FUCKING HELL NEW DAVID BOWIE ALBUM COMING OUT!!!

[Dusty Gozongas]

Oh hang on...

http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/100624/David-Bowie-Comeback-Track-Could-Top-Singles-Charts-After-Rule-Change

Jumpers for fucking goalposts.

[wosl]

His voice is fading now isn't it? At least, if this is any indication. Kind of sad.

He's putting that fading to good creative use, at least.  The frail delivery gives the song an affecting, sad power.  I'm not a big Bowie nut, but that impressed me on first listening.

[Squink]

Yeah, totally. On second thoughts, I'd love a tour of him just doing stuff like this. The rumoured "rock" direction kind of quashes that though.

[Mr Eggs]

Creepy old fucker. He's still got his beans,the mad cunt.

[Johnny Townmouse]

Yeah, I'm far from being a Bowie fan, and I can't tell whether I think his greatest work is Boys or Let's Dance, but this has a genuinely mournful, affecting quality.

[Squink]

Yes, but what do you think of his beans?

[23 Daves]

the lyrics are a bit suspect. "I got a train, you never thought i could do that". What?

I actually really like that line, and at the risk of being accused of being pretentious, it's because it's simple yet contains a lot of layers to it.  There are several things Bowie could mean:

1. He's talking/ singing to someone who knew him back when travel was a more complicated affair and the idea of taking trains in Berlin or Europe seemed exotic or unreachable.
2. Somebody didn't think he could do that because he's 'escaped' from his role as a famous person, and is instead mopping up and absorbing the atmosphere in a strange European city.
3. He has in some way escaped, and his captor (the music industry itself?) didn't think he could do that.

And if you really wanted to keep drawing from that well, you could ask whether the line 'you never thought I could do that' is also supposed to resonate with people hearing the single for the first time, hearing it on their radio in the morning and wondering what on earth is going on.  Is it saying "I still have the capacity to surprise you, and you didn't expect that"?

I'd be quite happy to have the above interpretations dismissed, mind you. I think he's being playful.

[Oops! Wrong Planet]

Come to that, the close association of 'train' with 'thought' could be deliberate, as in "train of thought"; he doesn't write "you didn't think I could do that" after all.

I wonder if all the interest stirred up by the unearthed TOTP Jean Genie clip a year or so ago motivated him towards writing and recording again.

[23 Daves]

Come to that, the close association of 'train' with 'thought' could be deliberate, as in "train of thought"; he doesn't write "you didn't think I could do that" after all.

A really good point.  Bowie is one of those artists it's possible to over-analyse, but "you didn't think I could do that" would be the more natural line here - so the use of the alternative is probably deliberate. 

Whatever I think of the song, it does feel great to have a track with so many layers to it getting mainstream exposure - the promotion, the lyrics, the intent, the video, all these have question marks hanging over them.  I'm not a Bowie nut by any means (despite my avatar, which I almost feel like changing to DLT or something now he's back) but it does feel as if very few people go to this degree of trouble anymore.

[phantom_power]

I don't understand people saying his voice is weak. It entirely suits the song

[Oops! Wrong Planet]

Interview with Earl Slick reiterates that the song isn't exactly typical of the album, and also how difficult it was to keep schtum about the whole thing: http://ultimateclassicrock.com/earl-slick-david-bowie-new-album-interview/

[kitsofan34]

I presume this thread will soon be cast aside to discuss Justin Timberlake and Destiny's Child's comeback singles?

[Serge]

Thanks for the link to the Earl Slick interview, Oops! Wrong Planet. I had hoped that Gail Ann Dorsey would be on the record, and I still hope that Mike Garson will be as well.

[SteveDave]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIyZap4StYg&feature=youtu.be

[Oops! Wrong Planet]

"I got a train, you never thought i could do that". What?

Come to that, the close association of 'train' with 'thought' could be deliberate, as in "train of thought"; he doesn't write "you didn't think I could do that" after all.

A really good point.  Bowie is one of those artists it's possible to over-analyse, but "you didn't think I could do that" would be the more natural line here - so the use of the alternative is probably deliberate.

And it would have been an even better point if those actually were the words, instead of "You never knew that I could do that".  Curse The Region Legion for planting false memories and forcing me to bang this tray on my head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIyZap4StYg&feature=youtu.be

Not as funny as Harry parodying the last line of Ziggy Stardust with "A Mars a day helps you work rest and play".

[The Region Legion]

Ha, sorry.

Also I really like this track now, not sure why I was so critical before.

[Head Gardener]

latest pic of db - looking dandy for 66

[The Region Legion]

Looking heavily photoshopped for 66.

[Serge]

Very Berlin-era headgear.

[Nowhere Man]

I was looking up the lyrics to "Sound and Vision" today as I was listening to the song:

Ahhh...
Ahhh...

Doo, doo, doo, do-doh
Doo, doo, doo, do-doh

Don't you wonder sometimes
'Bout sound and vision

Blue, blue, electric blue
That's the colour of my room
Where I will live
Blue, blue

Pale blinds drawn all day
Nothing to do, nothing to say
Blue, blue

I will sit right down, waiting for the gift of sound and vision
And I will sing, waiting for the gift of sound and vision
Drifting into my solitude, over my head

Don't you wonder sometimes
'Bout sound and vision

I always thought he sang:

"Blue, blue, electric blue
That's the colour of my womb
Where I will live
Blue, blue"

Which of course makes no sense, what the fuck is wrong with me?

[23 Daves]

The Region Legion shall be hearing from my solicitor in the morning for making fools of us all.

[buttgammon]

I always thought he sang:

"Blue, blue, electric blue
That's the colour of my womb
Where I will live
Blue, blue"

Which of course makes no sense, what the fuck is wrong with me?

Just to be charitable, it might have been about crawling back into the womb as the song is about retreating from the world. Not that that explains the 'colour' stuff, unless Bowie goes back inside his mother's (obviously enormous) womb with a tin of blue paint and a brush and starts painting it.

[Don_Preston]

I thought one of the biggest aspects of Bowie's charm is that his lyrics seem a bit clever and cryptic, but don't really amount to anything.

Just me? I'll get me coat etc.

[Jim_MacLaine]

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

"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."

Phew!

[buttgammon]

I thought one of the biggest aspects of Bowie's charm is that his lyrics seem a bit clever and cryptic, but don't really amount to anything.

Just me? I'll get me coat etc.

Well, that as well. It's just hard not to decode them sometimes, particularly with his Berlin stuff because we know so much about him.

[kitsofan34]

Very Berlin-era headgear.

Is the general consensus that this is the best book about Bowie's time in Berlin? Or is there a superior one?

[Serge]

Well, there are really only two books specifically about the Berlin era - this one and the 33 1/3 book on 'Low' by Hugo Wilcken, both of which are pretty good.

For what it's worth, I think the best overall book on Bowie is Nicholas Pegg's 'The Complete David Bowie', which is up to its sixth revision, and will obviously have to be overhauled again at some point to include 'The Next Day'. The best straightforward biography is 'Strange Fascination' by David Buckley.

The last couple of years have seen an onslaught of books on Bowie, most of which are inessential,[nb]In particular, the Mark Spitz book, which I found rather tedious and actually gave up on, and Dylan Jones' horrendous 'When Ziggy Played Guitar' complete with 'author standing next to Bowie' photo on the jacket.[/nb] though I have to admit I haven't had a chance to read the Paul Trynka one yet. But Peter Doggett's 'The Man Who Sold The World', focussing specifically on the 70's albums is one of the best I've ever read - though he really doesn't like 'Lodger'....

[CaledonianGonzo]

You've probably seen this and disagreed with half of it by now, Serge, but I've been browsing this for the past day or two and quite liking the cut of its jib:

http://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/

[Old Nehamkin]

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

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."

Hooray!

[Nowhere Man]

God that must been eating him up inside, to have to hide the news of working with David Bowie on a new album and single. Well done to all the people involved for keeping shtum on a project like this.