On this day, 16 years ago, DAVID BOWIE released the iSelect free compilation CD from THE MAIL ON SUNDAY newspaper.

In the liner notes, David Bowie comments on each of the twelve tracks he selected for the album. It makes fascinating reading...

David Bowie: 'For this CD compilation I've selected 12 of my songs that I don't seem to tire of. Few of them are well known, but many of them are still sung at my concerts. Usually by me. I'll start off with the hit.'

Life On Mars?

This song was so easy. Being young was easy. A really beautiful day in the park, sitting on the steps of the bandstand. 'Sailors bap-bap-bap-bap-baaa-bap.' An anomic (not a 'gnomic') heroine. Middle-class ecstasy.

I took a walk to Beckenham High Street to catch a bus to Lewisham to buy shoes and shirts but couldn't get the riff out of my head. Jumped off two stops into the ride and more or less loped back to the house up on Southend Road.

Workspace was a big empty room with a chaise longue; a bargain-price art nouveau screen ('William Morris,' so I told anyone who asked); a huge overflowing freestanding ashtray and a grand piano. Little else.

I started working it out on the piano and had the whole lyric and melody finished by late afternoon. Nice.

Rick Wakeman came over a couple of weeks later and embellished the piano part and guitarist Mick Ronson created one of his first and best string parts for this song which now has become something of a fixture in my live shows.

Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing.

I'd failed to obtain the theatrical rights from George Orwell's widow for the book 1984 and having written three or more songs for it already, I did a fast about-face and recobbled the idea into Diamond Dogs: teen punks on rusty skates living on the roofs of the dystopian Hunger City; a post-apocalyptic landscape.

A centrepiece for this would-be stage production was to be Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing, which I wrote using William Burroughs's cut-up method.

You write down a paragraph or two describing several different subjects creating a kind of story ingredients-list, I suppose, and then cut the sentences into four or five-word sections; mix 'em up and reconnect them.

You can get some pretty interesting idea combinations like this. You can use them as is or, if you have a craven need to not lose control, bounce off these ideas and write whole new sections.

I was looking to create a profligate world that could have been inhabited by characters from Kurt Weill or John Rechy - that sort of atmosphere. A bridge between Enid Blyton's Beckenham and The Velvet Underground's New York. Without Noddy, though.

I thought it evocative to wander between the melodramatic Sweet Thing croon into the dirty sound of Candidate and back again. For no clear reason (what's new?) I stopped singing this song around the mid-Seventies.

Though I've never had the patience or discipline to get down to finishing a musical theatre idea other than the rock shows I'm known for, I know what I'd try to produce if I did.

I've never been keen on traditional musicals. I find it awfully hard to suspend my disbelief when dialogue is suddenly song. I suppose one of the few people who can make this work is Stephen Sondheim with works such as Assassins.

I much prefer through-sung pieces where there is little if any dialogue at all. Sweeney Todd is a good example, of course. Peter Grimes and The Turn Of The Screw, both operas by Benjamin Britten, and The Rise And Fall Of The City Of Mahagonny by Weill. How fantastic to be able to create something like that.

The Bewlay Brothers.

The only pipe I have ever smoked was a cheap Bewlay. It was a common item in the late Sixties and for this song I used Bewlay as a cognomen - in place of my own. This wasn't just a song about brotherhood so I didn't want to misrepresent it by using my true name.

Having said that, I wouldn't know how to interpret the lyric of this song other than suggesting that there are layers of ghosts within it. It's a palimpsest, then.

The circumstances of the recording barely exist in my memory. It was late, I know that. I was on my own with my producer Ken Scott; the other musicians having gone for the night.

Unlike the rest of the Hunky Dory album, which I had written before the studio had been booked, this song was an unwritten piece that I felt had to be recorded instantaneously.

I had a whole wad of words that I had been writing all day. I had felt distanced and unsteady all evening, something settling in my mind. It's possible that I may have smoked something in my Bewlay pipe. I distinctly remember a sense of emotional invasion.

I do believe that we finished the whole thing on that one night. It's likely that I ended up drinking at the Sombrero in Kensington High Street or possibly Wardour Street's crumbling La Chasse. Cool.

Lady Grinning Soul.

Mike Garson's piano opens with the most ridiculous and spot-on re-creation of a 19th Century music hall 'exotic' number. I can see now the 'poses plastiques' as if through a smoke-filled bar. Fans, castanets and lots of Spanish black lace and little else. Sexy, mmm? And for you, Madam?

This was written for a wonderful young girl whom I've not seen for more than 30 years. When I hear this song she's still in her 20s, of course.

A song will put you tantalisingly close to the past, so close that you can almost reach out and touch it. The sound of ghosts again.

Win.

This is not, you may be speechless to learn, an ode to Winifred Atwell, though I almost wish it were for she was a real winner. In the Fifties in England it was virtually impossible for a ten-year-old to hear boogiewoogies and rags unless our Winifred was playing them on her 'other' piano.

At home in Trinidad she'd been brought up with blues and R&B and had played it for the American GIs who were based at what is now the main airport. Winnie was the first black artist in Britain to sell one million records. She was tops.

No, this song is about, er, winning. David Sanborn is on sax. He was experimenting with sound effects at the time and I'd rather hoped he would push further into that area, but he chose to become rich and famous instead. So he did win really, didn't he?

Some Are.

A quiet little piece Brian Eno and I wrote in the Seventies. The cries of wolves in the background are sounds that you might not pick up on immediately. Unless you're a wolf. They're almost human, both beautiful and creepy.

Images of the failed Napoleonic force stumbling back through Smolensk. Finding the unburied corpses of their comrades left from their original advance on Moscow. Or possibly a snowman with a carrot for a nose; a crumpled Crystal Palace Football Club admission ticket at his feet. A Weltschmerz [world weariness] indeed. Send in your own images, children, and we'll show the best of them next week.

Teenage Wildlife.

So it's late morning and I'm thinking: 'New song and a fresh approach. I know, I'm going to do a Ronnie Spector. Oh yes I am. Ersatz, just for one day.'

And I did and here it is. Bless. I'm still enamoured of this song and would give you two Modern Loves for it any time. It's also one that I find fulfilling to sing onstage. It has some nice interesting sections to it that can trip you up, always a good kind of obstacle to contend with live.

Ironically, the lyric is something about taking a short view of life, not looking too far ahead and not predicting the oncoming hard knocks. The lyric might have been a note to a younger brother or my own adolescent self.

The guitars on this track form a splintery little duel between the great Robert Fripp and my long-time friend Carlos Alomar.

Repetition.

By virtue of the instrument's classical baggage, Simon House's violin touches a vein of pure Goth on this recording. There's a numbness to the whole rhythm section that I try to duplicate with a deadpan vocal, as though I'm reading a report rather than witnessing the event. I used to find this quite easy to accomplish.

I decided to write something on the deeply disturbing subject of wife abuse in the manner of a short-form drama.

I had known more instances of this behaviour than I would have preferred to have been made aware of and could not for the life of me imagine how someone could hit a woman, not only once but many, many times.

Fantastic Voyage.

It's almost quaint, this one. It has a strong feel of the Fifties variety show to it. A cavil in passing - if I'd been in the position of the mid-Sixties Rolling Stones, I definitely would have gone on the Sunday Night At The London Palladium show's revolving stage.

They had refused to stand on the roundabout with the other acts at the end of the show, as it didn't fit in with their rebellious image. I was surprised to read that the American entertainer Judy Garland also refused a whirl, as she was too emotionally upset. Who knew?

I would have been shyly clawing my way past Jimmy Tarbuck to get on. I remember my mother being excited about the first time this show appeared on television in 1955.

My father had bought our set for Princess Elizabeth's coronation in 1953 and it had opened up a new world for us. Guy Mitchell was apparently an exciting part of this world as my mother went all schoolgirl when he came on screen and sang She Wears Red Feathers (And A Hula Hula Skirt).

This song's chord structure (Fantastic Voyage, I mean, not She Wears Red Feathers) appeared on the album Lodger in two forms. First, as it appears here and then further in as Boys Keep Swinging (they were men's dresses, I tell you). Both the tempo and top-line melody are rewritten.

I did this again on the album Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps). It proved nothing. Thinking about it, Guy Mitchell would have done this song proud.

Loving The Alien.

I'm trying to come up with a little-used word for each song entry. I've not got one for this song. And this song is not, it may surprise you to know, another ode to little green Martians. Oh, recidivism, that'll fit.

Time Will Crawl

There are a host of songs that I've recorded over the years that for one reason or another (clenched teeth) I've often wanted to re-record some time in the future. This track from Never Let Me Down is one of those.

I've replaced the drum machine with true drums and added some crickety strings and remixed. I'm very fond of this new version with its Neil Young of Shortlands accents. Oh, to redo the rest of that album.

One Saturday afternoon in April 1986, along with some other musicians I was taking a break from recording at Montreux studios in Switzerland. It was a beautiful day and we were outside on a small piece of lawn facing the Alps and the lake.

Our engineer, who had been listening to the radio, shot out of the studio and shouted: 'There's a whole lot of s*** going on in Russia.'

The Swiss news had picked up a Norwegian radio station that was screaming - to anyone who would listen - that huge billowing clouds were moving over from the Motherland and they weren't rain clouds. This was the first news in Europe of the satanic Chernobyl.

I phoned a writer friend in London, but he hadn't heard anything about it. It wasn't for many more hours that the story started trickling out as major news.

For those first few moments it felt sort of claustrophobic to know you were one of only a few witnesses to something of this magnitude.

Over the next couple of months a complicated crucible of impressions collected in my head prompted by this insanity, any one of which could have become a song. I stuck them all in Time Will Crawl. That last sentence rhymes.

Hang On To Yourself (live).

Ziggy and the Spiders had played around 50 UK shows total, and this Santa Monica performance, from October 20, 1972, would be our 12th in America.

Although of only bootleg quality and despite the drums and bass being casually miked, I hope you can feel our real thrill here of presenting the band to a radio audience for the first time. I necessarily took the most centre-stage position as easily as an old ham from Bromley Repertory would, though in reality I was deadly nervous.

This was our first live American radio broadcast, so it was a big deal. We fluffed a lot of stuff that night, but the enthusiasm and pride stand 10ft tall.

One astounding thing about Mainman, my management at the time, is that for the 18 months of the Spiders' life-cycle (and after, actually) they never arranged for us to play anywhere in Europe where Ziggy was a proverbial monster. No tours, no shows, not even Paris.

I never understood that and was pretty miserable about it at the time, but now realise how naive and unprepared my management was for the serious job of actually managing.

© David Bowie 2008.

On this day, 24 years ago, DAVID BOWIE performed at the BBC Radio Theatre, Portland Place, London in 2000 to a specially invited audience.

I wrote in my diary... 'An awesome performance tonight by David and the band, even more so considering David was clearly under the weather with "half a bronchitis on top of the laryngitis" and a ticklish throat. Ever the professional, he kept soldering on, with the aid of a breathing type menthol thingy-inhaler... he even joked around with the inhaler doing Frank Booth impressions from the 'Blue Velvet' movie'.

The full set list ran as follows:

       01. Wild Is The Wind.
       02. Ashes To Ashes.
       03. Seven.
       04. This Is Not America.
       05. Absolute Beginners.
       06. Always Crashing In The Same Car.
       07. Survive.
       08. The London Boys.
       09. I Dig Everything.
       10. Little Wonder.
       11. The Man Who Sold The World.
       12. Fame.
       13. Stay.
       14. Hallo Spaceboy.
       15. Cracked Actor.
       16. I'm Afraid Of Americans.
Encore:
       17. Ziggy Stardust.
       18. The Jean Genie (instrumental fill in).
       19. All The Young Dudes.
       20. Starman.
       21. "Heroes".
       22. Let's Dance.

Check out his performance of The London Boys below, which wasn't part of the original broadcast on BBC.

So far, on its opening week in various official album charts around the world, DAVID BOWIE's Rock 'n' Roll Star! 5CD/ Blu-ray Book Set and Vinyl 1LP (Half-Speed Master Alternative Takes and Mixes) has achieved the following positions:

Austria Ö3 Top40 Longplay - #47
Belgium (Flandre) Ultratop Albums Top 200 - #33
Belgium (Wallonie) Ultratop Albums Top 200 - #50
Denmark Hitlisten Vinyl Top-40 - #6
Dutch Charts Album Top 100 - #44
Dutch Charts Vinyl 33 - #12
Finland Fyysiset-Albumit (Physical) - #2
France SNEP Top Albums - #56
France SNEP Top Albums Physiques - #17
Germany Top 100 Album-Charts - #51
Hungary Hivatalos Magyar Album Top 40 (Physical) - #10
Japan Oricon Western Music Album - #18
Japan Oricon Rock Album - #12
Scotland Albums - #6
Spain EPDM Top 100 Albums - #81
Spain EPDM Top 100 Vinilos - #9
Sweden Veckolista Vinyl Album - #4
Sweden Veckolista Physical Album - #8
Switzerland HitParade Top 100 - #34
Switzerland HitParade Vinyl Top 10 - #9
UK Top 100 - #39
UK Albums Update - #7
UK Albums Sales - #4
UK Albums Downloads - #52
UK Albums Physical - #4
UK Albums Vinyl - #7
UK Albums Vinyl Record Store Chart - #9
USA Top Current Album Sales - #22
USA Top Album Sales - #27
USA Indie Store Album Sales - #15

(Ed. This article will be updated as and when different countries charts are published in the coming days).

On this day, 53 years ago, DAVID BOWIE performed at Glastonbury Fayre for the first time in 1971.

David is pictured here leaving the Eavises' farmhouse. For the performance he wore a blue Magician's cloak and a hat purchased from 'The Universal Witness' boutique on the Fulham Road in London.

Photographs © Gabi Nasemann...

      

Heads up, currently in the pipeline for next year is a new DAVID BOWIE book from ACC Art Books titled: 'David Bowie by Denis O'Regan: From the Man Who Photographed Him Most'.

This 300-page, hardcover publication is due on 12th May 2025.

Synopsis:
Official photographer to music legend David Bowie, Denis O'Regan presents a personal edit from his unrivalled collection of photographs. Accompanying Bowie on two world tours and enjoying a decades-long relationship with the star, no one photographed Bowie more than Denis O'Regan. As Bowie himself once remarked, 'Denis, Rock 'n' Roll is in your blood'.

From the door of Olympic Studios, where Bowie recorded Diamond Dogs in 1974, to live stadium shows in the 1990s, Denis's full archive is at last opened and many unseen images revealed for the first time. With a foreword by guitarist Carlos Alomar, who collaborated with Bowie throughout his career, David Bowie by Denis O'Regan tells Bowie's musical story in pictures with O'Regan's own words relaying his experience of documenting that incredible journey.

Author of the hugely successful Ricochet: David Bowie 1983 (Particular Books, 2018), O'Regan has toured with the biggest stars from The Rolling Stones and Queen to Pink Floyd and Duran Duran, to name a few. But it is his photographs of David Bowie, taken over two decades at over 200 concerts worldwide, that he is best known for. David Bowie the showman and David behind-the scenes, O'Regan has captured it all in this showcase of one of the world's most talented performers.

Available to pre-order now is the 2025 Official DAVID BOWIE Collector's Edition Calendar published by Danilo Promotions Ltd.

Published on 1st September, this square calendar comes in a record sleeve style cover and is inspired by David Bowie's album 'Hunky Dory'.

Each month includes imagery from 1971. There is plenty of space on the monthly date panels to write your notes and appointments for 2025.

© 2024 The David Bowie Archive ®
Under license to Perryscope Productions, LLC/Epic Rights.
Photography by Brian Ward.

Also available to pre-order now is the A3 sized 2025 OFFICIAL CALENDAR DAVID BOWIE featuring photographs by Mick Rock, Steve Schapiro, Greg Gorman and Terry O'Neill.

The 1967 debut album by DAVID BOWIE is to be released next month in three Deluxe Editions Double Green Vinyl and Audio 2-CD on 26th July.

There is also a Decca Records Store Exclusive Deluxe Edition in Cream/Green Swirl Vinyl.

David Bowie's groundbreaking debut album is set for a vibrant revival with a reissue on both CD and coloured vinyl, boasting exclusive tracklists to tantalize fans old and new.

Critics of the time commented; with the NME praising Bowie's fresh sound as "all very refreshing" and hailing him as "a very promising talent." Melody Maker lauds the album as "a singularly rewarding collection" with "excellent" production, while expressing surprise that Bowie hadn't yet made a bigger impact on the pop scene. Meanwhile, Disc & Music Echo raves about the album, describing it as "a remarkable, creative debut album by a 19-year-old Londoner" and declaring Bowie as "a new talent that deserves attention."

With such illuminating reviews, this reissue promises to reignite Bowie's early legacy and introduce his visionary artistry to a new generation of listeners.

The 2-CD tracklisting runs as follows:

DISC: 1
01. Uncle Arthur
02. Sell Me A Coat
03. Rubber Band
04. Love You Till Tuesday
05. There Is A Happy Land
06. We Are Hungry Men
07. When I Live My Dream
08. Little Bombardier
09. Silly Boy Blue
10. Come and Buy My Toys
11. Join The Gang
12. She's Got Medals
13. Maid Of Bond Street
14. Please Mr. Gravedigger

DISC: 2
01. Rubber Band (Single Version)
02. The London Boys
03. The Laughing Gnome
04. The Gospel According To Tony Day (Mono)
05. Love You Till Tuesday (Single Version)
06. Did You Ever Have A Dream
07. When I Live My Dream (Single Version) (Mono)
08. Let Me Sleep Beside You
09. Karma Man
10. In the Heat Of The Morning
11. London Bye, Ta Ta
12. When I'm Five
13. Ching Ching A-Ling
14. The Laughing Gnome (Vocal Take 1/mix 1)
15. Sell Me A Coat (Remix) (Mono)
16. Space Oddity (Love You Till Tuesday Version)

You can pre-order the Green Vinyl Double LP and Audio 2-CD now!

Update: The DAVID BOWIE 1972 hit single Starman has just attained Platinum 2x status in 'BRIT Certified', administered and certified by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the trade association for the British recorded music industry.

The single first released on 28th April 1972 by RCA Records was the lead single from his forthcoming album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars.

The song was a late addition to the album, after RCA requested a single, replacing the cover version of Chuck Berry's 'Round And Round'.

'Starman' first hit UK platinum status on 31st July 2020, and now increases to platinum (x2) on 31st May 2024.

In official album charts placements around the world at present: Bowie's Legacy album, is still charting in two countries, namely in the United Kingdom at #75 (total 395 weeks) and Ireland at #80 (total 394 weeks).

The 50th Anniversary release of Diamond Dogs has managed a second week in the Spain Top 100 Vinyl Chart, sliding down to #49 after entering at #25. (Update: Spain now 3 weeks total #25/#49/-/#53). Scotland was the only other country where the album had consecutive weeks, in at #13, followed by #97.

Strangely, also in the Spanish Top 100 Vinyl Chart at #100 was Bowie - Even More Sounds + Visions (The Legendary Broadcasts) an unofficial 10" vinyl from Coda Publishing released 4 years ago, which contains some tracks from his 1990 Sound+Vision Tour.

Meanwhile in Greece, Labyrinth has so far spent a total of 8 weeks in their album chart. It entered at #17, followed by #19, and most recently gone back up the chart to #17 on its current 8th week.

Still in Greece, placed at #27 is the IGGY POP / Bowie album collaboration Lust For Life, which has spent 6 weeks on the chart, with a high of #26.

• On this day, 52 years ago, DAVID BOWIE released his immortal The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars album in 1972...

• On this day, 7 years ago, DAVID BOWIE Cracked Actor (Live Los Angeles '74) 2CD was released in 2017...

• On this day, 7 years ago, DAVID BOWIE Be My Wife 40th Anniversary 7" Picture Disc Single was released in 2017...

Check out the official video for 'Ziggy Stardust' by DAVID BOWIE, featuring unseen footage from the Ziggy Stardust tours shot in the UK during 1972 and 1973. Filmed by late Bowie collaborator, photographer MICK ROCK, the footage features the album version of Ziggy Stardust as its soundtrack.

You can purchase Rock 'n' Roll Star! (5CD and Blu-ray Book Set) and pre-order the Dolby Atmos spatial audio version of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars (Blu-ray Audio) released on 6th September which is available to pre-order NOW!

Released today is the eagerly awaited DAVID BOWIE ROCK 'N' ROLL STAR!, 5CD and 1 Blu-ray audio set that explores David Bowie's journey from February 1971 through the creation of the Ziggy Stardust character, the recording of the iconic THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS album, and captures the international mania that surrounded the Ziggy phenomenon in the form of UK radio sessions and TV performances, as well as live tracks from Ziggy and the Spiders' 1st October 1972 show at the Boston Music Hall.

ROCK 'N' ROLL STAR!, contains 29 unreleased tracks, covers early songwriting demos, recordings from David's studio creation, The Arnold Corns, rehearsals at Bowie's then-home, Haddon Hall, BBC sessions, singles, live performances, plus outtakes and alternative versions from the original album recording sessions, which have been newly mixed by original album producer, Ken Scott.

Unreleased highlights include an alternative version of 'Lady Stardust', a version of the deep-cut classic 'Shadow Man' and an up-tempo take of The Who's 'I Can't Explain', which he would later slow down and cover for the PIN UPS album.

The audio-only Blu-ray disc features the definitive 2012 remaster of the original Ziggy Stardust album in 96kHz/24bit PCM stereo, plus the album and additional mixes from 2003 in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 as well as the singles, outtakes and alternative versions in 96kHz/24 bit PCM stereo.

The Blu-ray also includes a version of the ZIGGY STARDUST album called WAITING IN THE SKY (BEFORE THE STARMAN CAME TO EARTH) taken from Trident Studio tapes dated 15th December 1971, which features an alternative running order and four songs that didn't make the final album. This will also be available as a limited vinyl LP on 20th April, 2024 for Record Store Day. In addition, there is a 1-LP version of ROCK 'N' ROLL STAR! compiling the alternative takes and mixes.

ROCK 'N' ROLL STAR! also contains two books. The first is an extensive 112-page book with detailed liner notes, memorabilia, contemporary reviews and articles, rare photographs from Barrie Wentzel, Michael Putland, Mick Rock, Sukita and Alec Byrne, as well as brand-new notes and interviews with Ken Scott, Mark Carr Pritchett and David's plugger from the time, Anya Wilson. Accompanying the main book is a 36-page compiled reproduction of David's personal Ziggy Stardust era notebooks.

DAVID BOWIE - ROCK 'N' ROLL STAR!

* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

DISC 1
01. So Long 60s (San Francisco Hotel recording)*
02. Hang On To Yourself (early demo)*
03. Lady Stardust (demo)
04. Ziggy Stardust (demo)
05. Star (aka Stars) (demo)*
06. Soul Love (demo and DB spoken notes)*
07. Starman (demo 1 excerpt)*
08. Starman (demo 2)*
09. Moonage Daydream (The Arnold Corns version)
10. Hang On To Yourself (The Arnold Corns version)
11. Looking For A Friend (The Arnold Corns version - rough mix)*
12. Haddon Hall Rehearsals Segue: Ziggy Stardust / Holy Holy / Soul Love*
13. Star (aka Stars) (Haddon Hall rehearsal)*
14. Sweet Head (Haddon Hall rehearsal)*

DISC 2
Sounds Of The 70s: John Peel
Session recorded on 11th January, 1972 and broadcast on 28th January, 1972
01. Ziggy Stardust*
02. Queen Bitch*
03. Waiting For The Man*
04. Lady Stardust*

Sounds Of The 70s: Bob Harris
Session recorded on 18th January, 1972 and broadcast on 7th February, 1972
05. Hang On To Yourself
06. Ziggy Stardust
07. Queen Bitch
08. Waiting For The Man
09. Five Years

The Old Grey Whistle Test Performance
Filmed on 7th February, 1972 and broadcast on 8th February, 1972 except 'Oh! You Pretty Things' which was not broadcast until 1982.
10. Oh! You Pretty Things (take 1)
11. Queen Bitch
12. Five Years

DISC 3
Sounds Of The 70s: John Peel
Session recorded on 16th May, 1972 and broadcast on 23rd May, 1972
01. White Light/White Heat
02. Moonage Daydream
03. Hang On To Yourself
04. Suffragette City
05. Ziggy Stardust

Johnnie Walker Lunchtime Show
Session recorded on 22nd May, 1972 and broadcast from 5th-9th June, 1972
06. Starman
07. Space Oddity
08. Changes
09. Oh! You Pretty Things

Sounds Of The 70s: Bob Harris
Session recorded on 23rd May, 1972 and broadcast on 19th June, 1972
10. Andy Warhol
11. Lady Stardust
12. White Light/White Heat
13. Rock 'N' Roll Suicide

Top Of The Pops Performance
Filmed on 5th July, 1972 and broadcast on 6th July, 1972
14. Starman

DISC 4
01. Round And Round
02. The Supermen (Ziggy session version)
03. Holy Holy (Ziggy session version)
04. Velvet Goldmine (Ziggy session outtake)
05. Starman (original single mix)
06. John, I'm Only Dancing (original single version)

Recorded Live At The Music Hall, Boston.
Recorded on 1st October, 1972
07. The Supermen
08. Changes
09. Life On Mars?
10. My Death*
11. John, I'm Only Dancing

DISC 5
01. Looking For A Friend (The Arnold Corns version 2022 mix)*
02. Hang On To Yourself (early Ziggy session take)*
03. Star (take 5 alternative version)*
04. Lady Stardust (take 1 alternative version)*
05. Shadow Man (Ziggy session version)*
06. The Supermen (Ziggy session version 2023 Mix)*
07. Holy Holy (Ziggy session version alternative mix)*
08. Round And Round (alternative mix)
09. It's Gonna Rain Again (Ziggy session outtake)*
10. Looking For A Friend (Ziggy session version)*
11. Velvet Goldmine (Ziggy sessions outtake 2022 mix)*
12. Sweet Head (Ziggy sessions outtake 2022 mix)*
13. Starman (Top Of The Pops version 2022 mix)
14. John, I'm Only Dancing (alternative Trident Studios version)*
15. I Can't Explain (Trident Studios version)*

Bonus Mix
16. Moonage Daydream (2003 instrumental mix)

Blu-ray Audio

THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS
Original album mix (96khz/24bit Stereo)

THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS AND EXTRAS
2003 5.1 Mixes (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 - 96khz/24bit)

WAITING IN THE SKY (BEFORE THE STARMAN CAME TO EARTH)
Early Ziggy Stardust album tracklisting - December 1971 (96khz/24bit PCM stereo)

THE SINGLES
(96khz/24bit PCM stereo)

OUTTAKES AND ALTERNATIVE VERSIONS
(96khz/24bit PCM stereo)

ROCK 'N' ROLL STAR! HALF-SPEED MASTERED LP
Vinyl tracklisting

Side 1
01. Hang On To Yourself (early Ziggy session take)
02. Star (Take 5 alternative version)
03. Lady Stardust (Take 1 alternative version)
04. Shadow Man (Ziggy session version)
05. The Supermen (Ziggy session version 2023 mix)
06. Holy Holy (Ziggy session version alternative mix)
07. Round And Round (alternative mix) +

Side 2
01. Velvet Goldmine (Ziggy sessions outtake 2022 mix)
02. Looking For A Friend (Ziggy session version)
03. It's Gonna Rain Again (Ziggy sessions outtake)
04. Sweet Head (Ziggy sessions outtake 2022 mix)
05. Starman (Top Of The Pops version 2022 mix)
06. John, I'm Only Dancing (alternative Trident Studios version)*
07. I Can't Explain (Trident Studios version) +*

Produced by David Bowie and Ken Scott except + Produced by David Bowie.

You can purchase Rock 'n' Roll Star! (5CD and Blu-ray Book Set) and (Half-Speed Master Alternative Takes and Mixes 1LP) now!

Check out a fabulous cover version of DAVID BOWIE's 'Soul Love' (Jazz Ballad Style Cover) featuring SWEET MEGG over on Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox YouTube channel.

Incredibly sad news to learn of the passing of MARK CARR PRITCHETT on Wednesday morning.

Mark was originally a member of Dulwich College band Rungk, who went on to be part of The Arnold Corns band. He performed with DAVID BOWIE on the John Peel BBC Show 'David Bowie and Friends' in June 1971, he was guitarist in the Spiders backing band for The 1980 Floor Show, and performed with David many times over the years including performances at The Three Tuns in Beckenham.

His Les Paul guitar was borrowed by David to use for the Ziggy Stardust promotional photo shoot, and it ended up on the album front cover.

Sending sincere condolences to his wife Linda, and all family and friends.

Rest in peace - 'The Mohican from Penge' - you will be sadly missed.

A rare photograph of DAVID BOWIE is up for grabs at Irita Marriott Auctioneers.

Update: The photograph description for Lot 148 has now been updated with the following wording: 'DAVID BOWIE, Davy Jones c1965 unseen photo. A rare original photograph of Davy from c1965 when he travelled around with the Nashville Teens. Learning the skills both on and off the stage. He introduced the Nashville Teens and other acts along with playing his own song. The Nashville Teens took Davy under their wing. This rare photograph was taken by Arthur Sharp himself at a hotel room on one the days they were on tour. This rare photograph measuring 4 1/4 by 3 1/4 in colour shows David with a sheet around his naked body but still wearing socks sitting on a wooden chair. Permission granted to reproduce image to the winning bidder will be made by Arthurs family.'

Originally, the image first appeared online on the Nashville Teens website back in August 2016, with a different date, stating 1968... 'David Bowie at breakfast (without too many clothes). Taken by Art Sharp on the Isle of Wight in 1968. Then known as "David Jones"; Bowie followed the Teens on a tour in 1968 when he was learning his stagecraft.'

Update: The auction closed on 12th June with the hammer price realising £460 GBP.

Today marks the 32nd anniversary of DAVID and IMAN's wedding ceremony at Saint James Episcopal Church, in Florence, Italy in 1992.

The best man was David's son Duncan, with chief usher Alan Edwards.

Iman's maid of honour was her best friend Bethann Hardison.

Besides immediate family, among the sixty-eight invited guests were Yoko Ono, Brian Eno and his wife Anthea, Bono Vox, Eric Idle and his wife Tanya, Geoff MacCormack, George Underwood, Corinne Schwab, Jennifer Ichida (Duncan's then girlfriend), Hervé Léger (who designed Iman's dress), Thierry Mugler (who designed David's suit) and hair arranged by Teddy Antolin. Teddy was a very special guest - in a way responsible for what was happening that day, because it was he who introduced David and Iman at a dinner party two years previously in Los Angeles.

During the ceremony, Geoff MacCormack read Psalm 121 during the service and David's cousin Kristina Amadeus read from Corinthians.

You can click here to read an article from Hello! magazine entitled 'The Wedding of David Bowie and Iman' by Brian Aris from the BW press archive.

So far, on its opening week in various official album charts around the world, BOWIE's 50th Anniversary limited edition LP releases of 'Diamond Dogs' on Half-Speed Master and Picture Disc has achieved the following positions:

UK Official Vinyl Albums - #5
UK Official Vinyl Record Store - #12
UK Official Albums Sales - #16
UK Official Albums Physical - #13

Belgium (Wallonie) UltraTop - #89
Denmark Hitlisten Vinyl - #12
Scotland Official Albums - #13 / #97
Spain Top 100 Vinyl - #25 / #49
Sweden Veckolista Vinyl - #9
Sweden Veckolista Physical - #16
Switzerland Vinyl Charts Top 10 - #5

PR guru ALAN EDWARDS has written his memoir I WAS THERE: Dispatches from a Life in Rock and Roll which is published today.

This 320-page hardcover and Kindle editions are published by Simon & Schuster UK.

Synopsis: I Was There is a memoir by Alan Edwards, the godfather of modern music PR, whose stellar list of clients has ranged over the years from DAVID BOWIE to The Rolling Stones to the Spice Girls via the Stranglers, Blondie, Prince, Britney Spears, Robbie Williams, Amy Winehouse and, outside of music, David Beckham and Naomi Campbell.

Edwards describes getting his break in the mid 1970s as a scruffy, stoned 20 year-old just back from the hippy trail; his encounter with London's thriving punk scene, which inspired him to set up his own PR company; finding success and broadening his horizons as his work with the likes of Blondie and Bowie takes him to the US and beyond. He brings the reader up to the present day through a series of vivid, funny, always insightful behind the scenes vignettes, whether it's playing a spontaneous game of football with Bob Marley, listening to Prince discuss the future of civilisation in a nightclub VIP area, or being used as a pawn in the power struggle between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

Along the way, we're treated to all the entertaining tales of debauchery and rock-star antics you might expect, but more uniquely we're privy to Edwards' fascinating observations about the brilliant artists he has worked with, and what makes them tick. We also get a front-row seat to the rise of PR as a major force in British society, from the seven-figure media deal Edwards brokered for the Beckhams' wedding, to the role of spin in the New Labour government.

Even as Edwards grows into the consummate PR, playing a crucial background role in the lives and careers of some of the world's biggest stars, he retains a powerful sense of being an outsider - never forgetting how lucky he is to look back on decades of music and culture and say, 'I was there'.

About the Author: Alan Edwards is the founder and CEO of public relations giant The Outside Organisation which has represented an eclectic range of clients including the biggest music stars on the planet, corporations and brands, government, royalty, celebrities, charities, events, sports legends and clubs.

You can purchase I Was There now!

Today marks the anniversary of DAVID BOWIE's first ever lead vocal single release 'Liza Jane' credited to Davie Jones with The King Bees, which was released 60 years ago today, 5th June 1964 on the Vocalion Pop label (V 9221).

Featuring seventeen-year-old Davie Jones (vocals and saxophone), George Underwood (guitar), Roger Bluck (guitar), Francis Howard (bass) and Robert Allen (drums).

Although credited to Leslie Conn, David's then manager who negotiated a one-single deal with Decca Records, George Underwood said the song was originally an old Negro spiritual that the band played around with and came up with this R'n'B song.

Leslie Conn's recollection of the events in 1997:

"I can tell you that I have got a pretty retentive memory, but that is something I can't clearly recall. I used to write songs except that I don't write music and I don't play piano. When the boys were jamming to kind of come up with some ideas to make a record, they came up with some six bar blues, which everyone uses. As they were doing that, I came up with my own idea, which came from nowhere, and we improvised and the song came together. I mean, I would never take credit for something that I never did and I know David wouldn't have agreed for me to sign the contract as writer if he had wrote it himself. I would never have stolen someone else's song on principle. I know that I'm quite vague on that and I can't be absolutely sure how it all came about, but I know that I did come up with a lot of ideas. As for the production of the song that was most certainly me, I arranged and organised the whole thing and I always produced the material I was arranging with Decca at that time. George Underwood is definitely wrong on that point.

"There is a funny story while were still on the subject of 'Liza Jane'. When David and I parted company I went off to live and work in Majorca for a few years and one day I was on the phone to my mother and she said, 'what shall I do with those records I have in the garage' which were a few hundred copies of 'Liza Jane'. So I replied, 'Throw them out', and she did. The last time David came up here he said, 'Have you got any of those records we made, you know they're worth over a hundred pounds each!' I told him I got my mother to throw them all out! We had to laugh."

Backed with 'Louie Louie Go Home', written by Paul Revere and Mark Lindsay, which was incidentally pencilled in as the A-side, both songs were recorded in a seven-hour session at Decca Studios in Broadhurst Gardens, West Hampstead.

The single was re-released by Decca in September 1978 (catalogue number F 13807) and beware there are counterfeit Vocalion copies in circulation. Produced in the USA in 70s, the tell-tale difference between the original and the illegal pressings is the matrix number. On the original 1964 issue the matrix number is machine stamped on the vinyl and on the fake copies it is handwritten.

The official press release for the single from the press room of the Dick James Organisation in May 1964 read...

INTRODUCING DAVIE JONES WITH THE KING-BEES... AND THEIR FIRST DISC 'LIZA JANE'

Pop Music isn't all affluence. Just ask new seventeen year old recording star Davie Jones. Time was (two months ago, in fact) when he and his group were almost on their uppers. No money, bad equipment. Then Davie had a brainwave. "I had been reading a lot in the papers about John Bloom," says Davie. "So I put pen to paper and wrote him a letter." David told Bloom that he had the chance of backing one of the most talented and up-and-coming groups on the pop scene. All he had to do was advance the several hundred pounds it requires to outfit a pop group with the best equipment.

Davie didn't get the money, but he did get a telegram next day from John Bloom giving the phone number of Artist's Manager Leslie Conn. Davie got in touch, he was rewarded with a booking at Bloom's Wedding Anniversary Party. "We were a dismal failure", recalls Davie. "It was a dinner dress affair and we turned up in jeans and sweat shirts and played our usual brand of rhythm and blues. It didn't go down too well. Still we'll know better next time."

However, all's well that ends well. Leslie Conn liked the earthy type of music the group played, arranged an audition with Decca Records which resulted in a contract and the first release by David Jones with the King-Bees. "Liza Jane", released by Decca (Vocalion 9221) on June 5th.

DAVIE JONES WITH THE KING-BEES MET AT BARBERS

Davie Jones met up with his four member backing group the King-Bees when he visited his local barber shop in Bromley. In between clips he got chatting to the four lads, also there to be sheared, about their musical interests, and before you could say "Short back and sides", they decided to join forces.

The group specialise in hard-driving, uncompromising R & B, a brand of music that has won for them a dedicated following in the London area, a following which should soon be spreading throughout the length and breadth of England on the strength of their first disc.

"LIZA JANE", is a beaty, action packed disc which features the direct no-holds-barred Davie Jones vocal delivery. The King-Bees supply a hard core, R & B backing and the whole thing is crowned by a catchy chorus featuring the line "Little Liza Jane".

DAVIE JONES - Seventeen years old, fair haired Davie first got interested in pop music when he was ten. His father's secretary (Davie's father in P.R.O. for Dr. Barnardo's homes) who had previously worked for a disc company, sent Davie a 'Demo' copy of a new Little Richard disc. As the phrase goes, Davie was "knocked out", and when he had scraped together a few pounds of his pocket money, bought a plastic saxophone. Eventually he progressed on to the real thing. Lessons were the next step. "My idol on saxophone has always been Ronnie Ross", says Davie, "So I looked up his name up in the phone book and asked him if he would give me lessons." Ross agreed, but after Davie played him a few bars Ross's comment was: "Right now we can start working on you, that was bloody awful!" Davie gave up his music to take his G.C.E. at 15, then left school and joined an advertising agency as a commercial artist, where he still works.

When he left school Davie was able to concentrated on his music again, this time mainly as a vocalist, playing dance halls and clubs in and around the Bromley area. Then came the hair-cut and the letter to John Bloom...

Davie's favourite vocalists are Little Richard, Bob Dylan and John Lee Hooker. Apart from the saxophone he also plays the guitar. He dislikes Adams apples, and lists as his interests Baseball, American Football and collecting Boots. A handsome six footer with a warm and engaging personality, Davie Jones has all it takes to get to the show business heights, including... talent.

• On this day, 12 years ago, DAVID BOWIE released the 40th Anniversary Edition of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars album...

• On this day, 20 years ago, DAVID BOWIE performed at Tommy Hilfiger at Jones Beach Theatre, in Wantagh, New York, USA during his A Reality World Tour...

• On this day, 23 years ago, DAVID BOWIE held an official chat in the BowieNet chatrooms - [Read chat log]...

• On this day, 28 years ago, DAVID BOWIE performed at the Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan during his Outside World Tour in 1996...

On this day, 34 years ago, DAVID BOWIE performed at the Starplex Amphitheatre in Dallas, USA during his Sound+Vision World Tour in 1990...

• On this day, 41 years ago, DAVID BOWIE performed at Wembley Arena in London, England during his Serious Moonlight World Tour in 1983...

• On this day, 46 years ago, DAVID BOWIE performed at the Scandanavium in Gothenburg, Sweden during his 1978 World Tour...

On this day, 51 years ago, DAVID BOWIE performed at the Gaumont Theatre in Worcester, England during his 1973 World Tour...

• On this day, 52 years ago, DAVID BOWIE performed at the Public Hall in Preston, England during his 1972 UK Tour #1...

• On this day, 59 years ago, DAVIE JONES and THE LOWER THIRD performed at the Pavilion Ballroom in Bournemouth, England in 1965...

• On this day, 68 years ago, REEVES GABRELS was born. Happy Birthday! wishing you a fabulous day...

For those of you who use FACEBOOK - check out the DAVID BOWIE WONDERWORLD Group.

Feel free to join in with the other 96,400 plus members, add yourself and invite your Bowie fan friends. You never know what might get posted, or who you might meet...

Check out a fabulous version of 'I CAN'T EXPLAIN' (Trident Studios version) recorded by DAVID BOWIE and his band on 24th June 1972 at Trident Studios in London.

This take appears on the forthcoming DAVID BOWIE - ROCK 'N' ROLL STAR! 5CD and Blu-ray Book set and 1LP Half-Speed Master alternative takes and mixes, both are released this month on 14th June.

Personnel: Vocals: David Bowie / 12 String Guitar: David Bowie / Guitar: Mick Ronson / Backing Vocals: Mick Ronson / Bass Guitar: Trevor Bolder / Drums: Woody Woodmansey / Producer: David Bowie / Mixer: Ken Scott / Engineer: Ted Sharp / Writer: Pete Townshend.

This version is completely different to the well known Pin Ups album track recorded the following year, as well as the lyrics below.

[Bowie talking]: "Go on. OK are we ready now? Right run 'em. Roll 'em. Yeah"

Got a feeling inside
   (Can't Explain)
A certain kind
   (Can't Explain)
I feel I'm cold
   (Can't Explain)
Down my soul
   (Can't Explain)

I said
   (Can't Explain)
I'm feeling good now yeah
   (Can't Explain)
Well I'm dizzy in the head and feeling blue
Things you say well maybe they're true
Funny feeling again and again
I know what it means, but

I can't explain
I think it's love
Try to say it to you
When I'm feeling blue

Can't explain
Y'hear what I say?
   (Can't Explain)

Dizzy in the head and I'm feeling sad
The things you say are making me mad
Get funny dreams again and again
I know what it means, but

I can't explain
I think it's love
Try to say it to you
When I'm feeling blue

I can't explain
Hear me one more time
   (Can't Explain)

I can't explain, no
Drive me out of my mind
   (Can't Explain)
I'm a worried guy now
   (Can't Explain)
But I can't explain

DAVID BOWIE - ROCK 'N' ROLL STAR! 5CD and Blu-ray Book set is released this month and is available to pre-order now!

(CLICK HERE to read the official press release).

16th May 2024 - London - Parlophone Records is proud to announce the first ever Dolby Atmos spatial audio version of DAVID BOWIE's THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS is making its debut in Dolby Atmos spatial audio. The new mix of the album will be available on Blu-ray audio and streaming services on 6th September.

The Blu-ray audio disc of THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS features four iterations of this timeless album: 2024 Dolby Atmos mix, 2024 Stereo Mix (96 khz / 24-bit pcm), original 1972 Stereo Mix - 2012 remaster (192 khz / 24-bit pcm), original 1972 Stereo Mix - 2012 remaster (48 khz / 24-bit pcm). The Atmos version of the album was mixed by Emre Ramazanoglu and Ken Scott at RAK Studios, London.

Of this new Dolby Atmos mix the album's co-producer, Ken Scott says "You're in there with the act, with David. He was so theatrical I think being able to put him into an immersive place makes this a really good choice for an Atmos mix. My whole philosophy with this has been to make it more like a live experience. And I've even got him moving about the stage a little towards the end, the way he would have in real life. Hopefully, it just feels as if you're in the theatre with this amazing show going on."

June 14th sees the release of DAVID BOWIE ROCK 'N' ROLL STAR!, a 5CD and 1 Blu-ray audio set chronicling David Bowie's journey through the creation of the Ziggy Stardust character and the recording of the iconic THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS album. ROCK 'N' ROLL STAR!, contains 29 unreleased tracks, covers early songwriting demos, recordings from David's band, The Arnold Corns, rehearsals at Bowie's then-home, Haddon Hall, BBC sessions, singles, live performances, plus outtakes and alternative versions from the original album recording sessions, which have been newly mixed by original album co-producer, Ken Scott.

THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS is the breakthrough album that catapulted David Bowie into the international spotlight. Over the past 50 years it has remained a touchstone record, growing in stature with each passing year. It is now ingrained in popular culture, its undeniable influence spanning musicians from Arcade Fire to Lady Gaga, to Harry Styles's androgynous fashion sense to Noel Fielding's shirts on The Great British Bake-Off to Ziggy make-up challenges on Tik-Tok. David Bowie laid to rest the Ziggy Stardust persona in July 1973 at his infamous last show with the Spiders From Mars at London's Hammersmith Odeon, but Ziggy's impact reverberates to this day.

DAVID BOWIE
THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS
BLU-RAY AUDIO

       Five Years - 4:42
       Soul Love - 3:34
       Moonage Daydream - 4:40
       Starman - 4:10
       It Ain't Easy - 2:58
       Lady Stardust - 3:22
       Star - 2:47
       Hang On To Yourself - 2:40
       Ziggy Stardust - 3:13
       Suffragette City - 3:25
       Rock 'n' Roll Suicide - 2.58

2024 DOLBY ATMOS MIX
2024 STEREO MIX (96 KHZ / 24-BIT PCM)
ORIGINAL 1972 STEREO MIX - 2012 REMASTER (192 KHZ / 24-BIT PCM)
ORIGINAL 1972 STEREO MIX - 2012 REMASTER (48 KHZ / 24-BIT PCM)

The Dolby Atmos spatial audio version of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars (Blu-ray Audio) is released on 6th September and is available to pre-order NOW!

• DAVID BOWIE: THE COLLECTOR by NICK SMART, paperback, 244-pages - to be published on 21st November - more details

• DAVID BOWIE: ROCK 'N' ROLL CHAMELEON by MARTIN POPOFF, hardcover and Kindle, 208-pages - to be published on 3rd October - more details

• COLLABORATION: DAVID BOWIE 1991-2007 by FRANK OCKENFELS3, hardcover, 256-pages - to be published on 9th September - more details

• First ever Dolby Atmos spatial audio version of THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS (Blu-ray Audio) to be released on 6th September - more details

• 2025 OFFICIAL CALENDAR DAVID BOWIE Collector's Edition - to be published on 1st September - more details

• THE DAVID BOWIE WORLD FAN CONVENTION 2024 in Liverpool on 26th-28th July - tickets on sale now via bowieconvention.com

• Debut album by DAVID BOWIE to be released in Deluxe Editions of Green Vinyl and Audio 2-CD on 26th July - there is also a Decca Records Store Exclusive Deluxe Edition in Cream and Green Swirl Vinyl - more details

DAVID BOWIE - ROCK 'N' ROLL STAR! 5CD and Blu-ray Book set - released on 14th June - more details

DAVID BOWIE - ROCK 'N' ROLL STAR! 1LP Half-Speed Master alternative takes and mixes - released on 14th June - more details

BOWIE ODYSSEY 74 by SIMON GODDARD, limited edition hardcover, 192-pages - published on 11th June - more details

Memoir I WAS THERE: Dispatches from a Life in Rock and Roll by ALAN EDWARDS, hardcover and Kindle, 320-pages - published on 6th June - more details

Memoir GUITAR by EARL SLICK with JEFF SLATE, hardcover and Kindle, 400-pages - published on 30th May - more details

BOWIE - DIAMOND DOGS 50th Anniversary Limited Edition Vinyl Half-Speed Master LP and Picture Disc LP released on 24th May - more details

BOWIE ODYSSEY 74 by SIMON GODDARD, paperback, 192-pages - published on 9th May - more details

BOWIE ACOUSTIC over 30 of David Bowie's greatest songs for acoustic guitar. (Tab and standard notation), softback, 176-pages - published on 17th April - more details

Memoir ME AND MR. JONES: MY LIFE WITH DAVID BOWIE AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS by SUZI RONSON hardcover, 320-pages - published on 4th April - more details

Exclusive DAVID BOWIE lino-cut print available to PURCHASE - don't hang around, these are ALL the remaining original left-over stock from 40 years ago, once they've gone, they've gone!