Serious Moonlight | ||||
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Video by | ||||
Released | 1984 | |||
Recorded | 12 September 1983 | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
David Bowie chronology | ||||
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Serious Moonlight is a concert video by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. Filmed in Vancouver on 12 September 1983, on the singer's "Serious Moonlight Tour", the video was released on VHS and laserdisc in 1984 and on DVD in 2006. The concert includes most of the songs from the concert although "Star", "Stay", "The Jean Genie", "Red Sails" and "Modern Love" were left off the 1984 release due to time constraints; the songs were not reinstated for the 2006 DVD release.
A live version (audio only) of "Modern Love", recorded on 13 July 1983 at a show in Montreal and originally released as the B-side to the studio version of the same song, can be found elsewhere on the 2006 DVD release as background music for the photo gallery.
The audio and exact setlist from the concert film was reused for the Serious Moonlight (Live '83) live album, included with the Loving the Alien (1983–1988) box set in 2018 and released separately the following year; the live album additionally includes the aforementioned live recording of "Modern Love" as the final track.
All songs were written by David Bowie, except where noted.
No. | Title | Original album | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Introduction" | ||
2. | "Look Back in Anger" (Bowie, Brian Eno) | Lodger | |
3. | ""Heroes"" (Bowie, Eno) | "Heroes" | |
4. | "What in the World" | Low | |
5. | "Golden Years" | Station to Station | |
6. | "Fashion" | Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) | |
7. | "Let's Dance" | Let's Dance | |
8. | "Breaking Glass" (Bowie, Dennis Davis, George Murray) | Low | |
9. | "Life on Mars?" | Hunky Dory | |
10. | "Sorrow" (Feldman, Goldstein, Gottehrer) | Pin Ups | |
11. | "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" (Bowie, Giorgio Moroder) | Let's Dance | |
12. | "China Girl" (Bowie, Iggy Pop) | Let's Dance | |
13. | "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)" | Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) | |
14. | "Rebel Rebel" | Diamond Dogs | |
15. | "White Light/White Heat" (Lou Reed) | White Light/White Heat | |
16. | "Station to Station" | Station to Station | |
17. | "Cracked Actor" | Aladdin Sane | |
18. | "Ashes to Ashes" | Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) | |
19. | "Space Oddity/Band introduction" | David Bowie | |
20. | "Young Americans" | Young Americans | |
21. | "Fame/End Credits" (Bowie, John Lennon, Carlos Alomar) | Young Americans |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Look Back in Anger" | 3:07 |
2. | ""Heroes"" | 4:53 |
3. | "What In The World" | 3:44 |
4. | "Golden Years" | 3:31 |
5. | "Fashion" | 2:43 |
6. | "Let's Dance" | 4:34 |
7. | "Breaking Glass" | 3:00 |
8. | "Life on Mars?" | 4:07 |
9. | "Sorrow" | 2:49 |
10. | "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" | 4:20 |
11. | "China Girl" | 5:27 |
12. | "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)" | 3:42 |
13. | "Rebel Rebel" | 2:24 |
Total length: | 48:26 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "White Light/White Heat" | 5:36 |
2. | "Station To Station" | 8:58 |
3. | "Cracked Actor" | 3:58 |
4. | "Ashes to Ashes" | 3:51 |
5. | "Space Oddity/Band Introduction" | 6:32 |
6. | "Young Americans" | 5:25 |
7. | "Fame" | 5:36 |
8. | "Modern Love" | 3:54 |
Total length: | 43:53 (92:19) |
The 2006 DVD release of Serious Moonlight also contains, as an extra, the 1984 documentary/ concert film Ricochet, chronicling Bowie's experiences in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bangkok on the Asian leg of the Serious Moonlight tour. Ricochet was previously released to home video in the mid-1980s in a shorter version, separately from the Serious Moonlight video. [2]
Let's Dance is the fifteenth studio album by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released on 14 April 1983 through EMI America Records. Co-produced by Bowie and Nile Rodgers, the album was recorded in December 1982 at the Power Station in New York City. The sessions featured players from Rodgers' band Chic and the then-unknown Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan on lead guitar. For the first time ever, Bowie only sang and played no instruments.
"Blue Jean" is a song written and recorded by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie for his sixteenth studio album Tonight (1984). One of only two tracks on the album to be written entirely by Bowie, it was released as a single ahead of the album and charted in the United States, peaking at No. 8, becoming his 5th and last top 10 hit with no features. The song is loosely inspired by Eddie Cochran.
"Fame" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released on his 1975 album Young Americans and was later issued as the album's second single by RCA Records in June 1975. Written by Bowie, Carlos Alomar and John Lennon, it was recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City in January 1975. It is a funk rock song that represents Bowie's dissatisfaction with the troubles of fame and stardom.
Earl Slick is an American guitarist best known for his collaborations with David Bowie, John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Robert Smith. He has also worked with other artists including John Waite, Tim Curry and David Coverdale, in addition to releasing several solo recordings, and two records with Phantom, Rocker & Slick, the band he formed with Slim Jim Phantom & Lee Rocker.
"Breaking Glass" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was co-written by Bowie, bassist George Murray and drummer Dennis Davis in September 1976. Originally a track on Bowie's 1977 album Low, a reworked version of the song was a regular on the Isolar II Tour. A live version from that tour was used as the lead track on a 7-inch EP to promote his second live album, Stage in 1978. The EP reached number 54 on the UK Singles Chart in December 1978.
"Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released as the title track of his 1980 album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). It was also issued as the third single from that album in January 1981. Coming as it did in the wake of two earlier singles from Scary Monsters, "Ashes to Ashes" in August 1980 and "Fashion" in October the same year, NME critics Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray labelled its release another instance "in the fine old tradition of milking albums for as much as they could possibly be worth". The song was subsequently performed on a number of Bowie tours.
"Let's Dance" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie, originally included as the title track of his 1983 album of the same name. Co-produced by Nile Rodgers of Chic, it was recorded in late 1982 at the Power Station in New York City. With the assistance of engineer Bob Clearmountain, Rodgers transformed the song from its folk rock origins to a dance number through studio effects and new musicians Bowie had yet to work with. Bowie hired then-unknown Texas guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, who added a blues-edge.
"China Girl" is a song written by Iggy Pop and David Bowie in 1976, and first released by Pop on his debut solo album, The Idiot (1977). Inspired by an affair Pop had with a Vietnamese woman, the lyrics tell a story of unrequited love for the protagonist's Asian girlfriend, realizing by the end that his Western influences are corrupting her. Like the rest of The Idiot, Bowie wrote the music and Pop improvised the lyrics while standing at the microphone. The song was released as a single in May 1977 and failed to chart.
"Modern Love" is a song written by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released as the opening track on his 1983 album Let's Dance and issued as the third single from the album later in the year. Co-produced by Bowie and Nile Rodgers of the American band Chic, it is a rock song that contains elements of new wave music. It was recorded at the Power Station in Manhattan and was one of the first tracks recorded for the album. It was performed by Bowie on the Serious Moonlight Tour, where it often closed the shows. A music video for the song, directed by Jim Yukich and featuring a performance of the song during the tour, was released in 1983 and played frequently on MTV.
"Cracked Actor" is a song by the English musician David Bowie, released on his sixth studio album Aladdin Sane (1973). The track was also issued as a single in Eastern Europe by RCA Records in June that year. The song was written during Bowie's stay in Los Angeles during the American leg of the Ziggy Stardust Tour in October 1972. Co-produced by Bowie and Ken Scott, it was recorded in January 1973 at Trident Studios in London with his backing band the Spiders from Mars – comprising Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder and Woody Woodmansey. A hard rock song primarily led by guitar, the song describes an aging Hollywood star's encounter with a prostitute, featuring many allusions to sex and drugs.
"What in the World" is a song by David Bowie released on his 1977 album Low, later making appearances as repertoire in the 1978 world tour as well as other major tours.
"Look Back in Anger" is a song written by English artists David Bowie and Brian Eno for the album Lodger (1979). It concerns "a tatty 'Angel of Death'", and features a guitar solo by Carlos Alomar.
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is a 1979 British documentary/concert film by D. A. Pennebaker. It features English singer-songwriter David Bowie and his backing group the Spiders from Mars performing at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on 3 July 1973, the final date of his Ziggy Stardust Tour. At this show, Bowie made the sudden surprise announcement that the show would be "the last show that we'll ever do", later understood to mean that he was retiring his Ziggy Stardust persona.
A Reality Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie in support of his 2003 album Reality. The tour began on 7 October 2003 at the Forum Copenhagen, Denmark, continuing through Europe, North America, Asia, including a return to New Zealand and Australia for the first time since the 1987 Glass Spider Tour. At over 110 shows, the tour was the longest tour of Bowie's career. A heart attack in late June 2004 forced the cancellation of some dates near the end of the tour. Bowie retired from performing live in 2006, making this tour his last.
Glass Spider is a concert film by English singer David Bowie. The release was sourced from eight shows during the first two weeks of November 1987 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in Australia during the last month of the Glass Spider Tour. The 86-show tour, which also visited Europe, North America and New Zealand, was in support of Bowie's album Never Let Me Down (1987). Originally released in 1988 on VHS, the tour was choreographed by Toni Basil, directed by David Mallet, and produced by Anthony Eaton. The VHS was released by MPI Home Video in the US and by Video Collection International in the UK.
The Serious Moonlight Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the English musician David Bowie, launched in May 1983 in support of his album Let's Dance (1983). The tour opened at the Vorst Forest Nationaal, Brussels, on 18 May 1983 and ended in the Hong Kong Coliseum on 8 December 1983; 15 countries visited, 96 performances, and over 2.6 million tickets sold. The tour garnered mostly favourable reviews from the press. It was, at the time, his longest, largest and most successful concert tour to date, although it has since been surpassed in length, attendance and gross revenue by subsequent Bowie tours.
Loving the Alien (1983–1988) is a box set by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released on 12 October 2018. A follow-up to the compilations Five Years (1969–1973), Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976), and A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982), the set covers the period of Bowie's career from 1983 to 1988, and includes eleven compact discs or fifteen LPs.
Ricochet is a 1984 documentary film about the musician David Bowie. Made with Bowie’s full consent and participation, it was the second of such documentary productions following Cracked Actor from 1975. However, whereas Cracked Actor was made for television by the BBC's Omnibus strand, Ricochet was made for commercial release to the home video market.
David Bowie: Black Tie White Noise is a 1993 film accompanying the release of the David Bowie album of the same name. The primary purpose of the film was to remove the need of a tour to promote the album. It was directed by long time Bowie collaborator David Mallet, and was originally released in 1993 on VHS.
The videography of English singer-songwriter and actor David Bowie (1947–2016). This page gives an overview of his music video singles, music video films and compilations, live music films and music documentaries.