Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)
@bowiesongs.bsky.social
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Books (Rebel Rebel; Ashes to Ashes), blogs (64 Quartets; Pushing Ahead of the Dame; Locust St.)
pinned post!
A brand new, fully updated version of "Rebel Rebel," part one of the Bowie series (1963-1976), came out this year. Here's how you can get it. It's a large book, so it will look impressively bulky in Xmas wrapping:
bookshop.org/p/books/rebe...
add a skeleton here at some point
3 months ago
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)
AUgetoffmygold
3 days ago
Vintage Pop Stardom back! Looking at the 1983 start to David Bowie's "Phil Collins Years" with the great
@cmolanphy.bsky.social
. -Bowie + '83 pop meeting in the middle -"China Girl" karaoke memories (whoops!) -What the hell was the US Festival? -Poor Mark Goodman
megaphone.link/PMC9612816379
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1983 David Bowie: Vintage Pop Stardom (with Chris Molanphy) by Greatest Pop Stars
https://megaphone.link/PMC9612816379
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"The audiences are a tour behind me, but then they always are. I'd get worried if they turned up in outfits I'd never seen before." Bowie, 1976
about 2 hours ago
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Annie Zaleski
about 3 hours ago
Eagerly anticipating the Michael Shannon/Jason Narducy et al R.E.M. extravaganza in a few weeks, so I wrote about some of the cool things happening on the tour to date. Found some vintage ads from Cleveland to underscore/hint at the coolness.
anniezaleski.substack.com/p/we-are-hop...
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Stephen Thomas Erlewine
2 days ago
I selected 14 essential Neil Sedaka songs for the New York Times, balancing his effervescent early hits with his lush '70s comeback.
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Neil Sedaka: 14 Essential Songs
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/arts/music/neil-sedaka-songs.html
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Stereogum
2 days ago
Neil Sedaka dead at 86
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Neil Sedaka Dead At 86
Neil Sedaka, the singer and songwriter behind hits like “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do,” “Bad Blood,” “Laughter In The Rain,” and “Calendar Girl,” has died. “Our family is devastated by the sudden passing...
https://stereogum.com/2490711/neil-sedaka-dead-at-86/news/
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Ned Raggett
2 days ago
Oh man and I just clocked that later on in the evening here at
#sanremo
there's going to be a cover of "Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola." You might well know it and its singer in a slightly different form...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EZC...
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Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola (2015 Remaster)
YouTube video by David Bowie - Topic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EZC2raq0qI
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RJC
2 days ago
As we wait to see what will become of Warner Bros., remember: if there’s art you value and know you’ll want to live with it over time, buy it physically (if you can afford to, if it exists in physical form)
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Comics in the Golden Age
2 days ago
This is her
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Tatjana Wood, in the mix of Moore, Veitch, Bissette, Totleben etc on Swamp Thing, was the equivalent of a great bassist in a band---if not appreciated enough, absolutely essential to the whole. RIP.
2 days ago
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Elizabeth Sandifer
2 days ago
The secret hero of Moore's Swamp Thing run.
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turning 50, 40, 30, & 20 in March, respectively
2 days ago
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CDs are still bargains dept.: found this yesterday---3 discs of great music & extensive liners, all for $15.
2 days ago
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Joey Politano🏳️🌈
2 days ago
The US now spends basically as much on data center construction as on office construction
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Tyler Wilcox
2 days ago
For posterity (and because I just found it), a thing I wrote almost 20 years ago (!) for the AV Club.
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Thin White Duke 50: Bowie hits Cleveland and has a blast, with one of the best recordings of the tour:
www.patreon.com/posts/isolar...
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Isolar 50: Cleveland, 27-28 February 1976 | Chris O'Leary
Get more from Chris O'Leary on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/posts/isolar-50-27-28-151719523
2 days ago
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Postmambo Studies
2 days ago
Great piece. Will Hermes’s “Love Goes to Buildings on Fire” is a history of NYC popular music that includes the salsa movement, left out of other accounts because Spanish.
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cut in Chicago 100 years ago on this date: a wonderful, joyous, swinging record. Armstrong was far from being the first to scat, but he did it masterfully here. Nothing would be the same afterward for Armstrong, for jazz, for US pop music:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksmG...
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Heebie Jeebies-Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five
YouTube video by DRAGUNOFF
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksmGt2U-xTE
3 days ago
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Bowie concert celebration sale at Disc Records at the Summit Mall & Severance Center--David Live for 8 bucks!* (Cleveland Press, 27 Feb 1976) (*inflation-adjusted, this was not really cheap)
3 days ago
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Contemplation
3 days ago
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a reboost for the eve. if you've never seen the Super 8 footage of this show, it's one of the best (and one of very few) visual documents of the tour---if only there was more of it, & with sound
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4 days ago
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)
🏳️⚧️ Edible Lecter
4 days ago
So, turns out you can't buy this from the publisher site yet due to a glitch Which is fine, because I'd rather you support independent bookstores by shopping at
@bookshop.org
This link here will allow you to preorder while also (at no extra cost) supporting my beloved
@heartleafbooks.bsky.social
:
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Nate Patrin
4 days ago
'Versions and Subversions', a book tracing the history of cover songs in both artistic and sociocultural contexts some usual suspects ("Respect"/"Watchtower"/"Hurt") mixed w/stuff like the early '70s mania over "Soul Makossa," jazz's response to 'What's Going On', Willie Nelson's 'Stardust' et al
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yeah this is my philosophy, pretty much. Radiohead, Broadcast, Boards of Canada, Wu-Tang, Timbaland, etc etc were meant to be heard on CD
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4 days ago
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Recliner Notes
4 days ago
After many years of thinking about Bill Callahan's songs, I finally got the opportunity to interview him for
@aquariumdrunkard.com
to accompany the release of his new album My Days of 58. His responses to my questions were hilarious, honest, and revealing
aquariumdrunkard.com/2026/02/25/b...
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Bill Callahan :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview - Aquarium Drunkard
My Days of 58 is the latest record from singer-songwriter Bill Callahan. What does this record show? It is not only a document, but, as the title states, also an accounting of Callahan at a certain ag...
https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2026/02/25/bill-callahan-the-aquarium-drunkard-interview/
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"it pukes me off, actually." Viv Stanshall reviews new singles for Melody Maker, 7 Dec 1968
4 days ago
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Thin White Duke 50: DB in Montreal: time bombs, cannabis and "anti-spectacle," with some of the best, if brief, video footage of the entire '76 tour, as remixed by Nacho.
www.patreon.com/posts/isolar...
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Isolar 50: Montreal, 25 February 1976 | Chris O'Leary
Get more from Chris O'Leary on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/posts/isolar-50-25-151482099
4 days ago
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a great example of Palmer nicking bits from here and there---some Gary Numan, some Bryan Ferry--and fusing it into something fresh. Ferry covering the song decades later is the perfect coda
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5 days ago
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glad people are liking this series. there's a bizarre night in Canada (attempted bombing; reviewer comparing DB to Satan) coming up tomorrow
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5 days ago
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40 now. My thoughts haven't changed that much in all this time---some beautiful songs on it, a few grating ones. Some great lines, some overwrought ones. A wonderful set of musicians, some used well. in retrospect, a template for much of EC's later years.
5 days ago
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Jason P. Woodbury
5 days ago
"I believe that goofiness is sacred." Another
@aquariumdrunkard.com
piece: I spoke with Peter Stampfel (Holy Modal Rounders, Fugs) about his latest album of jingles and devotionals, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Harry Smith, and praying while stoned. Read:
aquariumdrunkard.com/2026/02/24/p...
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a treasured family story is my parents taking my aunt & uncle to see Neil Young in the 90s, expecting a chill "Heart of Gold" kind of evening, only to get blasted with guitar skronk for 90 minutes
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5 days ago
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Happy to see the sun again after the storm
5 days ago
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every year on my birthday, I add to this list of books---published in my lifetime---that I've loved reading. here's the 2026 update.
olearychristopher.wordpress.com/2022/02/23/h...
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Hey, Have You Read This One? 54 Years of Great Books
The following is a list of favorite books read during my 54 years (well, the years when I could read, that is). The list is confined to books published within the span of 1972-2026. I capped each a…
https://olearychristopher.wordpress.com/2022/02/23/hey-have-you-read-50-years-of-great-books/
6 days ago
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Burning Ambulance (website/newsletter/record label)
6 days ago
The Art Ensemble of Chicago's brilliant People In Sorrow is being reissued on LP and CD in May (physical release only, no downloads):
artensembleofchicagoplayloud.bandcamp.com/album/people...
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People in Sorrow, by Art Ensemble of Chicago
4 track album
https://artensembleofchicagoplayloud.bandcamp.com/album/people-in-sorrow
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Stereogum
6 days ago
‘Trainspotting’ hit theaters 30 years ago today… Did you know Belle And Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch is in it? Two weeks after the movie was released, he recorded the band’s debut album ‘Tigermilk.’
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Thin White Duke 50: Bowie in Cincinnati, to a crowd of "virtually android slaves" (Cincinnati Post)
www.patreon.com/posts/isolar...
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Isolar 50: Cincinnati, 23 February 1976 | Chris O'Leary
Get more from Chris O'Leary on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/posts/isolar-50-23-151394741
6 days ago
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Live Tapes
6 days ago
Pylon - 1988-07-23 Athens, GA (sbd M1)
https://dbs-repercussion.blogspot.com/2026/02/pylon-1988-07-23-athens-ga-sbd-m1.html
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Pylon - 1988-07-23 Athens, GA (sbd M1)
**_40 Watt_** ** _Athens, GA_** ** _July 23, 1988_** ** ** **soundboard recording (EX quality;_from cassette copy of master_)** ** ** **00 _stage entrance, tuning_** **01 Driving School** **02 Cool** **03 Working Is No Problem** **04 Gravity** **05 Altitude** **06 Show** **07 Crazy** **08 Danger** **09 No Clocks** **10 Read a Book** **11 There It Is** **12 Weather Radio** **13 Volume** **14 Beep** **15 Stop It** **16 _pre-encore applause, etc._** **17 M-Train** **18 Feast On My Heart** **19 _pre-encore applause, tuning, etc._** **20 Dub** ** ** ** ** **SAMPLE: Cool live in Athens 1988-07-23** ** _Pylon_ :** **Randy Bewley - guitar** **Vanessa Briscoe Hay - vocals** **Curtis Crowe - drums** **Michael Lachowski - bass** ** ** ** _LINEAGE_ : online download of 16-bit lossless file > Audacity 3.7 for Mac for normalization & DC offset, track splits, removing dead spots, fades, tagging > FLAC16 _-NO COMPRESSION, NO NOISE REDUCTION-_** ** ** ** --- **_Do yourself a favor_ : get Pylon Box** ROB SEZ: _HUGE thanks to the kind trader who shared this with me. He prefers to remain anonymous, and told me this is a copy of the soundboard master._****_As received, I only needed to split and tag the tracks, normalize, apply fades, and remove dead spots. No compression or noise reduction was used, no small animals harmed._** **_ _** **_Vanessa not only thanks the 40 Watt, but also R.E.M. -- the reason for which is not evident, since REMTimeline has the band in N.Y. state in this part of July, and they played no known gigs on 23 July. _** **_ _** **_I like this recording a bit better than the 1983 soundboard I shared last week. Vanessa's voice is more prominent in the mix, and the band sounds as tight as ever. Please enjoy._** ** ** **FLAC** ** ** **MP3@320** ****
https://dbs-repercussion.blogspot.com/2026/02/pylon-1988-07-23-athens-ga-sbd-m1.html
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the techbro dream of sailing away/isolating from a world falling apart is a variation on an old hippie one; see Jackson Browne & Grace Slick's memories of David Crosby
6 days ago
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A birthday blizzard morning. Richard Strauss, in a letter to von Hofmannsthal: "I am 54 years of age: how long my productive vigor will continue to yield something good, who can tell?" I hear you, Richard...
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Thin White Duke 50: the minor mystery of the absence/presence of "Golden Years," one night in Indiana
www.patreon.com/posts/isolar...
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Isolar 50: (The Mystery of) Evansville, 22 February 1976 | Chris O'Leary
Get more from Chris O'Leary on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/posts/isolar-50-of-22-151098071
7 days ago
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The Tonearm
8 days ago
"If Kraftwerk are the electronic Beatles, then Karl Bartos is their George Harrison: an essential third voice and creative power in a band away from the formational duo, whose contributions are among the absolute highlights of the band’s stories career." An interview with Karl Bartos:
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“Everybody plays my beat nowadays” - an interview with Karl Bartos
Plus Sofia Kourtesis, femtanyl, The Beach Boys and more
https://linenoise.substack.com/p/everybody-plays-my-beat-nowadays?ref=thetonearm.com
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5 x 5: Ursula Le Guin Virginia Woolf Charles Dickens Don DeLillo John Crowley
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8 days ago
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"Ok, the LP is 'Secrets': for the cover, we get a model, black-&-white photo, maybe a private eye office thing?" Robert Palmer: "Have me shaving" "You shaving?" RP: "Yes. Take a few angles" "...The album is called 'Secrets'" RP: "well, then the reveal is I'm cleanshaven"
8 days ago
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Jody Rosen
8 days ago
Wow Willie Colón! Responsible for some of the hottest, toughest dance music this country has produced. (Also some of most beautiful ballads, see below.) Albums w/Hector Lavoe established mythic urban outlaw persona decades before rappers got into the act. Demigod NYC musician! RIP
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Willie Colón & Héctor Lavoe - Ausencia (Audio)
YouTube video by WM Music Records
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhc1BKWPYx0
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)
Erin Kissane
9 days ago
The headline does not convey how completely batshit this story is. The Archive Today (
archive.ph
etc) admin weaponized the site's captcha to attack a blogger who wrote about them and *altered archived screenshots* as part of the attack.
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
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Wikipedia blacklists Archive.today, starts removing 695,000 archive links
If DDoSing a blog wasn't bad enough, archive site also tampered with web snapshots.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/wikipedia-bans-archive-today-after-site-executed-ddos-and-altered-web-captures/
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Reuben Fairfax Jr isn't a name you read about much, but he plays incredible bass on this record ( & cowrote all the songs!) Just "Georgia Boy" alone
9 days ago
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Happy Friday!
9 days ago
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)
Ned Raggett
9 days ago
Okay, latest weekly music thoughts up -- Phil Manzanera from last night! That brilliant Alysa Liu skate to Donna Summer! And yeah a little more about a certain film whose soundtrack is clearly the better option.
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Some Weekly Music Thoughts #178 | Ned Raggett
Get more from Ned Raggett on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/posts/some-weekly-178-151259361?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link
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More Songs About Buildings and Food track sheets, with 1 track per song usually devoted to "ENO"
9 days ago
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I recall I first heard it in my freshman dorm room on WFNX in Boston. and after it ended, it was like "whoa, this is going to be the Big One, isn't it." What I imagine hearing something like Hey Jude for the first time was like
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10 days ago
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