Another album I ordered with an Amazon gift card was “David Bowie – Stage”.

The tracks on “Stage”.

It’s like Ziggy Stardust meets the Berlin albums. It was the record 2 side 1 that got me. Which is odd because if you play some of these tracks for people who like Bowie they say, huh, who is this? For a guy so famous for his voice and persona, these instrumentals are so out of character, but awesome in my opinion. If you like his mainstream stuff, but also love “Low” then this live album is for you.

I believe I got this before I got “Low” so this album was my first taste of the moody atmospheric type stuff and it got to me. I was in a particularly “open to anything” phase, soon to be replaced with I need hard rock and only hard rock, so the timing was perfect. David Bowie was one of the few artists for me at the time that could do no wrong. Whatever style he was doing worked for me.

This album had its critics though. There was criticism of how it was recorded, mainly through instrument mics and not stage mics, so crowd noise is very low. Not the screaming fan background noise you normally hear. I like that in this case because of some of the quieter songs, but critics complained that it sounded more like a studio album, and that the songs themselves were pretty much played straight as performed on the studio albums. Less of a relic of a great performance than a greatest hits package.

Also criticized was the art. The cover photo is repeated inside.

and on the back the picture is colorized, but still the same. A huge gatefold and you use the same picture? A good one true, but you could have put anything inside, perhaps… other pictures, or liner notes, or anything. Ah well, I overlook it for the music inside anyway.

Having both live albums at my disposal “David Live At Tower Theater” and “Stage” I often opted for the quieter “Stage”. I was very into the Berlin trilogy I have to admit. Oddly, “Heroes” is the only Bowie vinyl I think I still need. Hmm…

I was pleased to find the David Bowie Official International Fan Club insert in this copy.

Only 5 bucks!

Two 8 x 10 concert photos with signature!?

I would so have the Official Membership Charter Certificate framed and hanging on the wall in the man cave. Sigh. Let’s see… 1974 and it is now 2014… that would mean $180 in Fan Club fees to keep me up to date.

The music nerd in me wants to send for this just to get something official back, like no such addressee or moved. That would be funny. Do artists still do fan clubs these days? Or is it all done though the internet? Sigh. Sometimes I miss the golden age of stamped communications.

Speaking of technology, I think if you could take the tracks from both “Stage” and “David Live At Tower Theater” and put them together and hit shuffle.

That would be awesome.