Stage

When this album first came out there was only one other official live recording of David Bowie's and that was David Live, the document of the opulent Diamond Dogs American Tour of 1974. With his 1976 World Tour remaining unreleased, this album became an eagerly awaited momento of the 1978 world tour where Bowie took the influential Low and Heroes albums on the road.

Many fans however, were disappointed with Stage. They criticised it for being too too clinically recorded with the crowd noise being faded way down in the mix. They also didn't like the tampering with the song sequence into chronological order rather than the order in which they were performed. Some tracks, like "Station to Station", were also in fact two seperate performances spliced together to stitch a good opening and conclusion from one night with a good middle section from another. Despite these quibbles I still love this album and love this re-release even more because it restores the original set sequence and adds 2 new songs ("Stay" and "Be My Wife") .

Firstly, I love the fact that these recordings testify to how deeply the new instrumental material split Bowie's traditional audience. The suicidal decision to open the concert with the funereal electro-instrumental "Warzawa" has to earn your admiration and the even more morose "Sense of Doubt" is, I swear, met with audible boo's from a large section of the audience at the end. A momentous rendition of "Heroes" soon wins them over though. I also love the way that song ideas barely sketched in the studio recordings are fully worked out on stage, such as the reggae-tinged "What in the World" which is less than 2 and a half minutes on Low but is almost twice as long here. Similarly "Breaking Glass" is extended by a powerful acapella outro. I have also always thought that the album tracks from the Heroes album come out particularly well on Stage with "Beauty and the Beast" and "Blackout" coming across as great live rockers, while sounding rather tame on their original albums. For traditionalists there is a rather crowd appeasing selection of 5 Ziggy tracks which are rattled through as a break-kneck medley but these sound a little bit like Bowie doing Karaoke versions of his own songs to my ears. However, the real hero of this record simply has to be the masterful lead guitar of Adrian Belew. From the magnificent introduction to Station to Station, where he makes his instrument sound like a shrieking train whistle from hell, to the deep feline caterwaul he musters for "Beauty and the Beast", he adds a completely new dimension to these classic songs from Bowie's catalogue. Moreover, when the excellent Hemming's film of this concert is finally released, you will be amazed that such a wall of noise can be produced by only 7 musicians.

Far from being a cheap and nasty concert momento, it is my view that what Bowie produced with Stage was the first 'new wave' live album. Despite being in some places slightly artificial (as all live albums usually are) it set the tone for classic live recordings for the next decade, up to and including Talking Heads' landmark 'Stop Making Sense'. Add to this some excellent sleave notes by Tony Visconti and some great photographs of the tour and you have a must-buy product.

In the June of 1978 I was fortunate enough to attend the first 2 dates out of the 4 Bowie played at the Glasgow Apollo, sadly a venue no longer with us.

When I bought the official recording of the tour in the September of that year, the running order been changed from the shows I had witnessed, Tony Visconti had placed the tracks chronologically, thus destroying any dramatic impact of a live performance.
He had mixed the recording so as to make it sound as close as possible to the studio tracks, taken together with the very low audience level make it very sterile.
The same mistake was made for the 1991 reissue of this album that had the added bonus track "Alabama Song" tacked on the end of disc 2.

Now the 2005 version of the recording, which after over a quarter century is now in the correct order of performance and has 2 more tracks added to complete the show.

The Shows I saw at Glasgow also had 3 other tracks which where "Jean Genie", "Suffragette City" and an extra encore "Rebel Rebel".

Look for a book called "Life on Tour with David Bowie" ISN number 1-897783-17-5 which has been put together using the late Sean Mayes tour diaries (Sean played piano and string ensemble on the tour) you can get another insight of this 1978 world tour along with this recording.

The show starts with the instrumental track from Bowie's "Low" album, "Warszawa" begins as Bowie takes his position behind his chamberlain keyboard the music follows the album track but now has the added depth of the electric violin playing of Simon House who had been a player for 70's group Hawkwind.

Long time Bowie side-man drummer Dennis Davis pounds out the intro to the title track from Bowie latest album of the time "Heroes", Bowie voice sounds incredible, with the addition of the violin playing of Simon House which makes the song even more memorable, along with the lead guitar playing of ex Frank Zappa player Arian Belew who fills in the spaces between the rhythm section.

"What in the World" begins in rock steady time with the sound of the violin plucking backing up the chorus until the song changes back to its original studio form speeding up to give all assembled players room to flex their musical chops.

The track "Be my Wife" follows which is played like the original album track, with no let up the band rip into "Blackout" this version is slightly faster than the studio, and has a wall of sound all piano, keyboards, and guitars along with backing vocals supplied band members Carlos Alomar (Rhythm guitar), Adrian Belew (Lead guitar), Sean Mayes (Piano, String Ensemble), George Murray (Bass), and Rodger Powell (Keyboards and Synthesizer) as the song comes to a screaming end the rumble synthesizers is heard that signals the beginning of another instrumental from the "Heroes" album.

"Sense of Doubt" is the same as the album version, what follows is a change in pace where "Sense of Doubt" is all sombre and moody the opening track from "Low" "Speed of Life" which is all funky and bouncy with Bowie behind his keyboard doing robotic movements with his head to show the sound of the keyboards going from one side of the P.A. to the other, big cheers from the crowd which gives the band enough time to start a bombastic version of "Breaking Glass" with pounding bass drum and bass guitar along with string sounds punching out lines from the song the music stops Bowie repeats the line "I never touch you" end.

The next song starts with the sound of piano and before you know it "Beauty and the Beast" is in full swing with Bowie delivering crooned vocals in some parts making it sound very cabaret in nature singing the word "My" "My" over and over again the song ends in a cacophony to signal it's end.
To close out disc 1 a faster paced version of "Fame" is played, keyboards replace the saxophone sound of the original and as the sound of Bowies voice fades the first disc ends.

The second disc starts with one of my favourite Bowie songs "Five Years" this is played in a manner to replicate the album track adding the sound of violin to a full string sound giving the chorus more potency and drama.

The Rhythm guitar of Carlos announces the "Soul love" and with no room to breath the vamping piano sounds to begin "Star" which sounds really strange here as it is played with a new sense of urgency as if Bowie is still living the lyrics.
"Hang onto Yourself" guitar intro is heard next, Sean pounds the ivories for all he is worth.
The opening chords of "Ziggy Stardust" begin big cheers, the sound of guitars are replaced by keyboards and when Bowie gets to the line "Ziggy played guitar" he holds the notes on the word GUITAR for what seems like an age his voice here is really impressive.

"Art Decade" begins this is where Bowie picks up a spotlight and shines it on various parts of the audience to the excitement of the crowd.
As with all Bowie's live shows he always does a cover, this time it's a Weill and Brecht song called "Alabama Song".

The sound of a train is heard through the P.A., Belew's guitar imitates a train whistle a wall of sound is heard "Station to Station" has begun.

The first encore is "Stay" this song is played with a great deal of speed; the second encore is "TVC 15" which is even funkier than the original.

The album now comes in a 6-part fold-out dig-pack sleeve with new notes and unpublished pictures from the tour and the complete tour itinerary.

Tony Visconti has redeemed himself in my eyes with this superb restoration; again this stereo mix is derived from the 5.1 surround mix from the DVD audio version, which is available separately.

This CD was unavailable for many years. It is superbly recorded with fantastic classics, the best being "Station To Station", "Heroes" (a rousing guitar piece) and all the "Ziggy Stardust" classics. If you've ever wondered how a slow song like "Warsawza" could have ever been good in concert - just take a listen. It's hypnotizing! This double CD was tough to find, but this new remastered editon is fantastic - it is a welcome addition to Bowie's 'live' material.