''ChangesNowBowie'' is an album composed of material recorded in live sessions in 1996 by English musician

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

. Initially released for streaming on 17 April 2020, the album also had a limited release for

Record Store Day Record Store Day is a semi-annual event established in 2008 to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". Held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November, the day brings together f ...

, 29 August 2020, on vinyl and CD. The album contains a set of recordings initially recorded for a BBC broadcast for Bowie's 50th birthday.

Background

The recordings which became ''ChangesNowBowie'' were initially recorded in 1996, in preparation for a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

broadcast. At the time, Bowie was preparing for his 50th birthday concert, which would be celebrated on 9 January 1997, at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

, New York, and it is from these rehearsals that the recordings were made. The show took place a day after Bowie's fiftieth birthday, featuring a number of guests such as the

Foo Fighters The Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Initially founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band comprises vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, gu ...

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

, and

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Althoug ...

. The songs were initially broadcast, between segments of interviews not present on the release, on BBC Radio 1 on 8 January 1997, Bowie's birthday. ''ChangesNowBowie'' marks the first official release of these recordings.

Recording

The recordings took place at Looking Glass Studios, New York, in 1996, and are mostly acoustic recordings of Bowie songs, with the exceptions of "

White Light/White Heat ''White Light/White Heat'' is the second studio album by the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Released on January 30, 1968, by Verve Records, it was the band's last studio album with multi-instrumentalist and founding member John Cale ...

" by

The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1964. Its classic lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Lou Reed, Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and percussionis ...

and "Shopping for Girls" by Bowie's band,

Tin Machine Tin Machine were a British–American Rock music, rock band formed in 1988. The band consisted of English singer-songwriter David Bowie on lead vocals, saxophone and guitar; Reeves Gabrels on guitar and vocals; Tony Fox Sales on bass and vocals ...

. Accompanying Bowie were

Gail Ann Dorsey Gail Ann Dorsey (born November 20, 1962) is an American musician. With a long career as a session musician mainly on bass guitar, she performed regularly in David Bowie's band, from 1995 to Bowie's last tour in 2004. Aside from playing bass, sh ...

Mark Plati Mark Plati is a New York–based musician, record producer, and songwriter, best known for his work in the 1990s with David Bowie. Early life and education Plati grew up in Aurora, Colorado. He studied at Indiana University's Jacobs School of ...

, and

Reeves Gabrels Reeves Gabrels (born June 4, 1956) is an American guitarist, songwriter and producer. A member of The Cure since 2012, Gabrels is also known for his work with David Bowie and Tin Machine from 1988 to 1999. He also fronts the band Reeves Gabrels ...

, all of whom spent a significant amount of time working with Bowie across his career. Both Plati and Gabrels, along with Bowie, acted as producers of the tracks.

Track listing

Vinyl release

CD release

Personnel

* David Bowie – vocals, producer * Gail Ann Dorsey – bass, vocals * Reeves Gabrels – guitar, producer * Mark Plati – recording, mixing, producer, keyboards * Ray Staff – mastering

Charts

References

External links

''ChangesNowBowie''
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{David Bowie 2020 albums David Bowie live albums Live albums published posthumously