Cover artwork
David Live was issued with sleeve photography by Dagmar. The starkly lit photographs gave little indication of the scale and complexity of the Diamond Dogs Tour set, and each captured Bowie against a black background.And that photo. On the cover. My God, it looks as if I’ve just stepped out of that grave.That’s actually how I felt. That record should have been called ‘David Bowie is alive and well and living only in theory’.
The 2005 reissue of the album reversed the front and rear cover images, and had additional live shots of Bowie.
The release
David Live was released on 29 October 1974, shortly after Bowie began his Soul Tour in the US.
In the UK, it was initially priced at £3.78 to help its chart placing. The discounted price was retained for two months before it reverted to the standard price of £4.88 for a double album.
David Live peaked at number two in the UK, remaining on the charts for 12 weeks. It reached number five in Canada and number eight in the US.
It was not well received by critics. Rolling Stone magazine described it as “a thin, samey oneness… one dimensional, mixed into a flat canvas to highlight Bowie’s presence, and despite extended solos, the band does not establish an engaging identity… When ‘Changes’ is framed like a Watergate prophecy, you figure you’re hearing Bowie on the wrong night.”
In response to the critical pasting, the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger reportedly said: “If I got the kind of reviews that he got for that album, I would honestly never record again. Never.”
David Live was recorded from many different shows, I merely mixed it. The sound quality on the master tapes was terrible and there wasn’t much I could do in those days given the limitations of the equipment. I haven’t heard everything from that tour so I don’t know if better versions exist. However I personally recorded Stage and I like that album a lot more.
tonyvisconti.com
‘Knock On Wood’ was released as a single in the UK, and reached number 10 on the singles chart. ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll With Me’ was a single in the US, in response to Donovan’s recent cover version. In both instances the b-side was the live version of ‘Panic In Detroit’.
In the Netherlands, a nine-song version of David Live was issued in 1979 as Rock Concert. In 1982 it was reissued as David Bowie At The Tower Philadelphia.
Reissues, remixes, remasters
David Live was first released on compact disc in 1990 by Rykodisc/EMI, with two bonus songs added to the end of the album, along with Bowie’s introduction of the band members. The extra songs were a cover of the Ohio Players’ ‘Here Today, Gone Tomorrow’, and ‘Time’.
A 2005 reissue by EMI/Virgin restored ‘Here Today, Gone Tomorrow’ and ‘Time’ to their correct places in the concert running order, and retained Bowie’s band intros. It contained two further bonus tracks: ‘Space Oddity’ and ‘Panic In Detroit’, the latter having previously been a single b-side.
The 2005 version was fully remixed by Tony Visconti, who also created a surround sound version.
I never liked the sound of David Live and was really gratified to get a chance to remix it in 2004 for a Surround Sound rerelease. In all fairness to Eddie Kramer, the show was not recorded well and tools didn’t exist in 1974 to fix some of the badly recorded tracks – there were big problems. In 2004 engineer Mario McNulty and I microscopically scanned through the sound files and corrected every abrupt change of volume and sound that the recording engineer made back in 1974. The new sonic quality makes it sound as if it was recorded today.
Bowie, Bolan And The Brooklyn Boy
This version was remastered and included in the 2016 box set Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976), along with the original 1974 version. The new remaster was given a standalone release the following year on CD, vinyl, and as a digital download.
What is the sound Bowie is making in in intro to 1984? And what was he doing at the time?
What sound are you talking about? The first Bowie sound is him singing “heeeeyyyy”, after the bass first kicks in. If, on the other hand, you are referring to the barely audible, guttural, sort of yelping sound in the beginning when the electronic synth/flute is playing – I had always assumed that was Geoffrey MacCormack, as the tone of voice sounds like him. And I have absolutely no idea what he was doing…maybe Diamond Dog sounds?
I always thought that jelly sound was because he was singing inside a Perspex egg and after the first verse it opened to reveal him.
He’d on the reflective box for Big Brother, he’d be lowered during Chant, and it would to reveal him in a sequined-hand for Time.
I think I can provide some insight to your question. I saw the Diamond Dogs show in June 1974 (about a month before David Live was recorded) at the Syria Mosque in Pittsburgh. It was my first concert — age 14 and done up in the best glam look I could muster at the time. I’ll never forget the thrill of seeing live and in the flesh the beautifully strange creature that had graced the album covers that had so fascinated me, not to mention the sheer theatrical spectacle of the show.
The opening sounds you’re referring to are dog yelps uttered, I believe, by Warren Peace and Guy Dellasandro, Bowie’s backup singers. They were heard after the house lights had dimmed and the theater was in complete darkness. Then, during the opening to 1984, Warren and Guy wandered around the stage in the dark aiming flashlights onto the set and into the audience as a sort of excitement builder. When Bowie starts singing 1984, he was not visible on stage. He sang the first verse and first chorus in the dark with just the flashlights beaming around. If you listen to 1984 on David Live, after the first chorus, at 01:08, you’ll hear the audience cheer – that’s when the spotlight came on and revealed David center stage, dressed in a blue sweater, baggy grey high-waisted “zoot suit” slacks, pocket watch chain, red suspenders and ballet slippers. (Inspired by the Gouster look.) I was shocked that he didn’t have the signature hair style he had sported on Aladdin Sane, Pin Ups and Diamond Dogs – the now classic mullet, but his hair was still the same carrot red and blazed like a fire in the spotlight.
My favorite set piece was the bridge with lighted lamp posts that descended to the stage with Bowie, wrapped in a trench coat, on board singing Sweet Thing/Candidate. Mechanized concert stages are almost de rigueur now, but such a thing was WAY ahead of its time in 1974. I can recall thinking at the time “the music doesn’t sound the same as the album tracks.” This was partly due to the loser, live sound, to which I was not accustomed as this was my first concert, but more so to how Bowie and Michael Kamen had given the songs different arrangements.
I saw Bowie again a few months later (Nov ’74) on the Philly Dogs portion of the tour (at a larger arena in Pittsburgh but without the sets), as well as on the ISOLAR/Station to Station tour in ’76, the Serious Moonlight tour in ’83, and lastly on the same bill with Moby on the Area 2 tour in ’02. Sound wise, the band was never tighter than on the Station to Station tour (shout out to Carlos Alomar, Dennis Davis and George Murray!), but nothing will ever beat or be as memorable to me as that 1974 Diamond Dogs show! So glad I had an older brother who said, “Wanna go see David Bowie?” (The ticket cost $7.50!)
The photo on the front cover is reversed isn’t it? It sort of always bothered me but I have never checked before.
Just to clarify, I mean the negative of the shot has been turned over.
Yes and that was “corrected” on TV’s remastered release.
i suspect the first verse of 1984 might be overdubbed or at least the first part of it. it has a studio sound to it, unlike the other verses.
I always loved this album. From the day I heard it at a friend’s house about a week after it was released. I’ve attended so many concerts over the years but this is one of the ones I wish I would have been old enough to go to. In 74 I was 13 and no where near Philly. Anyhow, I miss the days when performers didn’t always replicate recorded version when doing a song live. So many interesting arrangements on this album. Version Rock n Roll Suicide is fantastic.
Sitting here, 2021, listening to this on original vinyl, I might be alone in this but I consider it a fantastic live album. The sonics are a bit odd, and off center on some tracks, but what a show…what a document, what a performance. The songs are raw, stripped of synths and too many layers of effects which killed so many later recordings. David is live here. Great album.
I agree, I think this album has gotten a bad rep. Perfect, it’s not. But if you weren’t old enough or otherwise able to see a show on that tour, it provides an extraordinary visceral experience, especially when played loud. And what a setlist!
– Scratched Vinyl, Barrington
Despite the various criticisms I’ve read over time about “David Live” it is my favorite album from Mr. Bowie. I was 17 when it was released and going through hell. Without trying to sound overly dramatic, his music quite literally kept me going during many very difficult times. “David Live” was my life-preserver. As a result, it remains closest to my heart. That’s very difficult to say – “closest” – when there’s also the “Ziggy” album in the mix, but it is closest. If I could listen to only one song for the rest of my life, it would be the full, three-part version of “Sweet Thing” from “David Live.” The lyrics, regardless of the recording, have always thrilled me. Then, the live version with the dueling saxophone of David Sanborn and guitar of Earl Slick – well, for me there’s nothing like it. Having said that, I feel I’m betraying Mick Ronson. I loved his music with Mr. Bowie and his solo work as well. Thank you.
This has to be one of the most overly criticised albums ever? When I look on Wiki, the press at the time, apparently ‘savaged’ the album? This is un-fathomable to me.
The ‘treatment’ given to these songs by the musicians… (just look at the credits)…. these musicians are absolute ‘monsters’ of their own genre’s…. To have all that, moulded into the Bowie songs?… OMG…. and this happened again and again with Frampton, SRV…. all the ‘monster’ players (of different instruments)…. that to me… is acknowledgement… that if these guys wanted to play on his songs…. then…. step back!!!
Besides the fact that it is a ‘live’ recording…. and in ‘those days’… they simply didn’t have the technology to put that on vinyl, in such a way… to hear it how we hear it today…. Earl Slick rips the guts out of his solos… the piano parts are sublime… the ending of Aladdin Sane… is absolutely insane… the percussion parts… the drum fills… the singing… the songs… apart from the recording… I’d hold this album up as one of the all-time greats of ‘versions’ of his songs… ever….. words don’t do it justice…. Back in the day…. I used to listen to this album, song by song, as a ‘live’ album…
My family had flown back to New York (I was raised there and my parents grew up there. We moved to Seattle in 1972) for Christmas 1974. We were visiting friends of my parents when I discovered one of their teenagers had this album, wh. I’d never heard of. I was FRANTIC to listen to it but the stereo was in the living room where all the adults were gathered! I can still remember the angst I was feeling – so close yet so far!
I know it’s David’s bête noire but this album is absolutely brilliant. Sorry to disagree there, Zigs.