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Bowie General > Images Vol. 12

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homebrewPosted at 2025-02-01 13:59:35(38 wks ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 12)


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In the Usenet group alt.fan.david-bowie you would have run into a user named Jamie Soule aka aladInsaNE. Jamie wrote a series of articles that he called "Images" about our hero, David Bowie. I found them fascinating, sometimes infuriating, occasionally confusing and ultimately interesting enough to have saved them all (at least all that I could track down). I have made no attempt to alter the formatting, spelling, grammar or edit in any way.

Images: Part 12

Most of Bowie's characters had no real concrete names
with which to be identified by. Yes, there was Ziggy Stardust, but no
one really referred to him as Halloween Jack during the Diamond Dogs
period and this is true for most of the other personas as well. The
characters were more identifiable by their looks, personality traits,
and by the variations of the work they produced. Although not addressed
as such, this creature did have a name. He called it The Thin White
Duke. The name was perfect, a more than satisfactory self description.
It was very self descriptive actually as it was the name Bowie gave to
the autobiography he said he was currently writing. Of course the
autobiography never appeared. The character was born and the only thing
left to do by September 1975 was to write the script. Earl Slick, Dennis
Davis, Roy Bittan, George Murray, Carlos Alomar and Harry Maslin. These
were the ones that Bowie used to help him set the tone and write the
script for this new phase of his existence. It was all built around a
new album that they began recording in September of 1975, and this new
album told the whole story. The Thin White Duke was A creature that
lived in isolation, yet was possessed with a knowledge that made him
superior to all, so much so that he was as near to what we would call a
Deity. He could rule the world but chose instead to live in a world of
his own which allowed no others in. His inner world was that of turmoil,
paranoia, and a place where a battle raged between good and evil. This
character was powerful and the power was not in physical strength. The
Thin White Duke possessed the mystical powers derived from Magic and
harnessing other cosmic forces that humans are incapable of. This
creature was definitely a "walk in," an alien who set about to change
human consciences, and it did try by telling the media of a new world
that it could create with himself as the leader. The Thin White Duke
displayed an aura of arrogant superiority and therefore listened to no
one. There was a weakness however that emerged throughout this arrogant
veil of power. He wanted one thing most of all and he strived and was
humble in his search for the truth and of the existence of God. The
world he occupied was a world of contrast, a bleakness of black and
white. The sessions for Station To Station were held at Cherokee
Recording Studios in Los Angeles. Bowie mirrored the habits of a wealthy
cocaine user, he used to "binge." Instead of grams, ounces were the
typical weight and the cost over all of those years was astronomical.
Cocaine has dropped considerably in price since the seventies and this
is one reason its use is so widespread. Currently cocaine sells for the
average price of $80.00 a gram and in quantities for $1,200.00 to
$1,600.00 an ounce. In the seventies and eighties however cocaine was
referred to as, " the rich man's drug," and any sustained use of it was
restricted to celebrities and others who belong to the society of the
wealthy and privileged. The sole reason for this was the cost. Cocaine
used to sell in those days for an exorbitant price of $180.00, that's
correct, one hundred and eighty dollars a gram, which made an ounce cost
slightly over five THOUSAND dollars. Bowie once dropped an ounce on the
floor in his changing room backstage at one of the shows on the Diamond
Dogs tour. "We'll just get another one," he said as he walked out
leaving the floor covered in powder. Later it was reported that many of
the road crew were seen rolling up dollar bills while walking in the
direction of the spill. While on a binge Bowie would go sometimes over
six days with no sleep and little in the way of food. Coco was keeping
him relatively healthy with countless jugs of whole milk. Toward the end
of these long stretches Bowie would get hyperactive, "jumpy," and then a
certain degree of paranoia sets in. This is all a common condition, not
just for cocaine users, but for anyone who is sleep deprived. When sleep
did come it was often lasted over twenty four hours. Waking up was the
signal to start over again. As usual Bowie's regard for time was absent
as he showed up for the first recording session a respectable sixteen
hours late, and with an appearance of having been up for a considerable
amount of time without sleep. By a considerable amount of time I mean
days. I can think of no better time than now to mention a few details
concerning an aspect of Bowie that is rarely talked about, and that is
his how he works in the studio. There is little out there on the
subject, but what I have managed to get my hands on and read has been
extremely informative, in the sense you get a much better understanding
of the man and his level of creativity. First of all, it is standard
practice that Bowie usually turns up at the studio with nothing, or very
little, in the way of written material. In other words, almost
everything is written while in the studio. I have heard this mentioned
by many people he has worked with that this fact is accurate. The lyrics
to Heroes were written at the microphone, that is according to Tony
Visconti. Lodger was completely written in the studio. Station To
Station is no exception, however there were one or two songs pre
written, but they do not count. The reason they do not count is due to
the fact that they were changed so much during the sessions, that there
was little left of the originals in the finished versions. That is
according to Earl Slick, who played lead guitar on the recording. Slick
said, and I quote, "so he basically wrote everything in the studio."
Although you can't count the two pre written songs, Bowie did show up at
the studio with something that truly was finished, and he brought it
from home. It was a sound effects record, and one of the sounds on it
was that of a train, and it is the first heard when the album is played.
Bowie is a workaholic in the studio, and not only that, the other
musicians that he has worked with over the years have said that they
have never seen such a high level of intensity from anyone else they
have worked alongside. This was highly evident during the recording of
Station To Station. Bowie, no surprise to anyone here, prefers to work
at night with sessions often starting in the early evening and often
proceeding on until the next morning. The intensity and the devotion
Bowie gave to Station To Station was remarkable. Bowie loved working on
that album and often once he started he would not quit. Now, by saying
he would not quit I mean that and I mean it in a sense that once he got
going there were no obstacles that would hinder him. I will give you a
terrific example of this by reiterating a story I heard about one of the
sessions at Cherokee Studios, during the recording of Station To
Station. The sessions at Cherokee lasted an average of eight to ten
hours. On one occasion there was a particular session which started at
seven thirty and went on through the night. At nine o'clock the next
morning they were asked to leave by the staff at Cherokee because the
studio was pre- booked by another band to use during the day. Bowie was
not ready to quit so he asked Harry Maslin to go and find another studio
to work in. Maslin managed to get them booked into The Record Plant at
ten thirty in the morning. That session lasted until somewhere close to
midnight. So, in total, the recording session lasted twenty nine hours.
It is now easy to understand why Eno commented that he could never put
in the kind of hours David does in the studio. He said it was
"unbelievable." Now, not only does Bowie work long consecutive hours but
he works at breakneck speed. This is one thing that most fans do not
know, for good reason considering the amount of low grade biographies
published about Bowie, but should as it further enhances the knowledge
of how amazing his work is. You must understand how most artists and
bands work. They usually have a framework for most of the material to be
recorded. In other words at least the music is written, or a rough
outline of it, and that is refined to a finished product. Some bands
have everything written and rehearsed so it is good enough to put to
tape immediately. This method is prudent when you consider the cost of
recording in a studio. Most artists take months to write and record a
new album and it is not uncommon to hear of some who take a year or
more. I understand that in those cases they do not work continuously,
however that is still an extremely long time to stay focused on a
project. I am referring here to the actual recording phase of an album
and not including the mixing, mastering and anything else that is
required before the product is shipped off to the distributor. Young
Americans took eight days, Let's Dance took eighteen days, Eno was
finished on Low in three days. Remember we are talking from scratch,
written and recorded. Now, for whatever reason, all I can think of is he
really liked the album and wanted it perfect, Station To Station took an
unprecedented "eternity" to record. The album took three months before
he finished laying down all of the tracks, and believe me, that is an
eternity in Bowie time. In my opinion, for what it is worth, that extra
time is indicative of the level of devotion David had for this album.
Taking that into consideration and coupled with the talent of the
musicians and the attention to detail the superior quality of this
record is immediately recognizable on the first play. Each Bowie album
has their own special merits. Some have more technical musician ship,
others highlight vocals or focus on innovative instrumental tracks while
others are ventures into new areas and are totally experimental in
nature. After recognizing these facts it is my opinion that Station To
Station is his best album in terms of overall quality and personally I
believe it to be absolutely flawless. Although the recording of Station
To Station was a long process the length of time spent on each
individual track varied greatly. When it comes to any mention of the
title track of Station To Station by those who contributed to it there
is a general consensus that the track was an absolute joy to work on and
a tremendous amount of fun. Station To Station was an enjoyable album to
work on by all accounts, and this makes a difference in the outcome. The
whole feel of music can be drastically altered by the attitude of the
band, or the attitude of an individual. On this album I believe that
this fact is easily discernible that everyone is genuinely "into" what
they are doing. It is reflected in their playing. This factor also works
in reverse, and this can be heard on David Live. Because there was a
fight over money that came dangerously close to violence minutes before
he show started, the general mood of everyone was tainted a bit. I think
the fact the band is unhappy reflects in the music as they do not really
sound "into" it. I think it sounds like the band would rather be doing
something more enjoyable, like getting castrated with dull bread knives,
as opposed to being on that stage. Station To Station, at over ten
minutes, was the longest song Bowie had written and it was all composed
in the studio. The framework to build that song from, a rough draft of
the main parts of the song, such as the melody chord and key changes and
the rhythm, was done in FIFTEEN MINUTES! According to Carlos Alomar they
had the volume turned up to a level that was comfortable enough to level most
cities. Two Marshall amplifiers paid the ultimate price and they
unselfishly gave up their lives during the making of that song. Lest we
forget. Maslin said that it only took a couple of takes to get it down.
Station To Station was a radical change from anything he had done
previously but some techniques were carried over from the Diamond Dogs
sessions, one of them being the lyric writing. While recording Young
Americans there were some difficult spots when it came to the lyrics.
Sometimes Bowie would grab the newspaper and "disappear" for ten or
fifteen minutes. When he returned he had a few lines of a verse. What he
was doing was using the "cut-up" writing technique which was developed
by author William S. Burroughs, whom Bowie greatly admired. This
technique involved cutting out words and parts of sentences and then
piecing them back together at random to form lines and phrases. He
really incorporated this method starting on Diamond Dogs and it was used
to help write TVC15. Although he was fully productive he was still on
guard against the evil forces. Cherokee Studios had a few additions on
their walls and they were drawings similar to the ones that adorned the
walls of the Lippman's home. Cherokee also had a more relaxed and homey
atmosphere due to the burning candles set at various locations around
the studio. Bowie was doing a bit of sculpture work while he was still
at the Lippman's. He had constructed a penis made of playing cards and
at the top was a little Mickey Mouse. He proudly had his work displayed
in the kitchen. Something was happening to Bowie that would have scared
people half to death had they known and understood what was happening
right in front of them. Bowie was dying and by January of 1976 he would
be dead.

aladInsaNE To be continued............


""I don't begrudge any artist for finding an audience"
- David Bowie abt. 1987
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