This is a bootleg release of some of the material which David Bowie intended to use in his 1.Outside album of 1995. Most of the tracks, however, were rejected by the recording labels as too uncommercial. They were indeed too weird by all means to make their way to pop-charts - and that is exactly why I think that the compilation of rejected tracks would be worth sharing here. In a nutshell, the Outtakes are about 40 minutes of rather adventurous cyber-punkish avant/psych improvisations intermingled with chants, recitations and few more or less conventional rock-style sung pieces. Although this effort does not fall straight into the category of progressive rock, I believe that some friends of PNF will appreciate it.
Citing Illustrated DB Discography: "On March 12 1994, David Bowie, Brian Eno, Reeves Gabrels, Mike Garson, Erdal Kizilcay and Sterling Cambell improvised a three-and-a-half-hour opus at the Mountain Studios in Montreux. This work formed the basis for the album 1.Outside. The recordings were mixed at Westside Studios, London in the summer of 1994 and were intended for release as a double-album. Reeves Gabrels wrote on his website: "We hoped that it would have come out intact and un-compromised by financial/commercial pressures. It would have been a very serious musical statement (and maybe even pissed more people off than Tin Machine)". However, Bowie was unable to interest any record label to release 1. Outside in its original form because it was considered too uncommercial. Somehow 70 minutes from these mixed recordings have escaped. The CD features tracks that can hardly be called songs, as they do not follow conventional arrangements with verses and choruses. They are more like sketches, often with changes in tempo and structure within a single track. Although only a few tracks ('I Am With Name' and 'Leon Takes Us Outside') ended up on 1.Outside, the story line set out throughout these tracks forms the backbone of the album".
The link is to be found in the comments.
Quite interesting, thank you. I always regarded Outside as a REAL prog album, really worth checking out.
ReplyDeleteVery much appreciated :o)
ReplyDeleteExcellent progblog. Really wanted this outtakes album for my collection, but downloaded twice, to no avail. When extracted, only gives me the first mp3, "hello leon". Could I get another link?
ReplyDeletePertaining to the previous on extraction. It's fine now. Thanks. Probably was me.
ReplyDeleteAs you are probably aware, this material exists in a number of variants: many apparently derive from fragments of the essexboy MP3 upload to a Bowie fan web forum. These fragements have been variously mucked about with (audio-tweaking) to try to enhance/disguise the poor quality origins, and circulates with the material assembled in various orders, and re-titled.
ReplyDeleteThere is also, however, another source--a rare "real" bootleg--of better quality material (could this have been essexboy's source?)
And then there is the so-called "inner circle" material, which runs to more than seventy minutes, and which would also be, one imagines, better quality (ie lossless), made from the tape copied/stolen from the London recording studio where the material was being edited/mixed.
It would be helpful if you could include some information in the archive file indictaing your source of the MP3 files; if that's not practical, a comment here on the lineage of the material would be useful.
Yes, I know there is a number of versions of this material. However, I don't really know what lineage can this specific version be attributed to. I downloaded it some time ago from one of the P2P networks (either eDonkey or Torrent) and there were no explanatory notes coming along. Initially, it was a 6 track compilation, 51 minutes of total playing time. I decided to drop the last track due to its very poor sound quality and the fact that it overlapped extensively with the track #2 (i.e. it was a different retake of I Am With Name / We Creep Together). That's basically all I can say responding to your question. Unfortunately, I don't have the 70' 'inner circle' version... I will keep my eyes open, though. Thanks for you information!
ReplyDeletejust found this one on line
ReplyDeletewhich looks like it has more than the one you posted
perhaps the "inner circle" you speak of
enjoy
http://rs162.rapidshare.com/files/53954437/Outside_outtakes.zip
congrats on the great blog, i can't imagine the work that goes into it, Grant
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this rare music. It's a pity it was never officially released. Makes you wonder how much more great stuff Bowie has sitting unreleased in the vaults.
ReplyDelete