David Bowie Cringes: The Laughing Gnome Resurfaces A.D. 1973

 

DAVID BOWIE-The Laughing Gnome/The Gospel According To Tony Day U.S. London 45-20079 1973

Poor dear David Bowie, he probably turns in his grave every time "The Laughing Gnome" gets a streaming hit...long touted as his LEAST favorite recording, this is it's story. 

Launched in the U.K. in April 1967, "The Laughing Gnome" was Bowie's second of three Deram singles. It sank without a trace but was curiously resurrected in September 1973 to capitalize on David's new found fame where it strangely got all the way to # 6!! Sensing that the folks in England might be onto something London records in the U.S. (who like Deram were tied to the parent company of Decca) launched the single here to sadly no avail and simultaneously issued a comprehensive double LP containing most of his entire Deram discography called "Images 1966-1967".  Since David Bowie refused to acknowledge its chart ascendancy in 1973 "Top Of The Pops" created their own video for it!  

In 1990 during his "Sound + Vision" tour Bowie announced that the set list would be determined by votes made by telephone. The New Musical Express unsuccessfully attempted to convince voters to choose "The Laughing Gnome". Bowie later went on to create a track for charity for Comic Relief in 1999 titled "Requiem For A Laughing Gnome". 

For those not in the know, "The Laughing Gnome" is a comedy piece of sorts with "Chipmunk" (as In Alvin and the...) style sped up voices that tells the story of a hapless man who meets a cheeky gnome whom he invites home. The musical backing is an interesting mix of David's standard backing group at the time (The Buzz: Derek Boyes-organ/piano, Dek Fearney-bass and John Eager-drums) plus guitar (Peter Hampshire) and woodwinds that give it an interesting texture almost akin to a Renaissance fair band. The number is not as insipid as it's supposed to be and it's actually fairly catch (despite all the band "gnome puns": "Why don't you get you hair cut you look like a Rolling Gnome" "Yeah I went to the London school Of Eco-gnomics"). Producer/arranger Gus Dudgeon provided the gnome voices and Mike Vernon handled the production. There are allegedly a few alternate versions lurking in the Decca vaults which sadly have yet to be released.

French picture sleeve 1973

The flip, "The Gospel According To Tony Day" is a bleak, down trodden number where Bowie lyrically categorizes his friends and lists his grievances with them. There's some excellent woodwinds and catchy "ba ba ba" backing vocals from the Buzz (who's contribution is minimal, just bass and drums and some tinkling barroom piano). It also contains what many (myself included) perceived to be the "F' bomb ("Waste of f*cking time, take a look at my life and you'll see, take a quick butchers..") but apparently he's singing "flipping".

Danish picture sleeve 1973

Both tracks are available in a multitude of places, most recently on a 7" singles box set of David's 60's Decca/Deram sides called "Laughing With Liza" and streaming as well. 

Hear "The Laughing Gnome":

https://youtu.be/DAnVNXglw9I?si=gy4wX4-WcbKdM8Yz

Hear "The Gospel According To Tony Day":

https://youtu.be/CZWX_BPnr9o?si=DYAuw-yz8jFRK_JJ

Watch a small video about the track:

https://youtu.be/HLZNOOn1pfE?si=7GjEAzcsRmI4RwWS

Mod Anthems Part One: The London Boys

DAVID BOWIE-The London Boys U.K. Deram DM 107 1966

Mod anthems...what IS a mod anthem? Is it the lyrics? The feeling? The music? When I was 13 or 14 my "personal mod anthems" changed from week to week and was often a combination of all of those and more. One week it'd be "Time For Action" or "Glory Boys" by Secret Affair , "Millions Like Us" by The Purple Hearts etc etc et al and who could forget the eternally pigeon holed "My Generation"!?!?

In the fall of 1983 I stumbled upon "The London Boys" on a London Records cassette comp called "Starting Point" during my quest to hear/own the rest of Bowie's non-LP Deram cuts. I had found my anthem driving late one night in a Triumph sports car through the fall swept rural roads of Bumf*ck, NJ feeling quite sorry for myself and it was a somber, sober bare bones mod torch song that leap from my shitty car stereo speakers and begged me to take notice. It was at that moment I realized that it was THE mod anthem. It was, and still is.. and much more. Bowie, despite his Anthony Newley pretensions was never a full on crooner. "The London Boys" was and is, an exception to that rule. From it's somber, glum beginning warble to the lifting full throttle cabaret ending (which David Robert Jones delivers like the Frank Sinatra of modernism) the number is a masterpiece. Restrained by a simple bass/organ backing with strains of brass (muted trumpet and tuba woodwinds) the song builds as the pitch of Bowie's plight reaches it's full descent. Lyrically poignant and proud despite the "against all odds" scenario of hopelessness, and failure faced by the song's young protagonist, "The London Boys" ages well (it was cheekily covered with some style and jazz/ska panache by The Times in 1985 on creepy  Mark Johnson's short lived mod Unicorn label). Unlike "My Generation" or any jaded/dated Secret Affair record this is the stuff of dreams, broken ones albeit, but dreams nonetheless. All of this while Bowie was still just 19 years of age. In a way it's a great social observation on one hand as Bowie was firmly tapped into the London scene (and was at the time gigging heavily at the Marquee Club with his backing band The Buzz at the time) but in a way was also as an outsider because despite a great deal of front he didn't actually live in London and when he was not couch surfing he was safely ensconced back home at 4 Plaistow Grove, Bromley at his parents home.

Originally it was demoed with Bowie's third band, The Lower Third at Pye records Marble Arch studios in the fall of '65. It was immediately rejected for release by Pye due to it's language about overt drug use(sadly this version is seemingly lost forever as unlike many other 60's Bowie tracks no version has surfaced among bootleggers or Bowie fans alike). The second version (which was used on the eventual single) was recorded in a demo session at R.G. Jones studios on October 18, 1966 as part of a series of demos in the hopes of ensnaring a record contract (Bowie had since been dropped by Pye after three brilliant but commercially unsuccessful singles). The trumpet was cut at this session and presumably the woodwinds were later dubbed in Decca/Deram's studio as the label was loathe to allow the use of outside studios to record obscure acts. The demos had their desired effect and David Bowie was awarded a contract with Decca's new Deram off shoot. "The London Boys" would surface as the B- side to his debut Deram 45 'Rubber Band" on December 2, 1966.

"Well, it tells the story of life as some teenagers saw it - but we didn't think the lyrics were quite up many people's street. I do it on stage though, and we're probably keeping it for an EP or maybe an LP. Hope, hope! It's called "Now You've Met The London Boys", and mentions pills, and generally belittles the London night life scene."
-David Bowie in "Melody Maker" in Feb. 1966

Hear "The London Boys" :

https://youtu.be/scFpxKdm2w4

EPILOUGE 2025:

In 2000 David Bowie began tinkering with "a 60's album", an entire LP devoted to re-recordings of tracks of his from the Sixties. Ultimately titled "Toy" the project was given a thumbs down by EMI/Virgin despite Bowie completing a dozen tracks which according to Tony Visconti caused Bowie to ultimately decide to leave the label. The project was posthumously released in 2021 and among it's tracks was a version of "The London Boys". Bowie had reintroduced the song into his live set in 2000 to wide acclaim and the then current arrangement was not terribly far from the original 1966 recording albeit some vocal phrasing differences (clearly David Bowie was not going to attempt to hit the notes he did as a 19 year old). Subsequently in 2022 there were multiple releases of an E.P., "You've Got It Made With All The Toys"  with selections from "Toy" including an absolutely breathtaking live version of "The London Boys" recorded at the Roseland Ballroom in NYC on June 19, 2000 complete with strings and clarinets, hear it here. I'm not usually a fan of re-recordings nor do I think much of "Toy" but I AM very impressed with this reworking. Hear it for yourself and decide.

*****This piece was originally published on Uppers.org on October 22, 2007****

David Bowie's "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)" At 40: A Personal Recollection

The "Scary Monsters" album is 40. Damn I'm old. It would be the last Bowie album I really enjoyed coming out in a magical time for me amongst other LP's I loved like XTC's "Black Sea", The Jam's "Sound Affects", The Teardrop Explode's "Kilimanjaro" et al. And though in retrospect he didn't need it, at the time I felt that it "validated" Bowie's existence amongst the whole coterie of new wave/punk/blitz kids whatever (as if there was some imaginary board of "Cool" sitting in judgement of such trivial things)! Recorded in early 1980 at NYC's Power Station with veteran Bowie  producer Tony Visconti at the helm (for what would be his last Bowie LP until 2002's "Heathen") it featured an array of guests, but we're not here to discuss that, you can read all about that elsewhere. But 40 years on it still holds up well and the opening bars of "Ashes To Ashes" will magically always transport me back to the bedroom I grew up in watching a video of it for the first time on "Rockworld" (and later "The Kenny Everett Video Show") on a tiny TV set with the volume down too low so as not to wake my parents.  And juxtaposed against that year's sounds of Ultravox and Gary Numan it germinated a "which came first the chicken or the egg" debate that still hangs in my thoughts. But soon it would be over as fgast as it came in. Goodbye Major Tom, hello MTV. Chart hits and financial success were just around the corner, but so was another three plus decades of mediocrity. But before all that it was "Ashes To Ashes", three minutes and thirty five seconds of genius.

In an earlier post I wrote this about "Ashes To Ashes":

"David Bowie has often been accused of being sharp enough to anticipate a trend and stealing from it before it became mainstream and getting it out there like he invented it, but he has also been credited with fostering lots of them. The bleak/nihilism of the so called "New Romantic/Blitz/Futurist" musical and fashion movement applied to Bowie in both of those situations.  He was canny enough to get in on the ground floor with the movement and used some of it's movers and shakers in the promo video for the track and yet without him one doubts the whole thing would have ever existed and therefore he played both parent and love child to movement. "Ashes to Ashes" is bleak, spooky and full of some positively eerie synthesizer parts whilst musically defiling the memory of dear old Major Tom from his first hit "Space Oddity".

And somehow it still remains the strongest track on the LP. The bleak and almost sinister synthesizers are a final note in what would be a musical year zero for Bowie after an almost musical three year period of musical silence as the world was left to wonder "What will he do next"?.

"Fashion" seemed almost American radio friendly with it's funky beat, but Robert Fripp's jarring guitars scotched any chance of hearing it book-ended between Billy Joel or The J. Geils Band on FM Top 40 radio (though it did in fact gain some airplay from AOR stations).  I remember one of my friends, Don Buchanan, gleefully exclaiming "He's singing about punk" when Bowie sang "There's a brand new dance but I don't know it's name, That people from bad homes do again and again. It's big and it's bland full of tension and fear, they do it over there but they don't do it here" in "Fashion". Like he'd spotted us in the audience and was waving to us, never mind that punk was already four years old at this point, we were clueless rural teenagers seeking any form of gratification AND validation that we could snatch, borrow or appropriate. And what of the lyrics? What did they mean? "WE are the Goon squad and we're coming to town". There are multiple schools of thought on this as referenced elsewhere on the Internet. Who were the Goon squad? Right wing fascists or so called "fashion Nazis", those pretenders of hip who decide what is "in" and what is "out" with the flick of a pen or stoke of a key.  I would be willing to lean towards the latter as the rest of the lyrics imply trends and smack of sarcasm and disdain for " the next big thing." as 1980 saw the 2-Tone movement and it's cousin the mod revival sputtering on their last gasps and the new romantics about to spring from their dark corner. As with it's 45 rpm predecessor "Ashes To Ashes" it has a kitschy video (also directed by David Mallet who did the brilliant "Ashes To Ashes" one).

Bowie and producer Tony Visconti at the Power Station, NYC, NY during the recording of "Scary Monsters..."

The LP's title cut, "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)" vocally sees Bowie harking back to that British accent that he dared to use on his debut 1967 LP . His voice also sounds slightly like Richard Butler of The Psychedelic Furs in his disinterested tone. Again it's Fripp's shrieking guitars that power the track as Bowie sings in a detached manner about a woman going off the deep end..."when I looked in her eyes they were blue and nobody home.." pierced by an array of weird effects. Even the music itself seems to set the template for The Psychedelic Furs and a host of other quirky new wave bands. 

"Up The Hill Backwards" is a hark back to Bowie's post Ziggy soul boy phase, the multitracked vocals sound almost soulful like a blitz kid Voices of East Harlem but with again, Fripp's fret histrionics blowing it out. The track is truly a fish out of water with it's feel good mantra/chorus "up the hill backwards it'll be alright..." that sounds almost new age against the bleak nihilism that surrounds it on this album. 

But for me "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)" would be Bowie's last great album and the one and only time I was aware AND appreciative of a long player he did. There would be a track here and there that caught my fancy over the remaining years, but nothing as consistent and as a whole like this album did.

January's Picks: David Bowie

This month's picks are devoted to a dedicated to David Bowie. All posts are credited to David Bowie unless otherwise indicated.

1. DAVY JONES- "Baby Loves That Way" U.K. B-side ("You've Got A Habit Of Leaving") Parlophone R 5315 1965
With it's feedbacking power chord intro from guitarist Dennis "Tea Cup" Taylor, cool backing vocals and Shel Talmy production Davy Jones and The Lower Third could not help escape comparisons to The Who. But the number has a lot more going for it.  It's bouncy enough to be a late era Applejacks 45 but the lyrics are unusual for the mid 60's as it's basically about a loose girl who despite her indiscretions still "treats me good each and every night" and Bowie actually pulls off a few soulful vocal moves after the distorted solo before it all fades outs. His last 45 before he became David Bowie it was also his last working with Shel Talmy.

https://youtu.be/8E3HYsXn3A4

2. "I Dig Everything" U.K. A-side Pye 17157 1966
David Bowie did not actually live in London for long periods as an adult until moving in with manager Ken Pitt in 1967. His swinging London was observed from dossing on people's couches or floors in between sneaking back home to the relative safety of mom and dad's semi detached in Bromley. He croons convincingly about it in the mod/boho/Swinging London Summer of '66 without a care (no doubt aided in youthful optimism and possibly by substances) and observes that "I've had more friends than I've had hot dinners, some of them are losers but the rest of them are winners".  While Bowie sings with wide eyed, hopeful appreciation and a devil may care saunter producer Tony Hatch lays on all the 60's kitschy trimmings: soulful organ, some congas/guiro giving it a Latin feel and a jazzy flute that ties it all up in a cosmopolitan mod gift.  But the public didn't care and Pye records sent him on his way which led him to....

https://youtu.be/Xrah1k0sLj4

3. "The London Boys" U.K. B-side ("Rubber Band") Deram DM 107 1966
Props to Decca A&R man Hugh Mendl who saw something in a demo (the track was previously rejected by Tony Hatch and Pye as a fourth single for the label) by David Bowie and The Buzz called "The London Boys". This Deram version was recorded at the famous R.G. Jones studio in Morden, Surrey with a session trumpet player (with woodwinds later added upon signing with Decca) it is musically minimal but brilliant.  "The London Boys" is the (literal) amphetamine comedown of "I Dig Everything" and it's "new in town /watch out London here I am" optimism. It's an admission of failure to make it big in the bright lights of the city with "in" crowd living in squalor and too proud to retreat home with an ending full of resignation but with nowhere else to turn "now you wish you'd never left your home, you got what you wanted but you're on your own..". As the brilliant but subtle horns play on mournfully and the organ whirls like something from a radio soap opera serial Bowie belts out "now you've met the London boys" like the Francis Albert Sinatra of modernist Bohemia.

https://youtu.be/CIL5KDeLOJ0



4. "Ashes To Ashes" U.K. A-side RCA BOW 6 1980
"Ashes To Ashes" and it's David Mamet directed video was once again a litmus test for street cred by the Thin White Duke which he passed (as usual) with flying colors. Embracing the Blitz kid/New Romantic movement in it's infancy before the mainstream picked up on it by featuring a bunch of Blitz club punters (including the late Steven Strange of New Romantic darlings Visage) in the promo video and creating a bleak, synthesizer painting on an otherwise unknown canvas proved Bowie was the Godfather of New Romanticism while he cavorted in face paint and a ballerina cum clown costume effectively showing the creator mixing freely with his creations and before it went bust he was long gone reinventing himself to a whole new audience.  Imagine The Who digging up a bunch of mods in late 1978 and featuring them in a video for "Who are You?" long before the '79 mod scene was nary a whiff?  The last minute of this number has always been endearing to me with it's spooky wash of synths and Bowie's "my mama said to get things done you better not mess with Major Tom" mantra beating Ultravox and Gary Numan to it.

5. "Right On Mother" unreleased demo 1970/1971
Ex-Herman's Hermits front man Peter "Herman" Noone cut this unreleased Bowie composition in October 1971, six months after scoring a hit (#12) with "Oh You Pretty Thing" (yes original pressings say "Thing" not "Things") as a flip side to "Walnut Whirl". Bowie's demo has never been legitimately released but it's a fun track with just him on piano and vocals and would not have all been out of place on "Hunky Dory".  One would presume it was written about his mother's reaction to him living with Angie, though by the time it was written they'd already presumably tied the knot.

https://youtu.be/M0OYolEwDQo

6. "Width Of A Circle" LP cut "Man Who Sold The World" Mercury 6338 041 1970 
At 8:09 "Width Of A Circle" borders on pointlessly long but it's an incredibly structured track that is not at all dissimilar to something you'd have heard on King Crimson's "In The Court Of the Crimson King" meets the late 60's Moody Blues if they'd had a madman on lead guitar. Bowie's lyrics are at their most oblique and the chord changes are insane and one wonders what this number must have sounded like live. Mick Ronson's solo is interesting to compare with an unreleased track he cut in 1967 with his group The Rats "The Rise And Fall Of Bernie Gripplestone" as it borders on indentical.

https://youtu.be/s2L4hL2IvUk

The Riot Squad (David Bowie top center) March 1967

7. THE RIOT SQUAD-"Little Toy Soldier" Acid Jazz E.P.  AJX329S 2013
For a very brief period  Bowie (March 1967 to be exact) was involved with The Riot Squad , a band who had a varied line up history and more recently lost their record contract with Pye and their producer Joe Meek (who one month prior took his own life). Bowie had recently ceased live work with his backing band The Buzz and was awaiting the release of his debut LP with Deram.  His  manager Kenneth Pitt had previously brought Bowie back an acetate copy of what would be The Velvet Underground's debut album. It had more than a profound effect on him as he and the band crept in on the sly to  Decca's studio with engineer Gus Dudgeon on April 5, 1967 to record a few tracks. Among them was a cover of "I'm Waiting for the Man" and this "original". With it's chorus borrowed from a line in the Velvet's "Venus In Furs" it's a perverse tale of a girl who has a toy soldier in which she winds up to whip her and not satisfied with his degree of sadism continues to wind him so tightly he flays her to death.  Musically it would have been not at all out of place on his first LP but lyrically it would certainly have been too much for the staff at Deram to abide by (in fact neither his manager nor producer Mike Vernon were aware of the session). In 2013 Acid Jazz released four cuts from the session as a 7" E.P. including "Little Toy Soldier" and "I'm Waiting For the Man" (both previously only available on bootlegs).

https://youtu.be/hFgrXhcERQ8

8. "Round and Round" U.K. B-side ("Drive In Saturday") RCA 2352 1973
Chuck Berry's "Around And Around" (re-titled by Bowie as "Round And Round") is best known for Mick Ronson's Nigel Tuffnel style guitar solo at the end. Cut during the sessions for "Ziggy And The Spiders From Mars" it was utilized as a flip for "Drive In Saturday" over a year later and is certainly one of the less common '72 era cuts. It sounds somewhat half baked but also seems to convey what a good time they were all having doing it and in the end if it's rockin' who cares? A live version guest starring Jeff Beck closed the Ziggy "farewell" performance on July 3, 1973 but due to Beck's disapproval it was left off the D.A. Pennebaker "Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars" film.

https://youtu.be/EDzSys1fPok

9. "In The Heat Of The Morning (Live BBC 5/26/68)"
In 1968 David Bowie was shit out of luck.  Deram rejected his recordings of "Let Me Sleep Beside You" and "In The Heat Of The Morning" and after three singles and one LP he was sent packing as he'd been with Pye little over a year prior.  Someone up there someone liked him because he was accorded a radio session for John Peel's "Top Gear" program where he cut 4 numbers with a full orchestra (conducted by Tony Visconti) and a host of session musicians including Herbie Flowers on bass and Mr. Mohawks/K.P.M. supremo Alan Hawkshaw who's funky organ work gives this cut some serious chops.

https://youtu.be/3Iv2nu375W8

10. "Life On Mars" LP cut "Hunky Dory" RCA SF 8244 1971
Beneath Rick Wakeman's beautiful piano work (described by Wakeman in fascinating detail in the "Five Years" documentary, currently available here in the States on demand on Showtime) and sweeping strings Bowie croons about disaffected youth through the eyes of a young girl seeking refuge in the cinema (or so I've always liked to believe). Born out of Bowie's failure at writing an English lyric for "Comme d'habitude" (later gaining fame with Paul Anka's English lyric as "My Way") "Life On Mars" is accented by some incredibly beautiful chord changes and is easily his most sophisticated arrangement since leaving Deram.

I never thought I'd need so many people....David Bowie R.I.P.

David Bowie "Ready Steady Go" March 4, 1966

The death of Ian "Mac" McLagan at the end of 2014 was like a gut punch.  I'd met him, drank with him, laughed and chatted with him numerous times and even named a child after him and it was like losing a friend.  I never met David Bowie, I never shared a pint with him or talked about his shoes in 1966 nor did he ever know my daughter's name or inquire of her welfare. But somehow that doesn't make it any easier to accept his unexpected passing. My two "brushes" with David Bowie were from thousands of feet away.  In 1999 I purchased the 1966 Pye singles box set "I Dig Everything" at Rockit Scientist in NYC and walked down to French Roast on 6th Avenue with it in hand afterwards for a croque monsieur and citron presse and upon seeing the box set in my hand both the host and waitress pointed out to me that I'd missed the man himself by ten minutes (upon hearing this from the host I actually popped out the door and looked up both ends of 6th Avenue to see if I could spot a 5 11" Englishman sauntering coolly down the Avenue, no luck). Apparently he was a regular there.  Previously I was at his 50th birthday gig at Madison Square Garden on January 9, 1997 where an assortment of jack asses from crap bands joined him onstage after he played tunes from the newly released "Earthling". I spent most of the night cringing (especially when Lou Reed got lost during "White Light White Heat" as David tried in vain to show him the chords as Lou stood staring at his music stand) but it was all worth it when he took the stage for the final number with an acoustic 12 string and said "This is where it all began, I don't know where it's going to end" and proceeded to play a mind blowing "Space Oddity". Despite having to endure crap like Billy Corrigan or Frank Black I was blown away about how "on" Bowie was the entire time.  Either he really enjoyed being onstage and was high on the atmosphere or he was such a consummate professional that he was able to convince us all he was having a blast and went backstage and took off his party mask.  His voice was in top shape and he bounced around the stage like a ballet dancer doing kung fu. It just struck me today while writing this that he was the same age then as I am now. And now, 19 years later he's gone.

David Bowie first came into my life in the early 1970's.  My family had moved into a house in 1971 or 1972 and there was a teenage girl named Peggy who lived next door who bonded with my mom.  Her parents looked like they were from the 1950's and acted like it too.  Clearly they weren't hip nor were they the least bit interested in what Peggy listened to.  My mom, though hardly hip was at least still in her 20's and owned a large RCA  stereo in a wood cabinet that looked like a piece of furniture that she liked to play VERY loud (even if it was The Bee Gees or Neil Diamond).  Peggy would frequently bring albums over and my mom would let her play them.  My first glimpse of David Bowie was an LP cover with a scary looking orange haired guy in what looked like pajamas standing in an alley. I had honestly forgotten what "Ziggy Stardust" sounded like and actually remembered more about  the tracks on Alice Cooper's "Schools Out" album, T Rex's "Electric Warrior" and Don McLean's "American Pie" LP (Peggy's other frequent choices ). It was not until the the late 70's that I heard "Space Oddity" on a rock n roll radio station I listened to called WPIX (before I discovered college radio) that David Bowie was brought back into my axis.  I still had not connected him with the "Ziggy.." album until the same station played "Hang Onto Yourself" and I remembered how I knew the song and the DJ discussed the whole era at length.  My best friend dutifully loaned me a grubby original cassette of "Ziggy..." that an uncle passed onto him and it began. My parent's (my mom was always finely attuned to my musical tastes at Xmas as a kid) bought me "Changesbowie" for Xmas and it was all over from there.

New Wave/punk and to a greater extent "mod" entered my universe in late 1979 and by 1980 David Bowie was among the four contemporary albums that blew my mind (and quite possibly the first and last time such a large volume of current releases assaulted my senses) with his "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)" safely nestled along with The Jam's "Sound Affects", XTC's "Black Sea" and The Teardrop Explode's "Kilimanjaro". Little did I know it was the last Bowie album I would enjoy in it's entirety.

By 1982 mod had firmly redirected me back to my life long interest in British 60's music with The Who, The Small Faces and "Pebbles Volume Six: The Roots of Mod". Sometime in late 1982 or early 1983 I went round my friend Steve's house and he told me he had something for me to listen to. He sat me down and played me something on massive volume that resembled  The Who called "Baby Loves That Way" and announced it was a 60's David Bowie record and showed me a 10" EP sleeve with a shot of Davy Jones and The Lower Third looking mod as hell on the cover . I tracked that down post haste. The next two years were spent obtaining every track released by Bowie in the 60's on a variety of compilations/collections. Interestingly enough my first exposure to a 60's mod Bowie track came in the form of the '79 mod band The Purple Hearts who covered "I Can't Help Thinking About Me" on their album "Beat That" in 1980.

Bowie gave me a wealth of rich music to dabble in and it is varied so it was never boring as if every period was a different artist and each new rediscovery is always a pleasure. We parted ways musically after "Scary Monsters" and there were a few tracks here and there that I liked but it never troubled me that I couldn't get down with his trip-hop, indie rock et al stuff or whatever trend he was prefacing or riding. None of these mattered as I still had my fave '65-'67 period , the first Deram LP (which fights a daily war in my brain with The Small Face's first Immediate platter for "The Favorite Album of All Time" mantle), the "Berlin period" (my second fave era after the 60's), Ziggy, the coke hoovering Philly soul period (which I have, in the last year, come to appreciate), the curly haired folkie and the guy in a dress playing mind numbing heavy rock. I find almost ironic that this Thursday will be the 50th anniversary of his first single as "David Bowie".  Happy 50th anniversary David Robert Jones as "David Bowie" wherever you may be.  God speed spaceman.

"So I cried for all the others till the day was nearly through for a realized that God's a young man too..."

Great Obscure U.K. 60's Sides: Oscar (aka Paul Nicholas) Does Bowie

OSCAR-Over The Wall We Go/Every Day Of My Life U.K. Reaction 591002 1967

Oscar (born Paul Oscar Beuselinck) has a C.V. full of names.  He performed as Paul Dean (and was briefly a member of The Savages, Screaming Lord Sutch's backing band) and cut a single backed by The Thoughts (of "All Night Stand" fame for Decca) and a solo 45 as Paul Dean before becoming "Oscar" and later changed his name to Paul Nicholas where he would star in "Tommy", "Jesus Christ Superstar" etc and make the dreadful "Heaven Of the 7th Floor" disco record.

Signed to Robert Stigwood's Reaction label in 1966  he cut his first release with them as Paul Dean ("She Can Build A Mountain" b/w "A Day Gone By", both of which he wrote) as Reaction 590002 which was the labels second release following several variations of their debut 45 The Who's  "Substitute" ( 591001 with three differing B-sides!).  Stigwood was acquainted with Oscar's father Oscar Beuselinck Sr. a rather flamboyant, eccentric, allegedly acid tongued solicitor to the stars who it is said represented either Stigwood or Lambert & Stamp (depending on which book you read!). This was Oscar's third single for the label after the dynamic John "Speedy" Keen (later of Thunderclap Newman) penned "Club Of Lights" (591003) and Pete Townshend's "Join My Gang" (591006).

For his third Reaction release as Oscar he cut a previously unreleased David Bowie number called "Over The Wall We Go" that was released in January 1967 (this would be the first time an artist covered a track written under the name of "David Bowie" actually). It's an odd little ditty that's one third pub singalong, one third campy pop song and one third of a lost stage/film musical number not out of place in some Dick Van Dyke playing a Brit" bit. There are some catchy and hysterical lines in it like "My name it is Henry now some say I'm thick. I spent half me life in and out of nick my mom sends me presents to keep me in style soggy old cakes and hundreds of files.  Yeah I sussed all them files I'm a clever young man now I look stupid with manicured hands".  The lyrics were inspired by a series of prison break outs and provides a rather "gay" (in both uses of the word) picture of prison life with loads of double entendre and cheeky chappiness about it with full orchestration and horns full of pomp and circumstance complete with a silly chorus "Over the wall we go all coppers are 'nanas" . There are varying opinions of Bowie's "cameo" as various prisoner voices on this record but to my ears listen to inmate's Double 3425 and 3426 during the "roll call" sequence in the middle and see if you think that it sounds like him.  It has been reported that Oscar performed the number on comedian Ken Dodd's TV show "Doddy's Music Box" but clips have failed to materialize thus far (no doubt "wiped" like so many other 60's British television programs).

Promo sheet c/o Mark at 45cat.com

The flip side "Every Day Of My Life" is an overwrought orchestral/piano backed number more suited to Engelbert Humperdinck or more to the point, the garbage, which is where it belongs.  Despite the plug on TV as mentioned above it died a death. It was relaunched  in 1978 on Stigwood's RSO label by one "Ivor Bird", but if this was a re-release of the Oscar version I cannot say for certain as I have not heard it, like Bowie's "cameo" there are varying opinions.  Oscar would cut one more 45 on Reaction, a cover of The Bee Gee's "Holiday" (Reaction 591016) in September of 1967 before refocusing his career on acting before striking gold with the awful "Heaven On The Seventh Floor" in the U.S. (#6) ten years later (it tanked in Britain at #40).

"Over The Wall We Go" was legitimately reissued on the 2006 Castle CD compilation "Oh! You Pretty Things The Songs of David Bowie".

Hear "Over The Wall We Go":

https://youtu.be/Vu6NFORA0go

Hear David Bowie's 1966 demo for "Over The Wall We Go":

https://youtu.be/y_t5qgv04jk

Hear "Every Day Of My Life":

https://youtu.be/eezqM-nTTpU

David Bowie + Acid Jazz

THE RIOT SQUAD-"Toy Soldier E.P." Toy Soldier/Silly Boy Blue/I'm Waiting For My Man/Silver Tree Top School For Boys Acid Jazz AJX329S 2013

Few folks are aware that for a brief period in 1967 The Riot Squad included David Bowie in their line-up. Thanks to Acid Jazz and their excellent E.P. series we can now hear a few examples of what their brief liaison produced. The Riot Squad were without a record contract following their last 45, January 6, 1967's "Gotta Be A First Time" b/w "Bittersweet Love" (Pye 7N17237), one of the next to last recordings produced by Joe Meek who shot himself on February 3.  David Bowie had sacked his backing group The Buzz (Dek Fearnley-bass, Derek Boyes-organ and John Eager-drums) having completed the recording of his soon to be released Deram records debut LP with them and was, for a time, no longer playing live gigs (his gigs with The Buzz ceased at the close of 1966).  His involvement with The Riot Squad began in March of '67 and was kept from both his manager Kenneth Pitt and his former band mates The Buzz (Eager and Boyes were, at this time backing The Truth).  Their collaboration was short lived with a handful of gigs, which appear to have ceased by the time  his LP was launched on June 1st. However unknown to many on April 5, 1967 Bowie convinced his Deram engineer Gus Dudgeon to turn a blind eye to him bringing the Riot Squad in off the books to lay down some tracks during some down time at Decca's studio.  This E.P. is the first legitimate airing of the fruits of this session (although there is a Riot Squad CD available through Amazon called "The Last Chapter:Mods & Sods" of questionable legality containing variations of all four tracks, though some, like "Little Toy Soldier" differ from the version here on this E.P.).

What we have here is the results of that April 5th session (it is reported that only three tracks were recorded at that session: "Toy Soldier" , "I'm Waiting For My Man" and "Silly Boy Blue") . The E.P. contains three David Bowie originals and a Velvet Underground cover (though one might cynically observe it contains two Bowie originals and two V.U. covers but more on that later).  The quality surpasses that heard on any bootlegs of "Little Toy Soldier" and "I'm Waiting For My Man" (leaked when Dungeon duped the two tracks for a friend in the 80's and available on a widely distributed bootleg CD of Bowie's 60's material titled "The Forgotten Songs Of David Robert Jones") while I've not heard the version of "Silly Boy Blue" here before the version of "Silver Tree Top Boys"  previously appeared on the above mentioned Riot Squad comp.

The Riot Squad May 1967(D.B. second from left top)

In December 1966 Bowie's manager Kenneth Pitt returned from a trip to New York bringing with him a test pressing of The Velvet Underground & Nico's LP which Bowie admittedly wore the grooves off of.  His use of bits of "Venus In Furs" in "Toy Soldier" is quite evident (it "borrows" a line or two here and there, namely "taste the whip and bleed for me.." line).  Bowie uses the original's S&M theme to take it one step further and concocts a tale of a little girl named Sadie who would come home from school each day and take off all of her clothes and wind up a toy soldier who would whip her. Not content with the level of pain she winds him harder and harder till he beats her to death!  One can not easily imagine the prudent folks at Deram ever releasing that. Regardless it's a great slice of '67 Bowie not at all out of place amongst "The Gospel According To Tony Day" or "Join My Gang". "Silly Boy Blue" would get it's first airing on David's debut LP, the version here is him accompanied only by acoustic guitar which leads me to believe it was perhaps his demo for the track, or perhaps a run through he did to teach it to The Riot Squad during the session, though I suspect the latter. "I'm Waiting For My Man" is fairly uninspired but at least amusing to hear David's Lou Reed fixation began long before the 70's and it's interesting to hear a guy who was still living with his parent's in Bromley singing about scoring on Lexington Avenue! Bowie is NOT playing sax as often believed but is blowing harp (the sax was played by Riot's member Bob Evans). "Silver Tree Top School For Boys" holds the distinction of being the first Bowie track recorded by two artists in the same time period.  First released by studio concoction The Slender Plenty on September, 15, 1967 (Polydor 56189) and later by fellow Ken Pitt stablemates The Beatstalkers in December '67 (CBS 3105).  The version here is not sung by Bowie but by one of The Riot Squad in the camp/cheeky manner both of the previously mentioned versions were. It sounds half baked, like a run through rather than a properly recorded number like the two V.U. pieces.  The lyrics were inspired by a newspaper article on weed smoking at the prestigious Lancing College (ie "public school").

The E.P. is available from Acid Jazz or you can download the tracks via iTunes or Amazon where you can hear snippets of all four tracks as well.

Hear "Little Toy Soldier":

http://youtu.be/-JAvtM_K3_c

Hear "I'm Waiting For My Man":

http://youtu.be/lPwCSem3cUQ

*******We here at "Anorak Thing" are gratefully indebted to the excellent book "David Bowie Any Day Now: The London Years" by Kevin Cann for all of the facts and dates.  Fans of 60's David Bowie should acquire this book post haste!*************

The Man Who Sold The World (On Mr. Fish Man Dresses)

DAVID BOWIE-"The Man Who Sold The World" LP U.K. Mercury 6338 041 1971

SIDE ONE:

1. The Width Of A Circle

2. All The Madmen

3. Black Country Rock

4. After All

SIDE TWO:

1. Running Gun Blues

2. Savior Machine

3. She Shook Me Cold

4. The Man Who Sold The World

5. The Supermen

"The Man Who Sold The World" was Bowie's third LP, his second on the Mercury label and his first album of the 1970's.  His backing band has yet to solidify but the personnel on the LP consisted of David on vocals, acoustic guitar and stylophone, Mick Ronson on guitar, Tony Visconti on bass and piano, Mick Woodmansey on drums and Ralph Mace adding Moog synthesiser.  Best known for it's "dress cover" of Bowie reclining in his Mr. Fish "dress" and Veronica Lake hairdo, it marked a shift into "heavier sounds" thanks to Ronson's Jeff Beck inspired guitar solos and not a track on the disc runs shorter than three minutes.

The album opens with the heavier than air opus "Width Of a Circle".  The number goes through varying phases and tempo changes almost making it several songs within a song (akin to King Crimson's "In The Court Of The Crimson King") with cryptic lyrics typical of the period (eccentrically mentioning author/poet Kahalil Gibran).  It's a great track though clocking in at 8:05 it's a bit too long and ponderous. "All The Madman" can equally be compared to King Crimson with it's use of woodwinds and a slight Medieval feel to it before Ronson and the band kick in with their rocking-ness.  Bowie's vocals are quite spirited and the track is certainly my fave on the platter with it's lyrics leaning towards the subject of madness, not the first time Bowie visited it and certainly wouldn't be the last.  It winds up (down?) with some "Clockwork Orange" soundtrack sounding synths.  "Black Country Rock" is another raucous affair without being too over the top in it's heaviness.  During one of  Ronson's many trills of the hypnotic main lick Bowie lets rip with a warbly Bolan noise, which can't have improved frosty matters between the former friends soon to turn glam competitors. "After All" is an eerie track.  The varispeed backing vocals (which at times resemble that of small children) chanting "Oh By Jingo" (a phrase picked up from a World War II acquaintance) are just wiggy, especially when coupled with the return of "Space Oddity's" Stylophone and more "Clockwork Orange" meets baroque synth (predating a sound The Stranglers were so fond of). 

Side Two kicks off with "Running Gun Blues" is a mundane Vietnam era ode to kill happy soldier with uncool lines about "I'll rape the gooks and smash their heads", all delivered in a much too cheeky manner and at a pitch perhaps too high for Bowie's delivery.  The music is pretty cool, especially the Roxy-esque synth but the lyrics are just plain awful. Next. "Savior Machine" runs awash in "Quadrophenia" friendly symphonic synthesizer but fails to move me despite it's jazzy little changes and the guitar and synth licks borrowed from an old 1968 Bowie track he did with his folk trio Feathers called "Ching-A-Ling". "She Shook Me Cold" is a cold as the corpse of Hendrix whom the opening licks seem to attempt to summon, it's cod metal, empty, uninteresting and filler as far as I'm concerned. Bowie's vocals are so forward in the mix it sounds like a pre-gig sound check run through of a track the band hasn't learned completely and the lead singer is still spontaneously composing new lyrics to. "The Man Who Sold The World" rates in my estimation as the best 70's pre- Ziggy Bowie at his best, from it's deadpan delivery to it's absorbing social observation lyrics, even the dreadful cover by some trio of grunge scumbags in the 90's can't shake my faith in this track.  This is greatness at work kids...."The Supermen" launches into Bowie's first foray into the turf of uber-wanker Nietzsche. Pretentious philosophers aside it's a great track. The heavy duty riff chugs away while the backing vocals chant in descending tones like a Satanic manta, this is the devil's music kids, and I like it.

As you will see below the album became quite celebrated for it's varying releases in different artwork around the world.......

Lest the "man in a dress" cover offend Mercury over in the U.S. issued this odd cartoon cover album depicted below as Mercury 61325:

Once Ziggy Stardust was unleashed and the world went Bowie-mad RCA reissued the LP (having acquired Bowie's scant Mercury catalog), and like Bowie's 2nd untitled LP (retitled "Space Oddity" for it's U.S. Ziggy era reissue) it sported a cover with a Ziggy era photo to confuse the record buyers into believing they'd had a new Ziggy product (the same was tried with countless compilations of Deram/Pye material well into the 80's).  Below is the RCA LSP 4618 1972 reissue:

The Germans got an even better treat and were furnished with this wiggy circular sleeve that folded out ala The Small Face's "Ogden's Nut Gone Flake" album as Mercury 6338 041:

Which when folded out looked like this: