- Audio CD (27 Sep 2010)
- Number of Discs: 3
- Format: Special Edition, Box set, Original recording remastered
- Label: EMI Records
- ASIN: B003UTUQ3E
- Other Editions: MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 12,444 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
Jubilee Offer: Patriotic Classics for £2.50 |
Product details |
Track Listings
| Disc: 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Station To Station | |||
| 2. Golden Years | |||
| 3. Word On A Wing | |||
| 4. TVC15 | |||
| 5. Stay | |||
| 6. Wild Is The Wind | |||
| Disc: 2 | |||
| 1. Station To Station | |||
| 2. Suffragette City | |||
| 3. Fame | |||
| 4. Word On A Wing | |||
| 5. Stay | |||
| 6. Waiting For The Man | |||
See all 7 tracks on this disc
| |||
| Disc: 3 | |||
| 1. Life On Mars? | |||
| 2. Five Years | |||
| 3. Panic In Detroit | |||
| 4. Changes | |||
| 5. TVC15 | |||
| 6. Diamond Dogs | |||
|
See all 8 tracks on this disc
| |||
Product Description
Review
After what Bowie labelled “plastic soul,” on Young Americans, it was more a case of lost soul for 1976’s Station to Station. The desperately thin, paranoid Bowie was still living in America but casting anxious, glassy-eyed looks across the Atlantic to European salvation – principally the musical and spiritual regeneration of Berlin.
Conflicting reports claim the album was either recorded before or after filming The Man Who Fell to Earth in New Mexico, but either way both album and film feature heavy themes of alienation, loss of control, madness and addiction (in his alien character’s case, alcohol; in Bowie’s, cocaine). Musically, it’s similarly intense, even more so because Bowie claims he can’t remember making it. It’s also one of his greatest records, bridging the stations of US R&B and krautrock – a sound bleached of blues but rooted in the motorik rhythm of Neu! and Kraftwerk – and of its six track, four are certified tour de forces.
The ten-minute title-track is first. A train gathering speed whizzes from speaker to speaker before a slow, clanking instrumental incline toward Bowie’s (ever-deeper) vocal intro, and his most dramatic lyrical entrance: “The return of the thin white duke / throwing darts in lover’s eyes.” The Duke – Bowie’s last distinct character – resembles a Nietzsche superman obsessed with belief – Judaism, Christianity, the occult – and totally off the rails: “It’s not the side effect of the cocaine, I’m thinking that it must be love.” The second section is a gallop, Earl Slick’s snarling solo unfurling over Roy Bittan’s barrelhouse piano.
The elegiac aftermath Golden Years distils and bakes Young Americans’ finger-snapping soul-funk canon; TVC15 is the other pop nugget, a more jovial saga of (according to Bowie) a girl in love with her TV. In between, Word on a Wing is a simmering plea for help to an angel but it’s outdone for gorgeous, fearless melodrama by Wild is the Wind (the title-track of a 1957 film, made famous by Nina Simone) as the Duke/Bowie hits an emotional all-time low. Stay is equally desperate, but the music is an all-time Bowie high, watertight rock-funk behind more naked confessionals from the man usually behind a mask.
The five-CD Super Deluxe Edition features additional album mixes and single versions, but the three-disc Special Edition is the essential purchase, involving the twofer Nassau Coliseum concert, aka the Thin White Duke bootleg, where Station cuts come to life and old classics are either invigorated (a rampant The Jean Genie, an awesome Five Years) or badly clobbered (especially Suffragette City and Queen Bitch). The band couldn’t truly rock, but then Bowie wasn’t interested in rock; he was rolling toward another sound and vision, the Berlin trilogy.
--Martin AstonFind more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
CD Description
Deluxe re-release of David Bowie's hugely influential 1976 album, Station to Station. This 3-CD set includes the complete original album together with the much bootlegged live favourite and previously unreleased Live Nassau Coliseum '76. Additionally, this set includes:
* A 16-page booklet
* 3 postcards of Bowie in the recording studio, in a photographic studio & on stage
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Very much a 'fans' favourite' album, David Bowie's 1976 release, Station To Station, has been released on Compact Disc three times before (four if you include Ryko's AU20 release as separate to their standard silver CD issue). Disc One of this 3CD set sees it get a fourth remastering and, in my opinion, it's the best of the lot. Previously the original 80s RCA CD was considered by many to have the best sonics, but I find this new mastering preferable: warmer, better bass definition, free of the odd flaws in the RCA version, such as the missing second from the beginning of Word On A Wing. I always found the 1991 Ryko (EMI in the UK) release to sound thin and harsh, like most of those Ryko remasterings from that series, and the 1999 EMI release was excessively loud ('brickwalled') and made all-too-much use of noise-reduction technology. This new version sounds really nice: if only all modern remasterings were done like this.
The remaining two discs of this set feature the much bootlegged Nassau show from March 1976, originally recorded for an FM radio broadcast. I have, shall we say, 'heard' two of these bootleg releases and, like many, always found it to be one of the most thrilling live recordings of Bowie in concert. This official release is long overdue. In many ways the new mix makes the audio sound slightly sanitised compared to the visceral energy of the bootlegs(the opening track seems to suffer most in this regard), but it is certainly a less anodyne sound than that on the Ryko release of Stay and Word On A Wing which appeared as bonus tracks on their re-release of the album. This new release is also complete, featuring Queen Bitch (briefly available on the semi-official RarestOneBowie release) and also Life On Mars and Five Years. These last two tracks seem to be from an inferior source than the rest of the recording, but not so bad that it detracts from one's enjoyment of them.
All in all a valuable release: The best sounding CD release of one of Bowie's best albums, combined with a decent sounding and complete issue of Bowie at his live peak. As for reviewing the actual album itself: you mean you haven't heard it yet? Now's the time.
The remaining two discs of this set feature the much bootlegged Nassau show from March 1976, originally recorded for an FM radio broadcast. I have, shall we say, 'heard' two of these bootleg releases and, like many, always found it to be one of the most thrilling live recordings of Bowie in concert. This official release is long overdue. In many ways the new mix makes the audio sound slightly sanitised compared to the visceral energy of the bootlegs(the opening track seems to suffer most in this regard), but it is certainly a less anodyne sound than that on the Ryko release of Stay and Word On A Wing which appeared as bonus tracks on their re-release of the album. This new release is also complete, featuring Queen Bitch (briefly available on the semi-official RarestOneBowie release) and also Life On Mars and Five Years. These last two tracks seem to be from an inferior source than the rest of the recording, but not so bad that it detracts from one's enjoyment of them.
All in all a valuable release: The best sounding CD release of one of Bowie's best albums, combined with a decent sounding and complete issue of Bowie at his live peak. As for reviewing the actual album itself: you mean you haven't heard it yet? Now's the time.
53 of 55 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
OK, here's a review from someone who's actually heard the release.
CD1 is the original album remastered. And what an excellent job has been done. I have the original 1991 Rykodisc era Sound+Vision release and this tops even that. Not only are all the instruments clear as a bell, the bass is more prominent, which really brings the music alive.
CD2 and 3 are Bowie's March 1976 Nassau Coliseum concert. Long term fans have long cherished bootlegs of this night - the band is far less cabaret than Bowie's 1974 outing and less cold and brittle than the instrumental-dominated 1978 Stage incarnation.
The concert has a good mix of Station to Station tracks - of which the title track, Stay and Word on a Wing are masterful - and older hits. Some of the recordings are a little ropey - Life on Mars and Five Years are (superior) bootleg quality and the mix on the 2nd half of the concert is somewhat unbalanced - cymbals dominate, you can only hear one guitar for a lot of the time, the piano is very quiet and the bass just a low rumbling. Whilst Jean Genie and TVC15 suffer most from this - both sound thin and even weedy during choruses and solos - Changes, Diamond Dogs and Queen Bitch are by contrast hugely entertaining - and Panic in Detroit is positively furious.
The packaging is great. A Cameron Crewe essay puts the album in context, followed by a detailed chronology of the preparation and execution of the album. Three CD sized postcards complete the box.
Station to Station has always been a masterpiece - a satisfying and consistent yet diverse collection of powerfully realised signature tunes. This set puts Bowie's mid-70s journey into context, gives us his most satisfying live album to date and reinforces his mastery of both art and entertainment.
CD1 is the original album remastered. And what an excellent job has been done. I have the original 1991 Rykodisc era Sound+Vision release and this tops even that. Not only are all the instruments clear as a bell, the bass is more prominent, which really brings the music alive.
CD2 and 3 are Bowie's March 1976 Nassau Coliseum concert. Long term fans have long cherished bootlegs of this night - the band is far less cabaret than Bowie's 1974 outing and less cold and brittle than the instrumental-dominated 1978 Stage incarnation.
The concert has a good mix of Station to Station tracks - of which the title track, Stay and Word on a Wing are masterful - and older hits. Some of the recordings are a little ropey - Life on Mars and Five Years are (superior) bootleg quality and the mix on the 2nd half of the concert is somewhat unbalanced - cymbals dominate, you can only hear one guitar for a lot of the time, the piano is very quiet and the bass just a low rumbling. Whilst Jean Genie and TVC15 suffer most from this - both sound thin and even weedy during choruses and solos - Changes, Diamond Dogs and Queen Bitch are by contrast hugely entertaining - and Panic in Detroit is positively furious.
The packaging is great. A Cameron Crewe essay puts the album in context, followed by a detailed chronology of the preparation and execution of the album. Three CD sized postcards complete the box.
Station to Station has always been a masterpiece - a satisfying and consistent yet diverse collection of powerfully realised signature tunes. This set puts Bowie's mid-70s journey into context, gives us his most satisfying live album to date and reinforces his mastery of both art and entertainment.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Rest assured I am reviewing this box set genuinely as I physically own it...
If you're a fan you'll be buying this set at your earliest opportunity...just as I have. I am in New Zealand and I am thrilled to say it arrived today 01.10.10. I am so happy to report that this deluxe set is simply outstanding. I am thrilled to say the audio quality of the original album is fabulous.
I am so happy that the original black & white artwork has been re-instated and the liner notes appear to be very thorough.
The live document is a thrilling account of the thin white duke delivering power, intensity and charm.
I've been a fan since the late 1970's and I have to say this is one of my favourite albums Bowie put out.
Do not hesitate...make an investment in this box set and you smile every time you play it.
Fabulous indeed!
If you're a fan you'll be buying this set at your earliest opportunity...just as I have. I am in New Zealand and I am thrilled to say it arrived today 01.10.10. I am so happy to report that this deluxe set is simply outstanding. I am thrilled to say the audio quality of the original album is fabulous.
I am so happy that the original black & white artwork has been re-instated and the liner notes appear to be very thorough.
The live document is a thrilling account of the thin white duke delivering power, intensity and charm.
I've been a fan since the late 1970's and I have to say this is one of my favourite albums Bowie put out.
Do not hesitate...make an investment in this box set and you smile every time you play it.
Fabulous indeed!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
bowie magic as always
i'v been a bowie fan and lover of his music since the early 70s,so what can i say about this cd,it's been put together as of most of any other of his works,"excellent". Read more
Published 7 months ago by claret56
The Thin White Duke Rocks
Essential additon to any Bowie fans collection. Although Station to Station isn't one of my own particular favourite Bowie albums, except for a couple of tracks, the inclusion here... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Knightman
NOT EVEN SO MUCH AS A THANK YOU !
Having read reviews of this here, i really couldn't make my mind up whether to buy it or not. I'm a fan of DB of the 70 to 74 era. Read more
Published 15 months ago by D. Gilbert
No 5.1 surround mix for ordinary or 5.1 fans
I have to agree with the poorer-rated reviews of this. As first and foremost a 5.1 surround fan and secondly a vague Bowie fan I've only purchased a few of his LPs and CDs... Read more
Published 15 months ago by D. J. HORN
Awesome Live CD extra
I have always loved Station to Station. Bowie was a coke head and had just completed "The Man WHo Fell to Earth" (TMWFTE). A strange but fascinating time for me. Read more
Published 16 months ago by J. Pickles
Station To Station Deluxe Boxed Set David Bowie
Being an avid Bowie fan since Ziggy Stardust I purchased through amazon.com the 3 CD Boxed set and impressed enough to get 3 LP, 5 CD and 1 DVD boxed set. Read more
Published 18 months ago by T. W. Arnold
station to station analogue review
Station to station is a monumental album ,even if the artist had only made one album and this was it ,it would still have been a fantastic output ,its concept of the thin white... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Mr. Sean Mcskeane
Steam train to Bullet train............,
It's a journey of perfection whichever choice of train you take from 'Station to Station'.There's slow,to enjoy the vivid scenery;there's fast to enjoy an ever increasing... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Parmanova BLADE
worth the wait
34 years? Is it that long since I made my way to Empire Pool, Wembley, to see David Bowie on his Station to Station tour? Read more
Published 18 months ago by S. Phillips
Excellent
BRILLIANT CD - TAKES YOU BACK TO THOSE DAYS. EVEN THOUGH IT'S YEARS AGO THE SOUND IS GREAT. LOVE IT, THE MUSIC IS FANTASTIC.
Published 19 months ago by caz
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