is Number Two. But be honest – given the choice, would you rather write 174 words about Bon Jovi or Bowie? Besides, Bowie beats Bon Jovi on the iTunes album chart – Number Four to Number Five (both surrendering to Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience pre-order, Luke Bryan's Spring Break . . . Here to Party and Imagine Dragons' Night Visions). The Thin White Duke's first album since 2003 gets him into the Top 10 for the first time since Let's Dance in 1983. It's mildly impressive in that Bowie did relatively little marketing for the new album, other than releasing a surprise single, "Where Are We Now?," on January 8th, when nobody else was putting out music and fans were still bleary-eyed from New Year's hangovers and whatnot. If codger-rocker chart trends stay consistent, both Bowie and Bon Jovi are almost certain to drop by next week, so enjoy these surges while you can.

Video: David Bowie, 'The Stars (Are Out Tonight)'

LOSER OF THE WEEK: Jimi Hendrix. In a week of classic-rock winners, including Eric Clapton, whose Old Sock made its debut on the albums chart at Number Seven, with 37,000, the Undead Hendrix takes a perhaps unexpected tumble after a slow-week Number One. (Speaking of Clapton – Old Sock? That's the name of your album? Evocative! Although the follow-up title, Gas-Station Urinal, is more likely to appeal to the Katy Perry crowd.) The news here isn't so much about Hendrix, although it's a bummer that a nice combing-the-vaults release like People, Hell & Angels had to drop 58 percent in sales, with just 30,000, and plummet to Number 10. It's that new releases, at the end of a slow first quarter, are finally starting to come back – not only Timberlake but, in coming weeks, Lil Wayne, Eric Church, Paramore, Snoop Lion and Fall Out Boy.

BOLD PREDICTION OF THE WEEK: Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience hits Number One next week. As mentioned, it's already at Number One on iTunes as a pre-order, and while "Suit & Tie" has been out since January, it gained strength at radio, hit Number Four on iTunes' Top Songs and jumped from Number Five to Number Four on Billboard's Digital Songs chart, selling 201,000, an increase of 33 percent. It helps, of course, that Timberlake has a comedy gear, and can host Saturday Night Live and reprise rap history with Jimmy Fallon, rather than just spewing out new songs on TV.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/on-the-charts-david-bowie-and-bon-jovi-debut-strong-20130320#ixzz2O73zdb9F
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A Bowie Channel on Sirius would have been  so totally  amazing!!! I am rather surprised it hasn't been worked out. Bowie was one of the frontier artist who helped promote XM in it's infancy.
I still remember his commercials with the artist formally known as Snoop Dog...

BUT NOOOOOOOOO...instead...we get this travesty:
(sorry Gazza...I hope you didn't just barf out your pint)

---

Jesus  Christ...Bon Jovi Radio...isn't that forbidden due to the results of the Geneva Convention?

Anyway: Bowie's new one went straight to number 1 in the Netherlands as well. But before you applaud the fine taste of the Dutchl, know that there's an annual top 2000 on the radio each year where Don H. and his legion from hell are the dark horse for the topspot with the bucket of vomit that is called Hotel Nevada (you know it's the state west of Nevada, but that song must be named), so the number 1 spot for Bowie is a welcome surprise from the regular.

Love The Next Day btw (duh)

Finnaly just listin 2 it. Twice. Dancing Out In Space. I like that one.  :smoking :aimama :paristhong Dancing face to face................... :forfucksake ...........Dancing Out Of Space.......... :smoking  Dancing Out In Space..................................................................................................... :smilestu

Go to the site for the video.


David Bowie's Legacy: 'He Has the Power to Change Lives'
Thurston Moore, Daphne Guinness and more on the pop star's lasting influence
Comment
10      
By
Jon Blistein
March 29, 2013 12:25 PM

David Bowie's considerable legacy is on display now as part of the new exhibit "David Bowie Is" at the Victoria & Albert Museum of Art and Design in London. Now you can get a taste of what the exhibit has to offer with this short film titled David Bowie Is: Blowing Our Minds, which features Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, music writer Simon Price and the artists Jeremy Deller and Daphne Guinness talking about the trajectory of Bowie's ever-evolving style, his collaborative genius and his incredible influence on musicians, artists and pop culture as a whole.

David Bowie Confronts Fame in 'The Stars (Are Out Tonight)'

Moore recalls being enthralled by the urban landscape on the cover of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, while Price says that Bowie transcends pop music: "I think perhaps unlike any other pop artist, David Bowie has the power to change lives," Price says. "He has to be one of the most influential artists of all time, without a doubt."

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/david-bowies-legacy-he-has-the-power-to-change-lives-20130329#ixzz2Oy4ZSNuH
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Slightly off topic...here is BECK and company doing Bowie's Sound & vision...
a marvelous piece...

Not really a tribute...more like an start of a new Religion called Zen Bowie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnOmrDzRrGQ

Bowie's London V & A exhibition video of The Diamond Dogs show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sXnl7GntLo&feature=em-uploademail

David Bowie Delivers 42-Word Statement About 'The Next Day'
Novelist Rick Moody used scant words in a lengthy essay about new album
http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/david-bowie-delivers-42-word-statement-about-the-next-day-20130425/1000x600/20130425-bowie-x600-1366922688.jpg      
David Bowie
Jimmy King
By Andy Greene
April 25, 2013 5:20 PM ET

It's been almost four months since David Bowie announced he was returning from semi-retirement and six weeks since The Next Day arrived on shelves, but Bowie has yet to utter a word in public, let alone make any sort of appearance, in support of the album. He is starting to crack just the tiniest bit, though.

On Daily Beast: David Bowie's Eclectic Style Evolution

The Rumpus writer Rick Moody recently asked him to supply a "work flow diagram" for his new album and Bowie responded with forty-two words. Here they are:

Effigies

Indulgences

Anarchist

Violence

Chthonic

Intimidation

Vampyric

Pantheon

Succubus

Hostage

Transference

Identity

Mauer

Interface

Flitting

Isolation

Revenge

Osmosis

Crusade

Tyrant

Domination

Indifference

Miasma

Pressgang

Displaced

Flight

Resettlement

Funereal

Glide

Trace

Balkan

Burial

Reverse

Manipulate

Origin

Text

Traitor

Urban

Comeuppance

Tragic

Nerve

Mystification

Moody then proceeds to write over 12,000 words using Bowie's own to break down the album. To put it mildly, the man is a big fan. "The Next Day is the unlikeliest masterpiece of the recent popular song, the best album by an otherwise retired classic rock artist in many, many years," he writes in his introduction. "It kicks the shit out of that recent spate of albums by Neil Young and Crazy Horse, it is better than anything the Stones did since Tattoo You (which is mainly good because of Sonny Rollins anyhow), better than anything Van Morrison has done since Avalon Sunset, better than anything Dylan has done since Time Out of Mind, better than anything Brian Ferry has done since Mamouna (19 years ago), better than anything Joni Mitchell has done since Mingus, better than anything Jimi Hendrix has done since Electric Ladyland, better than anything Elvis Costello has done since Blood and Chocolate, better than anything Paul McCartney has done since Run Devil Run, better than anything associated with the Who since Who By Numbers."

Now the bigger question: do these 42 words mean that Bowie is gradually stepping back into the public sphere? Might he give us a few sentences next time? Maybe even a whole paragraph, or possibly an interview? How about some sort of performance? A concert? A tour? We shall see what comes, but these are 42 more words from Bowie than we had yesterday.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/david-bowie-delivers-42-word-statement-about-the-next-day-20130425#ixzz2RbmX7NFq
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I notice he didn't use the word tour.

VIDEO ON SITE.


David Bowie Features Gary Oldman, Marion Cotillard in 'The Next Day'
Bloody stigmata bring a swinging party to a halt in new video      
By
Eric R Danton
May 8, 2013 7:55 AM

David Bowie doesn't stint on A-list talent: after starring opposite Tilda Swinton in his last video, for "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)," the rocker features Marion Cotillard and Gary Oldman in his new clip for "The Next Day."

Q&A: David Bowie Guitarist Earl Slick on Secret New Album Sessions

The video opens with a priest played by Oldman punching a street-urchin beggar in the face, then continuing into a club filled with clergy engaging in all sorts of un-priestly activity. A Christ-like Bowie sings from a stage while scantily clad women dance suggestively – until one of them, played by Cotillard, develops stigmata, bringing the party to a sudden, bloody halt.

"The Next Day" is the title track from Bowie's latest album, which he released in March after a surprise announcement revealing its existence on his 66th birthday in January. The Next Day was Bowie's first collection of new material since Reality in 2003.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/david-bowie-features-gary-oldman-marion-cotillard-in-the-next-day-20130508#ixzz2SjmZtbMU
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David Bowie's 'The Next Day' Clip Attacked by Catholic League
'The video reflects the artist – it is a mess,' group says online

By Eric R Danton
May 9, 2013 8:20 AM ET
David Bowie
http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/david-bowies-the-next-day-clip-mocked-by-catholic-league-20130509/1000x306/bowie-305v-1368101480.jpg
David Bowie
Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images

Not everyone is excited about David Bowie's return: The Catholic League yesterday attacked the singer's new video for "The Next Day," calling it the work of a "switch-hitting, bisexual senior citizen from London" that "is strewn with characteristic excess."

Catholic League president Bill Donohue made his comments in a statement posted on the group's website. Bowie wrote and Floria Sigismondi directed the video, which features Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard. The clip shows priests frolicking with scantily clad women in a nightclub where a Christ-like singer, played by Bowie, is performing. One of the women, played by Cotillard, develops stigmata, and Bowie disappears in a wink, presumably to ascend into heaven.

David Bowie Features Gary Oldman, Marion Cotillard in 'The Next Day'

"In short, the video reflects the artist – it is a mess," Donohue wrote, noting Bowie's statements over the years about various faiths and dogmas demonstrate the singer "is nothing if not confused about religion."

The Catholic League and Donohue have criticized entertainers for insufficient piety before, including Jon Stewart and The Daily Show, Jamie Foxx and Bill Maher.

Donohue wasn't the only one to take issue with the video for "The Next Day": YouTube briefly pulled the clip yesterday for violating its terms of service, before restoring ita few hours later. "With the massive volume of videos on our site, sometimes we make the wrong call," a YouTube spokesperson told Billboard. The song comes from Bowie's latest album, The Next Day, which came out in March.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/david-bowies-the-next-day-clip-mocked-by-catholic-league-20130509#ixzz2SqCcL0L3
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David Bowie's Bassist Trevor Bolder Dies
Tributes are paid to a "world-class" rock musician who played with Bowie, Uriah Heep and Spiders From Mars.

Uriah Heep and Spiders From Mars bassist Trevor Bolder has died aged 62 following a battle with cancer.

Bolder joined David Bowie's backing band in 1971, appearing on classic albums including Hunky Dory and Aladdin Sane. He went on to join Uriah Heep five years later and only stopped playing with the band a few months ago, due to his poor health.

Tributes were paid to him as a "world-class" rock musician.

A statement from Uriah Heep said: "It is with great sadness that Uriah Heep announce the passing of our friend the amazing Trevor Bolder, who has passed away after his long fight with cancer.



"Trevor was an all-time great, one of the outstanding musicians of his generation, and one of the finest and most influential bass players that Britain ever produced.

"His long time membership of Uriah Heep brought the band's music, and Trevor's virtuosity and enthusiasm, to hundreds of thousands of fans across the world.

"He joined the band in 1976 and, barring one short break, was a fixture until his ill health forced him to take a step back early this year.

"Prior to joining Heep he was a founder and ever-present member of David Bowie's legendary Spiders From Mars band, performing on all of their key albums and at countless shows.

"He also performed with Wishbone Ash, Cybernauts and The Rats."

Lead guitarist Mick Box said: "Trevor was a world-class bass player, singer and songwriter, and more importantly a world-class friend. He will be sadly missed by family, friends and rock fans all over the world. We are all numb to the core."




http://news.sky.com/story/1094016/david-bowies-bassist-trevor-bolder-dies

rest in peace mr bolder

R.I.P. Trevor, Cancer is just getting every Rock musician (so it seems) these days.

Cancer Sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RIP Trevor

The Bowie exhibition is coming to Toronto!

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/visualarts/2013/06/11/david_bowie_exhibit_coming_to_ago_in_september.html

Looking forward to visiting it when I'm in London next month for the Stones gig.

Gazza wrote on Jun 11^th, 2013 at 3:28pm:

The Bowie exhibition is coming to Toronto! http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/visualarts/2013/06/11/david_bowie_exhibit_coming_to_ago_in_september.html Looking forward to visiting it when I'm in London next month for the Stones gig.

Thanks, Gazza! Now on my radar.

Video On Site.

Click here to find out more!
David Bowie Radiates Intensity in 'Valentine's Day'
Look on singer's face becomes more ferocious throughout song      
By
Eric R Danton      
July 16, 2013 7:30 AM

After a string of previous videos found David Bowie wandering alone through old haunts, confronting a version of his younger self with Tilda Swinton and pissing off the Catholic League opposite Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard, the singer keeps things simple in the new clip for "Valentine's Day." Bowie mostly just sits on a stool and strums a guitar amid skeletal concrete pillars in what looks like a half-finished building.

Directed by Indrani and Markus Klinko, the perspective of the video occasionally brushes past Bowie, pulls back for a long shot or shows a series of quick movements with strobe effects that give them a jerky, stuttering feel. All the while, the look on Bowie's face becomes increasingly intense as the song progresses.

"Valentine's Day" is from Bowie's latest album, The Next Day. The project, released in March, was something of a surprise return for the 66-year-old singer and songwriter, who had scaled back his activities following a 2004 heart attack. Bowie announced The Next Day on his birthday in January with the video for "Where Are We Now?" He has since released clips for "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" and "The Next Day."

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/david-bowie-radiates-intensity-in-valentines-day-20130716#ixzz2ZFTpORSj
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DAVID BOWIE MAY BE PLANNING LIVE COMEBACK
by Billy Dukes September 5, 2013


http://wac.450F.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/ultimateclassicrock.com/files/2013/09/David-Bowie.jpg
Andrew H. Walker, Getty Images


Rumors of David Bowie‘s live comeback have fans buzzing. Depending on your source, the singer is planning a show at either Hyde Park or Olympic Park in London. Of course, all parties officially involved are remaining quiet … mostly.

As far back as March, rumors have been flowing that Bowie was contemplating a tour in support of his latest album, ‘The Next Day.’ The London Mirror says that Live Nation and AEG are both set to make separate generous offers for Bowie to play different venues. Bandmates are coy about the matter (or they truly don’t know), but Bowie’s wife Iman referenced a tour earlier this year, when she claimed that it would be difficult to accommodate one with their daughter’s school schedule.

According to the London Evening Standard, Bowie “knows that the level of expectation for the shows would be huge, and the pressure would be enormous as he would no doubt sell tens of thousands of tickets.”

Only Live Nation CEO Arthur Fogel has offered an official comment on the subject, telling Billboard that all reports of the star’s return are inaccurate. But that just may be code for “start saving ticket money.” Bowie hasn’t performed onstage since 2006 and hasn’t toured since 2004. There’s no word on when this rumored performance would take place, but a 2014 date seems likely.


http://ultimateclassicrock.com/david-bowie-tour-rumors/

David Bowie Re-Release Includes James Murphy Remix
Rocker is expanding 'The Next Day' with extra songs, videos      
David Bowie
http://assets-s3.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/david-bowie-re-release-includes-james-murphy-remix-20130930/1000x600/20130425-bowie-x600-1366922688-1380548383.jpg
Jimmy King
By Erin Coulehan
September 30, 2013 9:55 AM ET

David Bowie is expanding The Next Day, his first album in a decade, with extra songs, videos and new remixes, including one by former LCD Soundsystem leader James Murphy. Bowie will release the three-disc collector's edition, The Next Day Extra, on November 5th. The new edition will include the original 14-track album, a second disc with five previously unreleased songs and a DVD with four videos for tunes on the album.

Where Does David Bowie Rank on Our 100 Greatest Artists List?

Murphy lent his talents on a 10-minute remix of "Love Is Lost." The two also worked together recently on Arcade Fire's new single "Reflektor."

Some of the extras, including Murphy's remix, will also be available as a seven-song digital EP available through iTunes.

You can watch the video for "The Next Day" here.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/david-bowie-re-release-includes-james-murphy-remix-20130930#ixzz2gQMFi8kk
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Paid a fortune for the Jap blu-spec import with the extra songs - not too happy about a 3-disc version....!

but a ten minute remix of 'Love is Lost' (my fave song on the album) does sound intriguing.

James Murphy Remixes David Bowie
Former LCD Soundsytem frontman expands 'Love Is Lost' into 10-minute dance opus
http://assets-s3.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/james-murphy-remixes-david-bowie-20131010/1000x600/101013-james-murphy-600-1381414888.jpg      
James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem performs in New York City.
Andrew H. Walker/WireImage
By Jon Blistein
October 10, 2013 10:50 AM ET

James Murphy's massive 10 minute remix of David Bowie's "Love Is Lost" premiered on BBC Radio 6 this morning, and you can now hear it in full over at Pitchfork (the track will be available to stream on Bowie's website later today, as well).

The former LCD Soundsystem frontman transformed the Next Day track into a slow-burner that starts with incessant click-clack percussion and jittery synth stabs. Halfway through, the track opens up into a steady dance groove -- a close listen hints at what sounds like a piano sample from Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes," but it's actually Murphy's reinterpretation of the classic lick.

See Where David Bowie Falls on Our List of the Greatest Singers

Murphy's reworking of the track will appear on the three-disc deluxe edition of The Next Day, due out November 4th. The new edition will include a DVD and a slew of extras, including five unheard tracks and another brand new remix.

This is the second time Bowie and Murphy have worked together in recent months, with the former lending his vocals to Arcade Fire's "Reflektor," a track that the latter produced.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/james-murphy-remixes-david-bowie-20131010#ixzz2hM6YByVc
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Really liking that remix after a couple of listens.

That Arcade Fire single 'Reflektor' featuring Bowie is an absolute monster of a song, too.

DAVID BOWIE NAMED BEST-DRESSED PERSON IN BRITISH HISTORY
by Jeff Giles October 18, 2013


http://wac.450F.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/ultimateclassicrock.com/files/2013/10/David-Bowie.jpg
Express, Hulton Archive, Getty Images


Hundreds of years’ worth of royals, gentry, and foppish dandies have been bested by a Thin White Duke.

That’s the verdict from BBC History Magazine, anyway. In a recent issue devoted to determining the best-dressed person in all of British history, David Bowie emerged victorious — and it wasn’t even close, with Bowie taking home an impressive 48.5 percent of the vote.

ABC News Radio reports that the 65-year-old Bowie topped an eclectic field of candidates that included Queen Elizabeth I, King Henry III, and Beau Brummell (whose sense of style is so well-known that he was name-checked by Billy Joel in ‘It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me’). “Here was a creative genius who understood art and design, looked cool, inspired us and upset the establishment,” enthused designer Wayne Hemingway, who nominated Bowie for the ballot. “All these attributes lead to things that drive humankind forward…change.”

While it probably seems a little silly to pit Bowie’s changing fashions against kings and queens, he’s undeniably been one of the most image-conscious stars of the rock era, and his constant dabbling with different looks during the ’70s helped lay the groundwork for the more visually driven pop music of the ’80s and beyond — and of course, when he settled into domestic bliss in the ’90s, it was with Iman, one of the world’s reigning supermodels.

Concluded Hemingway, “Bowie has profoundly influenced so many of us. The first concert I went to on my own was David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane tour at King George’s Hall in Blackburn in 1973. After the gig, I went out, got my hair ‘feathered,’ bought a tight-fitting canary yellow T-shirt from Clobber and Bowie’s album from Ames Record Bar. The next day we read in the Evening Telegraph that he [Bowie] had been banned from Blackburn for wearing one of his costume changes — the white sumo knickers. We all wanted to get banned too.”


http://ultimateclassicrock.com/david-bowie-best-dressed-brit/

David Bowie Coming to Sirius XM
An all-Bowie channel will premiere five unheard tracks plus rare performances and covers by Beck and Nirvana
http://assets-s3.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/david-bowie-coming-to-sirius-xm-20131024/1000x600/bowie-600-1382642751.jpg      
David Bowie
Jimmy King
By Mike Ayers
October 24, 2013 4:20 PM ET

David Bowie may not be touring in the foreseeable future, but Sirius XM subscribers can get a healthy dose of the Thin White Duke starting next week on a limited-run, all-Bowie channel. Kicking off on Wednesday, October 30th, and running through November 12th, the network will premiere five unheard songs from Bowie's expanded edition of The Next Day (due out November 5th), as well as rare performances, demos and Bowie covers by Beck, Nirvana, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

See Where David Bowie Ranks on Our 100 Greatest Artists of All Time

Bowie joins a list of artists including Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen, the Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd who have been treated with their own channels over the years. In related Bowie news, the BBC unearthed this week an unheard interview he did in support of Pin Ups. He also contributed vocals to Arcade Fire's "Reflektor," the lead single from the band's new album, out next week.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/david-bowie-coming-to-sirius-xm-20131024#ixzz2imAHVtkH
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David Bowie Shares New Song in 'Next Day Extra' Clip
'Atomica' is one of five new tunes on expanded album      
By
Kory Grow      
October 30, 2013 11:45 AM

David Bowie has shared about half of a new song, "Atomica," in a video showing the contents of his forthcoming release, The Next Day Extra. The mid-tempo, guitar-driven rocker opens with the words, "I'm just a rock star, stabbin' away," and finds Bowie singing, "Let's get this show on the road," in the chorus. It's one of five new songs that will appear on The Next Day Extra, an expanded, three-disc version of his 2013 album The Next Day, that will come out on November 5th.

See Where David Bowie Ranks on Our 100 Greatest Artists List

In addition to the original version of the album, the expanded release will include 10 bonus songs – five new studio tracks, two remixes (including a 10-minute reworking of "Love Is Lost" by former LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy) and the three songs previously available on the original deluxe version of the album. It also contains a DVD with the music videos for "Where Are We Now?" "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)," "The Next Day" and "Valentine's Day." Finally, it includes exclusive photos and art.

Bowie hasn't said whether the new tracks were part of the original sessions for The Next Day or if they're newly recorded. The singer surprised  fans in January when he announced that he'd been working in secret for two years on The Next Day. Moreover, rather than doing traditional interviews, Bowie's only statement about the record was a "word flow diagram" containing 42 words that, to him, describe the album. He's also kept quiet about whether he will tour in support of the album, though his guitarist told Rolling Stone in February that the odds of a tour were 50-50.

In the meantime, Bowie contributed vocals to Arcade Fire's recently released album, Reflektor. Finally, between today and November 12th, Bowie will have a dedicated station on SiriusXM that will premiere the five songs on The Next Day Extra.

The Next Day Extra bonus disc track list:

"Atomica"
"Love Is Lost ('Hello Steve Reich Mix,' by James Murphy for the DFA)"
"Plan"
"The Informer"
"I'd Rather Be High (Venetian Mix)"
"Like a Rocket Man"
"Born in a UFO"
"I'll Take You There"
"God Bless the Girl"
"So She"

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/david-bowie-shares-new-song-in-next-day-extra-clip-20131030#ixzz2jErAKES5
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David Bowie Gets 'High' in Louis Vuitton Ad
Attends a French Revolution-style party that features a song of his on harpsichord
By
Kory Grow      
November 8, 2013 11:15 AM

David Bowie may not be touring or attending awards shows as of late, but he has no problem donning French Revolution-era garb or attending a harpsichord-soundtracked costume party, should he get the invite. In a new ad for Louis Vuitton, the Thin White Duke looks royal enough to live up to that title. The spot features a song from Bowie's latest album, The Next Day –"I'd Rather Be High." Where the original is a loose, guitar-driven, post-new-wavey alt-rock number, the version in the ad sounds downright elegant. Harpsichords gild the riff with little filigrees and, in this version, Bowie has pushed his voice back in the mix for the chorus to give the track a dreamy quality that makes perfect sense at the end of the ad, when his female companion awakens and grabs a conveniently placed item that bears the brand's signature "LV" logo.

Where Does David Bowie Rank on Our 100 Greatest Artists List?

Although Bowie hasn't been gracing stages lately, he has been far from inactive. Last month, he released a video for a remix of the Next Day song "Love Is Lost," which former LCD Soundsystem main man James Murphy handled. Bowie also launched his own channel on SiriusXM, and he announced the release of The Next Day Extra, an expanded edition of his latest album, which features previously unheard recordings and DVDs of his videos. That release is out now.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/david-bowie-gets-high-in-louis-vuitton-ad-20131108#ixzz2k66Xmxzx
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I want to give him a tootsie pop.

http://assets-s3.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/david-bowie-channels-elvis-for-holiday-greeting-20131226/1000x600/20131226-bowie-x600-1388081554.jpg      
David Bowie
Jimmy King
By Mike Ayers
December 26, 2013 1:20 PM ET

It's been a phenomenal year for David Bowie, starting back in January, when he announced his comeback album, The Next Day. Although fans didn't get any concerts, Bowie was all over our screens this year, with a multitude of videos, remixes and ad campaigns. And he just capped off 2013 with a very heartfelt and personal holiday greeting for BBC6's new program "This Is Radio Clash," a two-hour show hosted by the Clash's Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon. Notably, his special message for British fans was done in a near-perfect Elvis Presley voice.

See Where David Bowie's 'The Next Day' Ranks on Our 50 Best Albums of 2013

Simply titled "David Bowie's Christmas Message," the 41-second clip finds the musician putting on his best southern accent; unless the BBC (and Bowie's Facebook) hadn't specifically told us it was indeed the Thin White Duke, you'd have no clue it was him. Like the return of Bowie himself this year, it's best not to question it.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/david-bowie-channels-elvis-for-holiday-greeting-20131226#ixzz2ocWMOLcF
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Happy 67th Birthday David Bowie.
http://www.thestrut.com/2014/01/08/happy-67th-birthday-david-bowie/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPa37nsRmkE