On January 10th the music world lost one of its greatest when David Bowie passed away. His influence will continue as long as music is created. For over 5 decades his peers and critics considered him an innovator. He brought a new dimension to popular music and his influence is unquestionable. Many artists have worked with Bowie. One in particular is from Northern Kentucky where I grew up. Adrian Belew.
I had contacted Belew and asked him about his time with Bowie and what it was like to work with rock royalty.
"In Lake Geneva, Switzerland there was a popular lakeside casino which sometimes featured name bands in concert. One such event was Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention. Long before I worked with Frank, they played a show at the casino. As the story goes, someone with a flare gun shot a flare into the ceiling while Frank was playing, the ceiling caught on fire, and the casino burnt to the ground. Frank told me after they evacuated the building he and his band walked around the lake to their hotel where they sat and watched the place burn down with all their gear and instruments inside. The next day there was nothing left. Even the cymbals had melted. This is of course the story which prompted the song "Smoke On The Water" by Deep Purple. The casino was re-built and expanded to include a recording studio. It's where the Montreux Jazz Festival is held each year. It's where we recorded Lodger in 1978."
Indifferently received by critics at the time, Lodger is now widely considered to be among Bowie's most underrated albums and a favorite with fans. It was recorded between legs of Bowie's 1978 world tour.
"The new studio/casino was built out of thick concrete. It looked like a WWII bunker. The strangest feature of the studio was that the control room was on the first floor and the recording room was up the stairs on the second floor above it.Usually you can see the producer, engineer, etc. through a glass window. In this case you could not see them, but they could see you through a closed circuit TV screen." Belew explained.
Belew went on to explain the recording process.
"By the time I was brought in there were 20 tracks to work on. I was very anxious to hear them but David and the producers, Brian Eno and Tony Visconti, patiently explained their concept. The record was to be called "Planned Accidents" so they wanted to capture my accidental responses to the songs by not allowing me to hear them beforehand. I would go upstairs into the recording room, put on my headphones, look into the closed circuit camera and say, "What key would this one be in?". I'd hear a disconnected voice, "Don't worry about the key. When you hear the count off just start playing something." Belew added "I would be allowed perhaps 2 or 3 tries and then we'd move on just about the time I knew the key. David, Eno, and Tony would "piece together" their favorite bits from whatever I'd managed to play.That's how we did "DJ", "Boys Keep Swinging" and "Red Sails" to name a few of my favorites.What I learned from the process was something I long suspected: the recording studio is where the magic happens and where I love to be."
In 1990 Bowie began a greatest hits tour. The Sound+Vision tour was one in which he would retire his back catalog. The tour would visit 27 countries with over 100 performances. Bowie had used Belew on his 1978 tour as guitarist. He must have been very impressed because for the Sound+Vision tour he hired Belew to be the music director. The two even got together to record some music before the tour began.
"At the time David asked me to be music director for the 1990 Sound and Vision tour, which was expected to be a year-long tour, I had just started recording my fifth solo album to be called Young Lions. It made sense for David to be involved in the album so he generously sent me a demo of one of his unreleased songs called "Pretty Pink Rose". I recorded my version of the song, playing all the instruments, but leaving room for vocals. It was decided we should sing it as a duet. During tour rehearsals in New York City we finally had an evening to record the vocals, an extraordinary moment for me. Later I mixed the song and put it on my record along with a second song we wrote together called "Gunman".
When asked if there was a creative spark ignited in working with Bowie...
"You bet! It was always exciting to be around David and inspiring as well. He gave me plenty of rope to hang myself with, asked for my input more often than not and was enthusiastic about most of my ideas."
Many had come and gone in the world of Bowie. Belew was fortunate enough to have worked with him on 2 tours, an album and 2 songs. I also asked him if he had any fond memories of working with the Starman and if they had stayed in contact after that last tour together.
"Every memory is fond. It all runs together in my mind like a film I've seen. To pick one instance: I visited David at his home in Switzerland for a week during which time he taught me about his influences and he and I even tried to write songs together. We stayed in contact via email, but hadn't seen each other for a few years. We had no plans to work together again but I always assumed it would happen."
I have been asked many times what my favorite Bowie songs are. It is such a hard question to answer with such a massive library of songs that span a career of over 50 years. Belew answered with his.
"I have to name 3: "Ashes To Ashes "summarizes what made David so unique. "Space Oddity" was the first song of our concert each night for 108 shows and each night it gave me chills. Last but not least "Pretty Pink Rose" for obvious reasons."
Adrian Belew is a talent beyond measure and one of the nicest men I have ever encountered in the music industry. A Northern Kentucky boy that has left a mark in the world of music and is still exciting fans around the globe with new music and tours. I want to thank him for all the wonderful music he has created. I have seen him live with King Crimson, The Bears and solo. Each time was a mind blowing experience.
