ParlophoneA previously unreleased David Bowie concert album, Something in the Air (Live Paris 99), will be made available via streaming services on Friday, August 14.
The album captures a October 14, 1999, performance that Bowie gave at the Elysée Montmarte in Paris. The show, which was one of only seven concerts the rock legend to promote his then-latest album, Hours…, featured 15 songs. Earlier that day, Bowie was presented with the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, the highest artistic honor that France can bestow on a person.
Bowie’s lead guitarist at this concert and the rest of the shows promoting Hours… was Page Hamilton, frontman of the alternative-metal band Helmet. The Paris set featured renditions of five songs from Hours…, as well as versions of Bowie classics including “Life on Mars?,” “China Girl,” “Changes,” and “Rebel Rebel.”
David also dug into his catalog for some rarely played gems, among them “Can’t Help Thinking About Me,” a 1966 tune he hadn’t performed in more than 30 years; “Word on a Wing,” a song from 1976’s Station to Station that returned to his set for the first time in 23 years; and “Drive-In Saturday,” which he hadn’t sung live since 1974.
Of the album’s 15 songs, 12 have never been released, while the other three were issued as B-sides for singles from Hours…
In advance of the release of Something in the Air (Live Paris 99), audio and video of the “Drive-In Saturday” performance have been made available for download and streaming.
Here’s the full Something in the Air track list:
“Life on Mars?”
“Thursday’s Child”
“Something in the Air”
“Word on a Wing”
“Can’t Help Thinking About Me”
“China Girl”
“Always Crashing in the Same Car”
“Survive”
“Drive-In Saturday”
“Changes”
“Seven”
“Repetition”
“I Can’t Read”
“The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell”
“Rebel Rebel”
By Matt Friedlander
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