David Bowie on The Raft

DAVID BOWIE

90's and Today.

1993 brought the long awaited return to solo projects, Black Tie White Noise, and one of rockÕs first the CD - ROM's entitled Jump. With Nile Rodgers again producing, the album came close to summing up every period of Bowie, with the opening instrumental "The Wedding" (inspired by Bowie's own marriage to model Iman) offering a dance and house inspired, brighter toned return to the sound of Low; the single "Jump They Say" harking back to funkier times; and the old Cream tune "I Feel Free," marking a long-awaited reunion with Ziggy-era partner Mick Ronson (sadly, Ronson passed away soon after). Reaching No. 1 in the UK album charts, Black Tie White Noise reassured fans that Bowie's creative curiosity was by no means exhausted.

By 1994, Bowie and Eno were again collaborating in the studio. The result was the concept album Outside. This complex project touches on the increasing obsession with the human body as art and the paganization of western society. With its package-arts broken down style, its haunted sound of ruin and its non-linear story line of art, murder and technology, Outside predates evocatively the new sensibility of movies such as "Seven," "Copycat" and the TV shows "The X-Files" and "Millennium." As benefits the multifrenic nature of Outsider art and emotion, Bowie sings in any number of voices: one minute the melodramatic crooner, another the stylised Londoner, another the quiet, intimate recluse of the Berlin years. Or he is vari-speeded between the album's seven characters: on one song a 14-year-old girl; on another a sleazy 78-year-old; on another a 46-year-old Tyrannical Futurist. It is only now, when he has reached his own mid-life, that Bowie can make music that can encompass the point of young, middle-aged, and old.

1996 was an extraordinarily active year even by David's own feverish standards, switching styles and moods effortlessly, embarking on a confrontational tour around the US with Nine Inch Nails and performing acoustically with Neil Young and Pearl Jam at the Bridge Benefit Concert in San Francisco. He had a triumphant summer headlining Roskilde and Phoenix Festival, and his electric performance at the VH1 Fashion Awards on 25th October where he debuted his new single "Little Wonder" was the talk of New York. Then there was the new album Earthling - all very direct, hard hitting and to the point. The album arose out of the dynamic achieved and harnessed by the end of that summer's tour. The band working on the projects featured Gail Ann Dorsey on bass and vocals, Mike Garson on keyboards, Reeves Gabrels on guitar and synths and Zachary Alford on drums - the nucleus of the touring outfit. The record features the avant garde drum & bass extravaganza and top 20 hit in the UK "Little Wonder" and the crushing "Dead Man Walking," a reflection on getting older.

The next year 1997 was to see a controversial collaboration with Eno in the shape of the "I'm Afraid Of Americans" single ("Not as hostile about Americans as 'Born In The USA'" - Bowie). This track, complete with spontaneous Dom & Nic video that saw David and Trent Reznor chasing through the streets of Greenwich Village, hung around the US charts for three months or so, finishing the project on a real high. Despite the title, Bowie's American influence seemed to be growing apace. He has been cited as a guiding star by The Smashing Pumpkins, Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails, amongst others. He even reached into American film: the movie "Basquiat," co-starring Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper, saw him playing the character he immortalised in his 1972 song - Andy Warhol. The film's director was America's pre-eminent painter Julian Schnabel.

He continued to break new ground with the Internet-only release of drum & bass single "Telling Lies." In January of 1997, he celebrated his fiftieth birthday with an all-star filled performance at New York's Madison Square Garden. He was joined on stage by old friends Lou Reed, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith, Billy Corgan, Foo Fighters and Frank Black, who all played and sang with David to make this one of his most memorable shows of the 90's. Then he was off once again on a world tour which stormed over 15 headlining festivals, umpteen theatres and clubs and finishing with a stadium tour of South America.

Already highly acclaimed in the fields of art and music, David has been turning his hand to mastering the information superhighway. 1998 saw the launch of BowieNet (www.davidbowie.com). BowieNet is the world's first artist-created Internet service provider. As the first artist to make a single, "Telling Lies," available exclusively through the Internet, David has remained at the cutting edge of technology and artistic endeavor, and willingly utilises the most up-to-date technology. BowieNet offers full-uncensored access to the Internet, news, sport, finance and the very best music and entertainment coverage. For Bowie fans, and indeed all music fans, BowieNet provides previously unreleased material, videos and photos, gig reviews from all musical genres. And as if that were not enough, BowieNet also gives you real-time chat and cybercasts (both live and archived) from David himself and a host of other stars. So far BowieNet chats have been conducted with the likes of Ronan Keating, Ronnie Spector, Eddie Izzard, Placebo and Boy George and many others.

With the millennium now less than a year away 1999 has been as busy a year as ever before. With his continuing work on his now highly acclaimed BowieNet website (nominated for the 1999 WIRED Awards for Best Entertainment Site of the Year) David has found time to work on "Exhuming Mr. Rice," a film in which David plays the title role. This year also saw the launch of the David Bowie Radio Network on the Rolling Stone Radio website, this station runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The radio's play list includes 54 tracks all personally picked and introduced by David himself. In May of this year David received an honorary doctorate in music from Berklee College, Boston. This prestigious doctorate has also been received by BB King, Sting, James Taylor, Dizzy Gillespie and Quincy Jones.

1999 also saw the growing relationship between David and Placebo flourish further. At the annual BRIT Awards ceremony David joined the band for a performance of the Marc Bolan classic "Twentieth Century Boy." The performance went down so well with the public that the Mirror newspaper began a mini campaign for the track to be released as a single and it was not long before the two artists were to hook up again. This time it was in New York where David was to join the band on stage at their headlining concert at Irving Plaza. This time much to the delight of the audience Bowie was not only to perform "Twentieth Century Boy" with the band but also a rendition of the Placebo track "Without You I'm Nothing."

July was to see David be voted as the biggest music star of the 20th Century, beating Mick Jagger and Noel Gallagher, by readers of the Sun newspaper. In the same month David was voted the sixth Greatest Star of The Century by Q magazine and its readers. In this poll David was the third highest-ranking star who is still alive.

Most importantly October 1999 will see the release of a brand new studio album hours... hours... will be David's twenty-third solo album and harks a return to the sounds of the Hunky Dory days. Written solely with long- time collaborator Reeves Gabrels over the last year, hours... could be described as one of David's most autobiographical records to date. Tracks include "Thursday's Child," "Survive" and "The Dreamers." The themes of loss and regret throughout the album are likely to strike hearts universally. With such personal lyrics as "Sometimes I cry my heart to sleep," David is evoking emotions recognisable to us all. This album deals more with real life opposed to imagery and fantasy.

Musicians used for this album include David, keyboards and 12-string guitar; Reeves Gabrels, guitars and programming; Mark Plati, bass; Mike Leveque (Dave Navarro band), drums; and Chris Haskett, guest guitar. The album was produced by Bowie and Gabrels, and mixed by Bowie, Gabrels and Plati.

Written and recorded in Bermuda, hours... speaks from the point of view of an older guy taking stock of his life. Bowie says "I wanted to capture a kind of universal angst felt by many people of my age. You could say that I am attempting to write some songs for my generation."

More than thirty years after his debut David Bowie still asks all the compelling questions of rock music - what now?

For further information please contact: www.bowienet.com