I heard the news…* Shel Talmy Recordings out at last; Rick Wakeman releases “Bowie’s Vision;” Bowie inspires Gerwig; TMWFTE coming to cinemas; Joey Arias interview PLUS MORE!
Welcome to my weekly roundup of Bowie news! Read on for summaries of Bowie-related stories that posted this past week, and click on the bolded story names to link to the original articles…
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NEWS
Rick Wakeman Releases Bowie Tribute “Bowie’s Vision.” Rick Wakeman has released “Bowie’s Vision,” a personal tribute to his friend and former collaborator Bowie that recalls their time together and appears on Wakeman’s forthcoming Mars-inspired album Return To The Red Planet.
Greta Gerwig Says ‘Narnia’ Is Inspired by David Bowie. Greta Gerwig says Bowie helped inspire both the red-striped, multicolored-eyed appearance of Aslan and the rock-opera sensibility of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, describing Bowie’s music as having once given her a profound sense that she would be OK.
The Man Who Fell To Earth returns to cinemas. The Man Who Fell to Earth, starring Bowie in his feature-film debut, will return to UK cinemas in 4K on November 13 for its 50th anniversary, followed November 16 by a five-disc Collector’s Edition featuring the new 40-minute documentary Bowie & Roeg: Aliens in America, with new and archival interviews exploring Bowie’s relationship with Nicolas Roeg and his role as Thomas Jerome Newton.
Knoxville Symphony To perform symphonic Blackstar. The 2027 Big Ears festival in Knoxville, Tennessee will feature a wide-ranging lineup including Jeff Tweedy, Norah Jones, and Nathaniel Rateliff, with Evan Ziporyn and Maya Beiser joining the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra to perform Bowie’s final album, Blackstar.
Unseen photos of David Bowie and Debbie Harry headline special exhibition. Previously unseen photographs of Bowie and other musicians by the late Lincolnshire photographer André Waszczyszyn, along with concert tickets, autographs, and private recordings from his archive, will be exhibited free at Lincoln Arts Centre in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England, from October 1–22.
Gerry Leonard’s Spooky Ghost to Perform at O+ Festival. Bowie guitarist Gerry Leonard will bring his Spooky Ghost project to the O+ Festival in Kingston, New York, on Saturday, October 11. The early set is scheduled for 5:15–6 p.m. at the Old Dutch Church.
RIP Peter Max. Psychedelic artist Peter Max, who died at 88, transformed celebrities including Bowie into vivid portraits that rendered their fame as fields of color and energy. I associate the art of Peter Max with my childhood, so this milestone was sad for me, though I never met Max.
RIP Duncan Sheik. Singer-songwriter and composer Duncan Sheik, best known for his 1996 hit “Barely Breathing” and the Tony-winning musical Spring Awakening, died this week at age 56. Sheik had several connections to Bowie alumni who have been guests on my show: guitarist Gerry Leonard worked and toured with Sheik before joining Bowie, producer Mark Plati worked with Sheik and spoke of him during our first interview, and Emm Gryner wrote this week that although she never knew Sheik, she had long felt a musical kinship with him and remembered once being described as the “female Duncan Sheik.” I saw Sheik perform on more than one occasion, including when he opened for Aimee Mann at The Egg in Albany in February 2003.
Rogue Trooper, Duncan Jones Had to Change Course. Bowie’s son Duncan Jones has spent more than two decades pursuing a film adaptation of Rogue Trooper, ultimately combining Unreal Engine, Maya, and other animation techniques during a four-year production and now seeking a distributor for a theatrical release before streaming.
Fame (David Bowie tribute) at Encore Live. FAME: The Ultimate Tribute to Bowie will perform a high-energy tribute spanning Bowie’s career at Encore Live in Sarasota, Florida, on September 20, featuring songs including “Space Oddity,” “Heroes,” “Let’s Dance,” “Under Pressure” and “Changes.”
Starman Announces “Heroes – 50 Years Tour.” Dutch David Bowie tribute band Starman will mark the 50th anniversary of Heroes with a seven-date club tour of the Netherlands and Belgium from March 12 through May 7, 2027. The shows will feature Bowie hits spanning “Space Oddity,” “Life on Mars?,” “Let’s Dance” and “Heroes,” with stops in Oss, Bergen op Zoom, Heerlen, Venlo, Kapellen, Hengelo, Roermond and Leeuwarden.
A tribute concert to David Bowie, Grace Jones, Nina Hagen, Klaus Nomi. Autour de la Flute’s Re/Unification concert in Montreal on September 17 combined music by Bowie, Grace Jones, Nina Hagen and Klaus Nomi with works by Beethoven, Richard Strauss, Michael Nyman and others to evoke the sociopolitical tensions of the 1980s.
Bowie Lyrics Hang Around London Design Festival. Romain Basile Petrot reimagined the traditional hanging basket for a London Design Festival exhibition with a suspended planter made from stacked aluminium plates engraved with the lyrics of Bowie’s “Space Oddity.”
Hollywood Vampires documentary opens Boston Film Festival. Unleashed Spirits: The Rise of the Hollywood Vampires, opening the Boston Film Festival on September 18, traces the evolution of Alice Cooper’s notorious 1970s drinking club into the rock band formed with Johnny Depp and Joe Perry to celebrate deceased musical friends through songs by artists including Bowie, Lou Reed, Jim Carroll, and AC/DC.
Kai Angel’s “david bowie”. Kai Angel invokes Bowie as a symbol of individuality, transformation and rock-star identity on “david bowie,” a track from his 2026 alternative hip-hop project Shh! (Disc 2).
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SHEL TALMY REVIEWS
With the release of the Shel Talmy Recordings this week came a slew of reviews and commentaries. What follows is a sample of distinct writings on the “new” Bowie album. I will write my own review in coming days.
The Guardian Review. David Bowie: The Shel Talmy Recordings finds Bowie’s mid-1960s songs largely flimsy and derivative of contemporaries such as the Who, Kinks and Georgie Fame, with the collection more revealing as a document of British rock in transition and of the posthumous industry elevating even Bowie’s weakest work than as evidence of overlooked greatness.
BBC Story. The Shel Talmy Recordings captures Bowie at his rawest in 1965, with ten previously unreleased songs discovered in Talmy’s archive offering less a preview of the artist Bowie would become than a snapshot of the ambitious young Davie Jones experimenting with his voice amid London’s rock-and-roll scene.
How Bowie became Bowie. The Shel Talmy Recordings captures the teenage Bowie’s raw, mod-influenced 1965 recordings while complicating the later image of him as an infallible visionary by showing that his early stylistic reinventions were also the opportunistic experiments of an ambitious young musician struggling to find a path to success.
Super Deluxe Edition Review. The Shel Talmy Recordings collects 22 tracks Bowie recorded with producer Shel Talmy in 1965 during his formative stints with The Manish Boys and The Lower Third, including 10 previously unreleased recordings such as “I Want Your Love.”
Tinnitst Post. The Shel Talmy Recordings captures Bowie in the context of London’s vibrant 1965 music scene rather than as a primitive version of his later self, documenting the final months of Davie Jones through sessions with Talmy, Jimmy Page and Nicky Hopkins that Bowie would later revisit through Pin-Ups and Toy.
London Daily News Article. The Shel Talmy Recordings assembles 22 archival tracks Bowie recorded as Davie Jones in 1965, including previously unheard material and sessions featuring Jimmy Page and Nicky Hopkins, offering unusually direct evidence of his artistic development and studio work before his later success.
Magzter Story. Bowie’s 1965 recordings with producer Shel Talmy capture him as Davie Jones while he was still searching for his artistic identity, shortly before manager Ralph Horton renamed him David Bowie and formally introduced him under that name with the Lower Third in 1966.
The Economist Review. This one is only accessible if you have a subscription, but if you do, and you missed the story, here it is.
FEATURES AND REFLECTIONS
Recreating Bowie’s “Heroes” Sound. Tony Visconti’s gated three-microphone technique for Bowie’s vocal on “Heroes” can be recreated by placing room microphones at increasing distances and using noise gates so that greater vocal intensity progressively opens up the surrounding acoustic space.
Live Review | The Molotovs w/ Ashaine White + Jack Kaye | Coal Drops Yard, London | 13th August 2026. King’s Cross Summer Sounds opened with a Bowie Night featuring Jack Kaye’s understated “Heroes,” Ashaine White’s haunting “Life on Mars,” and the Molotovs’ established punk rendition of “Suffragette City,” with the Molotovs particularly embodying Bowie’s example of absorbing earlier influences while reshaping them into something distinctly their own.
Bowie Gave An Acting Masterclass In One Of The Best Anti-War Movies Ever Made. Bowie delivered one of his best and most underrated film performances as defiant British POW Jack Celliers in Nagisa Ōshima’s acclaimed 1983 drama Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, a role Ōshima offered him after seeing his praised performance in The Elephant Man and that Bowie eagerly accepted because of his admiration for the Japanese director.
We do need a new renaming spree… British sporting venues should follow the example of the US Open’s Louis Armstrong Stadium by naming courts and stands after major cultural figures, including a Bowie stand at Bromley FC, to introduce new generations to important local artists.
The UK’s best hotel. Hotel Café Royal on London’s Regent Street, whose historic guestbook includes Bowie and Oscar Wilde, was voted the UK’s best hotel by more than 17,000 readers in The Independent’s inaugural Travel Awards.
Classic Album Review: David Bowie: All Saints: Collected Instrumentals 1977-1999. Unless I’m missing something, this is not only an exceedingly brief and dismissive review, but it was originally posted in 2001. Apparently the author wants to remind people that he didn’t like it. I will add that I sometimes listen to All Saints on repeat. It works great as ambient music.
The night MTV changed music forever. The inaugural MTV Video Music Awards in 1984 established the young network’s unpredictable, performance-driven awards show while honoring Bowie with Best Male Video for “China Girl” and recognizing Bowie, the Beatles, and director Richard Lester with the first Video Vanguard Awards for their contributions to music’s visual culture.
I’m Afraid of Americans – John Cameron Mitchell. John Cameron Mitchell’s I’m Afraid of Americans concert explored the darker reaches of Bowie’s work through theatrical but full-blooded rock performances, drawing on Mitchell’s personal connection with Bowie and culminating in interpretations of songs including “Station to Station,” “Quicksand,” “Dollar Days,” “I’m Afraid of Americans,” and “Heroes.”
Holy Holy At the Ritz. Woody Woodmansey’s Holy Holy, featuring Tony Visconti and Heaven 17’s Glenn Gregory, brought Bowie’s music to life at Manchester’s Ritz with a wide-ranging set performed without attempting to impersonate Bowie, while Woodmansey and Visconti shared memories including that Bowie recorded the released vocal for “Where Are We Now?” in a single take and often taught his band new songs only once before recording them.
John Cameron Mitchell’s I’m Afraid of Americans: A Bowie Song Cycle. I’m Afraid of Americans: A Bowie Song Cycle turns Bowie’s music into an exuberant, reverential and deliberately messy form of communal remembrance, combining theatrical performances by Mitchell and his guests with deep cuts including “Conversation Piece,” “Dollar Days” and the Sweet Thing suite alongside better-known songs.
Tony And Ridley Scott Worked On A Horror Series Starring Terence Stamp And David Bowie. Bowie returned to the world of The Hunger as host of the second season of Tony and Ridley Scott’s 1997–2000 anthology series, also playing a new character named Julian Priest after having been unable to accept Tony Scott’s invitation to host the first season because of his touring commitments.
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PROFILES
Bridget St. John. Bridget St. John emerged from London’s late-1960s folk scene alongside figures including Nick Drake and Paul Simon and performed at Bowie’s Beckenham Arts Lab, recalling Bowie personally running the club and the excitement surrounding the release of “Space Oddity.”
Andrew Melchior. Creative technologist Andrew Melchior, who pioneered an artist website with Bowie and later developed digital projects with Björk and Massive Attack, has been appointed Honorary Professor in Computer Science at the University of Manchester for three years to work on artificial intelligence, creative practice, copyright and digital provenance.
Eric Idle. Eric Idle’s 22-acre retreat in Provence became a refuge from fame for friends including Bowie, whom Idle once took for coffee at a local bar where the star-struck owner recognized him but allowed him to enjoy the visit without a fuss.
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THIS WEEK IN THIS BLOG
September 13: Last week’s news
September 14: Cover of the Week: Andrea Prodan and Bowie Remembered perform “Fantastic Voyage”
September 15: Drive-in Saturday Tuesday Movie Review: The Dog Stars (2026)
September 16: Gail Ann Dorsey, Natalie Merchant, Kate Pierson sing “Space Oddity”
September 17: Canary: “A Seahorse in the Thames” — David Bowie-Inspired Song
September 18: Joey Arias Preview
September 19: Live from New York: It’s Joey Arias
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LISTS
21 extraordinary 1970s album covers. The Aladdin Sane cover, photographed by Brian Duffy using an unusually expensive seven-color printing process, transformed Bowie into a lightning-bolted new persona and exemplified how 1970s album artwork became an extension of an artist’s music and identity.
5 Celebrities Who Kept Their Cancer Diagnoses Out Of The Spotlight. Bowie kept his liver cancer diagnosis private until his death in 2016, reportedly seeking minimal fuss while protecting his family and work from the intense public attention disclosure would have brought.
Rock’s 15 strangest pairings. Bowie’s counterpoint duet with Bing Crosby on “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy,” recorded for Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas in 1977 while Bowie was promoting Heroes, became an enduring Christmas classic and exemplifies how unlikely collaborations can transcend seemingly incompatible musical worlds.
10 under-performing follow-up singles. After breaking through with “Space Oddity” in 1969, Bowie struggled to follow it with a hit as “The Prettiest Star,” “Memory of a Free Festival,” “Holy Holy” and even “Changes” failed to chart before “Starman” reached No. 10 in 1972.
3 High-Minded Concept Albums. Bowie exemplified the concept album through his continual reinvention and creation of distinct personas, most notably the extraterrestrial rock star at the center of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
Five songs that started new genres in the 1970s. “Sound and Vision” exemplifies the refreshed artistic vision Bowie pursued on Low, pairing innovative dynamics and vocal layering with upbeat arrangements that mask a haunting undercurrent and demonstrate art rock’s resistance to a single defining character.
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CHURNALISM
This section separates genuine Bowie news and original writing from recycled “churnalism” stories that offer little original reporting and often use vague click-bait headlines to repackage familiar information, but may still be of interest if readers have not seen it before.
The David Bowie Classic He Finished in a Single Afternoon. Bowie wrote the lyrics and melody for “Life on Mars?” in a single afternoon in 1971, with Rick Wakeman later embellishing the piano part and Mick Ronson creating the string arrangement for what became one of Bowie’s most celebrated songs.
Iman reveals she postponed her grief to support Lexi. Iman says she initially set aside her own grief following Bowie’s death to support their 15-year-old daughter, Lexi, later learning to confront her loss while preserving joyful memories of Bowie, whom she commemorated on the tenth anniversary of his death with a Blackstar-inspired tattoo.
The song rejected in 1972 is now ranked as one of David Bowie’s best. Last week, Men’s Journal and American Songwriter took their turns retelling the oft-repeated story of how Mott the Hoople rejected Bowie’s “Suffragette City” before he gave them “All the Young Dudes,” so naturally Far Out couldn’t have been far behind.
The classic Rick Wakeman album inspired by a mythical king, Ziggy Stardust and a heart attack. After suffering a heart attack in 1974 and being advised to retire, Rick Wakeman defied his doctors by developing The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, later crediting Bowie’s advice to ignore unimaginative promoters, agents and managers when staging his own concerts.
The one genre David Bowie grew to hate over time. Bowie continually pursued new musical directions to stay ahead of changing trends and respected disco’s innovative potential, particularly Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,” while disliking the genre’s commercialization and feeling embarrassed by his own records’ popularity in discos.
Reeves Gabrels, Earl Slick, Carlos Alomar and others told MusicRadar what it was really like to work with Bowie. For close followers of Bowie-related news, the key sentence in this article is, “ A while back, MusicRadar compiled an array of conversations that had been conducted over the years by the site with a plethora of Bowie’s chief axe-wielders.” Nothing here is new.
The meaning behind David Bowie’s famous 1973 lightning bolt. Bowie’s lightning-bolt makeup for the Aladdin Sane cover evolved collaboratively from ideas developed by Bowie, photographer Brian Duffy and makeup artist Pierre LaRoche, becoming an intentionally dramatic but initially ambiguous image that Bowie later described as a “crack” through the Ziggy Stardust persona and subsequent generations have invested with meanings including individuality, defiance and queerness.
Why Brian Eno grew to resent discussing David Bowie. Eno, weary of repeatedly discussing his work with Bowie, nevertheless regards their collaborations as great, with Low and “Heroes” enduring as innovative, deeply personal records that helped pioneer post-punk while reflecting Bowie’s artistic and personal renewal.
The 2013 album Noel Gallagher played for 20 days on a loop. Noel Gallagher places Bowie alongside John Lennon and Bob Dylan among the greatest artists, became obsessed with The Next Day after its surprise 2013 release, and believes the music industry no longer allows the kind of radical reinvention that enabled Bowie to abandon Ziggy Stardust and continually transform himself.
Why Thom Yorke wanted to copy David Bowie’s ‘Station to Station’ tour. Thom Yorke looked to Bowie’s train-based travel during the 1976 Isolar tour as a model for reducing Radiohead’s environmental impact, but concluded that changes in transportation infrastructure made recreating such a tour logistically impossible.
The 1986 moment session legend Adrian Belew knew he was on a masterpiece. Adrian Belew’s inventive guitar work with Bowie and Talking Heads established him as an in-demand experimental musician before his collaboration with Paul Simon on Graceland, particularly “The Boy in the Bubble,” became the recording experience that most impressed him.
The 1982 Queen song that cut David Bowie because he wasn’t good enough. Queen removed Bowie’s backing vocals from “Cool Cat” after being dissatisfied with his contribution, before the tensions of their collaboration ultimately produced “Under Pressure,” which became one of Queen’s most celebrated songs.
1981 Rock Song, Among ‘Greatest Songs of All Time,’ Was Created by Accident. Bowie and Queen’s “Under Pressure” grew spontaneously from an unplanned 1981 jam session at Mountain Studios in Montreux, where creative tensions—particularly between Bowie and Freddie Mercury—helped produce a No. 1 UK hit that became one of both artists’ most enduring collaborations.
The Prestige’s Opening Line Still Resonates. Bowie appears as Nikola Tesla in The Prestige, which ScreenRant argues is an underappreciated Christopher Nolan masterpiece whose opening challenge—“Are you watching closely?”—establishes the film’s themes of magic, deception and the need to look carefully for the truth hidden in plain sight.
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And with that, “we’ve finished our news…”**
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*“I’ve heard the news today” is Bowie’s adaptation of the Beatles lyric, which is heard in “Young Americans.”
** “We’ve finished our news” is a line from “Oh You Pretty Things.”