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David Bowie tonight on BBC4


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Me (and it seemed like the whole of our street !) saw him at Green's Playhouse (before it was the Apollo ) in Glasgow, on the "Aladdin Sane" tour. It was amazing !

The row of seats we were in collapsed, but who cared ? Bowie and the band were in excellent form. I think they enjoyed it too.

Our little band of 14 year olds were out giving it "Moonage Daydream", "Suffragette City" et all around the various youth clubs (doubt they still have them !) at the time.

Looks like it's iPlayer for me.

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All very lovely and watching the Ziggy concert movie got me to thinking.

* Blowing bad harp while sporting a giant kimono never goes out of fashion

* How far ahead of his time Bowie's stage image and moves were. And such was his 'camp' that he made dear old Freddie look like Dave Courtney

* Dreadful concert sound compared to the BBC gig. And maybe I won't be buying a Gibson EB, after all.

* Ziggy audience in transports of ecstasy. Waves of engagement to and from the stage. When and why did 'Rock' lose the capacity to generate such intensity?

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Hmm, probably about the same time the hit-makers started marketing identically anonymous dancing teenagers who only mime their very safe lyrics, as a way of making stacks of cash. The intensity and excitement seems to have left the building at this very time. Yes, all that makes money, but the whole point of rock music was people like Bowie - and you`ll never invent someone like that, even todays "outrageous" Lady Ga-Ga is, as they said on the programme, David Bowie 40 years on.

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[quote name='Muzz' timestamp='1340443152' post='1704438']
[color=#333333]Watching Bowie Night on BBC 4 last night confirmed three things 1. Back in the day, he was untouchable 2. He's done nowt worth mentioning for 25 years now and 3. Gail Ann Dorsey is fantastic.[/color]

[color=#333333]Nice to see Jim Bowen getting some work as the Spiders drummer, too...[/color]
[/quote]


Yes !!! Woody is Jim Bowen.

Think it was Earl Slick slapping on 'Ashes to Ashes' ?

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[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1340407705' post='1704272']
Remember seeing the Ziggy Stardust Tour at Newcastle City Hall in 1972. Never seen anything like it before or since!
[/quote]

You and me both, fabulous.
Seem to remember it was only a few weeks after Zepp were there.
We knew how to dress in'72 matey boy :lol:

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[quote name='mxm' timestamp='1340455782' post='1704659']
Yes !!! Woody is Jim Bowen.

Think it was Earl Slick slapping on 'Ashes to Ashes' ?
[/quote]

That`s what I thought, glad someone else has re-affirmed this, looks like him and Gail Ann Dorsey swapped instruments for that track.

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[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1340455415' post='1704651']
All very lovely and watching the Ziggy concert movie got me to thinking.

* Blowing bad harp while sporting a giant kimono never goes out of fashion

* How far ahead of his time Bowie's stage image and moves were. And such was his 'camp' that he made dear old Freddie look like Dave Courtney

* Dreadful concert sound compared to the BBC gig. And maybe I won't be buying a Gibson EB, after all.

* Ziggy audience in transports of ecstasy. Waves of engagement to and from the stage. When and why did 'Rock' lose the capacity to generate such intensity?
[/quote]That last line has made me feel so very sad. Maybe it's because that these days the audience is more self obsessed than the pefrormers are and too busy watching the gig on the screens of their smart phones, as oppossed to engaging in the audience/performer/energy/feedback loop.

Or maybe it's because those days are long gone, nothing is original and everything has to be a "brand", so as to be targeted for ease of consumption.

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Like a lot of 'Heroes' especially at the time Bowie did some great stuff, but also a lot of real crap that he would never have got away with without the hype and the diehard fans - Mrs Brancini included - who would buy anything that he was involved with and think it was great.

I just didnt get the Ziggy Stardust thing at the time, and still dont really, , but I watched last nights gig. and even enjoyed it, was surprised how good [i]some[/i] of it was. some of it was truly really awful though wasnt it ?

Trevor whatsisface was far better than I remembered / expected though

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[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1340456897' post='1704689']
Capitalism is the enemy of originality and creativity.
[/quote]

Bollocks is it, particularly if we consider the Ziggy gig. See that name on the creds, Tony DeFries? One of the biggest sharks out there (allegedly) and you can be sure he was counting the gig cash backstage even as Mr Bowie was strutting his thighs to the adoring throng.

Without Mr Defries' services as manager, Bowie would have been nothing and [i]you'd[/i] be telling us about this busker you saw once, dog on a string, fantastic songs and what a performer. Dave someone?

Anti-capitalism is an evergreen nostrum among the young, but I always counsel them to try running their rig off two copper pins shoved into a potato before they fully embrace the delusion that being potless is a good thing.

[quote name='steve-soar' timestamp='1340456587' post='1704681']
these days the audience is more self obsessed than the pefrormers [/quote]

That's more like it. I said exactly this to herself while watching the Ziggy gig last night and she agreed wholeheartedly:

"What are you going on about? I'm trying to read my book" she concurred.

[color=#ffffff].[/color]

Edited by skankdelvar
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[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1340458101' post='1704711']
Hee hee, I knew you'd have something to say about that! :lol:[/quote]

Have I become so predictable? :rolleyes: Though I'd agree that [i]unbridled[/i] capitalism is the enemy of creativity and originality. Balance is everything, y'see, and at the moment the Music Biz is unbalanced.

That and those annoying bastards with their phone cameras.

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[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1340457697' post='1704704']
Anti-capitalism is an evergreen nostrum among the young, but I always counsel them to try running their rig off two copper pins shoved into a potato before they fully embrace the delusion that being potless is a good thing.
[/quote]


Kids eh? They never listen. Get them to try a copper pin, a zinc pin and a lemon next time. Much better. ;)

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I watched the film with my kids (both in their late 20s), who were also surprised at the intensity of the audience. I tried to explain it as Bowie being primarily a pop star, who was able to hold his audience with charisma and performance, while still challenging them with unconventional music. This seems to be the trick that's been lost, with most acts able to do one or the other, and in some cases neither, but not both.

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Some excellent stuff in here, I've watched two of the programmes so far & have the Ziggy movie & the live BBc concert to go :)

I have to admit that I always thought Bolder & Woody were 'passengers' in the Spiders but was surprised at quite how badly they seem to have been treated (although we only heard their side of the story).

The one thing it bought home to me was quite how young I was when I got my first Bowie obsession, lol. I pre-ordered Aladdin Sane from WH Smith & remember queuing to get it on the first day it was available. Had't realised it was April '73 when I was only 13 :)

The only other album I had at the time was Roxy's For Your Pleasure which came out a month earlier. I'd been buying singles since 1967 (Kinks Waterloo Sunset was my first ever) but our old record player was jammed on 45rpm and I didn't get my first personal one until my 13th birthday.

Never missed a Bowie album after that right up until Never Let Me Down in '87. A few clunker tracks here & there but some cracking stuff on the albums in between. I think my most played ones must be Diamond Dogs & Station to Station closely followed by Young Americans & Scary Monsters (love some of Fripps guitar on the latter.

Quite a few of the more recent live albums are excellent as well. Gail Ann Dorsey particularly good on some of these :)

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[quote name='molan' timestamp='1340548700' post='1705961']
I have to admit that I always thought Bolder & Woody were 'passengers' in the Spiders but was surprised at quite how badly they seem to have been treated (although we only heard their side of the story).
[/quote]

I've been rather surprised that no-one else has commented on that. What with underpaying them and then not bothering to tell them that the Spiders was finished, he really seems to have been quite a sh*t.

I was also rather disappointed at the sound on the concert movie. Sounded like they'd used mics in the auditorium rather than taking the audio feed from the mixing desk. Plus with his interminable costume changes, he left Mick Ronson doing rather a lot of extended soloes, and that (to be kind) was never Ronson's forte. You can see where Nigel Tufnell got his main influence, though.

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