Tune in today, December 15th, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863

Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

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https://spoti.fi/37hz74o

1

I tried to see every movie. There was a time when I went every night of the week. I think the most I’ve seen in a day is four, I liked slipping into an alternative universe where I was accepted, into story, back when movies were movies, if you know what I mean. Maybe you don’t. The seventies, which actually started in the late sixties in terms of film, with the auteur theory, were the heyday, the renaissance, “cinema” had not been this important since the thirties, and it never will be again, kind of like there will never be another Beatles. Cable TV was on the horizon, you could get HBO, but it was only old movies, there were no original projects. The heyday of TV started in 1999, with the “Sopranos,” and it’s still happening, although to this day the “Sopranos” is the best TV series ever in my mind. I could count the ways, but when Meadow snows her parents and gets them to agree to take away her credit card as punishment…that’s what made the “Sopranos” great, the nailing of the human experience, life in these United States.

So, we went to see “Saturday Night Fever” the night it came out, forty three years ago on Wednesday, although December 16th was a Friday in 1977. Flicks opened in Hollywood and Westwood. Hollywood was seedy and Westwood was the epicenter of Los Angeles, where it was happening. We saw the movie in Hollywood, primarily because the time was right. I used to drive around town with the L.A. “Times” Calendar section in my car, just in case I got a hankering to see a movie.

And I didn’t go to see “Saturday Night Fever” because of the Bee Gees, that had nothing to do with it. Nor was I intrigued by Vinnie Barbarino, aka John Travolta. No, it was Nik Cohn who got me to go see “Saturday Night Fever,” he wrote the story it was based upon, “Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night,” which was a cover story in “New York” magazine. Cohn was a rock writer, back when you used to know their names. And “New York” had its finger on the pulse, that’s where trends were cemented. It was “New York” that published Tom Wolfe’s article on the Me Decade, Wolfe coined the term, it was. Also, by time we got to the mid-seventies, hedonism ruled. The Vietnam War was over, now it was about having fun.

So my girlfriend (who I’d gotten addicted to the flicks, our first date was a double feature at a revival house in Beverly Hills that turned into Fiorucci and last I checked it was a bank), and I drove to Hollywood, when you could still get a parking space on the street, laid down our cash, and sat on the aisle, stage right, about halfway back, and waited for the movie to begin. We did not buy popcorn, we did not get a drink, we sat through all the previews and then…

Travolta walked down the street, eating two slices of pizza one on top of the other, as this track played and…

I’d say the theatre was 1/16 full, if that. Travolta was a television performer and the director, John Badham, had no significant film credits and Karen Lynn Gorney was an unknown, and I realized I was experiencing something special, that I would tell everybody about, they had to see this movie.

It was pulpy, but somehow it captured boomer culture, even though years later Nik Cohn said he was on deadline and had made the whole thing up.

2

You can remember the first time you heard a hit record. I’m not talking about something Top Ten, I’m not even talking about a lot of number ones, but tracks that will sustain, that won’t slip through the cracks, that will be with you, and the culture, forever.

That was “Stayin’ Alive.”

Sure, disco had started to crest two years previously, with Donna Summer’s “Love to Love You Baby,” but it was mostly a gay scene. It was parallel to rock and roll, but relatively small. I heard “Stayin’ Alive” and it didn’t even occur to me that it was disco, just that it was great. I didn’t expect much from the Bee Gees. They’d had their time in the sixties, but their seventies output was spotty, singles in an album age, AM in the FM era, even though a few were undeniable. But the Bee Gees doing the soundtrack for a movie was about as enticing as…well, nothing, because we had no expectations at all.

The comeback had actually begun in 1970. With “Lonely Days.” It had only been two years between smashes, but a lot had gone down in that time period, album rock ruled, AM was beginning to be sneered at, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix and the rest of the gunslingers were bigger than the Bee Gees, and deservedly so, the axemen were not writing ditties.

But FM was not yet ubiquitous in automobiles, so in 1970 everybody still was exposed and knew those AM radio hits. And unlike what came before, “Lonely Nights” was not dreary, with Robin Gibb warbling, and when it changed tempo…

“Lonely days, lonely nights

Where would I be without my woman”

Not only was the chorus catchy, the harmonies were exquisite and we hadn’t heard such an indelible horn part since “Penny Lane.” And the last minute was akin to the end of “Hey Jude,” the act threw in everything, from the aforementioned horn to strings and the track had the feel of a march and the lyrics were sung with emphasis, like this was important. You know how you love songs by acts you hate?

Not that I hated the Bee Gees from the start.

3

“New York Mining Disaster 1941” had a darkness absent from today’s hit parade, followed by a jolly, rollicking verse and then back to… It was not a gigantic hit on New York radio, but I knew it.

As for “To Love Somebody”…it sounded English the way many records sounded in the mid-sixties, it was of a piece, but “Holiday” was not.

It was not like today, with gourmet food everywhere, at Bromley you got burgers and fries, overpriced and mediocre, although they did serve a giant doughnut and a giant cookie that were home runs, especially the doughnut, as big as a 45 RPM record, glazed, mmm…I can still picture it, as well as the nook around the corner, where the jukebox sat. This is where my mother stashed the lunch we had to eat instead of what was purveyed by the ski area. But this was also where the young people hung out, especially at the end of the day, when everybody was tired and the music resonated more. The big hits? “Cry Like A Baby,” “I Can See For Miles,” “Bend Me, Shape Me” and…

“Holiday.”

This didn’t sound like anything else on the jukebox, never mind the radio, this was unique. And the word “holiday” has an upbeat connotation, at no time was it ever used as a bummer, but this song was so downbeat, and the de, de’s put it over the top.

Not quite as good, but still quite pleasing, was the follow-up, “Massachusetts.” I mean how often do you get a track with the name of the New England state? Essentially never at this point. And the fact that this act from across the pond was singing about Massachusetts was cool, and dreamy, you could let your mind drift, which is part of what I like most about music.

But then the penny dropped, the screw turned, we got “Words,” which I don’t hate as much as its twin, Bobby Goldsboro’s “Honey,” but it was so sappy it was hard to take seriously, rock was testing limits, pushing the envelope, and this was a return to what once was, it could have even been released before the Beatles and hit.

And sure, “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You” is better, but also damn sappy, and sing-songy and so basic…there was a war raging and it’s like the Bee Gees existed outside the world of not only the draft, but drugs and everything else hip.

But then came the piece-de-resistance, one of the worst tracks of all time, that I had to endure on the radio, with the quivering vocal and the Lawrence Welkian stringed-instrument in the left channel and…all you could do was squirm and push the button, as fast as you could. But “I Started a Joke”  was so big that we all made fun of it, and then, thank god, the Bee Gees disappeared.

Until the aforementioned “Lonely Days.”

But then it was a return to sappiness, with “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart,” this was the Bee Gees I despised, thank god they lived in the AM radio ghetto.

And it was five years before the Bee Gees had another hit, they were gone, hopefully for good, but then came “Jive Talkin’.”

“Jive Talkin'” is not “Stayin’ Alive” but it’s not that far away. It wasn’t exactly disco, which we were aware of at this point, at least many of us, but somehow you couldn’t sit still while you heard it, it was positively MAGICAL! And what put it over the top were the unexpected changes and the unexpected sounds and every time I heard it over the sound system at Hollywood Sporting Goods I had a bounce in my step, I couldn’t wait to hear it again, maybe the Bee Gees were back on track. But the follow-up, “Nights on Broadway,” was not special, not quite as good, not quite there, kinda listenable, yet nothing you had to hear.

And then came “Saturday Night Fever.”

I bought the double LP the next day, I had to be able to hear “Stayin’ Alive,” over and over and over again. And there was the reference to the “New York Times”…there was no chance you could die, never mind sleep while it was playing, you didn’t want to. This is where music triumphs over all other art forms, one track can encapsulate life itself, take over your body and change your mood.

And “Saturday Night Fever” was not an instant smash. It grew. Back when films expanded their footprint into more theatres as opposed to being squeezed out a few weeks later for something new, you could see “Saturday Night Fever” the following March no problem.

But it was more than “Stayin’ Alive.” The first side of the first record was just smashes. “Night Fever” was nearly as catchy as “Stayin’ Alive,” and “How Deep Is Your Love” was a ballad, but it wasn’t sappy like the product of yore, it was smooth, the vocal wasn’t warbly, you weren’t ashamed if you liked it.

And “More Than a Woman” had the soon to be tiresome falsetto, but the track had great changes, and despite having a disco feel at best it was disco-lite, it was closer to straight ahead pop.

And we knew Yvonne Elliman from her work with Eric Clapton, yet she’d had nothing close to a hit, but then came “If I Can’t Have You.” Which was high energy, with a vocal like she really meant it, especially on the choruses…IF I CAN’T HAVE YOU, I DON’T WANT NOBODY BABY!

4

“Saturday Night Fever” became a phenomenon, the film and the soundtrack, and sure, disco was boosted too. Like the deejay says in this documentary, the entertainment industry doubles down on anything successful, it doesn’t let it breathe, it kills it.

And suddenly, there was another style of music with traction, that rivaled rock, that was taken seriously, and the rock fans didn’t like it.

Rock was bigger than ever. This was the era of corporate rock. Radio stations were formatted with the hits by Lee Abrams, and in many cases the tracks played to the lowest common denominator, it was all about the money and the lifestyle…the plan was set in stone, put out an album, go on an endless tour, at first opening, build your fan base and then when your track gets on the radio! But it was happening ever faster, on debut records, and there was a backlash in the rock press. But the heartland ate it up. Meanwhile, disco sucked. But in the mid-seventies EVERYTHING sucked, it was a phrase you heard over and over again. At ski areas, SHORT SKIS SUCKED! It was about attitude.

Meanwhile, rock radio was a powerhouse, the biggest stations in the land. And Steve Dahl ruled Chicago and he blew up a bunch of disco records.

Let’s go back to when this really happened. It wasn’t seen as racist or homophobic, the biggest story was THE WHITE SOX HAD TO FORFEIT THE GAME! You didn’t mess with baseball back then, just like you don’t mess with the NFL today, ask the still jobless Colin Kaepernick. You can’t mess with people’s priorities, their beliefs.

But the truth is the Disco Demolition was a harbinger of the death of the music business, not only disco, sales faded, CBS Records laid off a ton of people and the record industry was in the dumper until the advent of MTV.

But it’s fun to rewrite history. Like people liked the Beatles because it salved the wound of the death of JFK…NO WAY! It’s just that the Beatles were GREAT, that engendered the mania.

And, by this point, with everybody on the bandwagon, a lot of disco sucked. It all sucked, which is why sales imploded. The music business had been figured out. And the music business generated more money than the movies or TV. So, the candle was flickering, if not completely extinguished.

5

The truth is the Bee Gees were their own worst enemies. “Spirits Having Flown” doubled down on the “Saturday Night Fever” sound when people were tired of it. Even worse was the continued use of the falsetto. Interesting at first, execrable over time. The Bee Gees played to the “Saturday Night Fever” fans, the casual music buyers. And they wore those white suits on tour…what did this have to do with rock and roll? NOTHING! And it was only rock and roll that had any legs. If you were an AM act, you lived and died by the hit. And the truth is, after the gobsmack of “Stayin’ Alive,” “Tragedy” was substandard, not quite tripe, but this is what you follow up with? And the rest of the album was not in the league of what had come before, that first side of “Saturday Night Fever.” Radio played along at first, just like it played Peter Frampton’s “I’m In You,” but the active fans were done, kaput. Meanwhile, the music industry cratered and when it came back it was attributable to the English New Wave bands, from Soft Cell to Human League to Culture Club and…they all had edges, in personality if not music, they were pushing the envelope, while the Bee Gees were pushing pabulum.

6

But you should watch this documentary, definitely. Just don’t buy it hook, line and sinker. Like Barry Gibb says in the beginning, it’s his perspective. Unfortunately merged with director Frank Marshall’s perspective. Watching this doc you’d think that the Bee Gees were one of the biggest acts of the sixties, engendering mania! Girls swooning… I’m sure there were a couple, but the truth is the Bee Gees were a second-tier act, albeit in the heyday of Top Forty radio, when the competition was stiff. They stood for nothing, were making no statements, the Bee Gees were a singles band as it quickly became about album acts. The only time the Bee Gees were dominant was during the period of “Saturday Night Fever.” And sure, the death of disco might have hurt them, but like I said before, they lost their mojo, they couldn’t get back to the peak. How do you follow up “Hotel California”? The Eagles ultimately released the “Long Run,” but the long drawn out process broke up the band, they were not brothers. Eventually Don Henley clicked with “Boys of Summer” and “Heart of the Matter” and more, but this was when the mania was gone, the focus was no longer on him, when he still had something to prove. And with nothing to prove, you’re toast, you can’t reach the brass ring anymore.

As for all those songs written for others?

Kudos. You did it. But I don’t think I’ve ever listened all the way through “Islands in the Stream.”

Maybe Frank Marshall was never hip. Maybe he just couldn’t resist hagiography. The Bee Gees were never the force he depicts, never, except for that late seventies “Saturday Night Fever” moment.

But the footage, of yesterday, is worth the price of the subscription right there!

And the insights into the family bond…

However, how come all music documentaries have to feature modern wankers testifying? Do I really care what Chris Martin has to say about the Bee Gees? Even worse, Justin Timberlake. Sure, Noel Gallagher can testify as to brothers, that was ultimately worth it, but I’d have been more interested in hearing from those who were there back then. But that’s not sexy enough to make a deal. You’ve got to deliver those eyeballs. But it’s this compromise that ruins art.

But you get more than a glimpse of the creative process. That’s the best part of the whole documentary, how the boys create these songs, in the studio, their inspiration.

And the Bee Gees MUST be lauded for coming back, by REINVENTING THEMSELVES!

Most of the biggest never did. But to matter in the future you’ve got to do it differently. But your audience might hate you. I guess that helped the Bee Gees, they didn’t have much of an audience, furthermore their backs were against the wall.

Is it a tragedy that the Bee Gees’ moment is done?

No.

But it is a tragedy Robin and Maurice are both dead. Twins dying before their time, very strange.

As for Andy Gibb…it’s tragic he O.D.’ed, but I can survive the rest of my life quite nicely without hearing any of his records. As a matter of fact, I don’t know if I’ve ever heard any of them all the way through, they were AM fluff when I never ever listened to that band. This is another thing that bothers me… The “Billboard” Hot 100 of the sixties? Very important. But the Hot 100 of the seventies, in many cases disposable dreck. I mean who was still listening to AM radio? Those without a clue, casual fans at best.

But the Bee Gees were there, I know these records. And as I stated above, some are SPECTACULAR! And to create spectacular work is incredible.

But almost all of them have no meaning. They ultimately slide right off of you.

Except for “Stayin’ Alive.”

“Well you can tell by the way I use my walk

I’m a women’s man, no time to talk”

The sixties were all about us versus them, hipsters versus rednecks, the cool versus the uncool. But by time we hit the seventies we were all in it together. The reason Nik Cohn’s article and the resulting film resonated was because it was about the individual, what it was like trying to figure out your life, from your perspective, we all struggle.

“Whether you’re a brother or whether you’re a mother

You’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive

Feel the city breaking and everybody shaking, people

Stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive”

Sounds like Covid to me! The Bee Gees captured the zeitgeist, which is nearly impossible to do.

“Life’s goin’ nowhere, somebody help me

Somebody help me, yeah”

Personal direction. Do you have the guts to get off the path, to fulfill yourself as opposed to your parents? That was the question in the seventies, today it’s about basic survival. There were not billionaires back then, rock stars were as rich as anybody in America, CEOs made less.

“Music loud and women warm

I’ve been kicked around since I was born”

This is not far from the rock ethos. Only unlike the rockers, the disco acolytes did not sit on the couch, lie on their backs stoned, they got up, they got out of the house, they got up close and personal with the same and the opposite sex, the smells, the mental connection, body on body, that happened on the dance floor, that was one of its appeals.

And it’s a brilliant track. The riff, the hook, the sweeping strings and that Barry Gibb falsetto, when it was brand new. And like so many of the great tracks of all time, the ones labored over in the studio as opposed to those cut in a flash, it’s the little flourishes that put the cut over the top. And one of the most magical elements of “Stayin’ Alive” comes just after 3:40, when there’s a short break and then a couple of drum hits, they only last a couple of seconds, but they’re why I can never turn the track off when I hear it on the radio, those notes are so perfect, so right, they keep me stayin’ alive.

From: Mike Garson

Thank you Bob,

I received your Bowie analysis from so many people.

They didn’t know I subscribe to your newsletter.

I thought it was wonderful.

You see I know VERY little about Rock n roll and continuously learn much from you.

I grew up in a Jewish home in Brooklyn and many families had pianos. Thus peer pressure but I took to it playing only classical piano from 7-14 then getting the jazz bug at 14 after hearing Brubeck Andre Previn Bill Evans Coltrane miles etc.

Somehow bowie got my name and I didn’t know who he was. He liked my playing so I occasionally became the icing on the cake.

I was hired for 8 weeks and somehow lasted 20 albums and around 1000 concerts. (more than any other musician)
Go figure.

Between every tour all I did was a few jazz gigs and compose classical music. (Over 5000 works of which maybe 300 are worthwhile. Nobody really cares but I LOVE COMPOSING. (A few classical pianist perform my works around the world.

This January 8 is David’s birthday and 5 years since his passing. I was scheduled to be on tour but obviously due to Covid I will hopefully wait until 2022.

Instead I’m putting on a live 24 hour streaming concert.

I located 37 alumni who will all contribute and 30 singers from Ian Hunter to Duran Duran, billy Corgan, Peter Frampton, trent Reznor etc.

All these artists were so deeply affected by David.

I’ve also found some new generation young talent.

It’s a bit risky as there’s only one David but he was a great songwriter so singers should sing his songs like Sinatra sang gershwin porter hammerstein.

The big problem is gershwin wasn’t a performer so comparison becomes a problem.

All I can do is hope I’ve chosen singer each with their OWN VOICE.

At the least it will be a nice distraction as I’m recording arranging and mixing 15 hours a day as it’s a massive project.

I DO LOVE MUSIC SO ZERO COMPLAINTS ESPECIALLY WITH THE BACKDROP WE ARE SEEING VIRUS WISE AND POLITICALLY. (I think the rvirus is also mental and spiritual.

Lastly In England when I was playing with David in 1973 in the major newspaper at the time David was quoted as saying MIKE IS THE BEST ROCK PIANIST IN THE WORLD BECAUSE HE DOESN’T PLAY ROCK.

David was also 1/5 Jewish he told me!!

All the best

Mike

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From: Randall Wixen

Re: Arnold Corns Pseudonym

Did you ever hear these versions?

 

 

 

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Great stuff on Bowie.

I wouldn’t say that Blackstar was that jazzy. Just guys known for a certain electronica-leaning segment of jazz. Guiliana happens to be a great rock drummer (we both played on matt Cameron’s solo record). Lindner is from outer space genius. We’ve all kinda come out of jazz world a bit. McCaslin really added the jazz element with the saxophone stuff.

We used to cover “it ain’t easy” with tedeschi trucks band. Always one of my favorites.

Anyway hope shows happen next summer with the Crowes. We’ll see what happens. Stay healthy.

Tim Lefebvre

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David Bowie – Lady Grinning Soul | “The Runaways” stage scene HQ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP2fZdErF84 from the Runaways movie few years back

George Drakoulias

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Hunky Dory and Ziggy were life changing for me. I was working at a record store when Ziggy came out (yes I was far too young to actually have a job but I was Eddie Rosenblatt’s kid so they made an exception) we played it instore nonstop for weeks. I saw the Ziggy tour and was blown away, that sealed the deal for me, I was a Bowie fan for life.

The instrumental fade of Moonage Daydream for me is the highlight of the Ziggy album. Yes Mick Ronson’s guitar part is unmatched anywhere but the string arrangement takes the song to a whole other level. I think that Radiohead based their career on the last 90 seconds of the song.

For me you missed it with Station to Station and Low, they were also ground breaking and brilliantly executed. I still listen to those albums on a regular basis. Carlos Alomar’s guitar work is stellar, listen to him on Station to Station and Stay. Blackstar was a truly special album and a great coda to his recording career.

Michael

ps….In the 80’s I had a meeting with Tony Visconti about producing a band I was working with in London. He was a true gentleman and was willing to answer questions I asked about some of the artists he had worked with. He said that most of those records (Bowie/T-Rex among others) were recorded in the studio we were in at the time. I tried to hold it together as the fanboy inside of me was freaking the fuck out. I did ask him if I could touch the control board and he said yes of course.

Michael Rosenblatt

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Subject: That time I crowdsurfed with David Bowie:

October 13, 1997, I was a college freshman, and attended a David Bowie concert at The Supper Club with my best friend Brian Cancellieri (for whom I’m eternally grateful for many things, especially for bringing me to MSG for Bowie’s 50th bday concert earlier that year…a fine introduction to Bowie…and who poetically passed away FIVE YEARS before Bowie…both far too young…Oh Brian would have loved and dissected The Next Day and Blackstar…I still have all Brian’s bowie vinyl, including his signed Diamond Dogs.)

On our way out of the club, Brian and I were gifted tickets/recruited to a free Bowie show the very next night at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. It was the series premiere of a new MTV program, Live From The 10 Spot. (Apparently The Rolling Stones were booked, but cancelled days earlier, and Bowie stepped in…)

October 14, 1997, Brian couldn’t make it to Port Chester, but I was happy to ditch night class, and I wrangled my concert mischief buddy Joe Letz to tag along. Matt Pinfield, the legendary bald-headed VJ, did a live audience interview outside before doors opened, and asked Joe if he liked Bowie. Joe told him “No, but I love Nine Inch Nails.” (Not entirely non-sequitur, as Bowie and NIN had toured together in ’95.) Then Joe changed the subject, asking Matt if he liked chillin’ in the massive Times Square Cup Noodle steaming billboard.

We were right near the front of the line, and ended up quite close to the stage. Waiting for the lights to come down, we met some of the “Sigma Kids” who’d waited outside of Bowie’s Philly recording sessions.  They told us that one night Bowie actually invited them in to get their reactions to the tracks!

Throughout the show, Joe, quite tall and determined, tried to hoist me up for a little crowdsurfing. The overwhelmingly older crowd didn’t seem so into it. We failed until the very last song, All the Young Dudes. I was finally airborne and so damn close to the stage. Bowie reached out, flashed one of his huge trademark grins and clasped MY hand! The contact only lasted a second, but it felt much longer, quite magical, as if i was at the center of it all. (You can relive it it in this video clip, broadcast live nationwide, around the 2:20 mark. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDuLcohz5fU&list=PLE9076154FD9EEFEE)

For the rest of my crowdsurf, I kept reaching for The Thin White Duke, until my tiger-print shirt, skinny black pants, green socks, and I fell to Earth.

Daniel Bowman Simon

P.S. Someone once told me about a hotel maid who collected whatever was left behind in celebrity hotel rooms. Legend had it she had scored Mickey Mantle’s fingernail clippings.

In 1999, I scored tickets to the intimate taping of bowie VH1 storytellers via BowieNet, his official online fanclub.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKx_PH3M0ho (It was later released as a Live Album.)

Bowie smoked all the way through, and after the taping i grabbed a cigarette butt out of his ashtray.  I’m pretty sure  it was no longer filterless Gitannes he was smoking, but rather Marlboro Lights, smoked all the way down to the filter.  I saved the butt for a while. But one of the perils of traveling the world and stashing stuff at one’s parents’ place is that moms throw stuff away indiscriminately, including bowie butts.

P.P.S. mostly unrelated…smoking tangent? any thoughts on How To…With John Wilson on HBO?   here’s a way before prime time clip of his, “How To Keep Smoking” https://vimeo.com/86527457

Black Star is the most haunting brilliant album. I listen to it all the way through at least once a month. It fully displays the genius of the man.
They say don’t meet your heroes. I’ve found that to be generally true.
I met Bowie 3 times when trying to sign him to Epic.
We had dinner in NY. It was like being with an old friend. He was completely charming.
I then flew to Switzerland a couple of weeks later to hear his new album, Outside. I’ve never been more disappointed. However hard I tried I just didn’t like it.
A month later he invites me to a studio in NY to hear some new mixes. On the wall he has hung a 12 inch record with the Epic logo on and the name Outside on it!
I was prepared to give it a go but got no support from Glew.
Three years later I take up the job of President BMG Europe. I walk into my office and there’s a fax on my desk.
It’s says
“We meet again Moriarty”
Signed by David Bowie!
What a man.

Richard Griffiths

PS.
Let’s Dance is a masterpiece too

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I couldn’t agree with you more in regards to “Lady Grinning Soul.”  It’s always been one of my favorite deep cuts from Bowie.  A little bit of background on the inspiration for the song.  Claudia Lennear was an American background singer who began her career as one of the Ikettes in Ike & Tina Turner’s touring band.  She subsequently left and became part of Leon Russell’s Mad Dogs & Englishman band with Joe Cocker as well as performing in George Harrison’s Concert For Bangladesh and appearing in the film of the concert.  Not only was she a great singer but one beautiful lady.  Both Mick Jagger and David were crazy about her.  Mick wrote Brown Sugar for her and David wrote Lady Grinning Soul in her honor.  In addition, she also covered “It Ain’t Easy,” on her debut solo album Phew! in 1973.  Finally, she was also one of the featured singers in the 2014 Academy Award winning documentary, “20 Feet From Stardom.”

Bennett Freed

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Thanks for bringing this up. The “Spiders” era is my absolute favorite Bowie, to me it’s akin to the Rubber Soul/Revolver era Beatles, when it was still rock and roll firing on all cylinders but pushing said envelope. For me it was and remains “Aladdin Sane”. I know it didn’t have the same commercial impact as “Ziggy”, but for me it had less of the schtick and more of what made that band transcendent… Mike Garson’s solo on the title track, Ronson’s guitar intro in “The Prettiest Star” (the tone…), the snarl of “Cracked Actor”, even “Drive In Saturday”… for my money the album as a whole tells a clearer dystopian story than any of his others. And that “Let’s Spend The NIght Together” cover is the only cover you’ll ever need to hear of one of the Stones’ best singles. I missed them when they played at the Tower in Philadelphia but got to see the full-on augmented Spiders in Oxford, England, in July 1973, which was a life-changing experience.

“Young Americans”, though I did grow to appreciate it later, was a tune out to me, Bowie trading in his teeth for gums. And don’t even talk to me about ‘80s Bowie.

Eric Bazilian

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I first heard HUNKY DORY at 605 ridgefield road. I was immediately aware i was only living half a life.

I made ch ch ch changes. Thankyou divine intervention, music via bowie.

Andrew Loog Oldham

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Funky Music @ Luther Vandross is where Bowie bought Fascination. Luther also sang for Bowie. Seems like he was President of the Bowie Fan Club.

I would contend that Black Star was the album of the decade, but you probably won’t hear it because of the Jazz aspect.
Lp

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Tower Theatre in Philly ‘72.
Sat in the last row of the balcony.
Was a memorable moment that
inspired a lifetime of design/ direction.

honest in all aspects.
without explanation.

Brave!

Stay Safe, Bob
marc brickman

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Seeing Bowie’s Ziggy tour at 18 in Cleveland confirmed what I first felt 8 years prior watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. The electricity was jolting. The presence, the grace, the command of the stage and the audience was messianic. Peter Pan and the Pied Piper in a space suit

It reaffirmed that I had to do this and set my life’s path to always remain a musician even if it wasn’t always my main source of sustenance. Staying on top of the music by working in various facts of the industry kept it close but playing with people who love it as much as I do remains the underlying life motivation.

Stephen Knill

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Mick Ronson is always in my top ten of most catalystic artists.

Without Ronson…

Bowie’s career might just have been a lesser known series of overly artistic travails.

Marty Bender

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Good one, but somehow you avoid ’77s Heroes.  The second of the Berlin Trilogy, after LOW which really missed the mark.  It is an interesting period in Bowie’s career as he hunkered down in the most happening city in Europe, even then.  I’ll admit the title track is the best song on the album thanks to having Robert Fripp as the guitar sorcerer.  A brilliant move.  It’s an exhilarating track to me.  Bowie seems to be more out in the open and absorbing it all in a way he didn’t with his other incarnations that, while great, are also rather specific to a particular incarnation.

As one of the first FM stations to go free form, you can believe that BCN played tons of black music.  How can you play early rock and roll without including the great r’nb and blues artists from whom it sprang?

John Brodey

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My very first concert was Bowie’s first US concert in September 1972 at Cleveland Public Hall. I was not quite 15 and completely crazy for his music after hearing it played on WMMS.  When he announced his Ziggy Stardust tour – which originally did not include a Cleveland date – WMMS DJs urged listeners to write in and perhaps persuade Bowie to add Cleveland to his tour. I must have sent 15 postcards. It worked, and he decided to open the tour in Cleveland; I’ve still never been more excited for anything in my life, and will never forget the thrill of hearing the Beethoven intro, seeing strobe lights for the first time, and watching Bowie jumping on stage to “Hang On to Yourself.”

During a long career in radio, I had the opportunity to meet and talk with him a couple of times over the years. When I told him that my very first concert was his first US concert, he kindly replied, “Oh, no, you can’t possibly be that old.”

Elise Brown
Philly

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I saw Bowie at the Public Auditorium in Cleveland in November 1972. My first concert.

The show was one of those experiences you never forget!

Marc Andrews

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To me Bowie is a classic example of a pre-steaming artist. Two maybe three good songs per album. Given enough of a career by the label to build up a catalogue of songs that would fill a greatest hits album. On their own though a lot of those albums aren’t that impressive.

Cheers

David Donaldson.

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1. The Korvette’s on 5th avenue had the best record department! 2. It’s the Ronson solo on Moonage! 3. Where’s Station to Station?

Tag Gross

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Aladdin Sane & Diamond Dogs were his 2 finest moments of his 70’s catalog.

But I agree, Somebody Up There Likes Me was overlooked & underrated.

Rick Marino

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Nice piece Bob. Interesting mention of “It Ain’t Easy.” I’d never heard the original, but was of course familiar with the Bowie and Long John Baldry versions. Even the Raconteurs have taken a swing at that one, but my favorite is Chris Smither’s solo acoustic reading of the song.

It’s just one man picking and singing with virtuosity, but otherwise the tune has zero bombast. This is the true mark of a great composition; when one breaks it down into only its most important constituent parts and it still sounds great.

Ben Hunter

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I was a high school freshman soaking all the new music like a sponge in 1972, when late one night, listening to an import/new music show on KMET, the opening chords to Suffragette City blasted through my headphones like a bolt of lightning, and just like that I was hooked. Had to seek out the Ziggy album in the import bins, but what an incredible sonic reward once procured. I was way ahead of the curve on this one and it felt good. I took some shit from my friends because of Bowie’s questionable sexuality, but six months later, they came around to Bowie and the vindication was sweet.

Dennis LeBlanc

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“Nothing Bowie ever did was as good as “Ziggy Stardust” and “Hunky Dory.”

Have you listened to the album “Heroes” lately?
Easily on par with “The White Album”.
Both have an indulgence or two, but other than that, perfect. “Heroes” is super solid, has a sound that is unlike any other, truly experimental, but on a subtle level that doesn’t distract from the music, and the songs are wonderful.

To each their own, but I feel you need to relisten to the Berlin period, if you’re making the above statement.

Cheers,

Jason Steidman

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Love most Bowie but you overlooked 1 track on Ziggy…
Where he kills Ziggy off – “you’re a Rock N Roll suicide”…
Great tune….
Jc

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I don’t always agree with you … and I don’t honestly agree with some of your assessment of Bowie’s works…but I will say this…

I consider myself a Bowiephile – a HUGE fan of the man & his work. My discovery of the Ziggy Stardust LP is largely responsible for my decision to chase a career in the music business.  It is THE recording that changed my life.

That said,  “Somebody Up There Likes Me” has been my favorite David Bowie song since that first  day that I dropped a needle on my new copy of Young Americans.  NO tune has supplanted its status since.  It is easily  in the Top 3 of my all-time favorite songs!

Kudos on the recognition of an unheralded masterpiece.

Bob Reeves

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I lived in a dorm at San Diego State University when Ziggy came out – my dorm mates were from Pacific Palisades and Malibu and saw the first Bowie tour that played Santa Monica Civic in 1972 I believe.  They turned me onto Bowie and me, a small town kid from Barstow, CA, immediately became a fan. I would go visit my friends in Barstow on weekends and tried to turn them onto the Ziggy LP but they couldn’t get past his looks and insisted on calling him David BOW-ie, as in Jim Bowie from the Alamo.  Saw the Diamond Dogs show in 1974 at the Universal Amphitheatre and to this day, one of my most favorite shows.  Lady Grinning Soul is a hidden gem on that LP for sure.  Thanks.

Tim Mays

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yes!

every garage band played “suffragette city” but i agree, its

“moonage daydream” all the way to the moon and back!   your taste here  is just impeccable here.  ziggy is 100 percent the best bowie album  . cranking it for the kids  3. 7, 11   right now.   they know the album.

and they make fun of todays pop music.

all the best,

ajr

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I thought “Station to Station”, “Heroes”, “Low” and especially “The Lodger” were better than Ziggy as was “The Next Day” and Black Star”….

Michael Fremer

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Vivid memories of all those Bowie records. It’s strange to consider that there’s a whole world of people who didn’t consume them as deeply and reflexively as we did back in the day. The deep cuts on Ziggy and Young Americans were so rich.

Talking Ziggy Stardust, I was not aware of this album outtake until a friend recently turned me on to the beautiful latter day reworking.

Shadow man Ziggy demo

Shadow man from Toy

Best,

Ralph

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Good stuff Bob, yes Lady Grinning Soul marvelous as are the Ziggy and HD LPs. Would slightly disagree about his best though, for my money the Low, Lodger and especially Heroes albums are superior and ‘Scary Monsters’ the absolute peak, it was all downhill fast after that.

Thanks for the piece though,

Keith Stael

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sorry Bob but i have to disagree with you here on a few points.  that’s the thing with Bowie though.  there is sooo much unbelievably strong material that anyone can credibly argue for what they ‘know’ to be the best Bowie.

personally i think his entire 70s output up to and including Scary Monsters is his strongest.  all of it.  Heroes being my favorite but barely ahead of Hunky Dory (with Rick Wakeman’s piano anchoring and coloring the entire record especially on Life On Mars, Changes, etc..), then Young Americans and Scary Monsters.  those records and everything in between.  that said, i love his 80s and 90s output including Tin Machine.  i feel he rested on his laurels a bit after Earthling on records and live w/backing tracks until his return with Blackstar.

but with such a huge catalogue of deep material touching on just about every genre across so many decades with so many collaborators and band members, the one factual constant was Bowie himself.  that is his unique greatness.  i’m hoping everyone can agree on that.

Angelo “Scrote” Bundini

Creator & producer of Celebrating David Bowie Concerts

CelebratingDavidBowie.com

P.S. ps – you attended and wrote about our show Celebrating David Bowie w/Todd Rundgren & Adrian Belew in October 2018. here’s a clip of Mike Garson guesting with us in Brixton on the one year anniversary of David’s passing.  Holly Palmer on vocals.  the promoter i worked with on that show called it the best show of her life.  it sold out in 2 hours.  the audience hung on every syllable of the 4 hour long show with 70s performers coming and going all night.  all live strings, horns , gospel choir, etc..

hope to see you again in 2021-22, Bob, when we get back touring.

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Similar to you I was mesmerized by Ziggy Stardust album, bought it immediately. And then checked out rest of his catalog.
One of my all time favorite live shows was seeing Bowie on Valentines Day in 1973 at Radio City in NYC. What a trip that was with what seemed like every downtown denizen showing up dressed to nines! All Warhol freaks, totally glam!  And then Bowie arrived on stage on a lift! Amazing performance. I saw him live multiple times but nothing surpassed this tour!
PS kudos to Station to Station also.
Regards;
Dave Bodnar

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David Bowie Auditorium Chicago – Oct 7th 1972

I was at this show with my girlfriend. We had cheap tickets way in the back but it was not very crowded so we were able to move very close to the front of the stage! While the opening band Wilderness Road was playing, we bumped into some friends who passed around a joint. Little did we know just before Bowie came on another joint was passed to us that was laced with Angel Dust. So now we are both completely out of our minds when Bowie hits the stage! This was absolutely the best concert I have ever been to! After the show we were still blazing from the Angel Dust and wound up walking all the way home to Old Town where I lived!  I bought the Bowie Santa Monica ’72 bootleg album months later to try and get a taste of what we had experienced on Angel Dust. It was great to hear that concert BUT still could not even remotely compare to what we had experienced at the Chicago show. David Bowie and Mick Ronson were major influences for me as a musician and still continue to inspire me as a musician and filmmaker!

Arthur

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Ziggy was the best. I missed the Santa Monica Civic show in 72; not even sure I knew about it until Robert Hilburn wrote an incredible review. He came back in 73 at the Long Beach Arena where I did see him. He changed his outfit at least 7 times during the show. Great show!!!. Suffragette City is still the classic in my mind

I saw him at the Anaheim Convention Center in 74. Elizabeth Taylor was there and in the seats, not backstage. There was an intermission I believe, or after a supporting act, and the line to get her autograph was lengthy. This was his “nightclub show” and his attire matched. Ziggy songs were all watered down but the performance was top notch.

Then Diamond Dogs…this is my favorite after Ziggy. “This ain’t rock and roll, this is genocide”  So much good stuff on here. Rebel; Rebel; 1984; Big Brother and more.

I saw Bowie 4 more times. At the Oklahoma Zoo Amphitheater with the B’52s during the Let’s Dance tour; the Roxy showcase performance where he and the Huntz Bros introduced Tin Machine; a showcase for a band Rhythm Tribe where he showed up; and with REM at the Palace in Auburn, MI.

I really miss him and Mick Ronson. I got to meet Mick and Ian Hunter after a show at the Pantages in the late 80’s. Mick had just had a kid and he seemed so happy. (My son was born right around that time). Soon after he died of cancer. This really bummed me out. At least their music lives on.

Randy Schaaf

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Hey Bob,

I never understood how or why Philadelphia got on the Bowie bus so early. As a 10th grader, some older stoner buddies took me out to the Tower theater in Upper Darby in 1972 to see the first Bowie shows in Philly. That was the night I got on the bus. A year and half later, when he came back for his week long Tower Theater residence that eventually became the album, “Bowie Live,” I caught four of the shows on a drug fueled fugue that I was still too young to either process or be responsible for. No regrets. During that run, WMMR, Philadelphia’s historical FM masthead, let it slip that Bowie was recording at Sigma Sound. We’d hang out in front of the studio all night after the shows, for no apparent reason other than to come down before going home at dawn, perhaps catch a glimpse of the Thin White Duke running to a limo. I remember the sensation of a city immersed in Bowie that week, still one of my most vivid memories.

It’s hard to believe that was so long ago.

At the same time we were tripping out for a week on Bowie shows in the city, the weekends, we were going to Springsteen shows 50 miles away down the shore. For whatever reason, nobody was picking sides, it was all just a part of our cultural mix from my teen-age years.

Bowie has been one of my lifelong, life affirming foundation for both a young, and now a much older me. But unlike most of the other rock cornerstones who have persisted since my pre- & teen-age years – Motown, the Beatles, Dylan, The Dead, Velvet Underground – Bowie was not a cul-de-sac, but rather a window to many new worlds who I appreciated not only for his own formidable work, but for the pop-culture signposts that he would point me to throughout his incredible life.
I saw Bowie whenever he went out on tour, and loved every show, especially the last run in 1995, but nothing compares to the first time seeing “Ziggy…” performed live when it was still culture-shock.
Stay safe.

Brad Kligerman
Paris, France

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Me too. Spent the summer of ’72 in England as a student. Got turned on to Bowie through his big hit, “Starman” that summer. Saw him on TOTP. He’d hit my radar previously during his “I’m wearing dresses” phase, but he hadn’t registered musically with me. That fall, back in the US, Bowie was booked to play at the Auditorium Theater (great Louis Sullivan turn-of-the-century venue) in Chicago. He must have been playing the same setlist, also started with “Hang On To Yourself.” The impact I still carry with me was the brilliance of the band’s presentation, visually. For several years there, we had suffered through one of my least favorite ’60’s rock concert conventions – band plays standing in front of tons of gear, band wraps, house lights up, then, a parade of roadies looking like biker gang rejects fumble about the stage for too long until the next band plays in front of too much gear. Bowie’s people at the Auditorium pulled all the shit off the stage except for the essentials. They raised every curtain leaving the brick wall at the back of this old proscenium arch theater exposed. The stage looked huge and naked. Mick Ronson was playing through his legendary Marshall Major head and a Marshall slant cab, alone, out in the open, not a traditional backline. I believe the drums weren’t on a riser. This all served to make the band members stand out in a much more powerful way. We were seeing a new thing. The number that really took me by surprise was Bowie’s cover of Jacques Brel’s “My Death Waits.” Brel’s morbidity was paired with a singer that could really do something with it. Ah, the joy of seeing a great band ripping up the playbook and showing us the future!

Robert Miranda

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Its cool now to talk about those amazing Bowie records but when I was in 6th grade you had to know how to fight if you wanted to talk about those Bowie records cuz kids and parents thought he was a freak.

I LOVED Bowie and even more I LOVED the band he had. I wasn’t a musician yet but when Diamond Dogs came out I knew something was way different and by David LIve I was downright angry….Mick Ronson was a God among men and years later I would realize Trever and Woody were too. In 6th grade for me it was all about guitar players and singers BUT I would freak out over Mike Garson’s piano. I lived in San Diego and I use to hear rumors that he lived in LaJolla and was playing at the LaJolla play house. I would always keep my eyes open wanting so badly to meet him but it never happened until MANY years later in the mid 90s. I was backstage at the Universal when my big Brother Carmine Rojas (another amazing past Bowie member) was talking to this odd guy named Mike. Carmine then said to me Stevie have you ever met Mike Garson? I almost fell on the ground…I said to him, I have been wanting to meet you since I was in 6th grade!! He said I live in Woodland Hills I’m in the phone book and no one ever calls me…SO I called him and asked him play on a song I was recording called A Dedication To You. When he walked into Cherokee Studios I was as nervous as I was when I first met George Harrison or Bill Graham because his piano playing was that important to me…He sat at the piano… I was too stupid to think to have it tuned before he arrived and he said…Its out of tune ( who used a real piano in the 90s on Alternative music??) but then he started playing and from the first bar it was 1972…Avant-garde Mike Garson making things sound so outside but so beautiful. I almost cried. We talked a lot about Bowie and became friends. I would hire him over the years for special things including having him create the massive opening for Adam Lamberts live debut on the American Music Awards ( I was Adams music Director and for his song Thats Entertainment I asked Mike to play a dramatic opening which was amazing for TV but sadly most people only remember Adam kissing the bass player on national TV causing the country to go nuts).

A few years ago Mike called me and asked me to play some dates on the David Bowie Celebration Alumni tour. I set up on his side of the stage and every night when he played Aladdin Sane and Lady Grinning Soul I not only had the best seat in the house I was in 6th grade again.

Stevie Salas

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Thankyou Bob, I loved this!  First of all, I’ve never heard anyone talk about Bowie in less than 100% awed reverence and worship, so to hear about the releases that were “misses” back in the day (I’m 31, born ’89) is really interesting.

I’m a vocal coach, and it was one of my kookier clients who introduced me to “Lady Grinning Soul” when he wanted to sing it. I’ve been fascinated by it ever since.  It’s seductive and strange, like staring into a crystal ball. All my other Bowie favourites will get a lot more play, but every now and then I put on “Lady Grinning Soul” and just enjoy the feeling of mystery.  There’s not enough mystery in our lives.

Bec Tilley
(Hobart, Tasmania)

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That final paragraph to your great Bowie homage sums it all up, Bob, that special night where it all comes together, that we get all misty eyed just talking about as a memory to others which no words can ever do justice in the retelling. I relived that moment just by reading your email. The best writing and the best music does that to is, takes us to that special place again. Beautiful, Bob, just beautiful. Thank you for taking me to that special place , you got a really BIG heart. Happy Hanukkah!

Chuck Steffen

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Killer last paragraph.

Andrew Samples

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Bob, I promise not to respond to every letter you write, but this is just too much for me not to reply to.  I’ve been working on some sort of memoir for a few years now, trying to get some of my best music business stories on paper before I’m wearing Depends and can’t remember them anymore. Here’s my Bowie story from my as-yet-unpublished book:

 

In the spring of 1977, Iggy Pop went on tour with David Bowie as the keyboard player, and three of us hardcore Bowie fans from the swap meet decided to go to the show and somehow find a way to meet Bowie.  It was me, Paul Behm, and his friend Linda. We figured that after the Santa Monica Civic show, the band would go party and then back to their hotel, and then in the morning the group would wake up and head to the airport to get to the next show. Our best guess was that they’d probably show up at LAX at 10:30 or 11:00 am the next day to make it to the next show.

 

Paul was a rabid Bowie fan who dressed like Bowie and had the red Alladin Sane haircut. Paul called himself Bobby Pyn and had a horrible group with Georg Ruthenberg called the Germs. Eventually “Bobby” and “Pat” made a record for local surf dude Chris Ashford which they put out on What? Records.  They really couldn’t play or sing or write, but Joan Jett made a record with them and Paul/Bobby then became Darby Crash and Georg became Pat Smear (Foo Fighters). I liked Paul and was a friend of his, but almost no-one in the L.A. scene took him seriously as a musician or artist, and he was known to follow fashion trends as quickly as they popped up. The last time I saw him he was really into Adam Ant and was wearing Native American garb and moccasins to a show at the Whiskey.  When he died of a drug overdose (bad timing, the same day as John Lennon was shot), he became a martyr of sorts and I’m told his parents sold off all his Bowie memorabilia to pay for his funeral.

 

So anyway, Paul, Linda and myself had hatched up this brilliant scheme to find Bowie at L.A.X. and we went down to the airport to find our hero. In those days there was no TSA and you could just walk straight up to the gate with your family and wait with them until they got on the plane. So we had free reign of the airport to find our hero. We went from one departing flight to another looking for the man, loaded up with all sorts of things we wanted him to sign for us.  (I seem to recall we were looking for flights to Dallas, but the internet tells me the next show was in San Diego. In those days it was much quicker to drive to San Diego from Los Angeles than to fly.)

 

After he didn’t show up in the departure areas for 4 consecutive departing flights, we decided it was a stupid idea (it was) and turned around to go home. Suddenly Linda screams “There he is.” He was in line at an airport cafeteria with a tray in his hand picking out some food for an early lunch. We ran over to him squealing like little girls, and asked him if he’d sign our stuff. He said he was just starting lunch, and if we’d wait for him, he’d sign our stuff after lunch.

 

So we went a respectable distance away from him to allow him to eat his lunch. In our mind a respectable distance was around 10 feet. As he looked up at us, he realized that eating his lunch in peace with three morons hyperventilating a few feet away would be impossible. Bowie got up from the table and said “why don’t I just sign your stuff now?” meaning “if I sign your crap, will you leave me peace?” I pulled out the original sheet music for his very first record “Liza Jane,” by Davie Jones with the Kingbees and asked him if we would sign it as his original name, Davie Jones. He said “no” and promptly signed the record “Bo” and wrote the year under it. He then signed my “dress cover” of The Man Who Sold The World. Then he signed Paul’s and Linda’s stuff and basically said something like “I trust that handles it,” meaning “Leave me alone now?”

 

With that he turned, threw down the cigarette he had been smoking, stepped it out,  and went back to his lunch. In a heartbeat, Paul and I scrambled to the ground to claim David Bowie’s cigarette butt. I won the fight and ended up with a filterless Gitanne but that had David Bowie’s actual DNA on it. Many years later I found it in my drawer and threw it away.  So giddy were the three of us at having hatched this brilliant plan (that actually succeeded) to meet our idol that we drove to the Sunset Strip and splurged on an expensive meal at the Old World Restaurant.

Randall Wixen