BOWIE VS. DYLAN

I’m Charlie and I like Bowie.

In an unexpected move, Parlophone has announced that November 30 will see a new previously unreleased Bowie live album: Glastonbury 2000. This is especially surprising as it marks the third new archival live album from the Bowie camp in 2018 alone, the second not even coming out until next week.

This felt like a solid opportunity to take a quick snapshot view of Bowie’s various live releases, the majority of which have come out in the last 15 years… after Bowie had already finished his final tour.

Depending on your count, by the end of 2018, Bowie will have 14-16 live albums on the market. Some of them are great; a few of them are lacklaster; most of them are somewhere in between. Let’s take a quick look.

Bowie at the Beeb
Recorded: 1968-1972 Released: 2000
Depending on your definition of “live”, this best of collection of live-in-the-studio tracks from Bowie’s early years may fit the bill. It’s an interesting mix of tracks from his early, pre-”Space Oddity” days right up into the start of Ziggy-mania.

Live Santa Monica ‘72
Recorded: 1972 Released: 1992 (semi-official), 2008 (really official)
Taken from the first leg of Bowie’s gigantic first American tour, this longtime-bootleg-turned-official-release shows a raw, hard-edged Ziggy Stardust in full bloom.

Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture
Recorded: 1973 Released: 1983
Also from the Ziggy tour, but from the second leg, this semi-legendary show features an extremely different tracklist to Santa Monica. While not quite as powerful as that 1972 show, it is quite notable for being the last show on the tour and for featuring Bowie’s announcement at the end that it’s “the last show we’ll ever do”, which was quite a surprise to the band. Fans speculated that Bowie was retiring, but he ended up on stage again just the following year.

David Live
Recorded: 1974 Released: 1974
The first Bowie live album ever released, it was recorded on the first part of Bowie’s Diamond Dogs tour and received pretty lackluster reviews at the time. It’s admittedly a little lukewarm, but a 2005 reissue punched things up with some great bonus tracks and a new, superior mix.

Cracked Actor (Live Los Angeles ‘74)
Recorded: 1974 Released: 2017
Recorded on the second leg of the Diamond Dogs tour, Cracked Actor shows Bowie transitioning into his “soul period”, soon to be manifested in his 1975 album, Young Americans (most of which had already been recorded at the time of this show). A definite improvement over David Live, though the tracklisting is almost identical.

Live Nassau Coliseum ‘76
Recorded: 1976 Released: 2010 (as bonus material on Station to Station deluxe edition), standalone release in 2016
My personal favorite Bowie live album, this powerful show is from the Isolar tour, released in support of Bowie’s second soul album, Station to Station. Some criticism has been thrown at the mix, but it remains an essential show.

Stage
Recorded: 1978 Released: 1978
The second live album Bowie ever released, it’s notable for how much it was messed with. A drastically rearranged track list and some strange editing choices were addressed in a far superior reissue from 2005 that also included bonus tracks. Another 2017 reissue brought in a couple more tracks.

Welcome to the Blackout (Live London ‘78)
Recorded: 1978 Released: 2018
Originally recorded for a live video that never materialized, this is the first of Bowie’s three new/old live albums from 2018. The setlist is almost identical to Stage but the performance is far superior. I wrote more about my thoughts here.

Serious Moonlight (Live ‘83)
Recorded: 1983 Released: 2018
While it saw a video release in 1984, Serious Moonlight won’t be out on audio formats until next week as part of the Loving the Alien boxset. Recorded in the wake of his Let’s Dance mainstream pop success, Bowie’s brass-heavy arrangements provide a unique take on his 70s catalogue.

Glass Spider (Live Montreal ‘87)
Recorded: 1987 Released: 2007 (as bonus material on the Glass Spider video reissue), standalone release will be next week with the Loving the Alien boxset
This Peter Frampton-featuring tour supporting Bowie’s Peter Frampton-featuring album, Never Let Me Down, is not anybody’s best work. NLMD is regularly considered Bowie’s worst album and Glass Spider features no less than 8 of its original 11 tracks. The results are as expected.

Tin Machine Live: Oy Vey, Baby
Recorded: 1991-1992 Released: 1992
Recorded with Bowie’s hard rock band, Tin Machine, this is notable as the only one of his live albums that is not currently in print. In my opinion, it’s also his worst. A video of the same name was also released but features none of the same songs as the album. It’s much better.

Liveandwell.com
Recorded: 1997 Released: 1999
Only made available to BowieNet subscribers at the time, this is one of Bowie’s rarest officially-released albums. Entirely made up of tracks from Bowie’s then most recent albums, Outside and Earthling, it’s heavy on the electronic elements and features one of Bowie’s best bands.

VH1 Storytellers
Recorded: 1999 Released: 2009
Obviously recorded as part of the VH1 series of the same name, this CD/DVD pack previews Bowie’s shift to middling light rock (as showcased in his weak 1999 studio album hours...). Unfortunately, not nearly as interesting as it should be.

Glastonbury 2000
Recorded: 2000 Released: 2018
Coming out this November! Interestingly, it was recorded a scant two days before the next item on our list. I’m excited about this but surprised that it's coming when there remain no official live albums from Bowie’s 1990 or 1995 tours.

BBC Radio Theatre, London, June 27, 2000
Recorded: 2000 Released: 2000
A solid, enjoyable listen, this was released as a bonus disc with early copies of Bowie at the Beeb. So far, there has been no standalone release, which is disappointing and a little confusing.

A Reality Tour
Recorded: 2003 Released: 2010
At up to 35 tracks depending on your music format, this mammoth show is from Bowie’s last tour. It features an energetic, charismatic Bowie enjoying himself immensely. A worthy final entry in Bowie’s surprisingly large live canon. Please note that this is different than Reality Live, a live video that was included with some versions of Reality and has not yet received an audio-only release.