Letter #18
MUSIC NEWS
- The first single from Hours in Europe, "Thursday's Child", is
receiving good MTV airplay. However, radio airplay to date has been
very disappointing, particularly in the UK where the single has failed
to crack the National Top 50 airplay and has little prospect of so
doing. The single got a good review in Music Weekly but the lack of
radio play makes it unlikely to repeat the chart success of Little
Wonder and Hallo Spaceboy. Better news for its prospect from Music
Weekly is that both Tower Records and the Virgin Megastores intend to
push the single aggressively on its release.
The single will be released on 20th September and contains four new
tracks not available on the forthcoming 'hours...' release.
CD1: Thursday's Child (Edit) / We All Go Through / No One Calls.
..Virgin 724389626544
CD2a: Thursday's Child (Rock Mix) / We Shall Go To Town / 1917.
..Virgin 724389626520
CD2b: Thursday's Child (Rock Mix) / We Shall Go To Town / 1917.
..Virgin 724389626605 (Interactive CD with promo video).
CD3: Thursday's Child (Edit) (Rock Mix) / We Shall Go To Town / 1917.
..Virgin 724389626728
In other territories such as Australia, Japan and the US, "The Pretty
Things Are Going To Hell" is being pushed as the first single (though
the situation in the US is complicated by the fact that both singles
will be serviced to radio, albeit to different formats). This is also
going to be the second single in Europe. A striking video has already
been directed for the single by Dom and Nick (of "I'm Afraid Of
Americans" fame), featuring 4 life-sized models of different eras of
Bowie (The Man Who Sold The World, Ziggy, the Thin White Duke and the
clown from Ashes To Ashes) who in the video spring to life with
murderous intent towards current Bowie.
- The albums Hours will be released in the first week in October
(exact date depends on the normal release date for different
territories). The UK release date is October 4 and the US date is
October 5.
Tracklisting: 1. Thursday's Child. 2. Something In The Air. 3.
Survive. 4. If I'm Dreaming My Life. 5. Seven. 6. What's Really
Happening. 7. The Pretty Things Are Going To Hell. 8. New Angels Of
Promise. 9. Brilliant Adventure. 10. The Dreamers.
The Japanese domestic version of the album, released on September 29,
will contain a further bonus track, "We All Go Through".
- The album will also break ground by being the first full major label
album by a major artist to be available for download on the Net.
Starting Tuesday, September 21, fans will be able to purchase the
digital files for 'hours...' at VirginRecords.com, BowieNet and at
participating record-store Web sites (unspecified at present). More
than fifty stores have signed on to offer the record for the two-week
period preceding the album's North American CD release on October 5th.
Pricing will be left up to retailers.
- Les Inrockuptibles, the popular French music magazine has a cover
mounted promo CD entitled: Une Rentrée 99, which contains the Survive
track from the forthcoming album 'hours...'
- The first batch of the seventeen titles from the back catalogue were
released 6th September on EMI Records. Each album has been digitally
re-mastered at the Abbey Road Studios.
The packaging for each CD will include booklets up to sixteen pages.
They feature the original album artwork, a selection of photos and
with the exception of Pin Ups, the full lyrics.
The first batch of re-releases released are:
Space Oddity
The Man Who Sold The World
Hunky Dory
The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
Aladdin Sane
Pin Ups
Diamond Dogs
Young Americans
The albums were digitally transferred from, wherever possible, the
original analogue masters at 24 bits resolution. They were processed
using Sonic Solutions NoNoise technology and mastered to 16 bit for CD
using Prism SNS Noise Shaping.
EMI also previously issued a seventeen track promo CD sampler DAVID
BOWIE - catalogue number CDLRL015 for the album re-releases.
The second batch are released on 20th September. They will be issued
as one batch on Virgin Records in North America a week later.
__________________________________________
CONCERT NEWS
- Bowie is one of the confirmed performers for the London leg of
NetAid on October 9.
NetAid will air on VH1 from noon to midnight EST and will include
overlapping performances from all three locations. VH1.com will
webcast the event and provide exclusive backstage footage. Artists
scheduled to appear at the event include Wyclef Jean with Bono, Mary
J. Blige, Bon Jovi, Busta Rhymes, Counting Crows, Jimmy Page, Puff
Daddy, Sting, Bryan Adams, the Corrs, Eurythmics, George Michael,
Robbie Williams, and Bryan Ferry.
It will also be broadcast live on both BBC TV and radio.
- According to Bowie:
"Because of the Gisborne Festival fold-up, plans for a small Winter
tour have been abandoned. Our friend, Chris Haskett, was ear-marked
only for the cancelled tour. There will be NO promo-tour, there never
was one planned. I have undertaken to do only a handful of radio and
TV appearances.
Page Hamilton, ex-Helmet founder member, will stand in on lead guitar
for Reeves Gabrels on these shows. Reeves will finish off two projects
that have impending deadlines in October."
- According to BowieWonderWorld:
"Reports are circulating of a live show at The Olympia in Paris,
France on 10th or 12th October to promote the European release of
'hours...'.
There is also a live TV show to be broadcast on the Canal Conducting
Bynagui.
Bowie is also planning to play an acoustic set during an in-store
CD-signing session at Virgin Megastore in New York on 5th October. The
performance is scheduled to be aired during MTV's 'Total Request Live'
programme. US TV appearances to be confirmed shorty include: 'The
Rosie O'Donnell Show', 'The Late Show With David Letterman', and 'Late
Night With Conan O'Brien'.
David then heads for Europe on 6th October, with UK TV appearances to
be confirmed include: 'Top Of The Pops', 'The Pepsi Chart Show' and
'TFI Friday', as well as the confirmed Radio One live session on the
'Mark Ratcliffe and Lard Show''.
Bowienet says:
"Bowie confirmed appearance dates:
.... Sept. 23 MUCH MUSIC VIDEO AWARDS (Toronto, Canada).
.... Oct. 2 SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, NBC.
.... Oct. 3 MODERN ROCK LIVE (radio) EASTERN LIGHTS
.... Oct. 4 DAVID LETTERMAN.
.... Oct. 5 RECORD STORE PERFORMANCE, unconfirmed.
.... Oct. 9 WEMBLEY.
.... Oct. 16 WETTEN DASS AUSTRIA.
.... Oct. 18 STORYTELLER'S, VH1. (Bowie is US VH-1's artist of the
month for October)
.... Nov. 4 SEN KVÄLL MED LUUK, SWEDEN TV4.
"There will be many more, of course, but these are the immovable ones.
Unless it appears here, shows or appearances ARE NOT CONFIRMED,
whatever you may have read. - db"
*SCOOP* Additionally, a reliable source tells me that Bowie will
appear on Chris Evans' top UK show, TFI Friday on October 8.
Some other as yet unconfirmed appearances:
.... Oct. 8 TOP OF THE POPS (reportedly already filmed in the US)
.... Oct. 12 NULLE PART AILLEURS, CANAL PLUS, FRANCE
.... Oct. 16? ADRIANO CELENTANO SHOW, ITALY
Also, an appearance on BBC's Radio One is possible in the second week
of October.
- Bowie will headline the 10th Anniversary of the MuchMusic Video
Awards. The show takes place on 23rd September in Toronto, Canada. He
will perform 'The Pretty Things Are Going To Hell' from his upcoming
'hours...' album.
- Asked to perform at the New York Central Park show 'Sheryl Crow And
Friends' on 14th September, Bowie refused because of scheduling
conflicts.
__________________________________________
MOVIE NEWS
- Morrison's supermarkets in the UK are selling "The Linguini
Incident", the movie starring Bowie and Rosanna Arquette on video
priced £2.99. Also on offer are 'Video Collection' and 'Twin Peaks' at
a fiver each.
__________________________________________
OTHER NEWS
- The best Bowie biography yet, "DAVID BOWIE: STRANGE FASCINATION" by
David Buckley will be published 23 September, price £20.00 hardback.
From the Virgin Publishing press release:
"As the millennium ends, David Bowie is about to enter his fifth
decade of making music. Thirty years on from his first hit single,
'Space Oddity', he remains the most influential rock star of the
post-Woodstock generation.
'STRANGE FASCINATION' chronicles Bowie's career against the colourful
backdrop of post-Beatles pop culture, glam-era gender-bending,
eighties corporate schlock and nineties laddish Britpop, and assembles
a mass of new evidence about Bowie's studio craft, his concert
performances and his cultural impact.
Written by writer and long-time Bowie fan, David Buckley, 'Strange
Fascination' contains exclusive contributions from many of the leading
players in Bowie's career, such as Tony Visconti, Ken Scott, Carlos
Alomar, Reeves Gabrels and Nile Rodgers. It also includes many
previously unpublished black-and-white and colour photographs. With
Bowie's new album, 'hours...', scheduled for release on 5 October, and
seventeen of his albums, from Space Oddity through to Tin Machine, due
for reissue in September, Strange Fascination should delight Bowie's
hardcore following and introduce rock fans to the most thrilling body
of popular music ever recorded.
About the author: David Buckley was born in Liverpool in 1965. In 1993
he was awarded his doctorate from the Institute of Popular Music at
Liverpool University for his thesis on David Bowie. He is the author
of 'The Complete Guide To The Music Of David Bowie' (Omnibus Press,
1996) and 'The Stranglers: No Mercy - The Authorised and Uncensored
Biography' (Hodder & Stoughton, 1997). He lives with his wife and two
daughters in Munich, where he works as a freelance writer, reviewer
and tutor."
BowieWonderworld is running contests, and has a special fan discount
deal. Full details at Bowiewonderworld.
- According to Teenage Wildlife, a press release emerged announcing
that Bowie would be acting as co-producer for the Los Angeles staging
of the critically acclaimed off-Broadway musical "Hedwig and the Angry
Inch". Based on a fictional story about a transsexual rock star from
East Berlin who comes to America, the show has drawn rave reviews from
the New York and music press. The Los Angeles production will be
staged at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, and will open
officially on October 31, 1999.
- Bowie appeared on stage at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York
City for the MTV awards to introduce Lauryn Hill. There was also a
brief interview with David and Iman before the show. Check your local
MTV for repeats if you missed it first time round. Bowie was nominated
in the new "Best Artist WEbsite" category but lost out on the night to
Red Hot Chili Peppers.
- There is an exclusive Bowie interview in the October issue of Uncut
magazine.
On sale now: 'Bowie: The man who changed the world', David also gets
the front cover page.
The exclusive 17-page interview is entitled "Station To Station".
There's also a full colour ad for the EMI album re-issues, plus a 2
page "Music For Chameleons" Bowie's 12 best albums compiled by Stephen
Dalton, plus 2 page "The Man Who Fell To Celluloid" 30 years of
cracked acting also complied by Stephen Dalton, a 2 page interview
with Eno talking exclusively about working with Bowie (entitled Brian
Eno "David Bowie? God, He's Smart!"), an Iggy Pop interview "A Life
Less Ordinary" with some excellent Bowie stories and the Allan Jones
interview with Mick Ronson from April 1975.
- The October issue of Q magazine features an exclusive five page
interview entitled: "Now Where Did I Put Those Tunes?" with new
photographs included.
This issue also contains a very funny Iggy Pop "Cash For Questions" 3
page article... also with lots of references to David. The "Rock Star
Dignity Wallchart" features David Bowie, there's also the full colour
ad for the EMI album re-issues.
- This week's issue of UK HELLO! magazine (Number 578 - September 21)
carries a photograph of Bowie and Iman on the cover as well as another
inside as part of the 1999 MTV Music Video Awards ceremony coverage.
- Bowie turned up on the recent John Peel night on BBC2, and the
previously unseen outtake 'Oh You Pretty Things' from The Old Grey
Whistle Test performance in 1972 was broadcast. This outtake was "the
earth is a bitch" line removal version.
Teenage Wildlife has a RealVideo G2 clip of David's birthday message
to John Peel uploaded to view. David thanks Peel for his advice of
sticking with songwriting and leaving the mime alone.
- Some other Bowie TV to watch out for:
Sept 18, Canada, Hunger: Approaching Desdemona, TMN, 22:30 ET
Sept 19, USA, The Linguini Incident, Channel 9, 23:05
Sept 21, Australia, The Buddha of Suburbia, ABC, 23:05
Sept 22, US, The Buddha of Suburbia, BBC America, 22:00 ET
Sept 23, US, Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, Sundance, 04:00
Sept 28, Australia, The Buddha of Suburbia, ABC, 23:05
Sept 29, US, The Buddha of Suburbia, BBC America, 22:00 ET
__________________________________________
END CREDITS
- Still Bowie central for the online fan, Teenage Wildlife at
http://www.teenagewildlife.com/ and there are two other great fan
sites - Bassman's at http://www.algonet.se/~bassman/BOWIE.html and
Paul Kinder's at http://www.bowiewonderworld.com/.
- To unsubscribe at any time, send an Unsubscribe message (or
alternatively, "Your newsletter is a steaming pile of horse shit") to
bowie_news@hotmail.com.
The Bowie_News Web-site is http://come.to/bowienews, so if you want to
read old editions of the newsletter, or leave an abusive note on the
guestbook, get yourself along there.
The main Aladdin Sane website is at http://welcome.to/aladdinsane.
Like Teenage Wildlife, this site also now offers free email accounts.
If you like your newsletters a lot more frequent and detailed than
this one, Bonnie Powell runs just the Bowie newsletter for you. It is
usually weekly and covers, in her own words "things only a fan would
want to know". Go to
http://www.teenagewildlife.com/info/newsletters/dbfan/ if you want in.
- Hexgirl has a cute website selling t-shirts and underwear with her
Bowie artwork on it at
http://www.angelfire.com/sk/buttweasel/index.html
Love on ya,
Andy
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