New Music Releases: David Bowie, Laurie Anderson

Our picks this week.

David Bowie's groundbreaking 1967 debut album is set for a vibrant revival with this Deluxe Edition reissue boasting exclusive bonus tracks to tantalize fans old and new. Critics of the time commented; with the NME praising Bowie's fresh sound as "all very refreshing" and hailing him as "a very promising talent." Melody Maker lauds the album as "a singularly rewarding collection" with "excellent" production, while expressing surprise that Bowie hadn't yet made a bigger impact on the pop scene. Meanwhile, Disc & Music Echo raves about the album, describing it as "a remarkable, creative debut album by a 19-year-old Londoner" and declaring Bowie as "a new talent that deserves attention."

 
Amelia is the 2024 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient's first new album since 2018’s Grammy-winning Landfall. The record comprises twenty-two tracks about renowned female aviator Amelia Earhart’s tragic last flight. 

Anderson, who Pitchfork says, “sees the future, but she starts by paying attention,” wrote the music and lyrics for this subjective narrative piece. On the album, she is joined by the Czech orchestra Filharmonie Brno, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, and Anohni, Gabriel Cabezas, Rob Moose, Ryan Kelly, Martha Mooke, Marc Ribot, Tony Scherr, Nadia Sirota, and Kenny Wolleson. 

Earhart was a passionate pioneer of early aviation, achieving fame as the first woman to cross the Atlantic, in 1932. Five years later, she embarked on a flight around the world. Before she could complete the voyage, her plane disappeared without a trace; it has never been found. 

“The words used in Amelia are inspired by her pilot diaries, the telegrams she wrote to her husband, and my idea of what a woman flying around the world might think about,” Anderson says. First premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2000, the updated piece was recently performed across Europe.

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