JUST A GIGOLO

• Jambo Records JAM 1 - June 1979

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• Revolutionary Song [4.41]

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CHRISTIANE F. WIR KINDER VOM BAHNHOF ZOO

• RCA BL 43606 (Germany) - April 1981

• EMI 7243 5 33093 2 9 - July 2001

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• V-2 Schneider [3.10]

• TVC15 [3.32]

• "Helden" [6.05]

• Boys Keep Swinging [3.16]

• Sense Of Doubt [3.58]

• Station To Station [8.46]

• Look Back In Anger [3.05]

• Stay [3.21]

• Warszawa [6.15]

​

The soundtrack album from the 1981 German film is compiled from Station To Station, Low, "Heroes", Stage ("Station To Station" only) and Lodger. Completists will value the album as one of the few CD sources of the 7" edit of "Stay" and the full-length "Helden". Despite being heavily imported from Germany and from France (where it was called Christiane F. 13 Ans, Droguée, Prostituée), Italy (where it became Christiana F. Noi Ragazzi Zoo Berlino), and the United States (rather prosaically, Christiane F. Children From Zoo Station), the album was denied an official release in the UK until 2001, when it was finally issued as part of EMI's comprehensive milking of Bowie's back catalogue.

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DAVID BOWIE IN BERTOLT BRECHT'S BAAL

• RCA BOW 11 - February 1982

• Download - January 2007

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• Baal's Hymn [4.00]

• Remembering Marie A. [2.04]

• Ballad Of The Adventurers [1.59]

• The Drowned Girl [2.24]

• The Dirty Song [0.37]

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Bowie's studio versions of the Baal songs are considerably more elaborate than the sparse banjo-accompanied renditions in the BBC play itself. Recording took place in September 1981 at Berlin's Hansa Studios - Bowie's last major session at the venue - and according to producer Tony Visconti the atmosphere was "electrifying. We recorded the songs in the same way as they used to as well, with a German pit band, one player per instrument, all fifteen of them arranged in a semicircle."

     Dominic Muldowney, who had composed the music for the BBC production, was hired to score full arrangements. David originally intended to sing live with the band, but according to Visconti "that was a technical impossibility because we didn't hear the arrangements until the last moment. So Muldowney conducted the scores with no vocal, then explained them to us after the event." Visconti adds that Bowie "wanted to record this is a souvenir. David said it wasn't going to be any big deal and probably wouldn't sell, but he felt it should be recorded for posterity." In fact the beautifully packaged EP sold remarkably well, reaching number 29 in the UK singles chart in a startling confirmation of Bowie's post-Scary Monsters commercial punch.

     Adventurous spirits will find plenty of excitement and value in these recordings, particularly "The Drowned Girl" with its Brechtian realignment of Gertrude's willow speech, and the heart-rending "Remembering Marie A.", a bittersweet reflection on the transience of earthly pleasure. In 2007 the Baal EP was reissued as a download. "Baal's Hymn" and "The Drowned Girl" are included on the 2003 reissue of Sound + Vision, while the latter track and its video both appear on Best Of 1980/1987.

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CAT PEOPLE

• MCA MCF 3138 - April 1982

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• Cat People (Putting Out Fire) [6.41]

• The Myth [5.09]

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THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN

• EMI America EJ 2403051 - April 1985

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• This Is Not America [3.51]

 

ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS

• Virgin V 2386 - April 1986

• Virgin VD 2514 - April 1986

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• Absolute Beginners [8.00]

• That's Motivation [4.12]

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Musicians:

David Bowie: Vocals

Kevin Armstrong: Guitar

Matthew Seligman: Bass

Rick Wakeman: Piano

Steve Nieve: Keyboards

Neil Conti: Drums

Luis Jardim: Percussion

Janet Armstrong: Backing Vocals

Don Weller: Solo Sax

Gary Barnacle/Paul Weimer/Willie Garnett: Tenor Saxes

Andy MacKintosh/Don Weller/Gordon Murphy: Baritone Saxes

Recorded:

Abbey Road Studios, London

Producers:

David Bowie/Clive Langar/Alan Winstanley ("Volare": David Bowie/Erdal Kizilcay)

​

In addition to Bowie's three tracks, recorded in June 1985, Absolute Beginners includes an instrumental reprise called "Absolute Beginners (Refrain)", performed by Gil Evans. The single LP version (Virgin V 2386) omits "Volare".

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LABYRINTH

• EMI America AML 3104 - July 1986

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• Opening Titles including Underground [3.19]

• Magic Dance [5.10]

• Chilly Down [3.44]

• As The World Falls Down [4.50]

• Within You [3.29]

• Underground [5.57]

​

Musicians:

David Bowie: Vocals, Backing Vocals

Robbie Buchanan: Keyboards, Synthesizers and Programming

Will Lee: Bass, Backing Vocals

Steve Ferrone: Drums, Drum Effects

Dan Huff: Guitar on "Magic Dance"

Cissy Houston/Chaka Khan/Luther Vandross/Fonzi Thornton/Marcus Miller/Marc Stevens/Daphne Vega/Garcia Alston/Mary David  Canty/Beverly Ferguson/A Marie Foster/James Glenn/Eunice Peterson/Rennele Stafford/Diva Gray: Backing Vocals

PLUS on "Underground":

Richard Tee: Acoustic Piano and Hammond B-3 Organ

Bob Gay: Alto Sax

Albert Collins: Lead Guitar

Nicky Moroch: Rhythm Guitar

PLUS on "As The World Falls Down":

Nicky Moroch: Lead Guitar

Jeff Mironov: Guitar

Robin Beck: Backing Vocals

PLUS on "Chilly Down":

Kevin Armstrong: Guitar

Neil Conti: Drums

Matthew Seligman: Bass

Nick Plytas: Keyboards

Charles Augins/Richard Bodkin/Kevin Clash/Danny John-Jules: Lead Vocals

PLUS on "Opening Titles Including Underground":

Ray Russell: Lead Guitar

Paul Westwood: Bass Guitar

Harold Fisher: Drums

David Lawson: Keyboards

Brian Gascoigne: Keyboards

Trevor Jones: Keyboards

Recorded:

Atlantic Studios, New York/Abbey Road Studios, London

Producers:

David Bowie/Arif Mardin except:

Arif Mardin/Trevor Jones: "Opening Titles Including Underground"

David Bowie: "Chilly Down"

​

Released in July 1986 to coincide with the US premiere, Labyrinth intersperses the film's six Bowie songs with Trevor Jones's incidental score. "Eye of newt and tongue of mole, David Bowie has become a troll," quipped Melody Maker, while the NME launched an ironic broadside with the announcement that "Most of us are familiar with David Bowie from his role as Vendice Partners in the sparkling musical comedy Absolute Beginners, but how many, I wonder, know that David is also a talented all-rounder entertainer and singer? While not yet at the stage where he feels confident enough to record and release a fully-fledged long player in its own right, David has been making his own, unmistakable contributions to other people's records since 1982.

     "Jim [Henson] gave me a completely free hand," Bowie explained of the Labyrinth songs, which he recorded in New York and London between April and June 1985. One track, "Chilly Down", features the same core musicians as "Absolute Beginners". Typically of Bowie's work of the period, the recordings teeter on the precipice of over-manning, as a cursory glance at the appropriately labyrinthine credits will testify. Co-produced with Tonight's Arif Mardin, the Labyrinth soundtrack is destined to remain on the periphery of Bowie's recorded legacy, which is a pity because its "better tracks, like the same year's "When The Wind Blows", hint at a fresh and energetic synthesizer-led sound of real passion and depth, fat worthier of David Bowie than most of the overheated noises he was making on his official albums of the time.

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WHEN THE WIND BLOWS

• Virgin V 2406 - November 1986

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• When The Wind Blows [3.32]

    

THE CROSSING

• Chrysalis CDP 3218262 - November 1990

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• Betty Wrong [3.45]

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SONGS FROM THE COOL WORLD

• Warner Bros 9362 450782 - August 1992

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• Real Cool World [5.25]

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THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA

• Arista 74321 170042 - November 1993

• EMI 50999 5 00463 2 4 - September 2007

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Not a true soundtrack album but a fully-fledged studio project.

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SHOWGIRLS

• Interscope 926612 - January 1996

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• I'm Afraid Of Americans [5.09]

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LOST HIGHWAY

• Interscope INTD 90090 - February 1997

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• I'm Deranged (Edit) [2.40]

• I'm Deranged (Reprise) [3.49]

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BASQUIAT

• Island 524 260 2 - March 1997

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• A Small Plot Of Land

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THE ICE STORM

• Velvel VEL 79713 - October 1997

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• I Can't Read [5.30]

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STIGMATA

• Virgin CDVUS 161 - August 1999

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• The Pretty Things Are Going To Hell [4.45]

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AMERICAN PSYCHO

• Koch KOC-CD 8164 - April 2000

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• Something In The Air (American Psycho Remix) [6.01]

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INTIMACY

• Virgin 7243 8100582 8 (France) - March 2001

​

• Candidate [2.57]

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The soundtrack of this Anglo-French co-production, released in France as Intimité, includes "The Motel" from 1.Outside, but its main feature of interest for Bowie collectors is a new edit of "Candidate", later included on 2004's Diamond Dogs reissue.

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MOULIN ROUGE

• Twentieth Century Fox/Interscope 493 035-2 - May 2001

​

• Nature Boy [3.25]

• Nature Boy [4.09]

​

In addition to Bowie's two versions of "Nature Boy" (the second co-credited to Massive Attack), the soundtrack album of Baz Luhrmann's musical extravaganza features Beck's cover of "Diamond Dogs" and the "Elephant Love Melody", incorporating Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor's rendition of "Heroes".

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TRAINING DAY

• Priority Records 7243 8 11278 2 7 (US) - September 2001

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• American Dream [5.21]

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CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE

• Columbia/Sony 512306 2 - June 2003

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• Rebel Rebel [3.09]

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MAYOR OF THE SUNSET STRIP

• Shout! Factory DK34096 - March 2004

​

• All The Madmen (Live Intro/Original LP Version) [5.36]

​

​

The soundtrack album of this Rodney Bingenheimer biopic contains a rarity in the form of a poor-quality snippet of Bowie singing "All The Madmen" at a private party during his American sojourn in Febuary 1971. The short clip then segues into the original studio version of the track.

​

SHREK 2

• Dreamworks/Geffen 98626698 - May 2004

​

• Changes [3.22]

​

The Shrek 2 soundtrack album features Bowie's duet with Butterfly Boucher on "Changes".

​

STEALTH

• Epic/Sony Music Soundtrax 5204202 - July 2005

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• (She Can) Do That [3.15]

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LAZARUS

• ISO/Columbia/RCA - October 2016

​

• No Plan

• Killing A Little Time

• When I Met You

​

The New York cast album of Lazarus includes the full cast recording made on January 11th 2016, and Bowie's superb studio versions of the show's three new songs, recorded during the Blackstar sessions.