Spurned on from a rumor Publishers Weekly overheard at the Frankfurt Book Fair, David Bowie’s website has confirmed that he’ll be publishing a coffee table book cum object d’art called Bowie: Object.

Bowie: Object is a collection of pieces from the Bowie archive, wherein, for the first time, fans and all those interested in popular culture will have the opportunity to understand more about the Bowie creative process and his impact on modern popular music.

Bowie: Object features 100 fascinating items that give an insight into the life of one of the most unique music and fashion icons in history. The book’s pictorial content is annotated with insightful, witty and personal text written by Bowie himself.

Designed by Barnbrook, Bowie: Object is simply and boldly designed and each of the objects is photographed in a clean, contemporary style.

Below is one of the objects that they strongly hint will be in the book, a Kirlian Photographic Device that Bowie was given by Dr. Thelma Moss at the Dept. of Parapsychology, UCLA, in 1975. There was a picture of it contained in the Station to Station tour guide memento. If the aim of this book is to show Bowie’s impact, not only on music, but culture in general, then this is a very good example.
 

 
Why you ask? To give you a personal (and very small) example of the multitude of ways David Bowie has influenced little old me, when I was 10 years old and Bowie was the guest on Dinah Shore’s afternoon talk/variety show, he was able to invite Dr. Moss on as a guest as well. Moss demonstrated the ability of the Kirlian device—a high voltage electric field “camera”—to basically take snapshots of plant and human “auras.” Because Bowie was fascinated by this wild new science of Kirlian photography, then, hey, so was I and—this is true—I built a home-made version of the Kirlian Photographic device for a grade-school science fair!
 

 
It was made with a battery, a wood base, some wires, a metal plate and used 2” by 2” film, which was placed under the plate, and sent a jolt via the battery to expose the film. Now, granted, at that age, I wasn’t testing the “before and after” side-effects of snorting cocaine on my aura (see above) like Bowie was—-I used leaves and my thumbprint—but still, you can see clearly in this stupid example of how I, a little kid at the time, saw David Bowie as this like, larger than life cultural avatar of the newest and coolest things around. I must say, I’m really looking forward to this book!

And if you haven’t heard, there is a brand new, just released massive 5 CD/3LP/DVD collector’s box (two different ones, actually) of Bowie’s monumental 1976 album, Station To Station, including the much-bootlegged “Nassau Coliseum ‘76” show from that tour and a new 5:1 surround remix of the album.
 
Below, A shit hot version of Station to Station’s “Stay” performed on Dinah! in 1976.
 

 
It’s been, what, two-three days since my last Bowie-related post? Well fear not, fans of the Dame, here’s another… 

The gorgeous Ava Cherry was David Bowie’s mistress and lover during the mid-70s. She was one of his back-up singers, the Astronettes, along with the late Luther Vandross.  In the clip below, you can see her steal the show when Bowie was performing “Footstompin’” (which later got reworked into “Fame” with John Lennon) on the Dick Cavett show in 1974. (Is it possible to be any hotter than this woman???) This is pretty much the moment where the Diamond Dogs tour gave way to his Young Americans phase:
 

 
In late 1973, an Ava Cherry album was planned and partially recorded with Bowie producing, but due to lawsuits with his-then manager Tony DeFries, the album was shelved for 22 years. The tapes that existed had some Bowie originals along with some oddly chosen covers from the Beach Boys, Frank Zappa and Bruce Springsteen. What appears to be a semi-official release came out in 1996 as People From Bad Homes. The material was released again in 2009 as The Astronette Sessions.

In truth, it’s not that great. I wish I could tell you it was some undiscovered gem of what Bowie called “plastic soul” but it’s, at best, a curiosity for intense Bowie freaks. The most memorable track is probably “I Am A Laser” which was later re-worked into “Scream Like A Baby” on Bowie’s Scary Monsters album in 1980. In this rehearsal recording, you can hear Bowie in the background leading the band and calling chord changes. Note the rap and the line about her “golden showers.” (I wonder if “Golden Years” has a meaning that has hitherto escaped us?)

Listen to “I Am A Laser” after the jump…

 
Found randomly on YouTube: An actual television advertisement for David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs album circa 1974. I wonder if this ever aired anywhere?
 

 
Bold and brassy, cult figure Cherry Vanilla first came to the public’s attention playing a necrophilliac nurse in Andy Warhol’s freaky London stage play, Pork. Back in her hometown of New York City, she became David Bowie’s publicist during his Ziggy Stardust-era, working beside fellow Pork cast-member Leee Black Childers (who was the VP of Mainman, as Bowie’s then management company was called).

Later she moved to London, where RCA Records marketed her as “The First Lady of Punk.” Sting and Miles Copeland played in her backing band. Later, she went to work for composer Vangelis, running his US office, which she still does to this day. Cherry Vanilla’s memoir, Lick Me: How I Became Cherry Vanilla will be published in November by the Chicago Review Press. Lindsay Lohan would be a good choice to play Cherry in the film version!
 
Below Cherry Vanilla performs “The Punk” on Germany’s Music Laden television program in 1977:
 

 
Another in my unending parade of Bowie rarities for you fine people is this recording of “Rebel Rebel” done in New York in 1974 and known as the “U.S. Single Version.” This furious variation on the song, released only as a 7” record (backed with “Lady Grinning Soul” and attributed only to “Bowie”) was only out for a few months when it was withdrawn and replaced with the album version. It’s a more uptempo, aggressive take of “Rebel Rebel” with Bowie himself playing all instruments, save for the frenzied congas played by Geoff MacCormack. Bowie’s guitar sounds like Keith Richards playing a rusty Strat through a transistor radio and he’s added the chorus of the “li li li li li li li li li li li li” bits not present on the LP version. It’s heavily phase-shifted and the vocals are, I suppose, campier. All in all, I think it’s superior to the better-known album track, although I love that one, too.

I owned this single as a kid (I’d have been 8-years old when this came out, blimey) and it was (and is) the loudest cut record I have ever heard. If you drop the needle on this record with the stereo at a normal volume, it will blow your speakers (and ears) out.

Here’s something from a posting about “Rebel Rebel (U.S. Single Version)” from the merry audiophile maniacs at the Steve Hoffman Forums:

Rebel Rebel (Bowie): three different versions exist. The familiar version was released in edited and remixed form (4’22” instead of 4’31” and much more echoey than the album version) as the the first single from Diamond Dogs (RCA LPBO 5009). The Australian Rebel Rebel EP (RCA RCA 20610) features a shorter 4’06” edit. Further mixes of this version are found on bootlegs: a ‘dry mix’ (“BBC Version”) was released on Absolutely Rare (no label) and The Axeman Cometh (DB003) has a “Mix 1”, supposedly from a 1973 acetate, but this version is very similar (if not completely identical) to the regular single edit. The second version (often referred to as the US or “phased” version) is rumoured to be played entirely by Bowie. It was released in May 1974, three months after the first issue, but only in the US, Canada (both RCA APBO-0287) and Mexico (RCA SP-4049). The US single version was re-released on several bootleg singles and albums, before officially appearing on Sound + Vision II and the 30th Anniversary 2CD Edition of Diamond Dogs. In 2003, a newly recorded version was included on the Charlie’s Angels - Full Throttle soundtrack, which too was included as a bonus track on the 2004 Diamond Dogs reissue. A Soulwax Edit is be found on their 50,000,000 Soulwax Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Wiretap WTCD02). The 1974 performance on Top Pop was released on the Best Of Bowie DVD. David Live contains a live performance quite similar to US single version. Furthermore, ‘Rebel Rebel’ was featured on every tour following, including the shows performed in 2000 and 2002; it even opened most shows of the 2003/04 Reality tour. Other official live versions are available on the Serious Moonlight, Live Aid, Glass Spider and Reality DVDs.

 
Normally I quite enjoy reading The Quietus, but their recent “Beyond the Hits” feature on unheralded David Bowie tracks pissed me off a bit. Most (not all) of the selections were annoyingly obvious. Someone even chose “Queen Bitch”! “Queen Bitch”? Great song, but off the beaten track of Bowie fandom? Are you kidding me? HA!

If you’re going to ask supposed “experts” at least make sure they’re folks who know something about the subject.  Tracks from Low, Young Americans, Hunky Dory or Lodger, no matter how great they are, can hardly be considered rarities.

There was one inspired selection, though, I thought, and that was courtesy of Joe Stannard, the insane instrumental outtake from Low called “All Saints”:
which first appeared on All Saints: Collected Instrumentals 1977-1999 an expanded version of a CD that Bowie gave out to friends one Christmas. I own a ridiculous amount of Bowie bootlegs and this song never turned up on any that I was aware of until this collection came out in 2000. At the proper volume, this song can knock you off your feet:

This track, from the Berlin recording sessions which produced Low, is almost indistinguishable from early Throbbing Gristle. Play it back-to-back with TG circa 1979 (as compiled on 1986’s CD1) and you’ll see what I mean. A gnarly squall of low-end electronic noise punctuated by sprite-like coils of treble, this track more than matches the original industrialists for uncompromisingly ugly beauty and offers a stark contrast to the far less visceral instrumental pieces which made the album’s final cut. In truth, Bowie’s decision to leave this piece off Low is understandable; it seems likely that the other tracks would have simply withered in its proximity. Bowie wouldn’t properly release anything as harsh as this until 1995’s flawed but fascinating reunion with Eno, Outside, by which time the term ‘industrial music’ meant something completely different.

Stannard’s observation about the wisdom of leaving the incredible “All Saints” off the track listing of Low is probably right on the money. Can you imagine what the mainstream rock press would have made of a song like this in 1977? Low was already considered to be an uncompromising and impenetrable album at the time, the inclusion of “All Saints” would have seen the critics questioning Bowie’s sanity.

And YES, it sounds just like Throbbing Gristle.

If you want an amazing, vintage Bowie rarity to blow your doors off, turn this up super loud and let it wash all over you. You’ll be glad you did.
 

 
Early David Bowie music video for “Ching-A-Ling” taken from the Love You till Tuesday promotional film. Made in 1969, but unreleased until 1984, this film also features Hermione Farthingale (Space Oddity’s painfully intimate love-song “Letter to Hermione” was for her, obviously) and his friend Jono “Hutch” Hutchinson. The trio performed under the name “The Feathers.” The filming for Love You till Tuesday would be the last time Bowie and Farthingdale would see ever each other.

Note that Bowie is wearing a wig: He’d had to cut his hair for a role in a film called The Virgin Soldiers. “Ching-A-Ling” was recorded on the sly at Trident Studios by famed producer Tony Visconti in 1968. The harmonies would be revisited on The Man Who Sold the World’s “Savior Machine.”
 

 
After the jump, another early Bowie video for “Sell Me a Coat.”

 
Marianne Faithfull and David Bowie performing ‘I Got You Babe’ at London’s Marquee in 1973. This was filmed for American TV show The Midnight Special and was Bowie’s last appearance as Ziggy Stardust.

Faithfull’s nun habit created a bit of a scandal when the show was aired. Her other habit, heroin, may explain her somewhat disengaged performance that night.

From the Ziggy Stardust Companion:

The last song - “I Got You Babe” was a duet sung with Marianne Faithful and was filmed at about 10pm at night.  Bowie warned the audience - “This isn’t anything very serious.  Its just a bit of fun - we’ve hardly even rehearsed it.”  Bowie’s costume for this song was the bright red PVC corset, PVC thigh-length stiletto boots and two black chest-hugging feathers (he was The Angel of Death), while Marianne Faithful was dressed as a decadent nun with cowl and a black backless cape, which left her bottom exposed to the audience as she quickly ran off stage at the end of the performance.

 
Since we at Dangerous Minds have previously found ourselves marveling at his film Performance, it only makes sense to salute the wonderful English filmmaker Nicolas Roeg on this, his 81st birthday.

Check out Steve Rose’s great interview in the Guardian with the oft-aloof and prickly director (from which I paraphrase this post’s title), and for heaven’s sake check out the man’s films. He’s currently working on a screen adaptation of Martin Amis’s book Night Train.

Here’s a cool overview, with five themes spotlighted, by the excellent film video-essayist Hugo Redrose.
 

Elizabeth Taylor and David Bowie at their first meeting in Beverly Hills, 1975. Photographs by Terry O’Neill. Scanned from the book Legends by Terry O’Neill.

Via Glamour-a-go-go

2010 marks the 46th year since a young dandy named Davy Jones made the media scene. On June 6th 1964, at the age of 17, he’d released a typical mod-blues single with the King Bees called “Liza Jane.” Later that same year, he’d appeared on Cliff Michelmore’s BBC Tonight show as head of The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long-haired Men.

Two years before this, he’d gotten into a scrap with his friend George Underwood, who punched Jones in the eye with a ring on his hand. Although imperceptible in the BBC Tonight clip, it would leave the young Jones with a permanently dilated pupil a different color in that injured eye, one of the many features of the future superstar that would later fascinate millions.

 
It’s hard to believe, but the then-controversial, Iggy-tweaked version of Raw Power that set the original David Bowie mix to 11 was released over thirteen years ago.  These days, that’s a long time for anything to go un-reissued, so Legacy‘s come out with an expanded edition that pairs a remastered version of the Bowie mix with a ‘73 live set from Atlanta (but not, as Pitchfork notes, the more logical choice: a remastered version of the Iggy mix).

However you slice it—or mix it—Raw Power still packs a wallop.  I’ll always prefer the primitive thump of Funhouse, but, as the below short attests (featuring, among others, Henry Rollins, James Williamson and Chrissie Hynde), there’s no denying Raw Power was more the shape of things to come.

 
The Official Iggy and the Stooges site

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Forget about Twilight or that lame True Blood series, this is how vampire should be done! The insanely brilliant opening moments—featuring Bauhaus performing Bela Lugosi’s Dead—from Tony Scott’s 1983 film, The Hunger has lost none of its power over the years. The film stars Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie and Susan Sarandon and if you haven’t seen it, it’s a sexy, smart delight. The unlucky goth chick who is the recipient of Bowie’s vampiric intentions in this scene was played by none other than Dangerous Minds pal, singer/actress Ann Magnuson.

This is one of the great opening scenes of any movie ever made if you ask me. I actually saw this in a theater all by myself—or so I thought—and the effect was electrifying. I was 17 at the time and I’d just gotten massively baked in the parking lot. I walked in, sat down to THIS and just when things calmed down a bit onscreen, I was scared witless by an extremely elderly woman, who had been sleeping two rows in front of me, suddenly darting up and staring straight at me and wagging her finger in my face!
 

 
Bowie turns 63 (!) today, and as much as his music continues to resonate, his roles in film, be they bit (Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, The Last Temptation of Christ), or starring (The Man Who Fell To Earth, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence), are no less enduring.

The “otherness” Bowie exerts as an onscreen presence, in my eyes, always seems matched by the obvious thoughtfulness he injects into his roles.  And now, thanks to YouTube, we can turn to the accompanying, mostly silent, clip to see where it all started. 

Directed by Michael Armstrong, The Image stars Michael Byrne, who plays an artist tortured by Bowie when his painting of him “comes to life.”  Here’s what Cinebeats says of the ‘67 short:

David Bowie plays the mysterious apparition who is haunting the artist and his unusual good looks and other-worldly appearance are used to great effect here.  Bowie was just 20-years-old when he made his acting debut, but he had studied with the avant-garde performance artist and actor Lindsay Kemp who included elements of Mime and Butoh into his teaching.  Bowie obviously made use of the skills he developed studying under Kemp for his role in The Image and his wordless performance as an unrelenting spectre is undoubtedly the most memorable element of this short film.

The Image was shot in just three days, but its official debut was held off for 2 years.  And due to its relatively violent content, it was one of the first British features to receive an X rating.

 
To learn more about The Image, visit the official Michael Armstrong website

 
Could the artistry of David Bowie be tied somehow to the appearance of his teeth?  That appears to be the subtext of the following video.  Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie?  As “Surgeon To The Stars” Alex Kardis points out, “his teeth don’t look particularly great.”  By the time he got around, though, to recording Let’s Dance, Bowie’s choppers look brighter and tighter.

I find it interesting that Rolling Stone’s Alan Light feels that after Bowie cranked out not only Ziggy Stardust, but Hunky Dory, Low, Station to Station, etc., the one thing “holding him back” was a self-consciousness about his teeth.  Hmm, by that logic…did cosmetic surgery beget Tin Machine?!