David Bowie

"'We kept Bowie alive for a couple of years. He went through a bad patch of not getting very much work and people not paying a great deal of attention to him. He did a lot of sessions during that time.' (John Peel, Radio Radio)"

thumb|320px|right|'Heroes' - the only [[Festive Fifty entry]]

David Bowie, born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947, is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s … (read more at Wikipedia)

Links To Peel
Bowie's earliest singles made little impact either in the UK or US charts, but things began to change with "Can't Help Thinking About Me", which made the Radio London charts and received plenty of airplay on the pirate station. After this, Bowie signed to Deram, a new label set up by Decca Records to release adventurous yet still commercial pop material. His singles of 1966 and 1967 also made Radio London's charts, even if they did not feature in the national top thirty, and tracks from his first LP, David Bowie, were played by the station's DJs, including Peel. However, he did not become one of the mainstays of Peel's Perfumed Garden and despite the efforts of his record company and management Bowie did not enjoy the commercial success of his Deram label-mate and fellow singer-songwriter Cat Stevens. Yet the album did enough to establish Bowie's reputation and a first Top Gear session followed in late 1967.


 * Work ongoing

Festive Fifty Entries

 * 1977 Festive Fifty: Heroes #36
 * 1979 Festive Fifty: Heroes #34

Peelenium

 * Peelenium 1975: Fame

Sessions
Four Peel sessions plus many others at the BBC. A selection of tracks was released on Bowie At The Beeb (2xCD, EMI, 2000).

1. Recorded: 1967-12-18. First broadcast: 24 December 1967
 * Love You Till Tuesday / When I Live My Dream / Little Bombadier / Silly Boy Blue / In The Heat Of The Morning

2. Recorded: 1968-05-13. First broadcast: 26 May 1968. Repeated: 30 June 1968.
 * London Bye Ta Ta / In The Heat Of The Morning / Karma Man / When I'm Five / Silly Boy Blue (first play 30 June 1968)

3. Recorded: 1972-01-11. First broadcast: 28 January 1972. Repeated: 31 March 1972
 * Ziggy Stardust / Queen Bitch / I'm Waiting For The Man / Lady Stardust

4. Recorded: 1972-05-16. First broadcast: 23 May 1972. Repeated: 25 July 1972, 27 June 1977
 * Hang On To Yourself / The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust / White Light White Heat / Suffragette City

Live

 * 08 February 1970 (with Hype) live, recorded 1970-02-05
 * 1) Port Of Amsterdam
 * 2) God Knows I'm Good
 * 3) Buzz The Fuzz
 * 4) Karma Man
 * 5) London Bye Ta Ta
 * 6) An Occasional Dream
 * 7) The Width Of A Circle
 * 8) Janine
 * 9) Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud
 * 10) Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed
 * 11) Fill Your Heart
 * 12) Prettiest Star
 * 13) Cygnet Committee


 * 20 June 1971: recorded: 1971-06-03
 * 1) Queen Bitch
 * 2) Bombers
 * 3) The Supermen
 * 4) Look For A Friend
 * 5) Almost Grown
 * 6) Kooks
 * 7) Song For Bob Dylan
 * 8) Andy Warhol
 * 9) It Ain't Easy

Other Shows Played
The list below was compiled only from the database of this site and Lorcan's Tracklistings Archive and is certainly incomplete. Please add further information if known.


 * 1969
 * 06 July 1969: Space Oddity (single) Philips (Peel bemoans the fact that David Bowie's new single is obviously not bound for the charts)
 * 27 July 1969: Space Oddity (single) Philips


 * 1970
 * 04 July 1970: Memory of a Free Festival (single) Mercury
 * 25 July 1970: Memory Of A Free Festival (7") Mercury


 * 1972
 * Radio Luxembourg Tracklistings 4: Starman (single) RCA
 * Radio Luxembourg Tracklistings 5: All The Madmen (LP - The Man Who Sold The World) Mercury
 * Radio Luxembourg Tracklistings 5: Starman (single) RCA
 * 21 January 1972: Queen Bitch (LP – Hunky Dory) RCA
 * 25 January 1972: Changes (single) RCA
 * 15 February 1972: The Bewlay Brothers (LP – Hunky Dory) RCA
 * 18 April 1972: Starman (single) RCA
 * 21 April 1972: Suffragette City (single – Starman b-side) RCA
 * 21 April 1972: Starman (single) RCA
 * 28 April 1972: Starman (single) RCA
 * 02 May 1972: Starman (single) RCA
 * 16 May 1972: Starman (single) RCA
 * 19 May 1972: Suffragette City (single b-side Starman) RCA
 * 30 May 1972: Starman (single) RCA
 * 09 June 1972: Star (LP – The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars) RCA
 * 20 June 1972: Five Years (LP – The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars) RCA
 * 27 June 1972: Moonage Daydream (LP – Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars) RCA
 * 07 July 1972: Starman (LP – Ziggy Stardust) RCA
 * 11 July 1972: Suffragette City (LP – Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars) RCA
 * 08 August 1972: The Superman (LP - The Man Who Sold The World) Mercury
 * 29 August 1972: John, I'm Only Dancing (single) RCA


 * 1973
 * 17 April 1973: Lady Grinning Soul (LP – Aladdin Sane) RCA Victor
 * 17 April 1973: Panic In Detroit (LP – Aladdin Sane) RCA Victor
 * 19 April 1973: Aladdin Sane (LP – Aladdin Sane) RCA
 * 01 May 1973: The Prettiest Star (single) Mercury


 * 1975
 * John Peel - 1975 Extracts: Panic in Detroit


 * 1977
 * 23 December 1977: Heroes (LP – Heroes) RCA FF#36


 * 1978
 * 27 July 1978: Blackout (LP – Heroes) RCA
 * 26 September 1978: (2xLP – Stage) CBS – sides 1 and 2 played in full. Other two sides promised for the following evening.
 * 27 September 1978: (2xLP – Stage) CBS – sides 3 and 4 played in full (presumably)
 * 29 September 1978 (Davie Jones & The King Bees): Liza Jane (single) Decca reissue
 * 29 September 1978 (Davie Jones & The King Bees): Louis, Louis Go Home (single) Decca reissue


 * 1979
 * 23 April 1979: TVC 15 (LP - Station To Station) RCA
 * 24 May 1979: Red Sails (LP - Lodger) RCA
 * 28 May 1979: Repetition (LP - Lodger)
 * 29 May 1979: Yasasin (LP - Lodger)
 * 04 June 1979: Look Back In Anger (LP - Lodger) RCA
 * 11 June 1979: African Night Flight (LP - Lodger) RCA
 * 21 June 1979: African Night Flight (LP - The Lodger) RCA
 * 24 December 1979: Heroes (LP-Heroes) RCA #34


 * 1980s
 * 10 January 1980: The Supermen (LP - The Man Who Sold The World) RCA
 * 11 February 1980: Alabama Song (single) RCA


 * 23 February 1982: Ballad Of The Adventurers (EP - Baal) RCA (Bowie appears on the cover of the next issue of Radio Times (following Kenny Everett in the current edition), as he is due to star the following Tuesday in a TV production of Bertolt Brecht’s Baal. Peel comments that Bowie started out sounding like Anthony Newley and seems to have returned to that.)
 * 14 April 1982: Art Decade (album - Low) RCA
 * 19 September 1984: Blue Jean (single) (Peel went to see The Company Of Wolves and hence plays the David Bowie track, the video of which was played as the supporting film - "the video rather better than the record, I must admit, but I can't play you the video." Nevertheless, "both well worth seeing" is his verdict.)


 * 23 February 1987: Andy Warhol (LP - Hunky Dory) (Presumably opened the programme to commemorate Warhol's death the previous day)


 * 1990s
 * 12 September 1992: Big Brother (album - Diamond Dogs) RCA
 * 12 September 1992: Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family (album - Diamond Dogs) RCA (Wedding Present cover played previous week on 05 September 1992)
 * 06 April 1993 (John Peel Is Jakki Brambles): Jump They Say (single) Arista
 * 07 April 1993 (John Peel Is Jakki Brambles): Black Tie White Noise (single) Arista/BMG
 * 09 April 1993 (John Peel Is Jakki Brambles): Jump They Say (single) Arista
 * 24 June 1996: Ziggy Stardust (session 1/11/72) (John Peel's Classic Sessions)
 * 23 November 1999: Fame (LP-Young Americans) RCA (Peelenium 1975)


 * 2000s
 * 18 December 2003 (Radio Eins): London Bye Ta Ta
 * 20 October 2004 (presented by Siouxsie of Siouxsie & The Banshees): Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide (7" single) RCA
 * 21 October 2004 (presented Robert Smith of the Cure): Saturday Night (EMI)


 * Top Of The Pops
 * 28 April 1983 (TOTP): Let’s Dance (video clip) (“At No.6, “Let’s Dance”... the multi-talented David Bowie.”)
 * 05 May 1983 (TOTP): Starman (clip) (1000th edition of the programme)
 * 08 June 1983 (TOTP): China Girl (8) (video)
 * 23 June 1983 (TOTP): Let’s Dance
 * 06 October 1983 (TOTP): Modern Love (2) (video)


 * Other
 * Where It's At: Fame (LP-Young Americans) RCA
 * Peeling Back The Years: Fame (LP – Young Americans) RCA
 * Punk Fiction: Golden Years
 * Beam Me Up, Scotty: Space Oddity (LP-David Bowie) Philips
 * Radio Radio (Transcript): (JP: "I think if people are any good they are going to become public property eventually anyway, so all you can do is sort of either accelerate or retard the process. So there have been people like, uh, well, we kept Bowie alive for a couple of years. He went through a bad patch of not getting very much work and people not paying a great deal of attention to him. He did a lot of sessions during that time.")
 * John Peel: In Session Tonight: Oh You Pretty Things