Letter4

MAJOR NEWS IN BRIEF - *SCOOP* Forthcoming live album release date in the UK is September 21. - *SCOOP* Previously unreleased Tin Machine out-take on compilation album.

MUSIC NEWS - The currently scheduled release date for the live album is September 21. This will contain the 'new' track "Fun" (based on the Paradiso version of "Is It Any Wonder?") and (most likely) an enhanced CD for Bowie.net. An electronic press kit promo video will be released to promote the CD. - New information on an old Tin Machine out-take has come to light ("Great!! A Tin Machine out-take, hurrah!" I hear you cheer). The 1994 compilation CD, "Beyond The Beach", contains a Tin Machine out-take called "Needles On The Beach" (you can order it from the Teenage Wildlife store at http://www.etete.com/Bowie/Store/). Here's the story from Reeves Gabrels: "It's a track we recorded live in the studio in Sydney, Australia, during the Tin Machine 2 sessions. The title came as an reference to surf music combined with the fact that we kept finding used needles on the beaches. Simple explanation really. Plus, two of the chord changes come from Hendrix's "Third Stone From The Sun" where he says "we'll never have to listen to surf music again". That was my idea." - Bonnie reports that Bowie has already written and recorded the track he is contributing to the "Rugrats" soundtrack with Reeves Gabrels. It was recorded in London with Cure drummer Jason Cooper. -

Some other recent and forthcoming Bowie-related releases: --

The soundtrack to "Whatever", which contains Bowie's "Janine", will be released (in the US) on July 14. Unlike many other recent Bowie songs in movies, this one does actually feature heavily in the film, for about two minutes as backdrop to a party scene. The full tracklisting is as follows: 1. Mystery Achievement - The Pretenders 2. Tom Sawyer - Rush 3. Bikini Girls with Machine Guns - The Cramps 4. Janine - David Bowie 5. In The City - The Jam 6. Dancing Barefoot - Patti Smith 7. Playground Twist - Siouxsie and the Banshees 8. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend - The Ramones 9. I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones 10. The Hardest Part - Blondie 11. Love Is The Drug - Roxy Music 12. Gimme Danger - Iggy Pop 13. I Should've Known - Aimee Mann --

Another soundtrack, "Dead Man On Campus", which contains Marilyn Manson's cover of "Golden Years", is slated for release in the US on August 4. Some media reports seem to indicate that "Golden Years" may be the lead-off single from the soundtrack. Since the movie is produced by MTV's movie division, MTV are likely to promote it heavily. The movie is scheduled for release on August 21. Other artists featured on the soundtrack include Blur, Elastica and Supergrass. You can hear "Golden Years" in RealAudio at the Mannson web site, "Dead To The World" (http://www.deadtotheworld.com/) --

Yet another soundtrack, "The Wedding Singer", has just been released in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, to coincide with the release of the movie. As readers of Dara's Chartwatch will know, the soundtrack is already a big hit in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The tracklisting is: 1. Video Killed the Radio Star - Presidents of the United States of America 2. Do You Really Want To Hurt Me - Culture Club 3. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - The Police 4. How Soon Is Now? - The Smiths 5. Love My Way - The Psychedelic Furs 6. Hold Me Now - The Thompson Twins 7. Everyday I Write The Book - Elvis Costello 8. White Wedding - Billy Idol 9. China Girl - David Bowie 10. Blue Monday - New Order 11. Pass The Dutchie - Musical Youth 12. Have You Written Anything Lately? 13. Somebody Kill Me - Adam Sandler 14. Rappers Delight - Rosie (Ellen Dow) --

"THE SOUND OF GRAN TURISMO" soundtrack is out now on EMI and features tracks by Bowie (Scary Monsters), Garbage, Ash, Blur, Supergrass, Placebo, Mansun, Feeder, The Dandy Warhols, Terrorvision, Bentley Rhythm Ace, Cubanate and many more. Gran Turismo has been hailed as 'the greatest driving video game ever' and it has a soundtrack to match.

OTHER NEWS

- Savage Records, the record company which released "Black Tie White Noise" in the U.S. had its $65 million lawsuit against Bowie dismissed without comment by the New York State Court of Appeals.

Savage contended it lost more than $1 million on the album, and had a contract to pay Bowie $3.4 million for his next three albums. Bowie's lawyers allegedly negotiated a termination of the contract after the album didn't sell well. Savage subsequently filed for bankruptcy and sued Bowie and BMG alleging conspiracy and fraud. More on the story from MTV News:- "A bid from a record company to resurrect a $65 million lawsuit against David Bowie has failed. The Associated Press reports that the New York State Court of Appeals has refused a request from Savage Records to reinstate litigation that accused Bowie of conspiring with the label's distributor, BMG, to harm Savage. Bowie signed a $3.4 million, three-album deal with Savage, which was also home to Gene Loves Jezebel, and released his album, "Black Tie, White Noise," on the label in 1993. Within weeks of the album's release in America, the company folded. Savage had been formed by 25-year-old David Mimran, the son of sports car mogul Jean-Claude Mimran. The popular rumor according to press reports at the time was that the label had been funded by the senior Mimran who pulled the plug as the losses mounted. During their bankruptcy proceedings, Savage stated that they had lost over $1 million on the Bowie album. The singer negotiated his way off the label and subsequently signed with Virgin. Bowie's lawyer told the press that the appeals action "drives a stake through the heart of this ridiculous case." No reason was given for the decision. Savage still has a pending case against BMG." - Some upcoming Bowie TV to watch out for if you're in the US: July 11, 02:00 EDT, Basquiat, The Movie Channel, USA July 12, 09:30 EDT, Cher Show, VH-1, USA July 12, 16:30 EST, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Sundance, USA July 13, 17:00 EST, The Linguini Incident, Sundance, USA July 13, 10:30 EST, The Linguini Incident, Sundance, USA

CHART NEWS

Latest Chartwatch courtesy of Dara O'Kearney:

WEDDING SINGER SOUNDTRACK (featuring China Girl) US (Billboard): 90, 26, 9, 5, 9, 7, 11, 11, 19, 20, 25, 35, 52, 60, 70, 78, 65, 83, 86, 98 Canada (Soundscan): 100, 47, 15, 15, 13, 12, 18, 23, 38, 45, 50, out (alternative Top 50): 28, 12, 2, 2, 1, 1, 3, 4, 9, 11, 12, 14, 17, 21, 22, 21, 23, 24, 26, 25 Australia: X, X, X, X, 13, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 10, 7, 8 New Zealand: 25, 29, 16, 8, 3, 5, 2, 2, 5, 5 CDWorld: 17, 27, 2, 5, 5, 14, 27, out (Soundtrack chart): 7, 9, out Internet voting chart: 94, 91, 61, 65, 89, 71, 73, out This soundtrack continues to drop slowly on the US and Australian charts (it has already gone platinum in both countries). It remains on the New Zealand Top 5 for a sixth consecutive week.

SUNMACHINE (Dario G album with two Bowie-sung and cowritten tracks)

UK: (93), (150), (130), 27 Hungary (Mahasz Top 40): 23, 25

The second UK dance album this year to feature Bowie's vocals (the first was Goldie's "Saturnz Rising" for those with short memories) 'debuts' this week in the UK at a disappointing #27. I say 'debuts' because although the album was released in the UK only last week, sales of import copies (the album was released a few weeks ago in other European countries) pushed the album into the lower regions of the charts the past three weeks. I say 'disappointing' because with two smash singles on the album already and heavy promotion (including TV ads), it must have been expected to chart much higher. Also, despite the fact that both singles were Top 10 hits right across Europe, the album doesn't seem to be making any impact as yet in other European charts, except for Hungary. Bowie's contribution to the album is a sampled vocal from "Memory Of A Free Festival" which is used as the basis of one track (the title track, "SunMachine", confirmed as the next single) and reprised in another ("The End Of The Beginning"). The album will be released in the US on July 28.

HEROES (Wallflowers): US: (Billboard Hot 100 airplay): 43, 33, 27 (Billboard Modern Rock airplay): 17, 10, 10, 10, 10, 9, 10, out of top 10 (BillBoard Rock Album tracks): 14, 12, 8, 5, 5, 4, 5 (Billboard Adult Top 40): 34, 32, 25 (FMQB Top 40): 21, 21, 22, 27, 37, out (MTV Top 20 Video countdown): 20, 17, 15, 14, 9 (Alternative airplay): 13, 9, 8, 9 (Tunes rock airplay): 6, 4, 4, 3, 2, 2, 2, 3, 6 (Tunes Active Rock airplay): 22, 21, 17, 18, 18, 19, 22, 26, out (Tunes alternative airplay): 16, 9, 10, 10, 9, 10, 9, 9, 11, 14 (Tunes Adult alternative airplay): 16, 13, 10, 8, 7, 4, 3, 3, 5, 12 (Tunes Adult Contemporary airplay): 29, 28, 23, 21, 20, 19, 17, 18, 22, out (Tunes Pop airplay): 26, 23, 21, 22, 23, 27, out (Alternative Rock World Modern Rock airplay): 12, 9, 8, out of top 20 (ARC Top 40): 39, 35, 31, 26, 22, 18, 28 (Rick Dees Top 40): 40, 33, 25, 23, 22, 24, 27 (Casey Kasem Top 40): 23, 21, 22, 23, 27, 38 (Gavin Top 40): 18, 20, 20, 20 (Gavin alternative): 10, 8, 7, 10, 15 Canada: (MuchMusic Countdown): 24, 21, 19, 16, 12, 11, 8, 6, 5 (Ottawa Bear Top 20): 15, 11, 8, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1 (Edge Top 30): 29, 26, 22, 17, 14, 8, 10 Japan: (Osakan Top 100): 88, 65, 41, 31, 33, 45, 40, 48, 49 UK (London FM96 Top 30): 30, 16, 14, 9, 5, 6, 7, 7 Turkey (Capital Radio Top 40): 33, 25, 21, 17, 16, 18, 20, 27, 35 Macedonia (Radio airplay chart): 16, 15, 15, out Isle of Man: 23, 24, 6, 3, 3, 6, 13, 15, 18, out Austria( 88.6 airplay): 25, 24, 24, 19, 16, 15, 13 Portugal (Commercial Radio airplay): 8 Spain (Cadena Top 100): 38, 31, 28 Latvia (Radio Top 20): 18, out Singapore (Power 98FM Top 20): 20 Hong Kong (Hit Radio Foreign Top 10): 5 Colombia (Rock 20 Airplay): 20, 16 Australia: 61, 50, 41, 38, 38, 41

This high profile cover version of a Bowie song for the Godzilla soundtrack seems to have peaked and is now dropping on US airplay charts. It also drops in Japan and Australia, having failed to reach the upper regions of the charts in both countries.

OTHER SNIPPETS

- "Best Of 74/79" failed to make the Canadian Top 75 (even with the enhanced CD feature). However, almost 9 months after it first charted, "I'm Afraid Of Americans" is still knocking around just outside the Top 50 singles chart there. This week, it climbs twelve to #61. The Bowie co-written Puff Daddy track "Been Around The World" drops eleven places on the same chart this week to #29. - In Germany in the Hessischer Rundfunk HR-3 International Hit Parade, "Under Pressure" was a new entry last week at #7. Bengt reports that it is not unusual for HR-3 to play old songs, and for their listener's to drive them up the charts. So it proves for "Under Pressure" which climbs five to #2). - Continuing the recent trend of soundtracks with Bowie songs on them faring well, the "Godzilla" soundtrack is selling very well on the back of the success of "Heroes". Some key charts: US: 4, 2, 4, 4, 5, 6 Canada: 2, 3, 5, 5, 4, 2 (Alternative Top 50): 1, 1, 2, 2, 1 Australia: X, X, 20, 9, 8 New Zealand: 9, 9, 7, 10, 9, 6 Hungary (Ambro Top 20): 4 CD World (soundtrack chart): 1, 2, 2, 3 Internet Voting chart: 80, 75, 62, 89, 91 In Australia, it has gone gold, and in the US it has gone platinum.

- Bowie has no albums this week on the Tower Records Top 1000 weekly chart. Bowie entries in recent months: The Best Of Bowie 1969/1974: 960, out, 757, out, 986, 999, 1000, out ChangesBowie: 402, 487, 549, 587, 585, 742, 943, 858, out Earthling: 553, 580, 735, 780, 776, 875, 806, out The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars: 967, out The Singles Collection: 972, out Diamond Dogs: 915, 922, out There are also four soundtracks featuring Bowie contributions on the chart: Wedding Singer: 2, 3, 3, 3, 8, 17, 19, 29, 58, 73, 72, 69, 73, 81, 159, 134 Great Expectations: 15, 21, 21, 21, 53, 96, 108, 120, 222, 245, 254, 246, 252, 276, 640, 563 Grosse Pointe Blanke: 281, 316, 339, 335, 325, 340, 418, 405, 490, 411, 423, 415, 424, 393, 506, 600 Trainspotting: 699, 758, 808, 804, 528, 706, 899, 874, 872, 797, 810, 799, 805, 914, out Trainspotting #2: 889, 851, 902, 896, out, 837, out Godzilla: 3, 12, 16 - You can vote for Bowie on the Internet charts by going to http://www.worldcharts.com and filling out the voting form. Reinhold has also simplified the process at his Web page at http://www.oocities.org/SunsetStrip/Stage/9696/dbvotes.html. Alternatively, cut and paste the following: 5 David Bowie - Earthling [1471] 5 David Bowie - The Best Of 1974/1979 [2092] 5 Goldie - Saturnz Return [2005] 5 Various Artists - The Wedding Singer (Soundtrack) [2008] and email it to albums@worldcharts.nl You can also vote on the singles chart by cutting and pasting the following: 5 David Bowie - I'm Afraid Of Americans [2157] 5 David Bowie - I Can't Read [2257] 5 Iggy Pop - The Passenger [2422] 5 Various - Perfect Day [2225]

and emailing it to singles@worldcharts.nl

END CREDITS

- Special thanks in helping on this edition to Dara, WEB, and Reeves Gabrels.

- The two best Bowie fan sites on the Web are Evan Torrie's Teenage Wildlife (http://www.etete.com/Bowie/)

and Bassman's site (http://www.algonet.se/~bassman/BOWIE.html).

and Aladdin Sane (http://www.oocities.org/SunsetStrip/Backstage/9100)

Bonnie Powell runs the other more frequent Bowie newsletter. Send her a mail at Dbfan@aol.com if you want in.

This month's other recommendations:

- Peter Smit has some great rare photos at http://members.xoom.com/Bowie/, as does Marc Plouvin's French site at http://home.nordnet.fr/~mplouvin/

- Two great sites for serious analysis and discussion are Michael Liebel's Repetition (http://www.oocities.org/SoHo/Cafe/4723/) and Aki's Velvet Goldmine (http://www.oocities.org/Area51/Labyrinth/6010/index2.html) - Some great Bowie-related humour at Mookid loves Bowie (http://www.oocities.org/SunsetStrip/Club/3619/). You can also have a Bowie-related giggle at Reinhold's site at http://www.oocities.org/SunsetStrip/Stage/9696/ where (among other things) you can amuse yourself by defacing Bowie's face. - For fans of Labyrinth, there are a staggering number of Labyrinth web sites out there. The Labyrinth ring (http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=labyrinthring;list) has 61 sites now (almost as many as the David Bowie ring (http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=bowieweb&list)

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