DAVID BOWIE
ALABAMA SONG LIMITED EDITION 40th ANNIVERSARY
7-INCH PICTURE DISC
SET TO RELEASE ON FEBRUARY 14
February 14th, 2020 sees the release of the latest special limited David Bowie 7-inch picture disc, the 40th anniversary edition of “Alabama Song.”
Originally released in the U.K. on February 15, 1980, “Alabama Song” was initially written as a poem by Bertolt Brecht in 1925 and was put to music by Kurt Weill for the 1927 play Little Mahogany. David Bowie was a long-standing Brecht fan and included the song in the set-list for his 1978 Isolar II tour.
The studio version of “Alabama Song” on the A-side of this release was recorded on July 2nd 1978, the day after the final show of the European leg of the tour at Tony Visconti’s Good Earth Studios in Soho, London.
The AA-Side features two previously unreleased tracks: a rendition of Heroes track “Joe The Lion” recorded at the soundcheck of the tour’s final Earl's Court show on July 1, 1978. Though rehearsed for the Isolar II tour “Joe The Lion” would not make its live debut until the Serious Moonlight tour of 1983.
The second track on the AA-side is a live version of “Alabama Song” also recorded July 1st 1978—a different performance than the one featured on the live album Welcome To The Blackout.
DAVID BOWIE
ALABAMA SONG LIMITED EDITION 40th ANNIVERSARY 7-INCH PICTURE DISC
TRACK LIST
A-Side (45 r.p.m)
ALABAMA SONG
(Kurt Weill / Bertolt Brecht)
Produced by DAVID BOWIE and TONY VISCONTI
Recorded at GOOD EARTH STUDIOS, LONDON on 2nd July, 1978
AA-Side (33 1/3 r.p.m)
JOE THE LION
(LIVE EARL'S COURT ’78 SOUNDCHECK) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
(David Bowie)
Recorded live by TONY VISCONTI with the MANOR MOBILE at EARLS COURT, LONDON, 1st July, 1978 Recording engineered by JEREMY ALLOM and KEN CAPPER
Mixed by JOHN PRESTAGE at AIR Studios, London, July, 2019
ALABAMA SONG
(LIVE EARL'S COURT ’78) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
(Kurt Weill / Bertolt Brecht)
Produced by DAVID BOWIE
Recorded live by TONY VISCONTI with the MANOR MOBILE at EARLS COURT, LONDON, 1st July, 1978 Recording engineered by JEREMY ALLOM and KEN CAPPER
Mixed by DAVID BOWIE and DAVID RICHARDS at MOUNTAIN STUDIOS, MONTREUX, 17th - 22nd January, 1979.
The images used on the A and B sides of the picture disc are by (A-side) DEAN CHAMBERLAIN © THE DAVID BOWIE ARCHIVE® (AA-Side) CHRIS WALTER © CHRIS WALTER COURTESY OF GETTY IMAGES
# # #