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David Bowie Rainbowman
David Bowie Rainbowman: 1967-1980 | Jrme Soligny
10 posts | 1 read | 2 to read
'[Soligny] has talked to just about anyone who had anything to do with Bowie's music... Reading [their memories and comments] you can almost believe you're in the studio with Bowie as he tries out new ideas, fades out one sound to boost another or comes up with another of those astonishing chord changes...There are now almost as many Bowie books as there are Bob Dylan books but Rainbowman outclasses them all. Beautifully translated, [it] brings you closer to the great man than any conventional biography... Quite simply the best book there is on David Bowie.'-MAIL ON SUNDAY 'This is a book unlike any other, the definitive analysis of David's music, told in a quiet natural way, but with absolute authenticity, by the people around him.' - HERMIONE FARTHINGALE 'Jrme Soligny is one of the best authorities in the world on David Bowie's career and life in general... His new biography Rainbowman is a thorough and honest account of the great man.' - TONY VISCONTI 'Jrme is a guy who is still aware that popular music is an art form and not a money suppository. He writes from the heart and is one of the last exemplars of a dying breed. The critic, armed with intelligence and brute compulsive honesty, as dangerous as a river.' - IGGY POP 'Not long ago, Jrme told me something that I find very true: "David played saxophone, guitar, a bit of keyboards, but above all, he played musicians!" I think he really hit the nail on the head.' - MIKE GARSON In David Bowie Rainbowman, Jrme Soligny tells the story of David Bowie the musician with the help of those intimately involved with the creation of his music. This uniquely exhaustive work on Bowie's 1967-1980 albums draws on over 150 interviews with the musicians, producers and friends who knew Bowie best, including Robert Fripp, Hermione Farthingale, Lou Reed, George Underwood, Mick Ronson, Carlos Alomar, Trevor Bolder, Mike Garson, Woody Woodmansey and many, many others. With an essay by Soligny on each album followed by oral histories from the most trusted and influential figures in Bowie's musical life, David Bowie Rainbowman is the definitive guide to a singular and mercurial genius - the Rainbowman himself. With a foreword by Tony Visconti, an introduction by Mike Garson and cover photo by Mick Rock A beautiful and stylish gift for Bowie fans, over 700 pages long, filled with iconic photographs and with striking cover design by Barnbrook
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Bookwomble
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Fucking brilliant. 🌈🧑🏻‍🎤

SpellboundReader I'm watching a YouTube video of musicians and lyricists. I didn't realize John Lennon contributed to the lyrics for '“Fame.“ 6mo
Bookwomble @SpellboundReader Yes, and some vocals and guitar 😊 6mo
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Bookwomble
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"Whether he fell to Earth or not, Bowie deeply loved people. He wasn't cold but, in his relations with others, he gave the impression that he followed a sort of code: something basic that should exist between all human beings, but that they've had a tendency to forget. On a personal level, that's what gave him a better grasp of fame. When they become stars, many artists lose their humanity, but that never happened to him!"

- Hazel O'Connor (2017)

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Bookwomble
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I've just finished the chapter on one of my favourite Bowie albums, "Heroes", learning about yet another of David's influences from the art world. The cover itself references Dali examining his hand for ants in "Un Chien Andalou", Heckel's painting "Roquairol" (which also inspired the cover for Iggy Pop's "The Idiot"), and Schiele's stylised hand gestures. The title song was famously inspired by David seeing two lovers ⬇️

Bookwomble ... (his record producer and a backing singer) kissing under the Berlin Wall, but that is only one layer, as David was enthusiastic about the painting by Otto Mueller, Liebespaar Zwischen Gartenmauern, "Lovers Between Garden Walls". Listening to Bowie's music and reading about his influences is an education ??‍? 6mo
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Bookwomble
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"When Bowie was on the road in those days [1976], the convoy was made up of several vehicles, including a Ford Transit that carried his gear and a trunk containing the dozens of books he refused to be parted from." ???
#BooksAndBowie

TrishB As it should be. 7mo
Texreader If only I could tote all my fave books everywhere I go. I guess that‘s what ebooks are for now? 7mo
Bookwomble @Texreader Well, I don't lug a chest of books around when I go on a trip, not having an entourage or roadies to carry it for me like David had, but I do generally take half a dozen or so in a separate bag 😄 7mo
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Texreader @Bookwomble 👍🏻 I do always take at least two books to read. 😄 but as much as I loved the Count of Monte Cristo I‘m not lugging that chunkster!! It does beg the question, what if we end up on a deserted island? Then I‘d definitely want the Count with me for a reread! 7mo
bibliothecarivs I heard part of this show this week. Thought you'd enjoy it. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct5nxk 7mo
Bookwomble @bibliothecarivs Thank you! 🧑‍🎤 I will certainly listen to it. Suzi Ronson was the wife of David's then guitarist, Mick Ronson, and was part of the mini arts commune David had set up in the early '70s. I saw yesterday that she has a memoir out about her association with David, which I guess the show is part of the promotion for 😊 7mo
Bookwomble @Texreader Or, perhaps, Robinson Crusoe? 🏝️ 7mo
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Bookwomble
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I'm up to David's 1973 album, Pin Ups, in which he glams up some of his favourite songs by bands from the '60s, some of which had played the same circuit of pubs and community centres he emerged from himself. There's a couple of bonus tracks on this disc, including Bruce Springsteen's Growing Up, which David had seen him play at Max's Kansas City a few months earlier. I love that David respects the songs while infusing them with his own energy ⚡

Bookwomble This is taking me a bit longer to read than I'd initially expected, but that's because I'm savoring it, not because it's difficult or boring 💛🧑🏼‍🎤🧡
#BooksAndBowie #BooksAndMusic
8mo
The_Book_Ninja My mum loved David Bowie. I remember this LP sleeve was always out. I think that‘s Twiggy on the cover. She saw him live. She said his teeth were bad. That‘s my Bowie story 8mo
Bookwomble @The_Book_Ninja It is Twiggy, as "Twig the Wonder-Kid" ? I have to say that I preferred David's British teeth to his American teeth, but then I didn't have to live with thousands of cameras pointing specifically at me. And, your mum had great taste in music ?❤️ 8mo
BookNAround I went to college with David Bowie‘s son Duncan. He was a nice, down to earth guy. When his dad and stepmom came for his graduation, they arranged with the college to have a brief photo session for anyone to take pictures of them then so the family would be left in peace for the rest of the day since they were there to celebrate Duncan, not to be surreptitiously snapped by random strangers. I thought that was smart and realistic. 8mo
Bookwomble @BookNAround The clips I've seen of Duncan, he does come across as a grounded person. Fantastic that he got to go to college with you 😊 8mo
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Bookwomble
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"Kate Moss recently [2003] did a photo shoot with Nick Knight for British Vogue and she's wearing several of my outfits from the Ziggy years... She even called me afterwards to tell me I must have been really skinny at the time! When Kate Moss phones to tell you she can't get into your clothes, you know you can't have weighed very much." ✏️
#BooksAndBowie

LeahBergen Wow!! He was skinny back then! 8mo
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Bookwomble
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Write the following 100 times:
"I am a responsible adult with control of his finances who is not easily influenced to make rash purchases based on the books he is reading!"
? This is Ground Control to Major Tom??
? You've really made the grade ??‍?

#BooksAndBowie ?

The_Book_Ninja I can relate to the hyperfixation 8mo
LeahBergen 😆😆👏👏👏👏 8mo
Bookwomble @The_Book_Ninja The Bowie hyperfixation (enthusiasm? 🤔) won't be going anywhere, but I've perhaps expressed it sufficiently that for a while I won't be clogging things up with posts only tangentially book-related 😊 8mo
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Bookwomble @LeahBergen The booklet states, "No musical ability required", but I'm proving that to be a marketing lie! ??? 8mo
kspenmoll 😂😂🎉🎉 8mo
The_Book_Ninja @Bookwomble Cats and cakes then?😉 8mo
Bookwomble @The_Book_Ninja Hmm 🤔💭 Cats and crisps, perhaps. I've more of a savoury than a sweet tooth 😊 8mo
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Bookwomble
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#TuesdayTunes @TieDyeDude
Given my main reading matter this week, no surprise that I'm even more heavily into listening to David than usual (which is, in any event, a lot). I'm up to the chapter on David's 1970 album, The Man Who Sold the World, which is gloriously heavy, dark, dystopian and apocalyptic.
Reference to Khalil Gibran in the opening track put him on my literary radar, and the album's sci fi themes were totally on my 10 year-old ⬇️

Bookwomble ... wavelength when I got the reissue LP with the Ziggy Kick cover in 1974.
The original UK cover with David wearing a "man dress" was too controversial for the US release, which went with an illustration for the track Running Gun Blues, a Vietnam War song, which sadly still resonates today: ⬇️
8mo
Bookwomble "It seems the peacefuls stopped the war
Left generals squashed and stifled
But I'll slip out again tonight
'Cause they haven't taken back my rifle
For I promote oblivion
And I'll plug a few civilians."

The German cover would seem to be powered by LSD.

One of my all-time favourite records with some of David's best songs.
8mo
TieDyeDude Thanks for sharing! Those are wildly different covers, so interesting. I kinda love the German version 😅 8mo
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Bookwomble @TieDyeDude I don't know if it's intended, but it puts me in mind of the art style of the Beatles' Yellow Submarine animation. 8mo
TieDyeDude I can see that. I was getting Terry Gilliam vibes. 8mo
Bookwomble @TieDyeDude Oh, yeah - that's definitely there! 8mo
Leftcoastzen Absolutely lovely! 8mo
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Bookwomble
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I can't help but think that author, Jérôme Soligny (pictured), has been influenced by the style of his subject.
I'm 10% into the book, which states at the outset that it will focus on the making of Bowie's music and albums rather than the fine details of his private life, which is all good as far as I'm concerned.
The opening section covers David's career up to the recording of his first album, the following chapters being named for each ⬇️

Bookwomble ... subsequent album. Soligny gives his journalistic account first, establishing chronology, context and people involved in the album production, and then gives the interviews he did with those people, including some easily recognisable names, and many less well-known who were, nonetheless, important parts of the creative process.
I think I'm going to blow through this pretty quickly!
8mo
Cathythoughts Wow. He looks so like David Bowie ❤️ 8mo
Aimeesue Must admit, I did a double take here! 8mo
LeahBergen I did a double take, too! 8mo
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Bookwomble
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Oops! I had a #bookcident when I went for a browse and came out with this 700-page monster! (Though, I mean, when did "a browse" ever not result in a purchase!)
It focuses on my favourite Bowie period, and is a compilation of scores of interviews with the musicians, producers, engineers, etc., who Bowie worked with, as well as the author's interviews with David over many years as a rock journalist. ???‍?
#BooksAndBowie

TrishB Looks great 👍🏻 8mo
Bookwomble @TrishB I've just read that it's the first in an intended three-volume work covering David's full career! 😳 A bit of an investment, but hopefully they'll be spaced out a little. 8mo
Bookwomble @TrishB Correction, it's two volumes, the original French second part was published 2022, and an English translation not yet available. Sorry to tag you with such trivia, but I struggle sometimes to not put things "right" ? 8mo
TrishB 😁 no worries! I shall be buying for hubby. 8mo
Bookwomble @TrishB 😊👍🏼 8mo
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