Johnny Walker's new series Long Players starts tonight at 11pm on R2 and features Hunky Dory and Aladdin Sane in part one. A bit late in the evening for this old bird, but definitely one for the iPlayer - looks like a good series.

Also starring one of our two fave mag editors;

"The programme will feature highlights of the albums, with comment and cultural history from Johnnie and broadcaster and critic David Hepworth alongside archive interviews with many of the key players."

Info here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01bh924

I,ve just finished reading Paul Trynka,s excellent Iggy biography Open Up and Bleed, and in it the author suggests the reason for Bowie including so many( 5 out of 9)songs written by, or with,Iggy was to bail him out financially, knowing the album would sell bucketloads after the success of Lets Dance. I know Bowie,s had a reputation for helping out mates, but i find it hard to believe he,d release a substandard album,described by the author as "an act of charity", just to provide Iggy with songwriter credits and the cash it brings in. Any thoughts out there ?

I can't see it written about anywhere else on here. Maybe I'm blind, or have been relentlessly busy for two weeks and haven't had much time on the Massive.

Either way, the current Bowie special, as published by the pre-circumcision magazine Uncut is really good. Extended looks at all his albums, plus an absolute wealth of old articles and interviews, particularly around the mid-70s period, cocaine, peppers and all.

As Bowie is currently number 1 on the Word Magazine group's chart on last.fm I thought it would be worth sharing. Pricey with a cover price of £7.99, but well worth it. It is after all the length of a book at 170-ish A4 pages. Definitely recommended. Even if it was produced by the competitors.

Oh and for the Massive's chart:

http://www.last.fm/group/The+Word+Magazine

Also, according to chart files, Bowie's single entries in 1974 went as follows:
Feb Rebel Rebel no5
Apr Rock And Roll Suicide no22
June Diamond Dogs no 21
Sept Knock On Wood no10

Why is a track from Ziggy sandwiched between two tracks from the Diamond Dogs album?
I appreciate this may be a bit of a niche enquiry but it's bugging me. Was DD seen as a success or not? (I know I need to go and buy that bloke-from-the-podcast's new book...)

They really aren't like us. Take our friend the dame, the great Mr Bowie. What's the kind of thing he gets up to of an afternoon? Watch Loose Women, do a bit of hoovering? No not him. Nothing so humdrum. He's either:

'living in a silent film portraying Himmler's sacred realm
Of dream reality'

or, he boasts:

'Baby, I've been, breaking glass in your room again
Listen/Don't look at the carpet, I drew something awful on it
See'

Not really the kind of behaviour you want from your housemate is it?

So I wonder, what other kinds of extraordinary activities do we learn rock stars choose to involve themselves in, according to their song lyrics?

After hearing Peter Doggett on the recent podcast and after being mightily impressed with his Beatles book, I pre-purchased The Man Who Sold the World on Amazon for it to download to my Kindle on the day of release (today).

Yesterday I collected and digitised all my Bowie CDs ready for a couple of days in the company of the great man, and this morning I managed to distract the kids (sent them out to find snakes in the creek!) while I booted up my kindle and connected it to the network. The book was duly downloaded, but when I tried to open it I received instead a message saying there was a problem with the download and sending me to the mobipocket support centre, where there was absolutely no information.

More oddly, the book seems to have been withdrawn on the Amazon site where it is classified as "Out of Print/Limited Availability", both or the print and Kindle versions.

Anyone else have a similar problem or any idea what's going on? I suspect a problem clearing lyrics or photos.

I run a classic album night at the Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle. This week it was Ziggy Stardust.

I was casting around looking for interesting stuff about the album and happened upon Woody Woodmansey's Website. There was a contact page, so I took a punt and sent him a message asking if I could have a quick chat about the days of Ziggy. I heard nothing back, then on Wednesday a reply: 'that sounds like a laugh, go on then'.

Half an hour later I've recorded a 15 minute chat with Woody, full of great details about the pre-Ziggy days, how Mick Ronson took to off the station when the first set of Ziggy clothes were unvieled, how Bowies vocal on Black Country Rock sent both Woody and Mick back home to Hull - all because he sounded like Marc Bolan, and they didn't like Bolan.

The stories were great and he was a real gent. That's all.

Would they have to pay him for this?
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/david-bowies-ziggy-stardust-i...

One of the things we'll all miss as downloads send albums the way of the dodo are the classic closers. Top of most people's list would probably be the Beatle's "A Day in the Life", but for my money Bowie's "Rock n Roll Suicide" beats all comers hands down.
Your favourites? Over to the massive....

not to my taste but I'm sure some here will enjoy
http://blogs.kcrw.com/musicnews/2010/09/kcrw-djs-remix-golden-years-by-d...

"Heroes" is one of my favourite Bowie-songs, but as an album I think Low is superior to "Heroes", despite quotation marks used nicely on the latter. On both albums I prefer the instrumental sides to the ones with singing, even if he´s one of my favorite singers. And Lodger is ridiculously underestimated.

But the question is - Low or "Heroes"?

Following on from the Ramones, Dangerous Minds also has this, which I am suree will be of interest to some of the Massive.

Suffragette City deconstructed.

Here's David :

Rest of article here :

http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/deconstructing_suffragette_city_d...

There has been plenty of Bowie in these parts recently, so apologies for one more on the subject.

I've been late to the Bowie party. His heyday started before I was born and ended before I knew what was going on. As I got into pop music, I thought his #1 duet with Mick Jagger was rubbish. (And at the time, I pretty much liked everything that got to #1.) I liked Absolute Beginners, was vaguely aware of the distress that Glass Spider and Tin Machine caused, and paid very little further attention for a while.

Picked up the 69-74 and 74-79 compilations a few years back and loved them, but left it at that. Over the last year or two, though, I have been ploughing through the albums from that era.

So, now: I have all the studio albums between Hunky Dory and Scary Monsters and I love 'em all. I should probably leave it at that but I do get slightly obsessed about these things.

Where do I go to next? Are the pre-Hunky Dory albums worth a punt? Pin-ups? Do I need any of the live albums?

Any recommendations of particular songs from the overproduced 80s years? Any of the later albums that I should go for? And are there any other non-album tracks out there from the (ahem) golden years that I should know about like Young Dudes and Velvet Goldmine?

Any documentaries I really should see or books I really should read? Should I be hunting down any of the collaborations with the likes of Iggy or Lou?

Thanking all of you fine people in advance.

I have found myself listening to Heathen a lot lately. It´s much better than anyone has the right to ask of someone who´s supposed to have peaked in the seventies. Maybe I´ll have to regret this, but I think it´s one of the five best he´s made.

I like its atmosphere, which seems to me like a grown up and more content Low. Also, an aspect perhaps overlooked, he can really sing. Like REALLY sing. It seems his voice gets better with age. Or possibly got better with age. With no new material since 2003 it appears he quietly opted for retirement without making a fuzz about it, which is clever, in case one regrets it.

Sunday, Slip Away (the chorus is absolutely beautiful), Slow Burn (great guitar by Pete Townshend - and listen to the way Bowie´s voice opens up on the word burn), Afraid´s great string arrangement, I Would Be Your Slave, the charming Everyone Says ´Hi´, and Heathen (The Rays).

Also well chosen covers in Cactus (Pixies) and I Took A Trip On A Gemini Spaceship (The Legendary Stardust Cowboy).

The only song I don´t like is I´ve Been Waiting For You. Funnily enough, being the Neil Young fan that I am. Or maybe that´s why.

Heathen was one of these dreaded "return to form" albums from a legend that actually WAS a return to form. His best since, and all that. A great album from a great man.

And at 63 he still looks better than I have ever done or will ever do. The bastard.

http://open.spotify.com/user/doublevisionary/playlist/2UEJUasv4iuVFBt87F...

I'm off to Berlin in June & would like to build a suitable soundtrack to my trip.

Music of and about Berlin is the brief.

I've started you off with a few of the more obvious tracks. Just add yours to the collaborative Spotify playlist - link above. Please add an informative comment below, if you wish.

Apologies to those you of who can't Spotify - I want to take the music with me on my iPhone & this is the easiest way.

Looking forward to hearing your selections.