David Bowie

Welcome To The Blackout (Live London ’78)

Record Store Day exclusive gets full release. Bowie captured at the peak of his powers (well, one of them) during the Isolar II tour at London’s cavernous Earl’s Court across two nights in the summer of ‘78. Originally an RSD release, it’s being made available to the broader public on three vinyls or two CDs, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. Recorded by Tony Visconti and mixed by Bowie himself with David Richards in ‘79, it’s no mere after-the-fact knock-off, but an excellent snapshot of the post-punk, post-Iggy-tour Bowie, consolidating his past and present incarnations for the faithful in significant style.

Consequently, his contemporary Berlin-era blueprint for the future is well represented (a gloriously atmospheric opening

Warszawa, a peerlessly passionate reading of ‘Heroes’ and a lushly mesmeric Art Decade), as are Thin White funk-ups of an already packed stable of hits (The Jean Genie, Rebel Rebel), recent noncharting singles Be My Wife and particularly Stay, fizz with unprecedented vitality and, recognising the importance of ‘legacy’ even then, six backto-back selections from 1972’s Ziggy Stardust magnum opus. Originally Bowie had intended to reunite the original Spiders From Mars for this segment, but due to Mick Ronson’s commitments elsewhere the idea was canned. Whatever, the Adrian Belew/Carlos Alomar frontline are flying (Station To Station, fully evolved into a towering nightly tour de force particularly dazzles), the audience enraptured, The Actor inspired and, yes, it’s better than Stage.

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ian Fortnam