Ch Ch Ch Changes! - David Bowie Talk
- Thread starter Joe Mac
- Start date
jamieanderson1968
ninniest jackaninny
Been listening to several albums from the latest box set. One thing you have to say is that the quality of pressings and packaging across all 5 box sets (72 different pieces of vinyl) has been universally high. They are some of the cleanest new records I have ever seen. The graphics on the covers are nice, sharp and bright. I just hope that Warner keeps up the quality as they take over milking the cash cow.
avecigrec
Well-Known Member
Great to hear, because it looks like that Brilliant Adventure box set is my most economical means of acquiring a copy of 1. Outside - all I need now is to acquire a second job to pay for it!
Joe Mac
Well-Known Member
Warner is the parent that owns Parlophone now, and has done since around 2014, so they actually done all 5 box sets to date. Getting the licenses for the stuff from Heathen onwards just brings it all under the one umbrella as that stuff used to be licenced to Columbia.
But yeah, they’ve done a really brilliant job with all 5 to date!
Joe Mac
Well-Known Member
Great to hear, because it looks like that Brilliant Adventure box set is my most economical means of acquiring a copy of 1. Outside - all I need now is to acquire a second job to pay for it!
If they follow the pattern to date all the albums from the box will be pressed individually and come out about 6 months after it…
avecigrec
Well-Known Member
This feels much more feasible!
jamieanderson1968
ninniest jackaninny
Yup you should be safe come summer
avecigrec
Well-Known Member
It was my first and is still my favourite Bowie album, and I have a giant Bowie-sized hole in my vinyl collection. I'd love to start with it again, though am not so stuck on that that I would pass on other albums ending up on the shelf in the meanwhile.
yukbon
Well-Known Member
Same on all counts (except I have outside.... find it on Amazon.co.uk for 60$ for some reason). The one I'm chomping at the bit for is earthling.
Turbo
Well-Known Member
Just got my poor man's Brilliant Adventures box, i.e. the Toy Box. Packaging is top notch. Didn't realize these were 10", but they look great. Only gripe is that the sleeves are printed paper - I would have preferred something lined. I luckily have 10" MOFI style inners I will use.
I still need to check the quality of the records, but I can already tell these are Optimal pressings, as seems to be usually the case with Bowie boxes.
I still need to check the quality of the records, but I can already tell these are Optimal pressings, as seems to be usually the case with Bowie boxes.
jamieanderson1968
ninniest jackaninny
Very nice. Is it an actual box, with separate top and bottom?
Turbo
Well-Known Member
Yes!
6x10", 2 per inner sleeve (album, alternate takes, acoustic takes).
Box is a good quality 2-piece, with an embedded ribbon to be able to pull out the records.
jamieanderson1968
ninniest jackaninny
Sweet. Mine should be here in a couple of days.
gafacaode
Well-Known Member
Turbo
Well-Known Member
Sorry!
If it's any consolation, I'll end up with a big box eventually too. It's now down to C$450 over here. Another $50 and I may bite.
Yep, I'm watching for a really good deal, like I got with the Loving the Alien boxset. I have a copy of Outside and Earthling so I have the two big ones. I don't really have anything of his from the early 90's yet so that will be fun to explore.Sorry!
If it's any consolation, I'll end up with a big box eventually too. It's now down to C$450 over here. Another $50 and I may bite.
jamieanderson1968
ninniest jackaninny
Black Tie and Buddha are the 2 Bowie albums that I have spent the least amount of time with over the years. I think Black Tie is still one of his weaker albums, though Pallas Athena and Nite Flights are great songs.
Buddha I think has aged well. A bit scattershot but the electronica/instrumental songs are quite good. The album definitely does not need the Lenny Kravitz Rock Mix of the title track.
75th anniversary of David Bowie landing on earth today
Bit of self promotion, but I've had him on my mind a lot recently developing this feature inspired by his prediction of the future of the internet in 1999:
The History of Music on the Internet: Would David Bowie Have Been a TikTok Star?
How different would David Bowie’s career been were he born in Gen Z? I speculate the answer by plotting the history of the internet’s impact on music.boilerrhapsody.com
Would be very curious to hear some feedback from his fans.
The idea that the piece of work is not finished until the audience come to it and add their own interpretation, and what that piece of art is about is the grey space in the middle. That grey space in the middle is what the 21st century is going to be about.
^^^Boy did Bowie nail it here, huh?
Bowie would have been a TicToker and everything else. I agree. I really like the LPotL's Bowie episode...that they now seem to not have an archive of...
I had understood the idea of creating a personification or manifestation of an idea as a mantle to wear. To create a single artistic expression through one's entire being. He did a lot of crazy stuff to get into a persona and live their for a while. Salvador Dali did similar things to really get into a place where he could become a guided conduit for artistic expression. It's a fun concept that if I had a couple months to not worry about anything and just paint, I probably would jump at doing weird/extreme things to see how they effect artistic expression, though I might not have a husband after it, lolol.
I think what Bowie was great at doing was promoting a persona. He would let people have access to his persona du jour--which is how he would have ultimately used social media--as an extension of him being Ziggy or Aladdin or the Thin White Duke. I also think he would jump at interactive things like if there were a TicTok dance to one of his songs, he would embrace it and put out more dance videos. I could see him reaching out to fans who's videos he liked. Yes, yes, yes to it all.
I think what Bowie was great at was hiding the real Bowie to allow the persona to come through. I don't think we saw the real Bowie much. I think that had we seen more of the real Bowie--like we do with some stars who love to give their fans access to them 24/7--it would break some of the magic. I think Bowie understood that very well. I'm not sure how well he understood it at the beginning of his career, and I could see him making social media missteps because of that. I'm not sure we would have had the same type of Bowie because by the time these social media things popped up, Bowie was much older and had cultivated a lot of who he was and what he was going to show people and what he was not. I think that's part of his mystique/success, that he understood what to show the audience and what to keep in the wings. I think that a lot of artists in the early aughts made a lot of mistakes by showing their audience a little too much of themselves. I think that newer artists that are emerging now, have seen these mistakes and are getting better at showing a cultivated look for their fans.
I just watched the Last Five Years documentary on Bowie's last few years on this earth. When I saw the videos of him interacting with technology, you could see that he was very excited about the idea of collaboration with talented people and was ecstatic regarding what computers could do to a recording and how easy it was to reach out to people that could help create music. And that's what every artist gets excited about--being able to share a vision and having others interact with your vision.
I do really wish you would have told me that the quotes were from a Bowie interview at the beginning, which is my only real note. Otherwise, really great article. There's a lot here.
