Showing posts with label Tony Visconti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tony Visconti. Show all posts

January 10, 2019

1,000,001 CDs 14: David Bowie ‎– ★ (Blackstar) by Barnbrook

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photos by Styrous®

This has started out to be a good year for me as far as music goes because of presents I got for Christmas (link below); this CD by David Bowie, ‎– ★ (Blackstar), given to me by my brother, Ken, was one of them.    






This article is not about David Bowie, who died two years ago today, nor the music on this album; there is PLENTY of information about both already out there (links below). As with my article about the Hawkwind album (link below), it is about the album itself, which was designed by Jonathan Barnbrook (links below).    
      
Barnbrook also designed the sleeves for Reality and The Next Day, both by Bowie. He has done covers for John Foxx, Tuxedomoon and Cult with No Name.        

The Blackstar album is an extraordinary study in black on black; hard to read and almost impossible to photograph as is the booklet, with amazing and beautiful but spooky photos by Jimmy King and Johan Renck, that accompany it. The photos perfectly reflect the bizarre and unnerving lyrics and foreboding of the music.

The videos for the songs, ‎– ★ (Blackstar) and Lazarus are REALLY bizarre, unnerving and even creepy (links below); they reflect the illness Bowie was suffering. They are not easy to watch.     



 




















Blackstar is the only album by David Bowie to top the Billboard 200 in the United States. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, the album won awards for Best Recording Package. The album was also awarded the British Album of the Year at the 2017 Brit Awards, and Metacritic named it the most critically acclaimed album of the year by music publications.             

       


The Booklet





















There have been other albums designed totally in black, Prince (link below), Murray Roman (link below), Metallica (link below) and Spın̈al Tap are a few that come to mind.      
     
Tony Visconti, who co-produced Blackstar with Bowie, described the album as Bowie's swan song and a "parting gift" for his fans before his death on January 10, 2016, two days after the album was released.             
  




Tracklist:

1 - ★ (Blackstar) - 9:57
2 - 'Tis A Pity She Was A Whore - 4:52
3 - Lazarus - 4:22
4 - Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime) - 4:40
5 - Girl Loves Me - 4:51
6 - Dollar Days - 4:44
7 - I Can't Give Everything Away - 5:47

Companies, etc.

    Licensed To – Columbia Records
    Distributed By – Columbia Records
    Phonographic Copyright (p) – ISO Records
    Copyright (c) – ISO Records
    Published By – Nipple Music
    Published By – MSF Music
    Recorded At – The Magic Shop
    Recorded At – Human Worldwide Studios
    Mixed At – Electric Lady Studios
    Mastered At – Sterling Sound
    Pressed By – Sony DADC

Credits:

    Arranged By [String Arrangement] – David Bowie (tracks: 1)
    Backing Vocals – Erin Tonkon (tracks: 2)
    Bass – Tim Lefebvre
    Design – Barnbrook
    Drums, Percussion – Mark Guiliana
    Engineer – Erin Tonkon, Kabir Hermon, Kevin Killen, Tony Visconti
    Guitar – Ben Monder
    Guitar [Fender] – David Bowie (tracks: 3)
    Mastered By – Joe LaPorta
    Mixed By – Tom Elmhirst
    Music By – Bob Bharma* (tracks: 4), Maria Schneider (tracks: 4), Paul Bateman (7) (tracks: 4)
    Percussion – James Murphy (tracks: 4, 5)
    Photography By – Jimmy King (6), Johan Renck, NASA (10)
    Piano, Organ [Wurlitzer], Keyboards – Jason Lindner
    Producer, Mixed By – David Bowie, Tony Visconti
    Saxophone, Flute, Woodwind – Donny McCaslin
    Strings – Tony Visconti (tracks: 1)
    Vocals, Acoustic Guitar – David Bowie
    Words By, Music By – David Bowie
    Written-By – David Bowie

Notes:

Album title and track 1 title generally referred to as "Blackstar" but printed as "★"

Issued in a digipack.
Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Barcode (Text): 8 88751 73862 1
    Barcode (Scanned): 888751738621
    Mastering SID Code: IFPI L327
    Mould SID Code (Variants 1, 2): IFPI 50BS
    Mould SID Code (Variant 3): IFPI 50BE
    Mould SID Code (Variant 4): IFPI 50BT
    Mould SID Code (Variant 5): IFPI 50BP
    Matrix / Runout (Variants 1, 5): DIDX-1078317 1
    Matrix / Runout (Variant 2): DIDX-1078317 2
    Matrix / Runout (Variant 3): DIDX-1078317 1 A08
    Matrix / Runout (Variant 4): DIDX-1078317 1 A05

David Bowie ‎– ★ (Blackstar)
Label: Columbia ‎– 88875173862, ISO Records ‎– 88875173862
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 08 Jan 2016
Genre: Rock
Style: Art Rock
    
        
     
Viewfinder links:     
   
Jonathan Barnbrook           
David Bowie           
Christmas for Styrous       
Hawkwind ~ Warrior on the Edge of Time       
Prince 
Murray Roman ~ A Blind Man's Movie             
Tony Visconti      
           
Net links:     
   
Jonathan Barnbrook website         
Blackstar Packaging
Billboard ~ ‘Blackstar’ Songs About Death and Doom review        
NPR ~ 'Blackstar' Is Adventurous To The End review        
NY Times ~ ‘Blackstar,’ Bowie’s Cryptic New Album review       
Rolling Stone ~ The arty, unsettling ‘Blackstar’ review          
      
YouTube links:     
       
★ (Blackstar) complete album 
Blackstar (video)    
Lazarus (video)   
    
 
     
 
 
Styrous® ~ Thursday, January 10, 2019     
    
       














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Tony Visconti articles/mentions

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David Bowie ~ David Bowie ‎– ★ (Blackstar)      
David Bowie ~ The Man Who Sold the World   
David Bowie ~ Space Oddity    
Joe Cocker ~ With a Little Help from My Friends 





Tony Visconti - Man Who Sold The World guitar
photo by Sebastian Visconti  


























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February 19, 2014

101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes 45: Joe Cocker ~ With a Little Help from My Friends












reel-to-reel tape album cover detail
photo by Martin Keeley
detail photo by Styrous®




I have hundreds of reel-to-reel, pre-recorded tapes in addition to my 20,000 Vinyl LP collection I'm selling (link below). Interested? Contact me by email please, not by a comment.


 reel-to-reel tape album cover
Tom Wilkes: Album Design
  album cover photo by Martin Keeley
photo of album cover by Styrous®


This was Joe Cocker's first album; it was released in 1969. The line up on the album featured a who's who of music with an amazing array of talent (personnel list below).


Bye, Bye Blackbird is my favorite song on this album. It was composed by Ray Henderson and lyricist Mort Dixon in 1926 and was first recorded by Gene Austin that same year. It was the #16 song of 1926 according to Pop Culture Madness. There is speculation about the meaning of the song. At least two commentators (using the same source) attribute the song to a prostitute's leaving the business and going home to her mother (lyrics below). House of the Rising Sun, a traditional folk song, has the prostitute return to the business.

Reason it's my favorite. When I was 19 I worked at a business firm in the financial district. After work I would go with some of the women in the office to a banjo bar, The Crazy Horse, on Market Street near Valencia. On a certain day of the week, can't remember which, it was Ladies Night and they served huge pitchers of beer for 50¢ to the ladies (it was a buck for the dudes) and all the unshelled peanuts you could eat for free (living was affordable in the '50's and '60's). The shells were just tossed on the floor, which I thought was pretty cool. Years later, the California state court ruled that ladies' night discounts are unlawful gender discrimination under state and local statutes. Too bad as it did bring out all the fun-loving girls! I lost my 'innocence' on one of those banjo nights with an 'older' woman (she must have been all of 35 or 40).

Back to the point of all this, we had a great old time drinking beer and singing along with the banjo band that had who knows how many banjo players. Inevitably, one of the songs played would be Bye, Bye Blackbird and it became one of my favorite songs back then. Cocker's version is nothing like the one we sang; ours was a bouncy and raucous rendition, his is more in the vein of a spiritual/soul song but any version of it brings back good memories. "It Was a Very Good Year".




 reel-to-reel tape album cover back
Tom Wilkes: Album Design
  photos by Eric Hays & Herb Greene
photo of album cover back by Styrous®



Cocker was born, John Robert Cocker, on 20 May 1944 at 38 Tasker Road, Crookes, Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire. According to differing family stories, Cocker received his nickname of Joe either from playing a childhood game called Cowboy Joe or from a local window cleaner named Joe. Cocker's main musical influences growing up were Ray Charles and Lonnie Donegan.

In 1961, under the stage name, Vance Arnold, Cocker continued his career with a new group, Vance Arnold and the Avengers. The name was a combination of Vince Everett, the character Elvis Presley portrayed in Jailhouse Rock, (which Cocker misheard as Vance) and country singer Eddy Arnold. The group mostly played in the pubs of Sheffield, performing covers of Chuck Berry and Ray Charles songs.


 reel-to-reel tape album cover back detail
Tom Wilkes: Album Design
  photos by Eric Hays & Herb Greene
detail photo by Styrous®



Cocker's cover of The Beatles' With a Little Help from My Friends reached number one in the UK in 1968, and he performed the song live at Woodstock in 1969. The recording features lead guitar from Jimmy Page, drumming by BJ Wilson, backing vocals from Sue and Sunny, and Tommy Eyre on organ. The single made the Top Ten on the British charts, remaining there for thirteen weeks and eventually reaching number one, on 9 November 1968. It also reached number 68 on the US charts.

Wih a Little Help from My Friends  was certified gold in the US and peaked at No. 35 on the Billboard 200. It has been inducted into both the Grammy Award Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

On the 3rd of June, 2002, Cocker performed With A Little Help From My Friends accompanied by Phil Collins on drums and Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen, at the Party at the Palace concert in the grounds of Buckingham Palace. It was an event to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II. Other performers included: Paul McCartney, Bryan Adams, Keith Airey, Atomic Kitten, Dame Shirley Bassey, Tony Bennett, Blue, Emma Bunton, Eric Clapton, The Corrs, Ray Cooper, Ray Davies, Dame Edna Everage, Tony Iommi, J'anna Jacoby, Elton John, Tom Jones, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Annie Lennox, Ricky Martin, Ozzy Osbourne, Mark Andrew-Brydon, Mis-teeq, Cliff Richard, S Club 7, Rod Stewart, Will Young, Ruby Wax, Belinda Carlisle, Brian Wilson, Steve Winwood, Tony Vincent and Hannah Jane Fox.






 reel-to-reel tape
photo by Styrous®




interesting stuff about the lyrics to Blackbird from
The Straight Dope

The opening verse and the verses about the bluebird are rarely sung. Eddie Cantor, Carmen McCrae, Frank Sinatra and others who have recorded "Bye Bye Blackbird" have only sung the chorus:

    Pack up all my care and woe,
    Here I go singing low:
    Bye, bye, blackbird

According to The Straight Dope, the verses of the 1926 song written by Ray Henderson (melody) and Mort Dixon (lyrics) are far less known. Here is the first of the two "missing" verses:

    Blackbird, blackbird singing the blues all day
    Right outside of my door.
    Blackbird, blackbird why do you sit and say
    There's no sunshine in store?
    All through the winter you hung around.
    Now I begin to feel homeward bound.
    Blackbird, blackbird gotta be on my way
    Where there's sunshine galore.

 Whoever the singer is, he/she is tired of whatever they've left home for and want to make a prodigal return, referred to in the second verse:

    Bluebird, bluebird, calling me far away
    I've been longing for you.
    Bluebird, bluebird, what do I hear you say?
    Skies are turning to blue, I'm like a flower that's fading here,
    Where ev'ry hour is one long tear.
    Bluebird, bluebird this is my lucky day.
    Now my dreams will come true.

A huge debt to The Straight Dope for this; 
check out their site, they've got other good stuff.

 


 reel-to-reel tape label detail
 detail photo by Styrous®


Track list:
Side one
  1. "Feeling Alright" (Dave Mason) – 4:10
  2. "Bye Bye Blackbird" (Ray Henderson, Mort Dixon) – 3:27
  3. "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (Gloria Caldwell, Sol Marcus, Bennie Benjamin) – 4:41
  4. "Marjorine" (Joe Cocker, Chris Stainton) – 2:38
  5. "Just Like a Woman" (Bob Dylan) – 5:17
Side two
  1. "Do I Still Figure in Your Life?" (Pete Dello) – 3:59
  2. "Sandpaper Cadillac" (Joe Cocker, Chris Stainton) – 3:16
  3. "Change in Louise" (Joe Cocker, Chris Stainton) – 3:22
  4. "With a Little Help from My Friends" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 5:11
  5. "I Shall Be Released" (Bob Dylan) – 4:35

 Personnel:
  Production:

Links to Joe Cocker songs on YouTube:




 
reel-to-reel listings on eBay


Styrous® ~ Wednesday, February 19, 2014

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February 18, 2014

101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes 44: David Bowie 5 ~ Space Oddity

reel-to-reel tape label detail
detail photo by Styrous®

I have hundreds of reel-to-reel, pre-recorded tapes in addition to my 20,000 Vinyl LP collection I'm selling. This is another entry about one of them (see links below). I will have Space Oddity, one of my David Bowie tapes, up for sale on eBay on July 15, 2014 (link below). Interested? Contact me by email please, not by a comment.

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reel-to-reel tape box
photo by Brian Ward
photo of album cover by Styrous®

7" open reel tape releases

There was only one release of Space Oddity on open reel, in 1972 duplicated by Magtec, North Hollywood, CA 91605. This is a high speed 7.5 ips release. RCA is the only known company Bowie has been assigned to that released his albums in this format, and only in the US, though imports into other regions may have occurred.

Space Oddity is one of my all-time favorite albums. It has so many innovative songs in addition to the hard core rock 'n roll ones, a nice blend. It was the second studio album by David Bowie. It was originally released in 1969 as Man Of Words, Man Of Music (by Mercury in the US) and as David Bowie (by Philips in the UK).  It was later re-released in 1972 by RCA as Space Oddity. The original UK David Bowie LP cover artwork showed a facial portrait of Bowie on top of a work by artist Victor Vasarely with blue and violet spots on a green background.

    
 David Bowie                                           Man Of Words, Man Of Music
Philips Records (UK)                                        Mercury Records (US)
 cover artwork by artist Victor Vasarely



I love the slowed-down, vaguely Hambone-esque beat of, Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed. It's one of my favorite Bowie songs. Some really nice harmonica work by Benny Marshall in it and a terrific instrumental break in which he is featured.

Memory of a Free Festival was written as a homage to the Free Festival, organised by the Beckenham Arts Lab, which was held at Croydon Road Recreation Ground in Beckenham on 16 August 1969. Biographer David Buckley described Memory of a Free Festival as "a sort of trippy retake of the Stones' Sympathy For The Devil but with a smiley lyric". Somehow, that is not my impression of the song. David Bowie used a child's Rosedale Electric Chord Organ, obtained from Woolworths, to give a "classic Ivor Cutler/harmonium feel". The organ and vocal intro is almost 3 minutes long but when it does move into the melody it is really sweet. A slow, soothing and hopeful tune that is, oh, so refreshing.

Rosedale Electric Chord Organ


Cygnet Committee has lyrics riding over a moderately-slow, magic carpet provided by drums and bass guitar. However, the melody has unsettling minor key shifts that say, "Listen to what I'm saying!" "It's important!" It's a very dramatic song.


reel-to-reel tape box back
photo by Brian Ward
photo of album cover by Styrous®


Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud is a mellow and beautiful song with a lush orchestra and a dreamy, echoey vibraphone accompaniment. Bowie said of the song: "It was about the disassociated, the ones who feel as though they're left outside, which was how I felt about me. I always felt I was on the edge of events, the fringe of things, and left out."



reel-to-reel tape box back detail
photo by Brian Ward
detail photo by Styrous®


Space Oddity

When I was dancing on Broadway in the late 70's, one of the girls, Iris, used to dance to this song with her partner doing the Love Act at the Hungry i and I will always associate this song with her.

Space Oddity, the big hit from the album, is a song written and performed by David Bowie and released as a music single in 1969. It is about the launch of Major Tom, a fictional astronaut; its title alludes to the Kubrick film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. The lyrics have also been seen to lampoon the failed British space program.

The song was awarded the 1969 Ivor Novello Award, together with Peter Sarstedt's "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?". "Space Oddity" became so well known that Bowie's second album, originally released as David Bowie in the UK (like his first album), was renamed after the track for its 1972 reissue by RCA Records, and has since become known by this name. It was used by U2 during their 360° Tour (2009-2011). It was played over the public address system preceding the band's arrival on stage.[2] In 2013, the song gained renewed popularity after it was covered by astronaut Chris Hadfield, who performed the song while aboard the International Space Station.

Upon its re-release as a single in 1973, the song reached #15 on the Billboard Chart and became Bowie's first hit single in America; in Canada, it reached #16. This was then used to support RCA's 1975 UK reissue, which gave Bowie his first #1 single in November.

Bowie would later revisit his Major Tom character in the songs "Ashes to Ashes" and "Hallo Spaceboy". German singer Peter Schilling's 1983 hit "Major Tom (Coming Home)" is written as a retelling of the song.

There is a video, a revised version of Bowie's Space Oddity, recorded by Commander Chris Hadfield while on board the International Space Station. Link to the video below.







reel-to-reel tape label detail
detail photo by Styrous®

Track listing:

All songs written and composed by David Bowie.

Side 1:

1. Space Oddity - 5:16
2. Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed - 6:12
3. (Don't Sit Down) - 0:42
4. Letter to Hermione - 2:36
5. Cygnet Committee - 9:35

Side 2:

1. Janine - 3:25
2. An Occasional Dream - 3:01
3. Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud - 4:52
4. God Knows I'm Good - 3:21
5. Memory of a Free Festival - 7:09

Personnel:

Credits:
  • Record Producer - Gus Dudgeon
  • Producer – Tony Visconti (tracks: 2 to 13)
  • Design [Package Design] – Reiner Design Consultants, Inc.
  • Photography [Additional] – Brian Ward, Robin Bean
  • Photography [Album Photo Art] – Brian Ward

Music links:
Space Oddity (original 1969 video) on YouTube 
Space Oddity on YouTube
Space Oddity recorded by Commander Chris Hadfield on YouTube
Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed on YouTube
Memory of a Free Festival on YouTube
Cygnet Committee on YouTube
Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud on YouTube



David Bowie ~  Space Oddity for sale on eBay

reel-to-reel listings on eBay


Styrous® ~ February 18, 2013

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