Posted on 04/20/2024 7:07:22 PM PDT by DoodleBob
Producer Tony Visconti uses the original master tapes from sessions at Hansa Studio in Berlin to get to the heart of one of David Bowie’s best-loved songs, the title track from "Heroes".
We hear the song built up by individual contributions, including those from guitarist Robert Fripp, Brian Eno's 'synthesiser in a briefcase' and of course David Bowie's powerful, harshly emotional vocal.
This film with Tony Visconti is an extended version of that on the BBC Four programme Music Moguls: Melody Makers. It closes with the iconic music video for Heroes, directed in 1977 by Stanley Dorfman.
Release date: 27 January 2016 Duration: 20 minutes
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Heroes'"[a] is a song by the English musician David Bowie from his 12th studio album of the same name. Co-written by Bowie and Brian Eno and co-produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, the song was recorded in mid-1977 at Hansa Studio 2 in West Berlin. The backing track was recorded fully before lyrics were written; Bowie and Eno added synthesiser overdubs while Robert Fripp contributed guitar. To record the vocal, Visconti devised a "multi-latch" system, wherein three microphones were placed at different distances from Bowie and would open when he sang loud enough. Like other album tracks, he improvised lyrics while standing at the microphone. An art rock song that builds throughout its run time, "'Heroes'" concerns two lovers, one from East Berlin and the other from the West. Under constant fear of death, they dream they are free, swimming with dolphins. Bowie placed the title in quotation marks as an expression of irony on the otherwise romantic or triumphant words and music. Directly inspired by Bowie witnessing a kiss between Visconti and singer Antonia Maass next to the Berlin Wall, other inspirations included a painting by Otto Mueller and a short story by Alberto Denti di Pirajno.
Released in edited form by RCA Records on 23 September 1977 as the album's lead single, initial reviews for the song were mostly positive, with some welcoming it as a classic addition to the artist's catalogue. Bowie heavily promoted the song with a music video and sang it on numerous television programmes, including Marc Bolan's Marc and Bing Crosby's Christmas special. Bowie also released German and French-language versions of "'Heroes'", titled "'Helden'" and "'Héros'", respectively. Despite its large promotion, the song only peaked at number 24 on the UK Singles Chart and failed to chart at all on the US Billboard Hot 100, but reached the top 20 in multiple European countries and Australia.
Over time, the song has grown substantially in reputation and been seen as one of Bowie's best songs, with some considering it one of the greatest songs of all time. His biographers pan the single edit for diminishing the song's power. Following Bowie's death in 2016, the song reached a new peak of number 12 in the UK. The song remained a staple throughout his concert tours and live performances and is Bowie's second-most covered song after "Rebel Rebel" (1974). A version of "'Heroes'" by the Wallflowers was positively received and charted in the US and Canada in 1998. Another version by the finalists of The X Factor was a UK number one in 2010. The song has also been used predominantly in advertising over the years and has appeared in several television series and films.
I like the cover by Motörhead
Fripp’s feedback and guitar tracks help make this song Epic.
Special kudos to “Erin” for helping Tony. She’s the heroine of this video.
I prefer the original, but in general Lemmy makes EVERYTHING better.
Lemmy’s “1916” still can bring me to tears when I hear it.
I prefer Sound and Vision
Oakland Coliseum around 1988. Opened with it after an instrumental. Couldn’t believe how beautiful it was.
Ok, so track by track doesn’t mean tracks on the album, but each audio layer on the unabridged single. “Heroes” took a long time to be seen as anything special. The Scary Monsters album made a much bigger initial splash. i did translate it into Latin in high school for extra credit, largely because the lyrics were easy to translate,only one subjunctive.
That is a great song and performance, but I still get more from David’s work on another album: Alladin Sane.
There is the title song itself, with that fusion jazz piano.
There is Panic in Detroit. The reckless rowdiness of Let’s Spend The Night Together.
Hunky Dory has it’s own gems.
So I was stationed in Germany when this song came out and always preferred the German version of the song, which I thought more powerful than the English...
I think Station To Station is the best Bowie album.
Aladdin Sane had a lot of really disgusting lyrics (Cracked Actor, Jean Genie, Watch That Man). I am glad the 13 year old version of me didn’t understand all of them. At least in “Panic in Detroit” the guy who looks like Che Guevera dies. My favorite track on that album is “The Prettiest Star”.
“Hunky Dory” is a lot of fun in parts. Every so often I find myself saying “The tactful cactus by your window, surveys the prairie of your room”. Quite the combination of whimsical (”Fill Your Heart”) and weird (”Bewlay Brothers”). If you haven’t heard Peter Noone’s Top Ten version of “Oh! You Pretty Things”, it is worth a YouTube visit. Despite the fact that Bowie is playing keyboards (huge step down from Rick Wakeman), Noone seems completely oblivious to the lyric.
I have this on my rotating playlist
Maybe my favorite live version of this song was performed by Bowie exactly 32 years ago today at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in London.
https://youtu.be/UsiQgRp5bfQ?si=gkXRKNkUkHQU9_zq
David had a pretty fair backing band— the surviving members of Queen. The lead guitarist was Mick Ronson, Bowie’s guitarist in the Spiders from Mars period. It was Ronson’s last performance before passing from cancer. There is a driving bass guitar part by Queen’s bassist John Deacon that makes this version great in my opinion.
That album was produced during his “Thin White Duke” period.
Very stylish. Very Bryan Ferry-ish.
Ashes 2 Ashes!
China Girl.
Zappa was not happy when Bowie stole Adrian Belew from him.
I’ve always been partial to Diamond Dogs myself.
Saw Bowie on the Serious Moonlight tour. He was an amazing performer.
L
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