On this episode, we revisit the great ’70’s hard rock/power pop album Attention Shoppers! by Starz. “X-Ray Spex” is a blast of punky pop with some interesting use of studio effects. Turn it up!
“X-Ray Spex” (Peter Sweval, Joe X. Dube, Michael Lee Smith, Brendan Harkin & Richie Ranno) Copyright 1978 Starzongo Music, Inc/Rock Steady Music, Inc/ASCAP
It Came From Boston: 5 experienced musicians come together to make something new: keyboard whiz Greg Hawkes; the bassist with the killer voice, Benjamin Orr; drummer David Robinson from the legendary Modern Lovers; one of the tastiest guitarists in the business, Elliot Easton; and singer/songwiriter/guitarist & mastermind Ric Ocasek. Merging classic guitar rock with the burgeoning synth-pop sounds to bring New Wave to the masses, The Cars defined that sound for the late-70’s/Early ’80’s. It all started on local Boston radio with this song.
“Just What I Needed” (Ric Ocasek) Copyright 1978 Lido Music, Inc.
There’s no shortage of great songs in the Rolling Stones catalog, but “Gimme Shelter” may be the song that tops them all. Dark and foreboding as only the Stones can do, this track has all the hallmarks of the Rolling Stones at their best: iconic guitar riffs by Keef, Jagger at the top of his game, and the Watts/Wyman rhythm section doing what they do best (plus Nicky Hopkins on piano). But what pushes this one from merely brilliant into sublime is the vocal performance by Merry Clayton– for my money, one of the greatest moments on record. All together, this one belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Rock.
“Gimme Shelter” (Mick Jagger & Keith Richards) Copyright 1969 ABKCO Music Inc.
“Rain” was the first glimpse of The Beatles exploration of psychedelia. Perhaps more than any other Beatles track, this song highlights the rhythm section with brilliant performances by Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney. Add Lennon’s lyrics and great vocals, and you’ve got one of the best songs to come out of the trippy, mind-expanding ’60’s. On this episode, we take a closer look at the individual performances and studio trickery– backwards, forwards, sped up & slowed down– that went into this classic track.
“Rain” (John Lennon/Paul McCartney) Copyright 1966 Northern Songs
The Kinks earned their place in Rock History on the basis of “You Really Got Me”, “All Day & All Of The Night”, and “Where Have All The Good Times Gone” alone. But it didn’t take long for Ray Davies to stretch out beyond riff-driven, teenage anthems to write songs that could only have come from his imagination. “Autumn Almanac” is one of the first Kinks songs to show Davies reaching for a whole new level of songwriting– both musically and his interest in writing about characters, which would become the focus of his songwriting over the ensuing years.
“Autumn Almanac” (Ray Davies) Copyright 1967 Davray Music Ltd. Carlin Music Corp.
50 years ago today — July 16, 1969 — Apollo 11 was launched and human beings first stepped on the moon. Let’s celebrate that occasion with the most famous song about space travel: David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”, a song that exploits our fear and wonder of the final frontier.
In lesser hands, this track could’ve been nothing more than a goofy, one-joke song for the Dr. Demento crowd, but the clever songwriting, brilliant production and a vocal performance that captures Bowie’s innate other-worldly, alienated style makes this track so much more than a novelty song.
“Space Oddity” (David Bowie) Copyright 1969 Onward Music Limited
TRANSCRIPT:
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on– it’s time for the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. On July 16, 1969–50 years ago today– NASA launched Apollo 11 and humans set foot on the moon for the first time. For the 50-year anniversary of one of the greatest achievements of our species, let’s listen to the most famous song about space travel, David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”.
My name is Brad Page, and what I try to do on each episode of this podcast is to get inside of a great song, to listen closely and uncover the elements that make a song work. We don’t get into music theory here, so you don’t have to be a musician to enjoy this podcast. We’re focusing on the performances, the arrangement, and the production choices that make a song great.
“Space Oddity” was released on July 11, 1969, five days before the launch of Apollo 11. The story of an astronaut marooned in space was always a common science fiction trope, explored in countless Sci-Fi novels, short stories, and films. “2001 A Space Odyssey” was obviously a major influence on this song. Clearly the source for the song title, “Space Oddity”.
Left alone, Major Tom drifting in space, the song is a meditation on alienation and isolation. Though Bowie is credited as the sole songwriter on this track, he was working with a musical partner named John Hutchinson at the time, and you can detect some of Hutchinson’s influence in the composition of this track. In fact, when the song was first recorded in February of 1969, it was a duet between Bowie and Hutchinson, with Hutchinson portraying the ground control parts, while Bowie played the role of Major Tom in space. Here’s a sample of that original version.
That’s Hutchinson on the lead vocal, with Bowie providing the harmony.
By April of ‘69, Hutchinson had left, and Bowie was back to being a solo act. He signed a record deal with Phillips Mercury Records in June, and the song was re-recorded as the version we know today. Bowie had been working with producer Tony Visconti, who would eventually produce many of Bowie’s classic albums. He was producing this album for Bowie, but Visconti declined to work on the song “Space Oddity” because he thought it was a lame novelty song. So, a producer named Gus Dudgeon was brought in to produce just this one song, and he did a brilliant job. By the way, Visconti would eventually regret that decision.
Dudgeon mapped out the song on paper. Since he couldn’t read music, he used color-coded sections to indicate where certain instruments or the string section would come in. Paul Buckmaster created the actual string arrangement, translating Dudgeon’s color-coded pages into actual string charts for the orchestral musicians.
Bowie plays acoustic guitar on the track, along with Herbie Flowers on bass, Mick Wayne on electric guitar, Terry Cox on drums, and Rick Wakeman on Mellotron. Wakeman would go on to become one of rock’s greatest keyboard players with Yes, but at this time he was relatively unknown.
The song begins with Bowie’s acoustic guitar, I believe it’s a twelve-string, slowly fading in, primarily in the right channel. The bass will slide down from a high note. Then we get some militaristic snare drums and harmonics played by the electric guitar. Bowie also plays an instrument called the Stylophone on this track. Invented in 1967, the stylophone is a tiny keyboard that you play with a stylus. It was primarily sold as a children’s toy. And it sounds like this.
Let’s remove the bass, drums and guitar so you can hear the stylophone more clearly.
They’ve added a harmony vocal along with that lead vocal. And now we’re going to hear a voice in the background doing the countdown as we approach liftoff.
Notice how the lead vocal shifted to the right channel.
Now we’ve reached liftoff, and we get the sense of taking flight as the instruments climb in pitch. I’m sure this section was inspired by the middle of “A Day In The Life” by The Beatles.
Let’s listen to what some of the individual tracks are doing in this section. Check out the guitar part. I bet he’s using a bottleneck slide here to get that sound. This is also the first point in the song where the string section comes in. So let’s hear what they’re playing in this party.
Pure Bowie. The line about Major Tom making the grade and the papers all wanting to know whose shirts he wears. Bowie was always keenly aware of the power of advertising and the influence of media. As we play that part back, notice how the string section has been replaced by the Mellotron, which is emulating the sound of a string section. In essence, we’ve replaced a real human orchestra with an artificial reproduction. As we move further into space, we leave humanity behind.
I also want to listen to the bass guitar part behind the second verse. Because Herbie Flowers is doing some great stuff on the bass here. At this point in the second verse, the perspective changes from ground control to Major Tom. And we begin to see things from his point of view.
I always like how he says the word “peculiar” there.
This is the bridge, and it shifts to a different feel here. These chord changes, in conjunction with the arrangement, really give you the feeling of floating freely, untethered. It’s almost disorienting in a way.
Let’s have a closer listen to some of these parts. Here’s the vocals with the strings. And this time it’s the Mellotron. That’s replaced by the orchestra as soon as we hit the first chord of the bridge.
Now let’s hear what the bass and drums are doing during the bridge. That is some pretty cool stuff. As we come out of the bridge, there’s a break for an acoustic guitar part. Which leads into the guitar solo.
Hand claps. That’s Mick Ronson on the guitar solo. The guitar solo ends in dramatic fashion. And we’re into the third verse.
That’s my favorite line in the whole song. I think it’s the most human moment in the song.
You can really hear the stylophone there, too. I really like those little guitar touches there, those chords. Let’s see if we can listen to those. And there’s the stylophone. Sounds like it’s tapping out Morse code. Okay, let’s go back and listen to that in context.
This time there’s a seamless transition between the verse and the bridge.
The acoustic guitar break returns one last time before the final long fade. The solo is kind of buried in the mix, so let’s just listen to that for a bite.
Major Tom drifts off into the void, and the song follows him.
David Bowie – “Space Oddity”
“Space Oddity” peaked at number 5 on the British charts, making it his first top ten hit. But it wasn’t a hit in America until 1972. Major Tom was also Bowie’s first successful mythic character, years before Ziggy Stardust or the Thin White Duke.
David Bowie, always contradictory, even about his own work, said he wanted “Space Oddity” to be the first anthem on the moon. But in the same interview, he also said the song was an antidote to “space fever”.
I was five years old when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. “Space fever” was a real thing. Everyone was caught up in the excitement. It was like the complete opposite of September 11. The country, the whole world really, was united by hope and what we could do together. For that brief time, it seemed like anything was possible.
Thanks again for sharing your time and listening to the podcast. Please join me again soon. There’s another “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast right around the corner. In the meantime, you can email me at lovethatsongpodcast@gmail.com. Or find the podcast on Facebook– just search for the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast.
And please, it really helps the podcast if you leave a review on iTunes, Facebook, or wherever you listen to the show. So thanks.
Let’s celebrate the 50th anniversary of man’s first journey to the moon with David Bowie and “Space Oddity”.
To listen to the song again, complete and uninterrupted, stream it, download it, or buy it and support the music you love.
RESOURCES:
NASA
https://www.nasa.gov
2001: A Space Odyssey
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/
David Bowie
https://www.davidbowie.com/
Tony Visconti
http://www.tonyvisconti.com/
Gus Dudgeon
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/gus-dudgeon-mn0000948280
Paul Buckmaster
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/paul-buckmaster-mn0000014654
Rick Wakeman
http://www.rwcc.com/
Stylophone
https://dubreq.com/stylophone/
Melotron
https://www.mellotron.com/
Beatles ‘A Day in the Life’
https://www.thebeatles.com/song/day-life
Yes (Band)
http://yesworld.com/
Among the many high points in David Bowie’s catalog, “Station To Station” stands as one of his most epic compositions. Written when Bowie’s life was at its most fractured point– having split with his longtime manager, suffering from cocaine psychosis and obsessed with the occult, “Station To Station” transcends the insanity to become one of his most monumental works.
This episode, we’re taking a deep dive into the live version of “Station To Station” from the 1978 Isolar II Tour, as captured on the Stage live album featuring brilliant guitar work from Adrian Belew.
David Bowie, circa 1976, drawing the Tree Of Life, a mystical
diagram referred to in “Station To Station”
TRANSCRIPT:
Put on your red shoes and dance the blues– It’s time for another episode of the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. Today, we’re taking a deep dive into “Station To Station” by David Bowie.
Hi, I’m Brad Page, and on this podcast, I pick one of my favorite songs and we spend some quality time listening– really listening– to all the nuances and details that make it a great song. No musical knowledge is required here, we’re not getting into music theory. I’m more interested in arrangements, performances and production– the craft and design that goes into making a great piece of music. And this time we’ve got an amazing piece of music. One of David Bowie’s masterpieces: “Station To Station”.
So, I’m going to do something a little different this time; we’re going to listen to the live version of this song, rather than the studio version. Most people would consider the studio version to be the definitive version, and I’m not going to disagree with that, but I just really love this particular live version, partly because it features two of my favorite musicians: Roger Powell from Utopia on keyboards, and the amazing guitar player, Adrian Belew.
This version is from the album called “Stage”, released in 1978 and culled from performances in Philadelphia, Providence, Rhode island and Boston, Massachusetts, from the ‘78 tour. Along with Adrian Belew and Roger Powell, the band includes Sean Mayes on piano, Simon House on violin, and three guys who had become Bowie’s go-to rhythm section on the last few albums, George Murray on bass, Dennis Davis on drums, and Carlos Alamar on rhythm guitar. Alamar was more than just a rhythm guitarist, he was Bowie’s band leader and defacto musical director during this period.
The song begins with the sound of a steam train pulling out of the station, picking up speed and moving faster. The sound slowly moves from right to left.
On the original studio recording, Bowie used recordings of an actual train and then manipulated them in the studio. But here, live in concert, Roger Powell coaxes the train sounds out of his synthesizer.
The song doesn’t actually have anything to do with trains or train stations, but the sound of the train could be taken as a metaphor for the spiritual journey that the song is about to take us on
The train sounds build for over a minute before Adrian Belew’s guitar appears, mimicking the sound of a train whistle.
And then the guitar starts to go nuts.
A piano enters, ticking back and forth between two notes.
The guitar is really interesting here, as Adrian somehow wrangles sounds out of it that are more like an out-of-control machine than a guitar.
Two minutes into the song, and the rest of the band comes in. Listen to the crazy stuff Adrian is doing with his guitar. That’s why I love this version of the song.
The first time I heard this was a video clip. I think it was on “Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert”. I’d never seen or heard of Adrian Belew before, but his performance here made a huge impression on me. What he’s able to do with his guitar here is incredible.
The heaviness of the guitar is offset a bit by the groove, courtesy of Alamar, Murray and Davis, all seasoned R&B players.
Finally, three minutes into the song, the chaos subsides and Bowie enters with his vocals for the first time.
“One magical moment, such is the stuff where dreams are woven” — that’s a pretty clear reference to a line from the Shakespeare play “The Tempest”, where there’s a line that reads, “we are such stuff as dreams are made of” in the play. That line is spoken by a character named Prospero, who is both a powerful magician and a duke.
This is the first of many references in this song to magic and the occult.
You won’t hear Simon House’s violin much at all in this song. He spends most of the song playing the violin pizzicato; that’s when you pluck the string with your finger rather than using the bow. You can just about hear it in this section.
So that line there: “Here we are, one magical movement from Kether to Malkuth”.
Let’s take a look at that line for a minute. Kether and Malkuth are terms that come from the Kabbalah, an ancient form of jewish mysticism. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the tree of life is a mystical diagram where Kether sits at the top, representing pure consciousness and absolute compassion. Malkuth is at the bottom of the tree of life, representing the material world. Now, I’m definitely no scholar of this stuff, so I’m simplifying here, but Bowie had a particular obsession with this stuff during 1976 when he was writing this.
Check out how the bass, keyboards and violin all hit the same riff here.
“There are you, you drive like a demon from station to station”; yet another magical, mystical reference. The stations could refer to the stations of the cross or the positions along the tree of life.
“White Stains” is an obscure book of poetry written by Alastair Crowley, published under the pseudonym George Archibald Bishop. Crowley, of course, is probably the most famous occult figure in history. Most of the poems in “White Stains” involve sex in one way or another, and Crowley and his disciples also had an interest in the Tree of Life. Musically, here, I like the way the guitars arpeggiate the chords like a retro 1950s song.
Now, five minutes into the song, we reach the bridge. The tempo speeds up and the lyrics start to look back with longing. “Some time in the past, once there were mountains on mountains and once there were sunbirds to soar with, and once I could never be down.”
Bowie is clearly on a spiritual journey here as he sings, “Got to keep searching and searching and what will I be believing and who will connect me with love”.
The next few lines will descend in pitch, and then be punctuated with rapid fire chord changes and some rhythmic changes as well. This all creates a sense of disorientation and keeps you off balance.
Then very quickly, the song normalizes to a straightforward four four groove and hits a much faster tempo that will drive us through to the finish of the song.
He begins by singing, “It’s not the side effects of the cocaine, I’m thinking that it must be love”… Well, by this point in Bowie’s career, he was living like a vampire in Hollywood; he was barely eating, living on a diet of cocaine, cigarettes and milk. He would go five or six nights without sleep. He was paranoid, delusional and experiencing hallucinations. Cocaine psychosis. By the time this live version was recorded in 1978, he was in better condition, but when he wrote the song in ‘76, he was in terrible shape. So I’m going to say, yeah, it probably was the side effects of the cocaine.
“It’s too late to be grateful, it’s too late to be late again, it’s too late to be hateful, the European canon is here.”
Now, that last line is interesting, because the word “canon”, that word has two meanings, depending on how you spell it. And I’ve seen it written both ways in transcriptions of the lyrics. C-A-N-N-O-N as in the thing you shoot cannonballs out of, and C-A-N-O-N as in a set of rules, principles, or a list of sacred texts that are seen as genuine or definitive. I think that’s the word that Bowie’s going for here, the “European canon”.
After finishing the “Station To Station” album, Bowie packed up and left Hollywood for Germany, settling in Berlin, where he pulled himself together and made the next few albums in his career. So in this lyric, I think he’s looking towards the sounds coming from Europe as his way forward. Working with Brian Eno and drawing inspiration from bands like Kraftwerk would shape Bowie’s sound for the next few years.
Listen to George Murray’s bass part. All through this section, he is really smoking.
Adrian Belew gets another chance to tear it up, this time with a more traditional guitar solo.
The whole band is really cooking here, and the backing vocals give David something to bounce off of.
This is a great drum fill.
Check out the descending run on the bass guitar here.
And then the party’s over. And again, listen to George Murray’s bass guitar. What he’s playing is simple but interesting.
David Bowie – “Station To Station”, Live 1978
“Station To Station” was the longest song David Bowie ever recorded. And not coincidentally, this is the longest episode of this podcast that I’ve ever recorded. But the song is an epic, with lots of elements to chew on. So thanks for sticking around. I think this song was worth the time.
Over a lifetime in the music business, with dozens and dozens of albums, many high watermarks, and iconic songs that have influenced generations of musicians and artists, “Station To Station” stands out as one of Bowie’s finest works.
Of course, David Bowie died in 2016, but I gotta tell you, not a week goes by where I find it hard to believe I live in a world where there’ll be no more new David Bowie music. It breaks my heart, but we have that amazing catalog of Bowie albums, and it’ll have to be enough. If you’re not familiar with his work, please go explore it. There’s so much good stuff in there, including the later half of his career. There’s literally something in his catalog for everyone. Go check it out.
Well, thanks again for listening to this podcast. As always, you can find me at lovethatsongpodcast@gmail.com, or search for the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast on Facebook. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on iTunes or wherever you listen to the show. And as always, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast using the podcast player of your choice. That way you never miss an episode.
Now go and listen to the whole song again. Download it, stream it, or buy it from wherever you find great music. Support the music you love.
REFERENCES:
David Bowie
https://www.davidbowie.com/
Adrian Belew
http://www.adrianbelew.net/
Roger Powell (Utopia)
http://www.rogerpowell.com/
Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0199257/
White Stains by Alastair Crowley
https://www.sacred-texts.com/oto/ws/index.htm
The Tempest by William Shakespeare
https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/the-tempest/
Kabbalah
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/kabbalah/
Another overlooked song in the McCartney catalog, “Little Lamb Dragonfly” is an emotional piece, composed of 3 sections in different keys that effortlessly moves between each segment. A wistful, haunting song about loss and the struggle to accept it. How does this song affect you? Let me know– write a review, post on Facebook, and share this episode with your friends.
“Little Lamb Dragonfly” (Paul & Linda McCartney) Copyright 1973 Administered by MPL Communications Limited
The Zombies only released 2 albums during their prime, so how did they get into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame? Because one of those albums is a bona fide classic: Odessey and Oracle is widely considered to be one of the greatest albums of the ’60’s, holding its own against classics by The Beatles, the Stones, Velvet Underground, The Who… by virtually any measure, it’s an iconic album. And it was a complete flop when it was first released, along with its first single, “Care Of Cell 44”. But over time, it’s been recognized as a true masterpiece. Let’s give The Zombies their due and take a deep dive into their orchestral pop magnum opus, “Care Of Cell 44.”
Here’s a link to the article I mention in the podcast:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/danielralston/the-true-story-of-the-fake-zombies-the-strangest-con-in-rock
It’s definitely worth checking out!
The Zombies – “Care Of Cell 44” (Rod Argent) Copyright 1967 Verulam Music Company Limited
Why this song? Simple: because Thin Lizzy was as good as a 4-piece rock band could be and this song has everything you want in a rockin’ song– a killer guitar riff, a singable chorus, a great hook for the lyrics, and a perfect performance. Written by Bob Seger, Thin Lizzy took it to another level and added some of their special sauce to make this song their own. I truly love this song! Let me know your thoughts — write a review, leave a comment, share with your friends.
“Rosalie” (Bob Seger) Copyright 1972 Gear Publishing Co.
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