The collaboration between a
rapper/beatboxer/singer-songwriter from Syracuse, NY and an electrifying
African kora sensation from Guinea pushes genre boundaries and earns raves
across Europe.
"A gloriously accessible collision of styles. It's an
unlikely collaboration that works, magnificently." – The Guardian (UK)
"A boundary-trampling high-octane hybrid in which the
lightning fast electrified licks of Kouyate are matched by the explosive energy
of Driscoll's rapid fire rhyming." – Songlines (UK)
The well-worn and often overblown expression "music is
a common language" has never been more apropos in the case of Joe Driscoll
& Sekou Kouyate. US-born, England-based Driscoll speaks no French and
Kouyate, who hails from the West African country of Guinea, little English.
When they were brought together at the Nuit Metis (Mixed Night) festival in
Marseille, France in 2010 and given a week to produce a concert, music was the
only way they could communicate.
It turns out, they had a lot to "talk" about, and
their first meeting sparked a collaboration that led to the formation of a
band, the recording of an album, over 120 concert dates across Europe and rave
reviews. Driscoll contributes the rapping, looping, beatboxing and songwriting
talents he developed growing up in Syracuse, New York and during his own
successful recording career. Kouyate, already a phenomenon in African music
circles, has blown minds and ears with his hypersonic electrified riffs on the
kora, bringing the exalted West African harp into the 21st Century with use of
distortion peddles, effects and previously-unimagined technical prowess.
Together, Driscoll and Kouyate blend hip-hop, spoken word, funk, and soulful,
accessible rock with Afrobeat, reggae and irrepressible African grooves.
February 2014, Cumbancha Discovery introduced the world to
Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate's debut album Faya, which earned praise from
tastemakers and devoted fans across Europe where they have performed in many of
the continent's top festivals and venues. Faya reached the number 2 spot on the
prestigious World Music Charts Europe, a survey of top international music DJs
across the continent. Their album earned Joe & Sekou a nomination for Best
Cross-Cultural Collaboration from Songlines, the UKs definitive global music
magazine.
Sekou Kouyate
Sekou Kouyate was raised in a respected and accomplished
musical family in Conakry, Guinea. Trained in the ancient traditions of his instrument,
it is his ability to transcend and build upon those traditions that has set him
apart. In France, he is known as the 'Jimi Hendrix of the kora' because of his
unique style of playing with various effects, in a variety of genres, and with
an extreme intensity. Kouyate has toured the world over as a member of the Ba
Cissoko band, comprised of his cousin and brothers.
Joe Driscoll
Joe Driscoll, whom Cee-Lo Green labelled "the gangsta
with an iron lung," has been touring steadily for years, spreading his
unique fusion of folk and hip-hop. The modern day take on the one man band, he
uses live looping to create soundscapes full of beatbox, guitar, harmonica,
percussion, harmonica, and just about anything else he can make use of. Now
living in Bristol, England, Driscoll has performed his ground breaking solo
show at the famed Glastonbury Festival, Electric Picnic in Ireland, and
hundreds of major stages worldwide.
By teaming up, Driscoll and Kouyate have created a sum that
exceeds even the large whole of its individual parts. According to Driscoll,
"We've been raised in very different cultures in so many ways, but we
share a lot of the same interests musically. Sekou was raised in the African
rhythm and traditions, yet has always had a passion for reggae, hip-hop. I'm
kind of the other way around. At the heart of it, we both just make the noises
we love; we listen to each other, and try to flow in harmony. I think we just
bounced off each other in so many ways: rhythmically, melodically, with
craftsmanship. Through this, we found we had a language between us and that
philosophically we were on a lot of the same pages as well."
The songs on Faya address burning social issues, commenting
on poverty, borders, immigration and inequality. According to Driscoll, "
We wrote about things that we knew and experienced, things that were important
to us. We've both travelled the world extensively, so dealing with these issues
was a very important part of the experience. We had things we wanted to say
about them. The message is the seed. Some people just enjoy the fruit, but we
try to spread the seeds with a positive vibe." Kouyate sings in French and
his native Susu language and Driscoll expounds in lightning fast bursts of
cunningly crafted English.
"One day in Africa, there will be no borders,"
declares Kouyate in French at the beginning of the album's opening track
"Tanama", establishing a consistent theme about the fallacy of the
imaginary lines that separate the people of the world. On the second song
"Passport," Driscoll responds to Kouyate's chorus "Music is my
passport," by singing "Because its only you, you see / Who has made a
boundary." The scorching third track "Faya", a tribute to fire
in its literal and metaphorical sense, highlights Sekou's kora wizardry,
Driscolls vocal dexterity and the unstoppable grooves they create together.
It’s a remarkable first third of an accomplished debut album, and the balance
of the album is equally compelling.
With plans already in the works to record a follow-up album,
Joe Driscoll and Sekou Kouyate have discovered that music speaks louder than
words.
Lost and Profound are back, and for that we can be grateful.
It has been more than a decade since we have heard from the acclaimed
Toronto-based duo of vocalist Lisa Boudreau and songwriter/guitarist Terry
Tompkins, but new album Goodbye Mine confirms they remain at the height of
their considerable creative powers.
Their previous release, Red Suede Red came out in 2002,
after which Terry and Lisa turned their individual talents to their other successful
musical activities (Tompkins as a composer and producer for film and TV,
Boudreau as an in-demand voice actor and singer).
The itch to record together again returned, sparked in part
by the fun Terry had making a new album with The Now Feeling, the Calgary-based
psych band . "That went so well, I thought we should make another Lost and
Profound record," he explains. "I had all these tunes that I started
playing for Lisa, and before we knew it, we were working on a record.'"
The essential core of the Lost and Profound style is the
combination of Terry's evocative songs and soundscapes and Lisa's pure and
emotionally eloquent vocals. The potency of that musical marriage has not been
diminished one iota, as Goodbye Mine triumphantly demonstrates. "We had a
clear vision of the sound we wanted for the record," Tompkins recalls.
"We wanted a production sound like that on all those early '70s albums we
love, and we kept it simple and sparse.
Helping them realize their mandate was a supporting cast of
A-list Toronto musicians, including guitarist Joao Carvalho (a long-time
collaborator who also mastered the album), drummer John Obercian,
multi-instrumentalist Darrell O'Dea (described by Terry as "our secret
weapon," he played keyboards, drums, guitar, bass and contributed string
arrangements), fiddle player Chris Bartos, bassist Greg Roberts, backing
singers Renee Rowe and Kesha Wint (on "Iodine" and Bad Sister")
and a string section.
Tompkins and Boudreau co-produced Goodbye Mine, with
recording taking place at elite Toronto studio Revolution Recording. Lisa
explains that "before going into the studio, we booked a gig so we'd learn
the songs and figure out what worked.
All the bed tracks were recorded within four days. "The
band's so great that we did most of it live." says Boudreau. "I did
all my lead vocals in two days, so it was very focused and concentrated. The
engineer was Dean Wilson, who did Beck's Mutations, and he was lovely."
Revolution's house engineer (and partner in the studio) Joe Dunphy also made a
major contribution, earning Terry's praise as "a wizard with guitar
sounds."
The results were then mixed at Prairie Sun Studios in
California by acclaimed veteran engineer Oz Fritz and old friend of Terry and
Lisa's, whose lengthy resume includes engineering and mixing Tom Waits'
Grammy-winning Mule Variations and albums by artists as diverse as Primus, John
Cale, Herbie Hancock, Bob Marley, Bill Laswell and Wanda Jackson. Assisting
Fritz in the mixing process was Terry and Lisa's son Jody Tompkins, an up and
coming audio engineer. "In the morning, we'd all listen to the songs and
Terry and I would say 'this is what we want here,'" recalls Lisa.
"Then we'd go away for awhile and take advantage of California's medical
marijuana laws. Then we'd come back at the end of the day to do minor tweaks to
what Oz and Jody had done... and then we'd all go for dinner.
The mixing and mastering for Goodbye Mine was done to tape,
with a view to the vinyl pressing of the album. "This will be the first
time we've done vinyl for a Lost and Profound album, and that is really
exciting," says Terry. The warm and intimate sound of vinyl is indeed the
perfect medium for the record. There is a pleasing sonic excellence to Goodbye
Mine. The full-blooded backing vocals on Iodine" and "Bad
Sister" impart a gospel vibe, while the beautifully affecting and
folk-inflected "The Rover" has a Celtic feel enhanced by the
masterful fiddle playing of Chris Bartos. "I wrote 'the Rover' when Lisa's
aunt died," Terry recalls. "I wanted a song that talked about dying
as a journey. One verse was recited at her aunt's funeral, and I later finished
all the lyrics in one night."
Tompkins takes the vocal lead on the aptly-named
"Jewel," an upbeat track with a California Sunshine pop vibe, while
the lush "Superhuman" brings classic Fleetwood Mac to mind. Soaring
guitars, evocative strings and backing vocals mesh with Lisa's passionate vocal
performance on "Goodbye Mine," another highlight on an album devoid
of lowlights.
Some 30 years of living and making music together has
inevitably meant that Terry and Lisa have forged a beautifully idiosyncratic
Lost and Profound sound, but they're not afraid to cite musical influences and
inspirations. For the new album, Terry singles out Pink Floyd. "We referenced
them over and over in the making of this record," he notes.
"Darrell's slide guitar playing on 'Iodine' is very Floyd." The
ability of Pink Floyd to create a huge sound in a sparse manner is certainly
replicated on Goodbye Mine.
Other key inspirations include Leonard Cohen, Lee Hazelwood,
Jimmy Webb and Townes Van Zandt. More contemporary sonic reference points would
include Elliott Smith and such so-called 'slo-core' artists as Mazzy Star, Low
and Red House Painters, while the haunting purity of Lisa's vocals has elicited
comparisons to the likes of Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval and Portishead's Beth
Gibbons. "I do think the sweet spot for Lisa's voice is a melancholy
lyric, and I do seem to primarily write relationship songs.", Tompkins
explains.
The couple's creative process has remained relatively
unchanged, as Lisa explains."Terry will demo his songs himself, on
acoustic guitar and piano. He naturally has great phrasing, and I will take
from that and add whatever I can do." Tompkins adds that "I'll have
the demos on in the background around the house. If Lisa reacts to one, we'll
work on it, If she doesn't react, then that song isn't going to work.
Drenge are an English two-piece alternative rock band, based
in Castleton, Derbyshire, Sheffield. The band is made up of Eoin Loveless, on
guitar and vocals, and his younger brother Rory, on drums. They take their name
from the Danish word for "boys", although it is pronounced
differently.
The band rose to prominence following the resignation of
Labour MP Tom Watson from the Shadow Cabinet in July 2013, who wrote in his
resignation letter on his blog "be that great Labour leader that you can
be, but try to have a real life too. And if you want to see an awesome band, I
recommend Drenge." However, they had a small following and had been picked
up by national media at least some seven months previously.
Drenge have toured extensively in the UK, also appearing at
Glastonbury Festival, Latitude Festival, and will be at the upcoming Reading
and Leeds Festival. They have also toured with Californian duo Deap Vally,
including an appearance close to their hometown at Sheffield's Queens Social
Club. They also toured with British band Peace in late 2013. They played a
headline tour in the first half of 2014, as well as playing at many festivals
over the summer of 2014, including Reading and Leeds, Glastonbury and T in the Park.
In recent activity Drenge have toured the UK alongside
American punk rock band Radkey, appeared on Later... with Jools Holland, and
their single "Bloodsports" was used for an advert for British TV show
Misfits, fitting the crude, aggressive nature of the show. They were also
nominated for Zane Lowe's top 100 hottest records of 2013 with the single
"Bloodsports".
Their self-titled album was released on 19 August 2013 on
Infectious Records. The artwork for the album features a photograph of Wardsend
Cemetery in Sheffield and a nearby scrapyard.
On 27 January 2015, they made their US network television
debut on the Late Show with David Letterman.
On 6 April 2015, the band's second album, Undertow, was
released, debuting at number 14 on the UK Albums Chart.
For their tour in 2015 the band included a bassist in their
live line-up as well as in their new single "We Can Do What We Want".
Band Members:
Eoin Loveless – lead vocals, guitar (2011–present)
Running Wild – Official Video - (Album: Undertow 2015)
Running Wild – (Live KEXP)
The Snake - (Album: Undertow 2015)
Undertow - (Album: Undertow 2015)
Side By Side - (Album: Undertow 2015)
Side By Side - (Live KEXP)
Favourite Son - (Album: Undertow 2015)
We Can Do What We Want – (Album: Undertow 2015)
Album Overview: Undertow (2015)
If, for some reason, you've always wanted to know about the effort and consideration we put in to Undertow, we've put together a little track by track video. It's features my best Philomena Cunk impression, the over use of the word "like", some basic painting skills and useful statements such as "this song isn't really about anything." Hope you find it as insightful and useful as it was intended to be.
Golden Sky is St. Petersburg Russia’s “Alexandr 'hzch'
Solovyov”. Alexandr’s music is an evolving blend of Atmospheric Rock
intertwined with electric guitars, which creates a very conscious progressive
instrumental rock. A must listen for serious fans of Progressive Rock.
It all started ten years ago when Alexandr bought his first
electric guitar…and the rest as they say is history as his inspired music
journey continues to expand and unfold.
“Both music and art are my passions, but music allows me to
express my thoughts and emotions in a vibrant way. As life continues to unfold,
my consciousness and music evolves with it.”
“Over the years, I’ve broadened my horizons by exploring a
variety of music genres, and somewhere on that path, I realized that writing
music is what gives me a deep fulfilling satisfaction.”
Alexandr’s first album, "Fragile" was released in
2012, and initially put together to showcase his music to friends. Their
positive reaction to the album inspired him to continue writing, and so he did,
as he released a more progressive sounding second album, “Negation” in 2014”
and then within a year, he released his third album “So They Say” (June 2015).
The progression of Alexandr’s first three albums is a
testament to the artist’s ease in developing more complex Instrumental
Progressive Rock compositions. Have a listen to his music below and be sure to visit his websites for more news and music.
Lynne grew up in the Shard End area of Birmingham, West
Midlands, where he attended Alderlea Boys' Secondary School. His first guitar,
an acoustic instrument, was bought for him by his father, for £2. He was still
playing it in 2012. In 1963 he formed a group with Robert Reader and David
Walsh using little more than Spanish guitars and cheap electrical instruments
to produce music. They were originally named "The Rockin' Hellcats"
before changing to "The Handicaps" and finally to "The
Andicaps". They practised at Shard End Community Centre and performed
weekly. However, in 1964, Robert Reader and David Walsh left the band and Lynne
brought in replacements. At the end of 1964, Lynne decided to leave the band to
replace Mick Adkins of the local band "The Chads".
Some time in or after 1965, he acquired his first item of
studio recording equipment, a Bang & Olufsen 'Beocord 2000 De Luxe' stereo
reel-to-reel tape recorder, which allowed multi-tracking between left and right
channels. He says it "taught me how to be a producer". In 1966, Lynne
joined the line-up of The Nightriders as guitarist. The band would soon change
their name to the Idle Race, a name allegedly given to them sarcastically by
his grandmother Evelyn Lynne who probably disapproved of pop music as not being
a proper job. Despite recording two critically acclaimed albums with the band
and producing the second, success eluded him. In 1970, Lynne accepted an offer
from friend Roy Wood to join the line-up of the more successful band the Move.
1970–86: The Electric Light Orchestra
Lynne contributed many songs to the Move's last two albums
while formulating, with Roy Wood and Bev Bevan, a band built around a fusion of
rock and classical music, with the original idea of both bands existing in
tandem. This project would eventually become the highly successful Electric
Light Orchestra (ELO). Problems led to Wood's departure in 1972, after the
band's eponymous first album, leaving Lynne as the band's dominant creative
force. Thereafter followed a succession of band personnel changes and
increasingly popular albums: 1973's ELO 2 and On the Third Day, 1974's Eldorado
and 1975's Face the Music. By 1976's A New World Record, Lynne had almost
developed the roots of the group into a more complex and unique pop-rock sound
mixed with studio strings, layered vocals, and tight, catchy pop singles.
Lynne's now almost complete creative dominance as producer, songwriter,
arranger, lead singer and guitarist could make ELO appear to be an almost solo
effort. However, the ELO sound and the focus of Lynne's writing was also shaped
by Louis Clark's and Richard Tandy's co-arranging, under Lynne's direction
(notably the large string sections), Bev Bevan's drumming, and Richard Tandy's
integration of the Moog, harmonium, and Mellotron, with more novel keyboard
technology, gave Lynne's songs a more symphonic sound.
The pinnacle of ELO's chart success and worldwide popularity
was the expansive 1977 double album Out of the Blue, which was largely
conceived in a Swiss chalet during a two-week writing marathon. The band's 1978
world tour featured an elaborate "space ship" set and laser light
show. In order to recreate the complex instrumental textures of their albums,
the band used pre-recorded supplemental backing tracks in live performances.
Although that practice has now become commonplace, it caused considerable
derision in the press of the time. Lynne has often stated that he prefers the
creative environment of the studio to the rigours and tedium of touring. In
1979, Lynne followed up the success of Out of the Blue with Discovery, which
held No. 1 in the UK for 5 weeks. The album is primarily associated with its
two disco-flavoured singles ("Shine a Little Love" and "Last
Train to London") and with the title's word play on "disco" and
"very". However, the remaining seven non-disco tracks on the album
reflected Lynne's range as a pop-rock songwriter, including a heavy, mid-tempo
rock anthem ("Don't Bring Me Down") that, despite its use of a drum
loop, could be considered the antithesis of disco. In an April 2008 interview,
Lynne fondly recalled his forays into dance music:
“I love the force of disco. I love the freedom it gave me to
make a different rhythms across it. I enjoyed that really steady driving beat.
Just steady as a rock. I’ve always liked that simplicity in the bass drum.”
In 1979, Lynne rejected an offer for ELO to headline the
Knebworth Concert in the UK, allowing Led Zeppelin to headline instead. In the
absence of any touring to support Discovery, Lynne had time to contribute five
tracks to the soundtrack for the 1980 film musical Xanadu. The score yielded
three Top 40 singles: "I'm Alive" (UK No. 20), "All Over The
World" (UK No. 11), and the title track "Xanadu", which reached
number one in the UK. Nevertheless, Lynne was not closely involved with the
development of the film, and his material consequently had only superficial
attachment to the plot. Xanadu performed weakly at the box office (although it
later has experienced popularity as a cult favourite). Lynne subsequently
disavowed his limited contribution to the project, although he later
re-recorded the title song (with his lead vocal) for the 2000 box set
Flashback. In 2007, the film was loosely adapted into a successful Broadway
musical, incorporating almost all of the songs from the original film, and also
using two other ELO hits: "Strange Magic" and "Evil Woman".
1980s
In 1981, Lynne took the band in a somewhat different
direction with the science-fiction themed album Time, reaching number one for
two weeks in the UK, producing the second Top 3 single in less than two years.
The strings were still featured, but with heavily synthesised textures.
Following a marginally successful tour, Lynne kept this general approach with
1983's Secret Messages and a final contractually-obligated ELO album Balance of
Power in 1986. Lynne discusses the contractually-obligated nature of the final
albums on the short interview included with the 'Zoom' DVD. ELO now had only
three remaining official members (Lynne, Bevan and Tandy), and Lynne began
devoting more time to producing. During his time in the Electric Light
Orchestra, Lynne did manage to release a few recordings under his own name. In
1976, Lynne covered the Beatles songs "With a Little Help from My
Friends" and "Nowhere Man" for All This and World War II. In
1977, Lynne released his first solo single, the disco-flavoured "Doin'
That Crazy Thing"/"Goin' Down to Rio". Despite ELO's high
profile at that time, it received little airplay and failed to chart.
In 1984, Lynne and ELO keyboardist Richard Tandy contributed
two original songs "Video!" and "Let It Run" to the film
Electric Dreams (they also provided a third song, "Sooner Or Later",
which was released as the b-side of "Video!"). Lynne also wrote the
song "The Story of Me," which was recorded by the Everly Brothers on
their comeback album EB84. Even before the official end of ELO, Lynne began his
move toward focusing almost exclusively on studio production work. Lynne
produced and wrote the 1983 top-40 hit "Slipping Away" for Dave
Edmunds and played on sessions (with Richard Tandy) for Edmunds' album,
Information. Lynne also produced six tracks on Edmunds' follow-up album in
1984, Riff Raff. In contrast to the dense, boomy, baroque sound of ELO, Lynne's
post-ELO studio work has tended toward more minimal, acoustic instrumentation
and a sparse, "organic" quality that generally favours light room
ambience and colouration over artificial reverb, especially on vocals. Lynne's
recordings also often feature the jangling compressed acoustic guitar sound
pioneered by Roger McGuinn and a heavily gated snare drum sound.
Lynne's influence by the Beatles was clearly evident in his
ELO work, and the connection to the Beatles was strengthened when Lynne
produced George Harrison's Cloud Nine. The latter was a successful comeback
album for Harrison, released in 1987, featuring the popular singles "Got
My Mind Set on You", "When We Was Fab" (where Lynne played the
violin in the video) and "This Is Love", the last of which was
co-written by Lynne. Lynne's association with Harrison led to the 1988
formation of the Traveling Wilburys, a studio "supergroup" that also
included Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison and resulted in two albums (Vol.
1 and Vol. 3), both produced by Harrison and Lynne. In 1988 Lynne also worked
on Orbison's album Mystery Girl, co-writing and producing Orbison's last major
hit, "You Got It", plus two other tracks on that album. For Rock On!,
the final Del Shannon album, Lynne co-wrote "Walk Away" and finished
off several tracks after Shannon's death.
In 1989, Lynne co-produced Full Moon Fever by Tom Petty,
which included the hit singles "Free Fallin'", "I Won't Back
Down" and "Runnin' Down a Dream", all co-written by Lynne. This
album and Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 received nominations for the Grammy Award
for Best Album of the Year in 1989. The Traveling Wilburys won a Grammy for
"Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal" that year.
Lynne's song "One Way Love" was released as a single by Agnetha
Faltskog and appeared on her second post-ABBA album, Eyes of a Woman. Lynne
co-wrote and produced the track "Let It Shine" for Beach Boys founder
Brian Wilson's first solo album in 1988. Lynne also contributed three tracks to
an album by Duane Eddy and "Falling in Love" on Land of Dreams for
Randy Newman.
1990s
In 1990, Lynne collaborated on the Wilburys' follow up
Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 and shortly after that released his first solo album
Armchair Theatre, with old friends George Harrison and Richard Tandy featuring
the singles "Every Little Thing" and "Lift Me Up". The
album received some positive critical attention but little commercial success.
Lynne also provided the song "Wild Times" to the motion picture
soundtrack Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in 1991. In 1991, Lynne returned to
the studio with Petty, co-writing and producing the album Into the Great Wide
Open for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which featured the singles
"Learning to Fly" and "Into the Great Wide Open". The
following year he produced Roy Orbison's posthumous album King of Hearts,
featuring the single "I Drove All Night".
In February 1994, Lynne fulfilled a lifelong dream by
working with the three surviving Beatles on the Anthology album series. At
George Harrison's request, Lynne was brought in to assist in re-evaluating John
Lennon's original studio material. The songs "Free as a Bird" and
"Real Love" were created by digitally processing Lennon's demos for
the songs and overdubbing the three surviving band members to form a virtual
Beatles reunion that the band had mutually eschewed during Lennon's lifetime.
Lynne has also produced records for Ringo Starr and worked on Paul McCartney's
Grammy nominated album Flaming Pie.
Lynne's work in the 1990s also includes production of a 1993
album for singer/songwriter Julianna Raye entitled Something Peculiar and
production or songwriting contributions to albums by Roger McGuinn (Back from
Rio) and Joe Cocker (Night Calls), songs by Aerosmith ("Lizard
Love"), Tom Jones ("Lift Me Up"), Bonnie Tyler ("Time Mends
a Broken Heart"), the film Still Crazy, Hank Marvin ("Wonderful
Land" and "Nivram"), Et Moi ("Drole De Vie") and the
Tandy Morgan Band ("Action"). In 1996, Lynne was officially recognised
by his peers when he was awarded the Ivor Novello Award for "Outstanding
Contributions to British Music" for a second time.
2000's
Following legal action to get the ELO name back from Bevan's
touring group ELO Part II after Bevan decided to retire and sell his 50% rights
of the ELO name to Lynne, Lynne released a new album in 2001 under the ELO
moniker entitled Zoom. The album featured guest appearances by Ringo Starr,
George Harrison and original ELO keyboardist Richard Tandy, with Lynne multi-tracking
a majority of the instruments and vocals. The album received positive reviews
but had no hit singles. Despite bearing little sonic relationship to the
halcyon ELO days of the late 1970s, it was marketed as a "return to the
classic ELO sound" in an attempt to connect with a loyal body of fans and
jump-start a planned concert tour (with Lynne and Tandy as the only returning
original ELO members). While a live performance was taped at CBS Television
City over two consecutive nights and shown on PBS (with subsequent DVD
release), the tour itself was cancelled. Speculation remains, as to the reason
(or reasons), for the cancellation of this tour; although often cited by fans
as a reason for the tour cancellation, the events and aftermath of 11 September
occurred subsequent to the official cancellation of the tour. Greg Bissonette
(ELO drummer), when asked, described it as "the greatest tour I never went
on!"
Earlier in 2001, Lynne began working with George Harrison on
what would turn out to be Harrison's final album, Brainwashed. After Harrison's
death from cancer on 29 November 2001, Lynne returned to the studio in 2002 to
help finish the uncompleted album. Lynne was heavily involved in the memorial
Concert for George, held at London's Royal Albert Hall in November 2002, which
also featured Wilbury member Petty. Lynne sang the lead vocal on "The
Inner Light", "I Want to Tell You" and "Give Me Love (Give
Me Peace on Earth)", and subsequently produced the Surround Sound audio mix
for the Concert for George DVD, released in November 2003, which later received
a Grammy. Lynne reunited in 2006 with Petty to produce the latter's third solo
release, Highway Companion.
ASCAP honoured Lynne with the Golden Note Award during their
inaugural "I Create Music" EXPO on 24 April 2009, the presenter was
Paul Williams. ASCAP's Golden Note Award is presented to songwriters,
composers, and artists who have achieved extraordinary career milestones.
Previous honorees include Tom Petty, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Sean "Diddy"
Combs and Garth Brooks, to name a few. Lynne said in a Reuters article on 23
April 2009, that he has finally been working on the long awaited follow-up to
his 1990 solo debut album Armchair Theatre with a possible tentative release
date of "later this year". He also produced four tracks on Regina
Spektor's fifth album Far, released 23 June 2009.
2010–Present
In a March 2010 interview with the Daily Express newspaper,
Lynne confirmed he was working on a new album with Joe Walsh and simultaneously
"writing a couple of albums under his own name, though he won't tell us in
which musical direction he's heading." Lynne contributed a cover of Buddy
Holly's "Words of Love" for the tribute album Listen to Me: Buddy
Holly, which was released on 6 September 2011. On 31 December 2011, Brian
Williams reported on NBC New Year's Eve with Carson Daly that "2012
releases will include rare new work from Jeff Lynne."
In 2012, Walsh released his Analog Man album which was
produced by Lynne. Lynne's second solo album, a covers album entitled Long
Wave, was released on 8 October 2012. A greatest hits collection of re-recorded
ELO songs by Lynne titled Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light
Orchestra was also released under the ELO moniker on the same day. Lynne
implied that a new album with original material would be released during 2013.
In 2012, Lynne and Tandy teamed up at Lynne's Bungalow
Palace home studios to record a live set of ELO's songs. This was broadcast on
TV as part of the Mr. Blue Sky documentary.
On 11 October 2012, Lynne was nominated as a
performer/songwriter for 2013 induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
On 21 June 2013, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced
that Lynne is to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame sometime in 2014.
Lynne and Tandy reunited again on 12 November 2013 to
perform, under the name Jeff Lynne and Friends, "Livin' Thing" and
"Mr. Blue Sky" at the Children in Need Rocks concert at Hammersmith
Eventim Apollo, London.
On 9 February 2014, Lynne performed George Harrison's
"Something" on The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The
Beatles, as well as "Hey Bulldog" from the Yellow Submarine
soundtrack while accompanying Dave Grohl, commemorating the 50th anniversary of
The Beatles' performance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
On 5 March 2014, Lynne received an honorary doctorate degree
from Birmingham City University. He also mentioned he was working with Bryan
Adams on new material.
On 14 September 2014 Jeff Lynne played a public concert for
the first time in over 25 years, headlining at the Radio 2 festival in Hyde
Park, London.
On 8 February 2015, Lynne appeared at the Grammy Awards,
playing "Evil Woman" and "Mr. Blue Sky" with Ed Sheeran.
On 23 April 2015, Jeff Lynne was awarded the 2,548th star on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star was dedicated at 1750 N. Vine Street in
front of the Capitol Records building. Tom Petty and Joe Walsh were present to
help unveil the star and spoke about Lynne.
On 10 September 2015, Lynne's
website announced he had signed a contract to deliver an album of new ELO music
for Columbia Records marking the first time in 14 years new ELO music would be
released.
On 24 September 2015,
"When I Was a Boy", the first single from Alone in the Universe was
released on the internet with a music video scheduled not long after. The album
was released on 13 November 2015 and was followed by promotional shows
including the first ELO shows in the United States in 30 years. A 2016 European
tour was scheduled, with Dublin, Amsterdam and Zurich being some of the
locations toured. Notably, the Dublin concert was delayed by a week due to
medical advice given to Lynne.
On 24 June 2017, Lynne
performed at Wembley Stadium to a crowd of 60,000, playing a 24-song setlist
including 'Xanadu', 'Do Ya' and 'Twilight'. The concert was released on DVD and
CD, under the title Wembley or Bust.
On 2 August 2018, Lynne and
his band Jeff Lynne's ELO began a 10-city tour of North America which included
the US cities of Oakland, California and Los Angeles, Denver, Houston, Dallas,
Rosemont, Illinois, Detroit, New York City, Philadelphia and Toronto.
On 12 September 2018, Jeff
Lynne's ELO began a tour throughout Europe including dates in Stockholm, Oslo,
Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Mannheim, Vienna, Amsterdam, Nottingham,
Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Birmingham, Leeds, London, Liverpool,
Dublin, and Belfast.
On 20 June 2019, Jeff Lynne's
ELO began a North American tour with Dhani Harrison.
On 26 September 2019, Jeff
Lynne's ELO announced a new album, called From Out of Nowhere, which was
subsequently released on 1 November of the same year. The album was accompanied
by the release of an eponymous single which premiered on BBC Radio 2 that same
day.
Jeff Lynne - (2000 to 2029 Playlist)
Jeff Lynne - (Live Playlist)
Jeff Lynne & Richard Tandy – (Music & Commentary)
Live from Bungalow Palace 2012
Jeff Lynne – Blown Away – Album: Armchair Theatre (1990)
Jeff Lynne – Nobody Home – Album: Armchair Theatre (1990)
Jeff Lynne – Don’t Let Go (Jessie Stone Cover) – Album: Armchair Theatre (1990)
The Traveling Wilbury's - Handle with Care (1987)
The Traveling Wilbury's – End of the Line (1987)
Jeff Lynne (ELO) - 1973 to (1986 Playlist)
The Move – Do Ya – (1972)
The Move – Message from the Country – (1971)
The Move – What? (Album: Looking On – 1970)
The Move - Open Up said the World at the Door - (Album: Looking On – 1970)
The Idle Race - Someone Knocking (Album: The Idle Race - 1969)
The Idle Race - Sea of Dreams (Album: The Idle Race - 1969)
The Idle Race - Skeleton and the Roundabout (Album: The Birthday Party - 1968)
The Idle Race - The Birthday (Album: The Birthday Party - 1968)
The Idle Race - On with the Show (Album: The Birthday Party - 1968)
A Chat with Jeff Lynne – Falling in Love with Music
“As was the case with Miles Davis in jazz, Bowie has come
not just to represent his innovations but to symbolize modern rock as an idiom
in which literacy, art, fashion, style, sexual exploration and social
commentary can be rolled into one.” Rolling Stone magazine
Bowie is the man who elevated his music to what can only be
described as an art form.
Driven by an entirely deeper dynamic than most pop artists,
David Bowie inhabits a very special world of extraordinary sounds and endless
vision. Unwilling to stay on the treadmill of rock legend and avoiding the
descent into ever demeaning and decreasing circles of cliché, Bowie writes and
performs what he wants, when he wants. His absence from the endless list of
“important events” has just fuelled interest. Constant speculation about what
the guy was up to has even led some to wonder if this is his greatest
reinvention ever. David Jones!
David Robert Jones was born in Brixton on January 8, 1947.
At age thirteen, inspired by the jazz of the London West End, he picked up the
saxophone and called up Ronnie Ross for lessons. Early bands he played with –
The Kon-Rads, The King Bees, the Mannish Boys and the Lower Third –provided him
with an introduction into the showy world of pop and mod, and by 1966 he was
David Bowie, with long hair and aspirations of stardom rustling about his head.
Kenneth Pitt signed on as his manager, and his career began with a handful of
mostly forgotten singles but a head full of ideas. It was not until 1969 that
the splash onto the charts would begin, with the legendary Space Oddity (which
peaked at No. 5 in the UK). Amidst his musical wanderings in the late 60s, he
experimented with mixed media, cinema, mime, Tibetan Buddhism, acting and love.
The album, originally titled David Bowie then subsequently Man of Words, Man of
Music, pays homage to all the influences of the London artistic scene. It shows
the early song-writing talent that was yet to yield some of rock-n-roll’s
finest work, even if it would take the rest of the world a few years to catch
up with him.
Early 70s
Bowie’s first album, The Man Who Sold The World, was
recorded as an entity in itself and marks the first definitive creative stretch
for the listener. Mick Ronson’s guitars are often referred to as the birth
point of heavy metal, and certainly the auspicious beginnings of glam rock can
be traced here. The album was released by Mercury in April 1971 to minimal
fanfare and Bowie took his first trip to the United States to promote it that
spring. In May of the same year, Duncan Zowie Haywood Bowie was born to David
and his then wife Angela.
RCA was the next label to sign Bowie, and after a trip to
America to complete the legalities, he returned to London to record two albums
nearly back to back. Hunky Dory was built from a six-song demo that had enticed
the label to sign him and features Changes and Life On Mars. Almost
immediately, it was followed up by the instant classic The Rise and Fall of
Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars.
1972 was certainly the year that Bowie began to get a
glimpse of the power of pop. GQ editor Dylan Jones said of the landmark 1972
Top of The Pops appearance on 6th July “This is the performance that turned
Bowie into a star, embedding his Ziggy Stardust persona into the nations
consciousness.” The sound of the suburbs suddenly got a whole lot louder.
Previewed in London that spring, his rock-n-roll creation Ziggy Stardust staged
one of the most spectacular and innovative live shows to date, and the craze
that followed was the beginning of his superstar myth.
The summer of 1972 was also a busy one for him in the
studio, as he produced albums for Lou Reed (Transformer) – a seminal record
that to this day enthuses critics the world over and spawned the surprise
leftfield hit, Walk on the Wild Side, a fairytale of the dark side of New York.
The fact that David had also co-produced the terrifying and vastly influential
Raw Power by Iggy and The Stooges that year, only added to his growing
reputation as an artist to be taken most seriously. Bowie later went on to
produce further Iggy albums – The Idiot and Lust for Life and co-wrote China
Girl from Let’s Dance with the Detroit demon. He also produced Mott the Hoople
(All The Young Dudes, for which he wrote the hit title track).
The US “Ziggy” tour began in September, with sold-out shows
full of theatrically inspired Japanese costumes, snarling guitars courtesy of
Mick Ronson, and a bold, daring approach to performance that propelled the
audience into a rock-n-roll fervor. He abruptly put his own creation to rest on
June 3, 1973 with the pronouncement: “Of all the shows on the tour, this one
will stay with us the longest because not only is this the last show of the
tour, but it is the last show we will ever do.” This surprised everyone in the
house – not least the members of his band.
Amidst the Ziggy fever, Aladdin Sane was released in April
1973, inspired by his experiences in America while touring. After putting the
“Stardust” show to bed, he travelled to France to begin work on his next
albums. Pin-Ups was the last time that Bowie would record an album with Mick
Ronson on guitar and Ken Scott at the production helm. His tribute to the
artists that he admired in the London years of 1964-67 was released in October
1973. In April of 1973, his proto-Bladerunner project Diamond Dogs debuted full
of tension and angst standing in stark contrast to the disco music that was
beginning to crowd the airwaves. In the summer of 1974, he undertook his
greatest US tour yet, with an enormous set and choreographed tableaus. The
double album David Live was recorded in Philadelphia’s Tower Theatre, and
serves as a souvenir of this tour.
Mid 70s
The two previous albums showed hints of Bowie's interest in
the music he heard in America. Authentic soul with a unique UK perspective
meant this was far from being a homage. The most direct result of this
fascination is the rhythmic, soul-laden Young Americans, released in 1975. A
collaboration with John Lennon on Fame came out of an impromptu session at
Electric Ladyland in New York and was a last-minute addition to the LP. It
resulted in Bowie's first ever No. 1 single in the US. The album also featured
another David discovery soon to be better known as R&B singer Luther
Vandross. He contributed backing vocals alongside the other legendary young
American musicians such as Willie Weeks, Andy Newmark, David Sanborn and Mike
Garson.
Not long after the album came out, he moved to Los Angeles
and starred in the cult classic Nic Roeg science fiction film The Man Who Fell
To Earth. After completion of filming, he almost immediately returned to the
studio for the recording of Station to Station, a travelogue of sorts. The
White Light tour followed, this time with an electronic-driven line-up, played
out with Brecht- inspired theatricality. A compilation of hits,
ChangesOneBowie, was released by RCA in May 1976. Never one to stay in one
place too long, shortly after his tour finished, David relocated to the Schonenberg
section of Berlin.
Late 70s
Whether Bowie was where the action was or the action was
where David Bowie was, sometimes it was hard to assess, but for sure the
seismic plates of history were shifting under the studio during the next
recording. The iron curtain still firmly divided Europe and nowhere more so
than in Berlin where David and Iggy were famously holed up. The subsequent
music provided an atmosphere backdrop to the emerging punk scene in London.
A suitably mysterious return to the UK stage playing
keyboards with Iggy in 77 cemented the myth. The stark black and white stage
lights highlighted the unseen all persuasive Bowie influence and fitted the
mood of the times perfectly. He was soon to step back out of the shadows.
Low and “Heroes” were recorded with collaborators Brian Eno,
Tony Visconti and he adopted new approaches to the songwriting process. In an
interview for French radio, Bowie said, “Berlin has the strange ability to make
you write only the important things. Anything else you don’t mention… and in
the end you produce Low.” Surrealism and experimentation were the themes of the
day, and the incorporation of cut-and-paste techniques into unique
instrumentation birthed what are now heralded as luminary ambient soundscapes.
Released in 1977, Low confused RCA and though the masses were not quite sure
what to make of the effort, the single Sound and Vision eventually hit No. 2 on
the British charts.
The second in his three-album triptych, “Heroes” prominently
features Robert Fripp on guitar and a more optimistic outlook overall. One of
his greatest singles, the title track from this album recounts a romantic
liaison between lovers near the Berlin Wall. His next foray into film occurred
in Just A Gigolo, which he described as “all my thirty-two Elvis Presley movies
rolled into one.” March of 1978 found him on tour again, and during a May break
he narrated Peter and the Wolf with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the first of
many children's projects he would consistently support over the years (now out
of print, the result was a collectible green-vinyl album). Stage was released
in September 1978, culled from his recent tour of the States, and features live
material from his “Berlin” period. A relocation to Switzerland was to follow,
abandoned frequently due to his ever developing love affair with the exotic
Indonesia, Africa and the Far East.
Recorded in France, Lodger was released in May 1979, and by
the end of the year he was again in the studio. Rehearsals also began for his
Broadway debut, in the part of the The Elephant Man, which opened in September
1980 to rave reviews.
The 80s
In the same month, Scary Monsters was released and Bowie
also recorded Under Pressure in 1981 in Switzerland and the song appeared on
Queen's album Hot Space the following year. The song reached No. 1 in the UK.
After this period, he dropped out of the public eye, while
remaining involved with various film projects. 1982 saw him playing the male
lead in The Hunger, the role of Celliers in the captivating World War 2 drama
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, alongside Tom Conti and Ryuichi Sakamoto
…writing the theme song for the movie Cat People. Another greatest hits
compilation, ChangesTwoBowie, came out in 1982.
In October 83, RCA released Ziggy Stardust: The Motion
Picture Album, capturing the energy of Ziggy and the Spiders during their last
show. Shortly thereafter, the movie, originally filmed in 1973, was also
released.
Officially signed to EMI in 1983, the album Let’s Dance
followed along with the world-encompassing Serious Moonlight tour. Bowie had
brilliantly reinvented himself once again. This time as the ultimate rock star,
just in time to be at the forefront of stadium rock and a new era of mass media
fuelled mega stardom. Selling at least 7 million copies, Let’s Dance became the
most commercially successful album of his career and massively influenced a
whole host of artists, including Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and Boy George.
The album, produced by Chic mastermind Nile Rodgers, was
perhaps the most straightforward album of his career. It was a collection of
elegantly produced, impeccably sung dance floor numbers including the
Motown-styled Modern Love, the darkly romantic China Girl (first cut with Iggy
Pop in Berlin) and a remake of the movie theme Cat People. All of the above
were substantial radio hits, as was the glossy and romantic title track. The
upbeat romantic theme extended to his next album Tonight (1984), though the
single Loving the Alien drew a prophetic scenario on the Islam/Christian tensions.
A moving appearance at Live Aid (where he dedicated “Heroes”
to his young son), a duet single with Mick Jagger, and the heavily theatrical
Glass Spider tour (with lead guitar by Peter Frampton) all kept up Bowie's
popularity. In 1988 brought the biggest surprise of all. Another sharp left
turn: he had formed a new band, Tin Machine, with the Sales Brothers (Hunt and
Tony, sons of Soupy) and a hot guitar find from Boston, Reeves Gabrels. He was
adamant that this would be a full-time band, not a superstar solo project. On
their two million-selling albums (plus a limited edition live disc), Tin
Machine proved their mettle as a modern alternative live act, with a
stripped-down guitar sound, all-new material and a few real surprises (a Pixies
cover!). Some fans loved it, others were confused by it and Tin Machine was on
hiatus by 1992. Meanwhile, Bowie set out on Sound and Vision with his first
full-fledged greatest hits tour, recruiting long-time collaborator Adrian Belew
to play lead guitar. In an innovative move, fans were allowed to pick the songs
via phone poll. An album of the same name accompanied the tour on Rykodisc.
The 90s
1993 brought the long-awaited return to solo projects Black
Tie White Noise and one of rock’s first CD–ROMs entitled Jump. With Nile
Rodgers again producing, the album came close to summing up every period of
Bowie: with the opening instrumental The Wedding (inspired by Bowie's own
marriage to model Iman) offering a dance-and-house-inspired, brighter-toned
return to the sound of Low; the single Jump They Say harking back to funkier
times; and the old Cream tune I Feel Free marking a long-awaited reunion with
Ziggy-era partner Mick Ronson (sadly, Ronson passed away soon after). Reaching
No. 1 in the UK album charts, Black Tie White Noise reassured fans that Bowie's
creative curiosity was by no means exhausted.
By 1994, Bowie and Eno were again collaborating in the
studio. The result was the concept album Outside released as part of a new deal
with Virgin Records. This complex project touches on the increasing obsession
with the human body as art and the paganization of western society. With its
package-arts broken-down style, its haunted sound of ruin and its non-linear
story-line of art, murder and technology, Outside predates the new sensibility
of movies such as Seven, Copycat and the TV shows The X-Files and Millennium.
As befits the multiphrenic nature of outsider art and emotion, Bowie sings in
any number of voices: one minute the melodramatic crooner, another the stylized
Londoner, another the quiet, intimate recluse of the Berlin years. Or, he is
vari-speeded among the album’s seven characters. The song The Hearts Filthy
Lesson, made the soundtrack of one of the biggest and darkest movie hits of
that year in David Fincher’s Seven.
1996 was an extraordinarily active year even by David’s own
feverish standards, switching styles and moods effortlessly, embarking on a
confrontational tour around the US with Nine Inch Nails and performing
acoustically with Neil Young and Pearl Jam at the Bridge Benefit Concert in San
Francisco. He had a triumphant summer headlining Roskilde and the Phoenix
Festival, and his electric performance at the VH-1 Fashion Awards on October
25, where he debuted his new single Little Wonder. Then there was the new album
Earthling, all very direct, hard-hitting. The dramatic cover art featured David
in an Alexander McQueen designed Union Jack coat in a slightly surreal British
pastoral setting. The album arose out of the dynamic achieved and harnessed by
the end of that summer's tour. The band working on the projects featured Gail
Ann Dorsey on bass and vocals, Mike Garson on keyboards, Reeves Gabrels on
guitar and synths, and Zachary Alford on drums, the nucleus of the touring
outfit. The record features the avant-garde drum-n-bass extravaganza and top 20
UK hit Little Wonder and the crushing Dead Man Walking, a reflection on getting
older.
As always Bowie was at the cutting the edge with the first
ever download of a song distributed through the internet in 1996, Telling Lies.
350 thousand young Americans downloaded a copy. A new age had begun and hardly
anybody realised the ramifications, especially the luddite record company
bosses of the time. Not for the last time, David was at least ten years ahead of
the madding crowd.
The next year 1997 was to see a controversial collaboration
with Eno in the shape of the I’m Afraid Of Americans single (“Not as hostile
about Americans as Born In The USA” – Bowie).
This track, complete with the spontaneous Dom & Nic
video that found Trent Reznor chasing David through the streets of Greenwich
Village, hung around the US charts for three months, finishing the project on a
real high. Despite the title, Bowie's American influence seemed to be growing.
He has been cited as a guiding star by The Smashing Pumpkins, Marilyn Manson
and Nine Inch Nails, among others. He even reached into American film: the
movie Basquiat, co-starring Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper,
saw him playing the character he immortalized in his 1972 song Andy Warhol. The
film’s director was pre-eminent American painter, Julian Schnabel.
In January 1997, he celebrated his fiftieth birthday with an
all-star performance at New York’s Madison Square Garden. He was joined on
stage by old friends Lou Reed, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith, Billy Corgan, Foo
Fighters and Frank Black, all of whom played and sang with David to make it one
of his most memorable shows. Then he was off once again on a world tour that
stormed over fifteen headlining festivals, countless theaters and clubs, and
finished with a stadium tour of South America with Nine Inch Nails and No
Doubt.
Already highly acclaimed in the fields of art and music,
David has been turning his hand to mastering the information superhighway. 1998
saw the launch of BowieNet (www.davidbowie.com). BowieNet is the world's first
artist-created Internet service provider.
1999 was as busy a year as ever for Bowie. With his
continuing work on his now highly acclaimed BowieNet website (a nominee for the
1999 WIRED Award for Best Entertainment Site of the Year), David has found time
to work on a film Exhuming Mr. Rice, in which he plays the title role. The year
also saw the launch of the David Bowie Radio Network on the Rolling Stone Radio
website; this station runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The station's
playlist includes 54 tracks, all personally picked and introduced by David. In
May, David received an honorary doctorate in music from Berklee College of
Music, Boston. In the past, this prestigious doctorate has also been received
by BB King, Sting, James Taylor, Dizzy Gillespie and Quincy Jones. David also
made a well publicised and successful foray in the art world with an acclaimed
exhibition at the Cork Street Gallery in London. As well as finding time to
pick up the Legion d’honneur Award in France.
1999 also saw the growing relationship between David and
Placebo flourish. At the annual BRIT Awards ceremony, David joined the band for
a performance of the Marc Bolan classic Twentieth Century Boy. The performance
went down so well with the public that the Mirror newspaper began a
mini-campaign for the track to be released as a single and it was not long
before the two artists were to team again.
July saw David voted as the biggest music star of the 20th
century, beating Mick Jagger and Noel Gallagher, by readers of The Sun
newspaper. In the same month David was voted the sixth Greatest Star of The
Century by Q Magazine and its readers. In this poll David was the third
highest-ranking star who is still alive.
Most importantly October 1999 saw the release of a brand new
studio album. Hours... which was David’s twenty-third solo album, harkening a
return to the sounds of the Hunky Dory days. Written solely with long-time
collaborator Reeves Gabrels over the last year, Hours… could be described as
one of David's most autobiographical records to date. Tracks include Thursday’s
Child, Survive and The Dreamers. The themes of loss and regret throughout the
album are likely to strike hearts universally. With such personal lyrics as
“Sometimes I cry my heart to sleep,” David is evoking emotions recognizable to
us all. This album deals more with real life opposed to imagery and fantasy.
The Hours... touring schedule ended in spectacular style
with David headlining the closing night of the 2000 Glastonbury festival in
front of an estimated 150,000 people. Reportedly the largest attendance at the
event ever and a far cry from an earlier appearance at the inaugural
Glastonbury with Hawkwind in front of a couple of thousand people. Backstage
catering consisted of milk and cheese in Michael Eavis kitchen then. This time,
the banners fluttered in the wind and the crowd stretched as far as the eye
could see. A 21 song set saw David open with Wild is the Wind and finished with
the ambiguously titled I’m afraid of Americans. A fitting close to what was a
spectacular year.
2001 and Beyond
Following the end of the Hours... campaign David enjoyed a
period out of the public eye lightly peppered with some key spectacular live
performances. For two consecutive years, he has pledged his support to the
Tibet Freedom House shows at New York’s Carnegie Hall alongside luminaries such
as Philip Glass, Patti Smith, Moby and Beastie Boy Adam Yauch to aid the
campaign for a free Tibet. Each year has seen a very different performance from
David, one year had Moby on guitar delivering a rocking version of “Heroes” and
the next saw a string driven rendition of the rarely performed Space Oddity
with Adam Yauch on bass.
There is never a “quiet” time in the life of David Bowie and
during this period, David was bestowed the honor of being voted the most
influential artist of all time by the UK’s tastemaker tome the NME. In
addition, another life changing event took place, the birth of David and Iman’s
first child Alexandria Zahra Jones. Bowie took this time to savor fatherhood
but also used the time to write a series of new songs which would form the
basis for a new album.
David was in New York on September 11th, and in the
aftermath David showed support for his adopted city by performing a short but
emotional set at The Concert for New York City at Madison Square Garden. He
opened the show with a raw rendition of the Simon and Garfunkel classic America
and followed with an uplifting and barnstorming rendition of his own “Heroes”.
All of those whom attended the show and the millions of folk whom saw the show
broadcast live on TV can’t help but to have been moved by the sentiments
expressed in both of the songs David performed.
Following on from that emotional night, the series of new
songs that David had started work on led to a much heralded reunion with Tony
Visconti which in turn resulted in a new album Heathen and a change of outlook
towards the music industry and the setting up of his own label Iso Records
which has now linked up with Columbia Records to release what is probably the
most eagerly awaited album of his career.
“Tony and I had been wanting to work together again for a
few years now,”says David. “Both of us had fairly large commitments and for a
long time we couldn't see a space in which we could get anything together. As
spring came around, last year, things began to ease up. I told Mark Plati and
my band that I was going to disappear for a while and put this thing together
with Tony. They were very understanding, they’ve worked with me long enough to
know that we would be back together again before long.”
So, diaries cleared, Bowie and Visconti set about compiling
what you might call a location report, just outside of Woodstock in New York
State. “I’d been told by guitarist David Torn of a new studio that was near
completion called Allaire. Tony and I [took] a trip up a few weeks before we
started work there, just to suss it out. In fact, T-Bone Burnett was working
there with Natalie Merchant at the time. It’s remote, silent and inspirational.
We couldn't believe what a find it was.”
So taken was he with the setting, David didn’t come back to
New York again until the record was complete, living in the grounds with his family
and eating in a communal dining room. A famously early riser, he put that to
good use as Heathen began to come sharply into focus. “I’d get up around six
most mornings and spend them in the studio putting together my chord structures
and melodies and words, finding sounds that I wanted to use. Then around ten,
Tony would get in and we’d go to work.”
Bowie’s old friend Pete Townshend’s contribution to the
album, playing lead guitar on Slow Burn, was not his first with Bowie, as
listeners to Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) will remember. Foo Fighters Dave
Grohl took the lead on the Neil Young cover I’ve Been Waiting.
For a further surprise, there’s more Bowie instrumentation
on Heathen than anything in memory. “I was delighted that so much of what I played
remained on the finished work. That’s me playing drums over my own loop on the
Pixies cover Cactus. In fact the only thing I didn’t play on that track was
bass. That was Tony Visconti. Nearly all the synth work on Heathen is mine and
some of the piano.”
And the title? “Heathenism is a state of mind”, says Bowie.
“You can take it that I’m referring to one who does not see his world. He has
no mental light. He destroys almost unwittingly. He cannot feel any God’s
presence in his life. He is the 21st Century man. There’s no theme or concept
behind Heathen, just a number of songs, but somehow there is a thread that runs
through it that is quite as strong as any of my thematic type albums.”
Some of the new songs such as Slow Burn and Afraid from
Heathen got their first public airing in early May of 2002 at the Robert De
Niro organized Tribeca Film Festival in New York which was put together to help
revitalize the spirits of the downtown area.
The release of Heathen was accompanied by a series of concerts
across Europe and the USA most notably David’s curatorship of the prestigious
two week long British Meltdown arts festival involving acts as diverse as The
Legendary Stardust Cowboy, Suede, comedian Harry Hill, Coldplay, Television and
The Dandy Warhols. David performed Low in its entirety alongside Heathen as
part of the festival.
A year later the Reality album was launched with the world’s
largest interactive ‘live by satellite’ event and was followed by the
rapturously received and critically acclaimed A Reality Tour of the world.
Apart from the odd rare sighting at a charity function and
one or two snatched paparazzi shots, David has kept an extremely low profile,
popping up for two stunning performances with Arcade Fire in Central Park 2005
and again in September 2006 at New Yorks Radio City Hall. That certainly woke
everyone up! In 2006 he joined Pink Floyd legend Dave Gilmour on two of Floyd’s
best-known songs – Arnold Layne and Comfortably Numb at the Royal Albert Hall.
2006 also saw Bowie return to acting with the Chris
Nolan-directed The Prestige (#1 at the box office).
In May 2007, Bowie was the curator of the highly successful
10-day High Line arts and music festival in New York. In June, he was honored
at the 11th Annual Webby Awards (known as the “Oscars of the Internet”) with
the Webby Lifetime Achievement Award for pushing the boundaries between art and
technology. Later in 2007, Bowie starred as himself in an acclaimed episode of
Extras, Ricky Gervais’ series on HBO.
2012 saw the erection of a plaque in Heddon Street, London
to commemorate the extraordinary influence of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders
from Mars and of course David himself. A large group of media and fans
assembled for the occasion; were treated to a moving speech from Gary Kemp who
said, “Ziggy was the ultimate messianic rock star, and with him David Bowie
successfully blurred the lines not just between boys and girls, but himself and
his creation. Bowie was Ziggy come to save us – and I bought him hook, eyeliner
and haircut. It seems right that it should be the job of a fan boy and I am
very honored.”
Further excitement accompanied the announcement in 2012,
that the David Bowie Archive had given unprecedented access to the prestigious
Victoria and Albert museum for an exhibition to be curated solely by the
V&A. It is the first time a museum has been given access to the David Bowie
Archive.
2013
On January 8, 2013, quite without fanfare and out of the
blue, David Bowie did something nobody really expected. He released a new single entitled 'Where Are
We Now' and announced the release of a new album in March. The album, 'The Next Day' is Bowie's 30th
studio album and his first new album in 10 years.
The next chapter has surely been written by this most
mysterious and important of artists.
2015
David Bowie is one of the most gifted and compelling Artists
of our time and just released the title track to his upcoming 2016 album
“Blackstar”. The video for “Blackstar” is a brilliant artistic expression
reflecting some of the darker shades of thought that could easily be
interpreted as a mirror of today’s sociopathic spiritual governance…The video
for the song went viral across the social networks within 24 hours to much
applause and fanfare being dubbed as “artistically brilliant”.
“Blackstar” - “A darkness descends in a religious shroud
upon the inhabitants of a planet and seizes the mind in viral hypnotic
reflection to a lost soul…Major Tom has been found” ~ Stewart Brennan, World
United Music
2016
On 10 January 2016, two days
after his 69th birthday and the release of the album Blackstar, Bowie died from
liver cancer in his New York City apartment. He had been diagnosed 18 months
earlier but had not made the news of his illness public. The Belgian theatre
director Ivo van Hove, who had worked with the singer on his Off-Broadway
musical Lazarus, explained that Bowie was unable to attend rehearsals due to
the progression of the disease. He noted that Bowie had kept working during the
illness.
Bowie's producer Tony
Visconti wrote:
He always did what he wanted
to do. And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way. His
death was no different from his life – a work of art. He made Blackstar for us,
his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn't,
however, prepared for it. He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life.
He will always be with us. For now, it is appropriate to cry.
Following Bowie's death, fans
gathered at impromptu street shrines. At the mural of Bowie in his birthplace
of Brixton, south London, which shows him in his Aladdin Sane character, fans
laid flowers and sang his songs. Other memorial sites included Berlin, Los
Angeles, and outside his apartment in New York. After news of his death, sales
of his albums and singles soared. Bowie had insisted that he did not want a
funeral, and according to his death certificate he was cremated in New Jersey
on 12 January. As he wished in his will, his ashes were scattered in a Buddhist
ceremony in Bali, Indonesia.
Rick Wakeman's Tribute To David Bowie - Life On Mars – RIP David
David
Bowie 2000 to 2016
Documentary: David Bowie – Sound and Vision (2002)
A documentary, which takes you on a journey of Bowie's
revolutionary career, struggle with his personal life and his achievements and
successes. Features interviews with Bowie, Iman his wife, his musical
contemporaries including Iggy Pop, Moby and Trent Reznor. Exclusive footage of
live performances of the showman's best music and film to showcase 30 years of
his career. Highlights Bowie's interests, passions and involvement with the
arts. One not to be missed!
David Bowie speaks to Jeremy Paxman on BBC Newsnight (1999)
David
Bowie 1980 to 1999
David Bowie - Countdown End of the Decade special 1979
