David Live | ||||
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Live album by | ||||
Released | 29 October 1974 (UK) [1] | |||
Recorded | 8–12 July 1974 | |||
Venue | Tower Theater, Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, U.S. | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 81:06 | |||
Label | RCA | |||
Producer | Tony Visconti | |||
David Bowie chronology | ||||
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Singles from David Live | ||||
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David Live is the first official live album by the English musician David Bowie, originally released through RCA Records in October 1974. The album was recorded in July of that year, on the initial leg of Bowie's Diamond Dogs Tour, at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania.
The tour was Bowie's most ambitious to date, featuring a giant set designed to evoke "Hunger City", the post-apocalyptic setting for Diamond Dogs , and his largest band, led by Michael Kamen. In addition to this album, the tour was also documented on film in Alan Yentob's Cracked Actor (1975), as well as in the archival live recordings Cracked Actor (Live Los Angeles '74) (2017) and I'm Only Dancing (The Soul Tour 74) (2020). [3] [4] [5] David Live catches Bowie in transition from the "Ziggy Stardust" glam-rock era of his career to the 'plastic soul' of Young Americans . [6] While the cover featured a picture of Bowie during the later leg of the tour in his soul-influenced fashion, the music was recorded during the initial summer leg of the tour, before it was revamped to focus on Bowie's Philadelphia soul material.
The album was a commercial success upon release, reaching number two in the United Kingdom, as well as hitting the top 10 in the United States and Canada. However, it received largely negative critical reviews, with many of the complaints directed at the musical arrangements and Bowie's strained vocal performances. [7] [8] In 2005, the album was re-issued with four additional tracks and a new remix by Tony Visconti. It has also been re-evaluated, with some critics considering the album a valuable document of a transitional period in the artist's career. [6]
David Bowie supported his eighth studio album Diamond Dogs on the Diamond Dogs Tour, whose first leg lasted from 14 June to 20 July 1974. Co-designed and constructed by Chris Langhart, it featured elaborate set-pieces and cost $250,000. Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) and Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) influenced the tour's design, primarily due to Bowie's interest in German expressionism. [9] The tour's second leg, from 2 September to 1 December 1974, has been nicknamed 'the Soul Tour', because of the influence of the soul music Bowie had begun recording for Young Americans in August. The shows were altered heavily, and no longer featured elaborate set-pieces, partly because Bowie had tired of the design and wanted to explore the new sound he was creating. Bowie dropped songs from the previous leg, while he added new ones—some from Young Americans. [10]
Capturing the music on tape was itself problematic; most of the backing vocals, as well as the saxophone and the piano solo for "Aladdin Sane", needed to be overdubbed in the studio later because the performers were often off-mike. According to the original album's liner notes: "This Live album was culled from performances on the 14 and 15 July [sic] 1974 at the Tower Theater outside Philadelphia. It is complete and exact. No studio overdubs or re-recording of voices, instruments or audience have been added with the exception of several backing vocals due to loss of theatre mike contact." [11] According to biographer Nicholas Pegg, there was a 'degree of confusion [that] surrounds the dates of the recordings, which are given incorrectly on some reissues: according to Tony Visconti the correct dates are 11 and 12 July 1974'. [8] The Tower Theater concerts also gave rise to a backstage revolt by Bowie's touring band. Having been informed on short notice that the concerts would be professionally recorded for the official release and that Bowie's management intended to pay them only the standard union fee required for a live recording (a mere $70), the band confronted Bowie an hour before the first show and refused to take the stage unless they received $5,000 each. [12]
The record is also notable for including Bowie's first release of "All the Young Dudes", a song originally given to the band Mott the Hoople for their 1972 album of the same name. [13]
For "Space Oddity" (not released until the album's 2005 reissue) Bowie sang using a radio microphone disguised as a telephone whilst being raised and lowered above the stage by a cherry picker crane. [14]
David Live was mixed at Electric Lady Studios in New York City in July, a month before the sessions for Young Americans commenced. According to a studio acetate auction in 2004, a working title was Wham Bam! Thank You Mam! [sic]. [8]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [6] |
Blender | [15] |
Christgau's Record Guide | C− [7] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [16] |
MusicHound Rock | [17] |
Pitchfork | 7.7/10 [18] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [19] |
Select | 4/5 [20] |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 1/10 [21] |
David Live received primarily negative reviews from music critics on release. Writing for the New Musical Express , Charles Shaar Murray considered David Live to be an example of "outright artifice and self-parody", overall finding it uneven in quality. He nevertheless praised the rendition of "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" as the finest performance of the song to date. [22] Chris Charlesworth of Melody Maker was critical of Bowie's voice, calling it "hoarse, throaty and often off-key". [8] In Creem , Lester Bangs wrote that without the proper visuals to accompany the music, the live album is a "dismal flatulence". [8] Reviewing for the same magazine in January 1975, Robert A. Hull was more positive, finding it to be better than Diamond Dogs; he considered its major flaw to be the inclusion of too many tracks from that album, wishing he had included more tracks from The Man Who Sold the World and Pin Ups (1973). [23] In The Village Voice , veteran critic Robert Christgau was very negative towards the album, stating "The artiste [is] at his laryngeal nadir, [the album is] mired in bullshit pessimism and arena-rock pandering — and the soul frills just make it worse." [7]
Nevertheless, the album did attract several positive reviews. Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times considered David Live an "essential" release, commending the reinterpretations of the songs and vocal performances. [24] Reporting for the United Press International, Bruce Meyer considered David Live Bowie's finest record since Ziggy Stardust (1972), but noted that the artist's presence as a live act was not fully captured in the music alone. [25] The Cincinnati Enquirer 's Jim Knippenberg likewise praised Bowie as a live act, calling the LP "excellent". [26]
Retrospectively, David Live continues to receive mixed reactions. Reviewing for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave David Live a mixed review. He gave praise to certain tracks, such as "Knock on Wood" and "All the Young Dudes", but overall concluded: "David Live is primarily of interest as a historical document, yet there's enough good material to make it worthwhile for fanatics." [6] In a more positive review, Michael Idov of Pitchfork commended Bowie's vocal performance throughout the album, finding the version of "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" to contain "arguably the all-time greatest display of Bowie's voice". Compared to Bowie's 1978 live album Stage , Idov described David Live as the "more genial album", preferring the former over the latter. [18] Reviewing the album's 1990 reissue, Darryl Easlea of BBC Music commended the reissue, finding that it does the original album justice through the restored setlists and remastered sound quality. He gave immense praise to "Knock on Wood", "Sweet Thing", "The Jean Genie" and the previously unreleased "Space Oddity". However, he ultimately considered it and Stage "absolutely invaluable" as "complement[s] to the studio albums". [14]
Mick Jagger commented about the album at the time, saying he thought "Knock on Wood" was "awful", stating: "If I got the kind of reviews that he got for that album, I would honestly never record again. Never." [27]
Bowie later commented that "David Live was the final death of Ziggy... And that photo on the cover. My God, it looks like I've just stepped out of the grave. That's actually how I felt. That record should have been called 'David Bowie Is Alive and Well and Living Only in Theory'". [14]
David Live made No. 2 on the UK charts (the tour had only visited North America), No. 5 in Canada (where the tour had opened) [28] and No. 8 in the US. "Knock on Wood" was released as a single, reaching No. 10 in the UK. A reissue of the album in 2005 finally included a complete song list from the original concerts plus a new mix by Tony Visconti, said to be an improvement over the fidelity of previous releases. [29]
This album was first released on CD in 1990 by Rykodisc/EMI, containing the bonus tracks "Time" and "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow", [8] as well as Bowie's introduction to the audience of his band. [30] A new version of the album was released on CD in 2005 by EMI/Virgin, containing two additional bonus tracks: "Panic in Detroit" (this version had previously been released as the B-side to the UK single release of "Knock on Wood", and reissued on the 1982 compilation Rare ) and "Space Oddity", a reordering of these and previous bonus tracks into their correct position in the original setlist order, and a new mix by Tony Visconti. [8] [29]
In 2016, the album was included, in two versions, in the Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976) box set. One version contained the original mix and the same tracks that had appeared on the original vinyl album; the other replicated the 2005 version of the album in a new remastering. [31] The latter was also released separately on CD and vinyl, in 2017. [32]
All tracks are written by David Bowie, except where noted
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "1984" | 3:21 |
2. | "Rebel Rebel" | 2:42 |
3. | "Moonage Daydream" | 5:10 |
4. | "Sweet Thing"/"Candidate"/"Sweet Thing (Reprise)" | 8:48 |
Total length: | 20:01 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Changes" | 3:36 |
2. | "Suffragette City" | 3:46 |
3. | "Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?)" | 4:58 |
4. | "All the Young Dudes" (made famous by Mott the Hoople) | 4:19 |
5. | "Cracked Actor" | 3:29 |
Total length: | 20:08 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Rock 'n' Roll with Me" | Bowie, Warren Peace | 4:19 |
2. | "Watch That Man" | 4:23 | |
3. | "Knock on Wood" (originally by Eddie Floyd) | Eddie Floyd, Steve Cropper | 3:08 |
4. | "Diamond Dogs" | 6:34 | |
Total length: | 18:24 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Big Brother"/"Chant of the Ever-Circling Skeletal Family" | 4:11 |
2. | "The Width of a Circle" | 8:14 |
3. | "The Jean Genie" | 5:19 |
4. | "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" | 4:49 |
Total length: | 22:33 (81:06) |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "1984" | 3:20 | |
2. | "Rebel Rebel" | 2:40 | |
3. | "Moonage Daydream" | 5:10 | |
4. | "Sweet Thing"/"Candidate"/"Sweet Thing (Reprise)" | 8:48 | |
5. | "Changes" | 3:34 | |
6. | "Suffragette City" | 3:45 | |
7. | "Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?)" | 4:57 | |
8. | "All the Young Dudes" (originally by Mott the Hoople) | 4:18 | |
9. | "Cracked Actor" | 3:29 | |
10. | "Rock 'n' Roll with Me" | Bowie, Peace (for the music) | 4:18 |
11. | "Watch That Man" | 4:55 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Knock on Wood" (originally by Eddie Floyd) | Floyd, Cropper | 3:08 |
2. | "Diamond Dogs" | 6:32 | |
3. | "Big Brother"/"Chant of the Ever-Circling Skeletal Family" | 4:08 | |
4. | "The Width of a Circle" | 8:12 | |
5. | "The Jean Genie" | 5:13 | |
6. | "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" | 4:30 | |
7. | "Band Intro" (Bonus track) | 0:09 | |
8. | "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow" (originally by Ohio Players) | Leroy Bonner, Joe Harris, Marshall Jones, Ralph Middlebrooks, Dutch Robinson, Clarence Satchell, Gary Webster | 3:32 |
9. | "Time" | 5:19 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "1984" | 3:20 | |
2. | "Rebel Rebel" | 2:40 | |
3. | "Moonage Daydream" | 5:10 | |
4. | "Sweet Thing"/"Candidate"/"Sweet Thing (Reprise)" | 8:48 | |
5. | "Changes" | 3:34 | |
6. | "Suffragette City" | 3:45 | |
7. | "Aladdin Sane" | 4:57 | |
8. | "All the Young Dudes" | 4:18 | |
9. | "Cracked Actor" | 3:29 | |
10. | "Rock 'n' Roll with Me" | Bowie, Peace (for the music) | 4:18 |
11. | "Watch That Man" | 4:55 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Knock on Wood" (originally by Eddie Floyd) | Floyd, Cropper | 3:08 |
2. | "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow" (bonus track) | Bonner, Harris, Jones, Middlebrooks, Robinson, Satchell, Webster | 3:32 |
3. | "Space Oddity" (bonus track) | 6:27 | |
4. | "Diamond Dogs" | 6:32 | |
5. | "Panic in Detroit" (bonus track) | 5:41 | |
6. | "Big Brother"/"Chant of the Ever-Circling Skeletal Family" | 4:08 | |
7. | "Time" (bonus track) | 5:19 | |
8. | "The Width of a Circle" | 8:12 | |
9. | "The Jean Genie" | 5:13 | |
10. | "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" | 4:47 |
According to the album's liner notes: [11]
Year | Chart | Peak Position |
---|---|---|
1974 | Australian Albums (Kent Music Report [33] | 9 |
Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [34] | 5 | |
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) [35] | 30 | |
UK Albums (OCC) [36] | 2 | |
US Billboard Top LPs & Tape [37] | 8 | |
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [38] | 12 | |
1975 | Italian Albums ( Musica e dischi ) [39] | 22 |
2005 | Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [40] | 89 |
French Albums (SNEP) [41] | 165 | |
2011 | Italian Albums (FIMI) [42] | 99 |
2017 | Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [43] | 163 |
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ) [44] | 28 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United States (RIAA) [45] | Gold | 500,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Reality is the 24th studio album by the English musician David Bowie, originally released in Europe on 15 September 2003, and the following day in America. His second release through his own ISO label, the album was recorded between January and May 2003 at Looking Glass Studios in New York City, with production by Bowie and longtime collaborator Tony Visconti. Most of the musicians consisted of his then-touring band. Bowie envisioned the album as a set of songs that could be played live.
Diamond Dogs is the eighth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 24 May 1974 through RCA Records. Bowie produced the album and recorded it in early 1974 in London and the Netherlands, following the disbanding of his backing band the Spiders from Mars and the departure of producer Ken Scott. Bowie played lead guitar on the record in the absence of Mick Ronson. Diamond Dogs featured the return of Tony Visconti, who had not worked with Bowie for four years; the two would collaborate for the rest of the decade. Musically, it was Bowie's final album in the glam rock genre, though some songs were influenced by funk and soul music, which Bowie embraced on his next album, Young Americans (1975).
The Man Who Sold the World is the third studio album by the English musician David Bowie, originally released through Mercury Records in the United States on 4 November 1970 and in the United Kingdom on 10 April 1971. Produced by Tony Visconti and recorded in London from April to May 1970, the album features the first appearances on a Bowie record of future Spiders from Mars members Mick Ronson and Mick Woodmansey.
Young Americans is the ninth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 7 March 1975 through RCA Records. A departure from the glam rock style of previous albums, the record showcased Bowie's interest in soul and R&B. Music critics have described the sound as blue-eyed soul; Bowie himself labelled the album's sound "plastic soul".
"Heroes" is the twelfth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 14 October 1977 through RCA Records. Recorded in collaboration with the musician Brian Eno and the producer Tony Visconti, it was the second release of his Berlin Trilogy, following Low, released in January the same year, and the only one wholly recorded in Berlin. Sessions took place in mid-1977 after Bowie completed work on Iggy Pop's second solo album Lust for Life. Much of the same personnel from Low returned for "Heroes", augmented by the King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp.
Lodger is the thirteenth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 25 May 1979 through RCA Records. Recorded in collaboration with the musician Brian Eno and the producer Tony Visconti, it was the final release of his Berlin Trilogy, following Low and "Heroes". Sessions took place in Switzerland in September 1978 during a break in the Isolar II world tour, and in New York City in March 1979 at the tour's end. Most of the same personnel from prior releases returned, and the future King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew joined from the tour. The sessions saw the use of techniques inspired by Eno's Oblique Strategies cards, such as having the musicians swap instruments and playing old songs backwards.
"Diamond Dogs" is a 1974 single by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, the title track of the album of the same name.
"Golden Years" is a song by the English musician David Bowie, released by RCA Records on 21 November 1975 as the lead single from his tenth studio album Station to Station (1976). Partially written before Bowie began shooting for the film The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), the song was mostly compiled in the studio and was the first track completed for the album. Co-produced by Bowie and Harry Maslin, recording took place at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles during September 1975. Due to Bowie's heavy cocaine use, he later recalled remembering almost nothing of Station to Station's production.
"Joe the Lion" is a song by David Bowie in 1977 for the album "Heroes". It was produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti and features lead guitar by Robert Fripp.
"1984" is a song by the English musician David Bowie, from his 1974 album Diamond Dogs, released as a single in the United States and Japan. Written in 1973, it was inspired by George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and, like much of its parent album, originally intended for a stage musical based on the novel, which was never produced because permission was refused by Orwell's widow Sonia.
Stage is the second live album by the English musician David Bowie, recorded on the Isolar II Tour, and released through RCA Records in 1978. Stage has been reissued numerous times, each with expanded track listings.
"Young Americans" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie from his ninth studio album of the same name. It was mostly recorded in August 1974 at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia and was debuted on the Soul tour the following month. The song featured contributions from then-unknown singer Luther Vandross, who conceived the backing vocal arrangement. An embracement of R&B and Philadelphia soul, the song presents an Englishman's impressionist portrait of America at the time, featuring various characters and allusions to American totems and events.
"John, I'm Only Dancing" is a song by the English musician David Bowie, originally released as a non-album single on 1 September 1972. A glam rock and R&B number, the lyrics describe a situation in which the narrator informs his lover not to worry about the girl he is with because he is "only dancing" with her. Although ambiguous, many interpreted it as concerning a gay relationship. Recorded in London in June 1972, it was boosted by a low-budget promotional video directed by Mick Rock. It reached number 12 in the UK; RCA refused to release it in America due to its suggestive lyrical content.
"Sound and Vision" is a song by the English musician David Bowie. It was released in January 1977 by RCA Records on side one of his 11th studio album Low. RCA later chose it as the first single from the album. Co-produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, the song was recorded at the Château d'Hérouville in Hérouville, France, in September 1976, and completed at Hansa Studios in West Berlin in October and November. The song began as a simple G major chord progression that Bowie gave to the backing musicians, writing and recording his vocals afterward. It features backing vocals from Brian Eno and Visconti's then-wife Mary Hopkin.
"Panic in Detroit" is a song written by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie for the album Aladdin Sane in 1973. Bowie based it on his friend Iggy Pop's descriptions of revolutionaries he had known in Michigan and Pop's experiences during the 1967 Detroit riots. Rolling Stone magazine called the track "a paranoid descendant of the Motor City's earlier masterpiece, Martha and the Vandellas' "Nowhere to Run"".
"Rock 'n' Roll with Me" is a power ballad written by David Bowie and Geoff MacCormack and recorded in January 1974 that first appeared on Bowie's Diamond Dogs album, supposedly to address the artist's complex relation with his fans. A version recorded during the Diamond Dogs tour in July 1974 was released on the album David Live.
"Big Brother" is a song written by David Bowie in 1973 and intended for his never-produced musical based on George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. In 1974 it was released on the album Diamond Dogs. It segued into the final track on the record, "Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family".
"Can You Hear Me?" is a ballad by the English musician David Bowie from his 1975 album Young Americans. Bowie called it a "real love song", written with someone in mind, but he did not identify them. The song was released as a single in November 1975 on the B side of "Golden Years".
"Stay" is a song by the English musician David Bowie, released on his 1976 album Station to Station. The song was recorded in late 1975 at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles. Co-produced by Bowie and Harry Maslin, the recording featured guitarists Carlos Alomar and Earl Slick, bassist George Murray, drummer Dennis Davis, pianist Roy Bittan and Warren Peace on percussion. The track features prominent dual guitar work from Slick and Alomar, who mostly composed it in the studio. Based on the chord structure of "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)", a funk reworking of "John, I'm Only Dancing" (1972), "Stay" emulates funk rock, soul and hard rock. The song's lyrics are abstract and relate to love.
I'm Only Dancing is a live album by the English musician David Bowie. It had a limited release on 29 August 2020 for Record Store Day as a double LP and double CD. It was recorded on the second half of the Diamond Dogs Tour in 1974, which is known as "the Soul Tour" due to the influence of the then-unreleased material Bowie had begun recording for Young Americans (1975). I'm Only Dancing marks the first time performances from this portion of the tour have been officially released.
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