David Bowie / Repetition ’97
Watch and listen to the unheard version of this song
David Bowie‘s previously announced CHANGESNOWBOWIE album – which is scheduled for CD and vinyl release on Record Store Day (currently 20 June) – is being made available early for fans via streaming platforms, with Repetition ’97 leading the way as a preview.
As a reminder, CHANGESNOWBOWIE is a nine-track album, recorded for radio and broadcast by the BBC on David’s 50th birthday on 8 January, 1997. This mostly acoustic session was a stripped back affair featuring some of David’s favourites of his own compositions including Repetition which is from 1979’s Lodger.
The video below was filmed at the Earthling tour rehearsals in Hartford, Connecticut by Tim Pope will be made available for streaming and download. The rest of CHANGESNOWBOWIE follows on streaming platforms on Friday 17 April 2020.
CHANGESNOWBOWIE
The Man Who Sold The World
Aladdin Sane
White Light / White Heat
Shopping For Girls
Lady Stardust
The Supermen
Repetition
Andy Warhol
Quicksand
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A CD version on RSD – I missed this, excellent news, exactly how it should be allowing the buyer to choose format, I thought CD’s had been totally dropped these days for RSD. Any others scheduled?
Yeah, there is also a 74 live recording announced, CD and vinyl. Best RSD for Bowie fans for a while.
I find the sidelining of CD releases on RSD frustrating and strange: it seems to fly in the face of the original concept of the ‘event’. The idea was to save/ support the ‘record store’ as an entity not the record format that might well be sold in that store – if CDs are going to sell well, and therefore contribute to the continued existence of the record store, they should definitely be released for these events. The focus was and should continue to be to prioritise saving the independent music shop not any particular format. I too am glad for these Bowie CD releases.
Are the tracks on the ChangesNowBowie the same versions that were on the Jo Whiley radio show (& interview)?
It drives me nuts that apostrophes are upside down in so much modern graphic design, and it happens because so many software programs put them the wrong way round (curving toward the text even in places where it’s incorrect to do so). Look at the one before “97” in the Repetition graphic here. Any typographer will complain about that. It instantly cheapens a design. Note that Paul gets the apostrophes correct in this article even if the Bowie team designer didn’t!
I have given up on getting irritated by poor grammar. I see it everywhere these days – even on the BBC. Check out their ‘ticker tape’ on News 24. Regular spelling mistakes. There was a time that would never have happened. News websites too. I see ‘the the’ all the time. Do they not check these things? It’s lazy and shoddy. I could do a better job!
This is a great reworking of my favourite track off Lodger. He was always great at that – Rebel Rebel – Panic In Detroit – Space Oddity – come to mind.
Will any of us be able to buy this Changesnowbowie on CD or is it another ‘limited Record Store edition’ where they’re all gone in 2 minutes?
……. and I still haven’t got my ‘Is It Any Wonder’ CD – ordered and paid for from the official Bowie website back in February. I’m aware of the current situation but I’ve had conflicting release date information and have emailed them again last week and still not heard back from them – and it seems some HAVE received their copies even though they say the release has been postponed.
He was always great. The best. It still shocks me how emotional I get thinking about us losing him.
Breaks my heart.
Planet Earth is blue.
Just to clarify, this audio is not the CHANGESNOWBOWIE version.
That version is now on streaming services and is also called Repetition ’97.
This version is only on youtube.
Easiest way to tell them apart is that this one has no drums in the intro.
They are virtually identical.
Hi Paul, the Repetition 97 video above is not the version being released on changesnowbowie. the 97 version was recorded for Earthling and dropped at the last minute.
Changesnowbowie version is live ( pre recoreded for the BBC )
Yes, they are slightly different recordings. Not sure Repetition 97 was ever bound for Earthing, however..? (that was just Baby Universal, I think).
What a terrific performer. Out of all the characters David Jones created, ‘David Bowie’ was his most enduring.
Watching this video, David Bowie reminds me of the Gwynplaine character in ‘The Man Who Laughs.’ This new version could be a grower for me. The Lodger version is one of my favourite Bowie songs.
So this is another release from the 1997 era. If the focus could swerve back a couple of years to 1995, I’d love a super reissue of Outside. Apparently, there’s a wealth of unreleased studio material.
An Outside SE is something I’d love.
Agreed, though I don’t know if we’ll see it. There was a double disc edition of Outside a few years ago, which included numerous mixes (five of Heart’s Filthy Lesson alone!) and a few b- sides. Personally I just want the 90’s box!