I've been looking for the last month since Anxiety posted that he won "Stage" off of Bowienet, but appearently they weren't actually available in the US until today. I probably should've checked the release dates for it rather than checking my local record stores peroidically for 'em, but hey. It reminded me ofwhen I was a kid trying deperately to find a copy of Super Mario Bros. 3.

Anyway, I was originally planning to just buy Stage for now since I'm not a huge fan of the era of his carrer David Live covers, but man, having listened to Stage completely and now being up to Space Oddity on Live, my first impression is that I actually prefer David Live. While the arrangements on Stage are great and I still enjoyed it quite a bit, I think David Live has more of a live feel to it, whereas there were many times during Stage where the sound was so clean I felt like I was just listening to an alternate studio recording. I'm sure that given time it'll grow on me a little more, since when I first got into Bowie I prefered his earlier work over the Station to Station and Berlin Trilogy stuff quite a bit, too.

The US covers also don't have the nasty Copy Control logo stinking up the cover like the international releases do, which is nice.
[Edited 3/15/05 13:49pm]

Yeah, 'Stage' has a very artificial/polished sound to it, but that's part of its appeal to me. It's a very 'plastic' live album. There's something very cold and futuristic about the approach Visconti took in putting it together, yet there's so much warmth that bleeds through it for me.

Most people I know like 'David Live' better than 'Stage' - I don't mind DL, but I think it sounds awfully rickety and unhealthy. There's a debauched kind of a "cabaret in hell" sound to DL that can hit the spot for me sometimes, but most of the time it's just painful for me to listen to, especially when David's voice blows out throughout the album. Not that I don't enjoy that album. I just really have to be in the right headspace for it.

I do feel like Stage will have more staying power just due to how much I prefer it's source material, despite David Live being more immediately charming. Plus, I can't remember the last time I had a first impression of ANYTHING that seemed to last.

Like your sig, by the way. Repo Man's one of my favorite Iggy Pop tunes, and probably one of my top 5 movies of all time.

i will say that the version of 'the alabama song' on stage is more than a little cringe-worthy.

Anxiety said:

The best part about it are the new arrangements of older songs. It's fascinating. But he really hadn't gotten his 'soul' thing down yet. Had the Philly Dogs/Soul Tour been held off for a year, I feel it would've been much more successful. It takes growing pains to achieve that kind of vocal change he went through between '74 and '76. Unfortunately you hear more of the pain than the growth on that record.

Anxiety said:

"Stage" is great but I actually prefer the original mix.

"David Live", on the other hand, is a complete revelation in its new mix. Maybe not the slickest live album (nor, actually, the most "live"), but "cabaret in hell" sums it perfectly. It's Ziggy's Wake.

Anxiety said:

Why is that?


I think both are great, although I prefer Stage. And I agree with Anxiety, I think the sound of it is just perfect for the music he made at the time. Kind of cold and uninviting but it sucks you in.

these are out now?

I had looked a few weeks back (without realizing they weren't released yet)



I swore off record shopping for a while, can I break that pledge?

endorphin74 said:

break it! break it!

Breaking stuff is cool!

endorphin74 said:

Sure. But make sure you get Low and "Heroes" too.

GangstaFam said:

now, now...don't overwhelm!

i started off with 'stage' and i did just fine.

Anxiety said:

Being overwhelmed is good when it comes to Bowie.

GangstaFam said:

wellll....yeah. i've been listening to his music for almost 20 years, and there's some of his stuff i'm still working on getting familiar with.

Anxiety said:

Mhm. Would you believe I've owned Never Let Me Down for years and never even listened to it? I think I've played Tonight and Tin Machine once.

GangstaFam said:

the only bowie stuff i don't have is 'tin machine II' and 'oy vey, baby'...and i'm not really in a hurry to grab those gems up anytime soon, either.

Anxiety said:

I actually like some of the Tin Machine stuff quite a lot. You Belong In Rock 'N' Roll sounds like it could've come out last week.

GangstaFam said:

i hear there are some keepers from TMII, but i just haven't been at all enthused about getting a copy of it. there's a used wrecka stow near me that has like five copies of it in stock for seven bucks, so i guess it's there should the mood arise.

GangstaFam said:

Actually, it wouldn't be a horrible idea if you were to take Never Let Me Down out of storage and play track 2. That's the only keeper, I think...
[Edited 3/16/05 19:32pm]

damosuzuki said:

I know the singles. Which one is song 2?

GangstaFam said:

time will crawl - sorry, didn't mean to be difficult!

damosuzuki said:

izzat 'time will crawl'? it's the most salvageable song from that album for me, even though it sounds terribly dated...that glossy-schmossy '80s production sound...

Anxiety said:

If the spirit moves you, try to get the one WITH penises. It's rarer.

GangstaFam said:

should i have the choice, it's a pretty safe bet which one i'll, um, grab.

damosuzuki said:

I've heard many fans say that it's not a terrible album...just a terrible Bowie album.

Anxiety said:

Anxiety said:

y'all are SUCH BAD INFLUENCES!!!

at least on my check book

GangstaFam said:

it was the album that bowie released the year i started to really get into his music, so there's a sentimental value to that album for me. i know all the songs on NLMD probably much more than should be allowed.

actually though, i listened to 'tonight' all the way through a couple of weekends ago, and i have to say it's not aging badly. with time, i can kinda hear what he was trying to do with it...i guess it's one of those things where something snaps and you hear an album from a completely different perspective for the first time, but i don't have the disdain for it now that i used to. it's still a deeply flawed album, but i like it. and it's freakin' brilliant compared to 'never let me down'.

GangstaFam said:

Well, I think it's a pretty bad album by anyone's standards, personally.

It's not that the songs are awful (though Glass Spider is probably the single most embarrassing thing he's ever recorded) - I'd say they're just uniformly mediocre, except for Time Will Crawl.
[Edited 3/16/05 19:42pm]

Anxiety said:

I remember the one time I listened to Tonight thinking that it wasn't bad. Half of the songs I quite liked.