Shows
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMCarlos Alomar on the DAM Trio (Part 2)As Carlos Alomar's THE D.A.M. TRILOGY'S "Back to Berlin Tour 2025" winds to a close, hundreds of fans across Europe have enjoyed seeing the man himself in person alongside the dapper don of the deep end George Murray, axe spanker extraordinaire Kevin Armstrong and their smokin' hot band, performing hits and deep cuts from '76 - '80. It's been a joyful experience as anyone who's been lucky enough to catch one of their shows will affirm and in this, the second part of my conversation with Carlos taped before he hit the road, his enthusiasm, good humour and inexhaustible...
2025-11-3033 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMCarlos Alomar on the DAM TrioHe's the man who went from Philly soul to Scary Monsters by way of Station to Station and all things Berlin - yes, it's Carlos Alomar, guitarist, songwriter, collaborator, bandleader and all round musical machine joining me on this episode for a wide ranging conversation spanning technology, working with David Bowie, James Brown, George Murray, Dennis Davis, The Monkees, Jimi Hendrix, watermelons, cherries and pineapples and much more. He even gets his guitar out and demonstrates where just a couple of those legendary licks originated from.
Now, as he prepares to finally hit the road with his Dam...
2025-10-2049 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMTim Palmer on Tin Machine (Part Two)Part Two of my conversation with Tin Machine co-producer and amanuensis Tim Palmer takes in the aftermath of the 1989 debut LP and the fractured coming together of elements to make up the arguably stronger second album - a smorgasbord of some classic Bowie songwriting, noise, avant garde guitars, sex toys and good time rock'n'roll.
In this episode Tim reflects on those sessions that took place simultaneously with David's round-the-world Sound + Vision tour (in which he set out to lay his back catalogue to rest) as well as the frequently astonishing level of innovation, invention and energy that went into...
2025-09-2845 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMTim Palmer on Tin Machine (Part One)What have U2, The Mighty Lemon Drops, Pearl Jam, Robert Plant, The Mission, The Polyphonic Spree, Gene Loves Jezebel oh and - David Bowie all in common? That's right - superproducer Tim Palmer has worked with them all, and countless others over the decades and is regarded as one of the most accomplished and renowned names in the biz.
Following our Tin Machine 2 conversation earlier in the year, Leah Kardos and I thought it would be fun to talk to the man Bowie chose to co-produce his exciting new experiment back in summer 1988, all about his experiences working...
2025-09-0843 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMLeah Kardos on Tin Machine 2 (Part Two)Sorry! Join me for the second part of my conversation with author, musician, professor and all round superstar Leah Kardos on Tin Machine II – the overlooked, underrated work by Hunt and Tony Sales, Reeves Gabrels and David Bowie, from 1991. So underrated, in fact, that it's not even properly available - a mystery in itself. There have been occasional rumours of a Tin Machine box but this never quite happens. Leah and I feel this is a great tragedy, as to ignore Tin Machine is to ignore a crucial, transformative and vital moment in Bowie’s evolution.
Made largely in Austra...
2025-07-271h 15
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMLeah Kardos on Tin Machine 2 (Part One)Tin Machine 2! Turkey or twizzler?
It has to be said, full marks to Bowie and the boys for steaming ahead with their second album despite bemused reactions to the 1989 debut, Bowie gallivanting off around the world on the mammoth May - Sep 1990 Sound + Vision tour, being dropped by EMI (leaving DB without a record deal for the first time since 1966) and Reeves getting into the intricate properties of sex toys* - all of this conspired to create this, the occasionally brilliant, sometimes baffling, entirely peculiar Tin Machine 2. Bangers and clunkers come together in a far more focused way...
2025-07-161h 18
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMLeah Kardos on I Can't Give Everything Away (2002 - 2016)In this 'emergency' episode, recorded fast and raw on 9 July 2025, Leah Kardos and I react to the announcement that the final box set retrospective, the last in a series that began on September 12, 2015 with 'Five Years', will be released this September spanning "Heathen" to "Blackstar" as well as gathering up most of the b-sides, single edits, remixes and some rare live material in a box that looks- well, unexpected. What could have been included - and whatever has happened to 'Blaze'?
There's a lot to discuss and so, we discuss it.
2025-07-0926 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMMark Reeder on "Heroes" (Part Two)Berlin calling... it's September 1978 and young Mancunian punk musician, Joy Division/Factory Records associate and Germanophile Mark Reeder has hitchhiked to Berlin, the city where he would make a name for himself as a producer, DJ, musician, impresario and manager, responsible for firing up the West Berlin underground music scene during the 1980s. (For a vivid immersion into this era, check out 'B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989', the 2015 documentary chronicling Mark and the key and not-so-key players in the West Berlin post-punk scene).
In this episode, we explore more of "Heroes", the most Berlin of Berlin...
2025-05-251h 01
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMMark Reeder on "Heroes" Part 1Recorded live in Hansa Studios in Berlin, this is the first of a three-part episode in which Mark Reeder and I delve into the rough, ripped fabric of 1978’s Berlin meisterwerk, “Heroes”
Manchester-born Berliner Mark Reeder has been obsessed with music ever since hearing Telstar at the age of 4. This passion led him to working in Manchester’s Virgin Records in the early to mid 1970s – then the coolest record shop in the city - where he immersed himself in Krautrock and embraced punk, in between trying to wean Tony Wilson off his beloved Bruce Springsteen albums, recommending records to future J...
2025-04-2355 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMGail Ann Dorsey on Young Americans (Part Two)We continue our chat with Gail Ann Dorsey as she explains the seismic impact Young Americans made on her - and hear a snippet of her breathtaking version of 'Can You Hear Me?' - and reflect on friends and collaborators from Bowie universe, past and present – from Carlos Alomar, Mike Garson and David Sanborn to her current project with Donny McCaslin, the mighty orchestral Blackstar Symphony. And of course, along the way, we come back time and again to that one omniscient figure, who brought them all together.
Gail and the Blackstar Symphony play Nashville on June 18, 2025 an...
2025-03-0333 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMGail Ann Dorsey on Young Americans (Part One)Buckle up listeners, we’ve got a very special guest in today and it’s none other than Gail Ann Dorsey, legendary session musician/singer/songwriter and bassist who accompanied David Bowie on tour and in the studio between 1995 and 2013. In that time, she became a core of the Bowie band, loved by David, bandmates and fans alike for her innate musicality, soaring vocals and cool, calm and stylish presence on stage.
Gail’s story stretches out way before Bowie, and has thrived afterwards too. In this episode, the first of two, we talk about Gail’s solo career, growing u...
2025-02-2348 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMNicholas Pegg on Tonight (Part Three)Nicholas Pegg and I are back for the final instalment of our three part extravaganza about David Bowie's 1984 album Tonight and its a good one - you'll have never heard anyone explore the joys of 'Tumble and Twirl', 'I Keep Forgetting' and 'Dancing With the Big Boys' in quite such vivid detail before. In making this series of episodes, I've changed my mind about 'Tonight' to some extent. Going in, I'd dismissed it as a load of old horse manure, but having heard what Nick has to say has made me if not love it, at least appreciate it a b...
2025-02-0241 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMNicholas Pegg on Tonight (Part Two)Nicholas Pegg and I continue our voyage into the heart of darkness as we venture deeper into the depths of Bowie's 1984 album 'Tonight'. Can we find our way back from the sadness of 'God Only Knows' into the light? Will there be redemption with Tina Turner on the title track? How do the ongoing Iggy covers fare? And what on earth does the surreal 1960 TV series 'The Strange World of Gurney Slade' have to do with the wonderful 21 minute mini epic 'Jazzin For Blue Jean' produced to promote one of the album's clutch of solid gold bangers? It's real, it's...
2025-01-2757 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMNicholas Pegg on Tonight (Part One)Returning to albumtoalbum for a long-overdue reunion is renowned actor, occasional Dalek and author of The Complete David Bowie, Nicholas Pegg.
Nick's an old friend of the podcast and has tackled some of David Bowie's most acclaimed albums in previous episodes - as well as exploring entire eras (our 198More series of chats take an overview of Bowie's singles, soundtracks and various off-extramural activities 1981 - 1989). Now, he's back to tackle one of the most challenging artefacts in the Bowie oeuvre - the much-maligned 1984 album Tonight.
A rag-tag bag of semi-sentient cover versions, marimbas, an absolutely bracingly...
2025-01-191h 10
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMEarl Slick on Station to StationBack in 1974, Earl Slick was a 22-year old jobbing session guitarist fast developing a reputation for his supple, searing style and versatility in all idioms. Hired by Bowie to join his Diamond Dogs tour, Slick then had to suddenly pivot from apocalypto-rock to sleek Philly soul at a moment's notice - but acquitted himself so well, he was invited to play on tracks destined for Young Americans before forming the core band, alongside Carlos Alomar, Dennis Davis, George Murray and Roy Bittan to cut the extraordinary Station to Station, in LA, during October 1975.
Bringing his charismatic flair to...
2024-01-2857 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMLeah Kardos on The Next Day Part 4In this episode we analyse The Next Day Extra, November 2013's accompanying min-album chock-full of tasty treats, rambunctious remixes and some songs that inexplicably never made it onto the album proper. Never mind. Now they get their moment in the sun and thanks to Leah Kardos's encyclopaedic knowledge of all things late-era Bowie, a fascinating conversation ensues in which we gallop across this collection and appreciate anew the understated and undersung treasures that await within.
Thanks again to Leah for all her time and insights and for making this conversation so enjoyable and illuminating. You can find out...
2023-12-3133 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMLeah Kardos on The Next Day Part 3Stadium rock! Ziggy! Morrissey? John Cooper Clarke? The Singing Detective! Join author of Blackstar Theory: The Last Works of David Bowie, musician and director of The Visconti Studio Dr Leah Kardos as she continues her full-spectrum analysis of The Next Day, David Bowie's masterful penultimate album from 2013. In this episode, we look at the final three songs of the album - (You Will) Set The World On Fire, You Feel So Lonely You Could Die and brooding closer Heat.
This is the third of four episodes devoted to The Next Day and its unruly children on The Next Day...
2023-12-2644 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMLeah Kardos on The Next Day Part 2We're back! And by we, I mean me and musician, writer and academic Leah Kardos, amongst whose many achievements is the critically-acclaimed book 'Blackstar Theory: The Last Works of David Bowie' which takes a thoughtful and informed view of Bowie's final projects. She is also a friend and trusted collaborator of Tony Visconti's, founding The Visconti Studio at London's Kingston University. Currently, Leah's working on her next book, exploring Kate Bush's 'Hounds of Love' album.
In this conversation, we continue our deep dive into The Next Day, with anecdotes, opinions, random theories and what we hope are facts, a...
2023-08-281h 16
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMLeah Kardos on The Next Day Part 1The Next Day is 10. And what a sprawling, dense forest of darkness, enervation and guttural thrills it is. The perfect halfway point between the charismatic rock of Reality and ethereal elusive Blackstar, it's often overlooked and overshadowed by that monumental successor. But there is a lot here to unpack and to do it, I could think of no one better than Leah Kardos, senior lecturer in music at Kingston University where she co-founded the Visconti Studio with Tony Visconti, the leader of The Stylophone Orchestra, a frequent contributor to The Wire magazine and author of the universally acclaimed Blackstar Theory...
2023-03-241h 21
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMMike Garson on Aladdin SaneIn this episode we talk to the one and only Mike Garson, pianist extraordinaire!
From playing with the Spiders from Mars to improvising one of the most extraordinary passages in pop music – that utterly frenetic piano solo in Aladdin Sane – to the elegance of 2003’s Reality - Garson was one of the only musicians to have played with Bowie across decades, sculpting the sound for Aladdin Sane, Pin Ups, Diamond Dogs, Young Americans, Black Tie White Noise, Outside, Earthling, Heathen and Reality. And, as he explains here, he was originally only hired for eight weeks…!
In this episode, Mike tal...
2022-10-0932 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMBrett Morgen on Moonage DaydreamThe auteur responsible for one of the most talked-about Bowie events in years, Brett Morgen, joins me for this episode of albumtoalbum - the first of a new season! - to discuss the ideas behind, meanings within and reaction to, his film Moonage Daydream. In a wide ranging talk, Brett talks about the acclaim and complaints the film has garnered, why he made it the way he did, why he didn't include your personal favourite Bowie moments and what he might do next.
Recorded over Zoom (apologies for the poor sound quality) in September 2022, our conversation was incredibly i...
2022-10-0152 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMReeves Gabrels: Part Two
He's back! Join me and Reeves Gabrels for more tales from the rock'n'roll frontline.
It's not surprising that the calm, can-do polymath Reeves, who barrels from rock to roll in the blink of an eye, so appealed to David Bowie’s need for a foil, friend and co-conspirator. It had been apparent from their first proper collaboration, the 1988 Reeves/La La La Human Steps performance in which Reeves oversaw a coruscating rendition of 1979’s Look Back In Anger, at London’s ICA. Explaining to Bowie what he wanted to do to the song, the guitarist said he wanted “the repe...
2022-04-171h 08
Music, Mindfulness, & MadnessShining the Persistence/Commitment CoinWe talk about the relationship between persistence and commitment, how they can serve each other in your projects and daily life, and more...---Taxi (songwriting service): https://www.taxi.com/songwriting3Composer Catalog: http://www.composercatalog.comInterview with Reeves Gabrels on "DAVIDBOWIE:ALBUMTOALBUM"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reeves-gabrels-part-one/id1355073030?i=1000547920678Jamie Lidell's Secret Harmony Trick:https://youtu.be/jhG4gw85Boohttps://trojanrecords.com/rudeboydocumentary/---Dee, Michael & Anu:Anu Kirk:https://www.anukirk...
2022-03-051h 53
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMReeves Gabrels: Part OneIn this, the first of an epic conversation about life, music, art, noise, haircuts, farts, Tin Machine, Buck Owens, Mick Ronson, Mick Jagger - oh, yes and more Tin Machine, legendary guitarist, composer and performer Reeves Gabrels joins me for a wonderfully random chat that charts our hero's early years, his career as a lawn-mower, wedding-party guitarist par excellence right up to meeting the man with whom he would spend the next ten years as a co-writer, guitarist, performer and friend.
Join us as we while away an hour or so looking back on an extraordinary life and m...
2022-01-141h 15
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMMark Plati & Sterling Campbell on Toy (Part 2)Welcome back to albumtoalbum the David Bowie Albums Podcast with me Arsalan Mohammad and in this second part of our chat with David Bowie’s long time collaborators Mark Plati and Sterling Campbell, we recall the making of albums including Black Tie White Noise, Earthling and of course, the great lost album of 60s tunes revisited, TOY, all of which feature in the new box set Brilliant Adventures. During the course of this episode, Mark and Sterling dig deeper into the sessions for TOY and the anecdotes come thick and fast. Do you know, for instance, what classic Bowie track in...
2021-12-101h 21
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMMark Plati & Sterling Campbell on Toy (Part 1)Welcome back to Albumtoalbum, the David Bowie albums podcast with me, Arsalan Mohammad. And it’s a very exciting podcast indeed today as we welcome not one but two Bowie alumni, producer/musician Mark Plati and drummer Sterling Campbell, to talk about a new old classic lost collection of remakes, the legendary TOY.
TOY was released last month as part of the Brilliant Adventures box set, which covers the 1992 – 2001 period, an era in which Sterling and Mark worked with Bowie, together or individually, on albums like Black Tie White Noise, Outside, Earthling, hours and TOY as well as some of the...
2021-12-1044 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMTHE 198MORE SHOW WITH NICK PEGG PART FOURJoin me and Nick Pegg for the fourth and final part of the 198more show, an all-singing, all-dancing odyssey through the wildly underrated Bowie 80s. In this part, we address post Live Aid Bowie, his work with Iggy Pop, Tina Turner, Jimmy Murakami, Martin Scorsese, La La La Human Steps and a fellow called Reeves Gabrels, who would play a huge role in reorientating our hero with his muse, as the 90s loomed.
I hope you enjoy this episode and do share and spread the word about the series if you are so inclined. Meanwhile, keep an ear o...
2021-08-2738 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMTHE 198MORE SHOW WITH NICK PEGG PART THREEIt's Live Aid Special! Join us as we join Bowie behind the scenes at the global jukebox on July 13 1985 for a day that changed pop'n'roll history
2021-07-1340 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMTHE 198MORE SHOW WITH NICK PEGG PART TWOJoin us for this 90 minute epic as we continue our mid 80s odyssey through the hectic schedule of D. Bowie, who is dressed in a frightwig and tights hurtling around labyrinths, or smoother than a filtered Turkish gasper, suave and Soho-sexy for Absolute Beginners. We get to grips with the music from both movies, debate Bowie's astonishing work rate, enjoy his Iggy Pop impersonation, tell you all you ever wanted to know about the Italian evergreen 'Volare' and Pegg shares some fruity opinions on Chris de Burgh and the Thompson Twins. We're very happy with this one and I hope...
2021-04-031h 23
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMTHE 198MORE SHOW WITH NICK PEGG PART ONEThe 1980s were Bowie's lost decade. True? No, says Nick Pegg. Join me and the much-loved author of The Complete David Bowie for a reappraisal of Bowie's musical adventures around and beneath the official albums released between 1980 and 1990. We're looking at Baal, Queen, Pat Metheny, Cat People, Live Aid, Band Aid, Labyrinth, Absolute Beginners and of course, as is always the case with Mr Pegg, a whole load of assorted trivia, facts, opinions and theories. Whatever you think of Bowie's notoriously divisive EMI albums, one thing's clear - there's much more to Bowie in the 80s than Never Let Me...
2021-03-091h 28
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMAdam Buxton & Chris O'Leary on Scary Monsters (Part 2)Part Two of my megachat with comedian and author Adam Buxton and in this episode, we’re joined by the one and only Chris O’Leary, returning to Albumtoalbum after his chat with us on ‘David Bowie’ (1967) some months back, author of Pushing Ahead of the Dame blog and collected essays on Bowie’s canon in ‘Rebel, Rebel’ and ‘Ashes To Ashes’.
We travel through the album’s tracklisting in this episode, from Ashes to Ashes to the closing Its No Game Part II and a bit beyond too. Chris and Adam swap nuggets of Bowie trivia and anecdotes and Adam b...
2021-01-081h 23
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMAdam Buxton on Scary MonstersWelcome back to Albumto album with guest Bowie obsessive Adam Buxton!
Scary Monsters is a milestone album. It is one I have long wanted to tackle here and I have quite a few thoughts about it. Here are a few of them.
David Bowie entered 1980 restless for change and a new sense of purpose. The generally lukewarm reaction to his previous album Lodger clearly prompted an internal audit and the 33-year old artist, on the move from Europe and now soaking up the energy of New York city, felt the time had come to harness the sp...
2020-12-151h 12
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMTim Worthington on Holy HolyTim Worthington - writer, podcaster and cultural archaeologist - is someone who digs deep and delights in obscure details. So, it follows that in this episode of Albumtoalbum, he chose to eschew the album format and instead, picked an intriguing slice of Bowie history - the 1971 single 'Holy Holy', originally recorded in the weird dead period just after the recording of The Man Who Sold The World in 1970, after a disillusioned Mick Ronson had returned to Hull to work as a municipal gardener, marking out rugby pitches on council playing fields instead of living it up with the Bowie gang...
2020-11-1754 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMChris O'Leary on David Bowie (1967) part 2Let us head back to the summer of 1967 and the second side of the debut album by promising pop hopeful David Bowie. On this side of the disk, we encounter Little Bombardier, Silly Boy Blue, Arthur (uncle Arthur?) a singer in a band, the Maid of Bond Street, the sneezing Mr Gravedigger and many others. Guiding me in this kaleidoscopic quest is my friendly guest, the man behind Pushing Ahead Of The Dame, Chris O'Leary. In amongst the ditties, he tells me something of his own work and the story behind his remarkable chronicle of Bowie's life and work and...
2020-09-2245 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMChris O'Leary on David Bowie (1967)Following on from our conversation about Bowie’s final album, this episode of albumtoalbum whizzes us back 53 years to his first, the eponymous debut, released in Britain on June 1 1967. Of course, any other artist in the world might be nervous about releasing an album - a debut album! - on the same day as The Beatles dropped their long-awaited follow up to Revolver, but that's showbusiness baby. Still, one can only imagine the sense of panic felt in the Decca boardrooms, when puce-faced executives heard just exactly what their newest star would be releasing in competition with the Beatles' masterpiece.
2020-08-3156 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMDonny McCaslin & Leah Kardos on ★ Part 3The third and final instalment of our epic conversation with Donny McCaslin and Leah Kardos takes a behind the scenes look at the recording of David Bowie's final album, ★ in New York. Donny tells us what it was like to work on Bowie's demos and how even in his last sessions, David B was as inspired, energised and excited as ever by his music and collaborators. Thanks to Donny for his time and generosity in sharing these precious memories and especially to Leah Kardos for her insights and perspectives on the album. Don't forget to follow them both at
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2020-08-0949 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMDonny McCaslin & Leah Kardos on ★ Part 2Welcome to the second of a megachat with musicians Donny McCaslin and Leah Kardos, as we discuss at length the life and times of the final epic album, 2016’s ★
2016’s ★is a dense, darkly textured epic that reveals Bowie in full flight as a musician, improvisator, lyricist and performer, a tour de force that demonstrated that Bowie was as much at ease with his past as he was with his present.
A remarkable accomplishment indeed, of course, for as we know this was Bowie’s farewell. And what an album ★ is. Like Johnny Cash or Leonard Cohen, Bowie left us...
2020-07-061h 04
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMDonny McCaslin & Leah Kardos on ★2016’s ★is a dense, darkly textured epic that reveals Bowie in full flight as a musician, improvisator, lyricist and performer, a tour de force that demonstrated that Bowie was as much at ease with his past as he was with his present.
A remarkable accomplishment indeed, of course, for as we know this was Bowie’s farewell. And what an album ★ is. Like Johnny Cash or Leonard Cohen, Bowie left us with a complex and astonishingly powerful final statement. It’s the sound of an artist at the top of his game, confident, with nothing to prove and that fertile, qu...
2020-06-2137 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMGuy Pratt on Lodger part 2The legendary bass player to the stars Guy Pratt joins us for a wonderful succession of amazing tales, rock and roll anecdotage, fashion advice, Floydian digressions and hot takes on Lodger in this second part of our megachat extravaganza!
1979's 'Lodger' is an often underrated album but upon further inspection, this blend of new wave, electrorock, globally-inspired music and esoteric experimentation stands the test of time. It's a shift away from the previous two 'Berlin' albums and probably the most Eno-esque of all Bowie's records, until 1995's '1. Outside'. The tough line up of Carlos Alomar, Dennis Davis...
2020-05-2949 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMGuy Pratt on Lodger part 11979's 'Lodger' is an often underrated album but upon further inspection, this blend of new wave, electrorock, globally-inspired music and esoteric experimentation stands the test of time. It's a shift away from the previous two 'Berlin' albums and probably the most Eno-esque of all Bowie's records, until 1995's '1. Outside'. The tough line up of Carlos Alomar, Dennis Davis and George Murray are on top form and our man Bowie sounds, in turn, edgy, expansive, impassioned and artful.
Joining me to discuss this superb moment in Bowie's career is the legendary boss of the bass, Guy Pratt who s...
2020-04-2349 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMStuart Maconie on Diamond Dogs part 3With our tin cans and string stretching across the locked down nation, Stuart and I return to conclude our scuttle through the dark underworld of Bowie's Diamond Dogs. In this episode, we rattle through what we quaintly call 'Side 2', taking in the soul-inflected death disco vibe and pondering its debt to Orwell. Along the way, we look at the disparate influences that come into play and touch on disco, soul, claret, Stormzy, the Arctic Monkeys and Chas'n'Dave and debate the burning issue of the day - viz. Is it "reason" or "treason"? Find out more ... in NINETEEN EIGHTY FOOOURR
2020-04-121h 00
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMStuart Maconie on Diamond Dogs Part 2"This is not the end. This is not the beginning of the end. But it is the end of the beginning." Winston Churchill could have been talking about this episode of Albumtoalbum, in which Stuart and I continue our deep dive into the world of Bowie's* Diamond Dogs and conclude the first part of our chipper chat session. In this handy, pocket-sized episode, we marvel at Sweet Thing/Candidate and Rebel Rebel, via Bowie's eyepatch, John Lennon, Alvin Stardust and a choice of Germanic influence - 1920s Berlin Cabaret or pounding krautrock?
*Have you noticed how, in 1974, it w...
2020-03-3128 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMStuart Maconie on Diamond Dogs Part 1In the year of the Diamond Dogs... while the zombie peoploids were crawling through Hunger City yowling with rage, a cheerful 13 year old lad in Wigan encountered Bowie's chilling, thrilling 'Diamond Dogs' LP. Today, Stuart Maconie, BBC DJ, critic and author joins me for a wonderfully rambling and enjoyable chat about all things Diamond Dogs. In this first episode, as well as recalling those halcyon days of the mid 1970s (and indeed they were halcyon, according to his new book The Nanny State Made Me), we delve deep into the mid 70s world of Bowie, the rise and fall of g...
2020-03-241h 00
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMNicholas Pegg on 1.Outside Part 3The final part of our king-sized 'Outside' chat with the MC of DB, Nicholas Pegg sweeps us up in a torrent of facts, trivia, analysis and architecture and morality. We push to the close of our investigation into this esoteric masterpiece and ask the important questions of the day including whether Oxford is actually a town or city, what track would make Bowie duck onstage when he played it live and the album's pleasing ability to be played in any old way you like. Join us!
Don't forget the previous two episodes here:
Part 1: https://podcasts...
2020-03-2053 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMNicholas Pegg on 1. Outside Part 2Spongebob Squarepants, Scott Walker, Eno, murder, murder, madness, the Pet Shop Boys, Algeria Touchshriek, Noah and Nelly, death, millennial angst and one of Bowie's finest albums, yes it's more from the dark, dangerous world of Outside, with the one and only Nicholas Pegg.
2020-01-0650 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMNicholas Pegg on 1.OutsideReleased in September 1995, 1. Outside (The diary of Nathan Adler or the art-ritual murder of Baby Grace Blue: A non-linear Gothic Drama Hyper-cycle), was [Wikipedia says] "set in 1999, in which the government, through its arts commission, had created a new bureau to investigate the phenomenon of Art Crime".
How disappointing that 1999 in fact, just brought us "...hours" instead.
Anyway, 1. Outside was intended as the first in a series of releases intended to articulate a sense of dystopian tension in the air as we hurtled towards 2000. It was a return to the sort of scabrous sounds and sc...
2019-12-0153 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMAlan Johnson on Hunky DoryWELCOME TO THE NEW episode of Album To Album in which we meet former Labour Home Secretary and award-winning memoirist Alan Johnson, former MP for Hull West and Hessel. We met recently in his Hull offices – ‘in Spiders From Mars land!’ as he proudly informs me - to reminisce about Hunky Dory, the 1971 LP which ch-ch-changed everything, not only for Bowie, but for legions of young rock’n’rollers.
In the course of course of our chat, Alan recalls his days as a shelf stacker and postman in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a new father inspired by ‘Kooks’, a songwriter in...
2019-10-1439 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMSamira Ahmed on Space Oddity - part 2The long-delayed and oft-promised second part of my two-parter on 'Space Oddity' with Samira Ahmed is finally here, almost 50 years to the month after Part 1. It covers not only the latter half of Bowie's 1969 LP, but veers across a number of topics as we trudge through the dampened grass to approach the summer's end. Tall Venusians will be passing through. I hope you enjoy this - and don't forget to warm up with Part One: https://audioboom.com/channels/4948081.rss
2019-10-0534 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMSamira Ahmed on Space Oddity - Part 1It's back to 1969, and a repeat appearance on Albumtoalbum for Space Oddity, the second full-length Bowie LP and with me to discuss all things Oddity-esque is BBC Radio 4 presenter and journalist Samira Ahmed. In this revealing chat - again, a here a two-parter - Samira explains her love of Bowie, her particular love of this album, the influence it had on her as a young Asian child growing up in 1970s Britain and the effect it had on her peers - something she documented to fascinating effect on her Radio 4 programme "I Dressed Ziggy Stardust" in which a number...
2019-02-2256 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMNicholas Pegg on Heathen - Part TwoA multi-million selling critical smash, laden with inventiveness, melody, reflection and profoundly questioning lyrics, 'Heathen' was the album everyone was waiting for, back in 2002. As Nick Pegg and I discover, during the course of this second part of our megachat, 'Heathen' touches on many facets of Bowie's artistry over the years. It revisits familiar themes of mortality, angst, identity and God ("Come on God, buck up!") alongside perhaps some of the best music of Bowie's 2000s. Older, wiser and more comfortable in himself, Bowie could address an intransigent Higher Being and rock out exuberant Pixies covers or indeed, pay...
2019-01-221h 00
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMNicholas Pegg on HeathenWe're back! Happy new year and a very happy birthday David Bowie... In this episode - the first in another two-parter - Bowie biographer and solid superstar Nick Pegg dissects the rich, complex tapestry of Bowie's 2002 magnum opus 'Heathen'. An album brimming with imagery, profundity, magisterial ambition and beautiful music it's amongst the very best of the canon. In this two-part episode, recorded in a subterranean cell in South London, Nick holds forth in typically entertaining manner, with erudition, insight and plenty of digressions along the way.
2019-01-0850 min
Emotional CripplesChristmas Special 2018It's Christmas time. And, according to Band Aid's spurious claim, there's no need to be afraid. So, here we are to let in light and banish shade during one of the most joyous/stressful times of the year.
Just me and Tim this time, giving our tips for sanity retention over the Christmas period.
Plus:
• A fascinating educational moment where everyone learns about the celestial origins of Christmas.
• Some men occasionally clanging scaffolding in the background.
Simpsons references: 2.
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Get in...
2018-12-2343 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMMurray Chalmers on Young AmericansHere we are, with the shimmering soulboy, Bowie '75 style and 'Young Americans', that louche blend of slow jams, dirty funk and smooth grooves. Bowie's 1975 album veered dramatically away from the trashglam-apocalypso of 1974's 'Diamond Dogs' and presaged the chilly Eurotech of 1976's 'Station To Station' with joyous verve and energy. 'Blue eyed soul', its emaciated creator later dismissed it as being, but we love it to bits and so does my guest this week, the PR main man Murray Chalmers. As a young pup in 1970s Dundee, Bowie lit up Murray's world, paving the way for a punk...
2018-11-271h 10
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMSiân Pattenden on LowLow! The 1976 masterpiece which saw our man frazzled and burned-out, on the cusp of mayhem, relocated from the madness of Los Angeles and teaming up with Brian Eno for a lot of experimental doodling and dallying and along the way, coming up with one of the most revolutionary albums in rawk history. The opening salvo of the 'Berlin Trilogy', Low is a beautiful racket of proto-electronica, effects and ambient soundscapes, that gave Bowie a new lease of life, electronic music to the mainstream and no doubt, ulcers to the good folk at Bowie's long suffering record label RCA.
2018-11-0251 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMNicholas Pegg on Hunky Dory (Part 2)We return from a short international expedition with Part 2 of our Hunky Dory hoe-down in which acclaimed Bowie biographer and Albumtoalbum regular Nicholas Pegg and I sit down to try and work out what makes Bowie's 1971 album just so damn good. I can't seem to string together a coherent sentence in this episode, which I will defend, by saying Hunky Dory leaves me speechless. In this edition, we focus on side two, and cover all manner of Bowiephilia, debating the impact of his first trip to the States, his adoration of Biff Rose, Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed...
2018-10-2243 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMNicholas Pegg on Hunky Dory (Part 1)It's the album that, arguably, revealed more of Bowie than any other, before or since. It's a masterstroke of songwriting, melodies, esoterica and soul-searching. It's Hunky Dory and in the latest episode of Album To Album, we embark on the first of a two-part discussion of Bowie's 1971 landmark work, with our good pal Nick Pegg in the house to discuss Bovril, Andy Warhol, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Mickey Mouse, Norfolk Broads, generational angst, Peter Noone, Alley Oop, Alastair Crowley and much much more! (And that's only side one...)
Thank you for listening and please do share, rate and get...
2018-10-041h 11
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMCharlotte Hatherley on Tin MachineHeaven's In Here! Under The God! Video Crime! Bus Stop! The critical consensus is one of mockery and disdain, but to paraphrase a magazine article of the time - "Are Tin Machine Crap? Discuss" - the wonderful Charlotte Hatherley and I reconvene in the kitchen to crack open a bottle of wine and do just that. We ponder the stories behind the Tin Machine project, chew over our favourite and not so favourite tracks, look at what alternatives Bowie had at the time and how the group did him a bit of good. We had a great time on...
2018-09-271h 16
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMLet's Dance with Joachim HentschelLet's primp our hair, pat our shoulder pads into place, put on our red shoes and dance the blues in this edition as we head back to 1983 and the world-beating, mainstream-baiting majesty of Let's Dance, with the Berlin-based author and critic Joachim Hentschel. In this episode of Albumtoalbum, we explore the back story of Let's Dance and talk through the uneven collection of dance, rock, r'n'b and pop, as Bowie began his uneven, perilous navigation of the hostile swamps of the 1980s. We hear from Joachim's interview with the man himself, ruefully reflecting on the aftermath of the album's...
2018-08-291h 09
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMNicholas Pegg on LodgerReleased in 1979 to mixed reviews and a sense of bewilderment at the change of direction from the preceding two instalments of the 'Berlin trilogy', 'Lodger' has never quite assumed iconic status. But there is much to enjoy in this 10-track outing, from a sort of travel themed suite of songs to a more broader set of topics on side two. Containing hits such as 'DJ' and 'Boys Keep Swinging', it also referenced Bowie's long-standing love affair with Krautrock, the Middle Eastern/reggae mashup of 'Yassassin', the starkly minimal story of 'Repetition' and the proto-world music feel of 'African Night...
2018-08-211h 09
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMDavid Quantick on PinUpsPinUps is Bowie's fond parting gift to 1960s London, with covers of classic and less-known tracks from the Who, Kinks, Yardbirds, Syd's Pink Floyd, Them and more. It's also his farewell to Ziggy - having broken up the band when the kids had killed the man in July of 1973, our little wonder was going places - inventing Orwellian rock dystopia and becoming a grand, raddled dame of despair. But first! There was this LP to do, and what a fine album it is, a rocking, reeling rolling romp through the track listing but unlike similar covers albums by contemporaries...
2018-04-0531 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMAlbumtoalbum: The Easter Pegg bonus episodeHello! Here's a little Easter treat for you all, a couple of outtakes from my conversation with Nicholas Pegg last week in which Nick explains how he came to write 'The Complete David Bowie' and then, an interesting bit about the Glass Spider tour and Bowie at Live Aid. My mic was undergoing some sort of trauma for this section, which is why it didn't make the final cut - but it's well worth hearing. Enjoy and I'll be uploading the next edition of ALBUMTOALBUM next week!
2018-03-3114 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMNicholas Pegg on Never Let Me DownMullets! Marimbas! Multimedia arachnid mayhem! Yes it's the spidery folly of 1987's 'Never Let Me Down', with Nicholas Pegg returning to stoutly defend his choice of album to a sceptical public, in this highly entertaining ramble.
The 1987 album 'Never Let Me Down' was a mishmash of styles, songs and haircuts as Bowie attempted to jumpstart his flagging career, with this confused follow up to 1984's 'Tonight'. Reflecting the uncertainty of Bowie's mindset at the time - casting around for a new direction and harking back to the theatricality of 'Diamond Dogs' a decade earlier, while trying to...
2018-03-2748 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMDavid Quantick on Hours...When Q journalist David Quantick flew to New York in 1999 to meet Bowie ahead of the release of 'Hours…' he found King Gnome in chipper form, sprightly, funny and eager to discuss almost everything other than his new album. Maybe that was because (in my opinion) it's far from being one of his best. I think it's dull and ininspiring. Not Quantick. Listen and marvel as my guest fights his corner with grace and insight, countering my rather lumpen repeated assaults on the record. He cleverly admits its shortcomings while stubbornly extolling its virtues. Can I sustain my po...
2018-03-2029 min
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMCharlotte Hatherley on "Heroes"In this episode, we delve into the magisterial 1977 epic "Heroes" in a very entertaining chat with former Ash guitarist and composer Charlotte Hatherley. Along the way, Charlotte and I ponder Frippertronics, try to fathom the mystique and romance that the "Heroes" album holds for us, pick apart the songs, ponder Bowie's sexiness, indulge in world-class pedantry and hear about the time Bowie forgot Charlotte's name.
2018-03-101h 06
DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUMNicholas Pegg on Space OddityJoin me and The Complete David Bowie author Nicholas Pegg for a lengthy ramble around 1969's 'Space Oddity' and discover why this 'debut' was in fact, probably the most raw, personal and heartfelt Bowie album ever made. From breakups to breakdowns, disillusionment, bitterness and resignation, rock, folk, country and space jams - a relative flop on release (apart from the hit title track) this remains an extraordinary breakout album from an extraordinary fellow.
2018-03-0247 min