Loving the Alien

"Loving the Alien"
Single by David Bowie
from the album Tonight
B-side Don't Look Down
Released May 1985
Format 7"/12" single
Recorded Le Studio, Morin Heights, May 1984
Genre Pop rock
Length 7:11 (album version)
4:43 (single remix)
Label EMI
EA195
Producer(s)
David Bowie singles chronology
"This Is Not America"
(1985)		 "Loving the Alien"
(1985)		 "Dancing in the Street"
(1985)
7" Picture Disc Cover
EAP 195 (UK)
12" Picture Disc Cover
SEAV-7860 (US)
Music video
"Loving the Alien" on YouTube

"Loving the Alien" is a track from the album Tonight by David Bowie. One of two tracks on the album written solely by Bowie, the song was released as a single in May 1985, nine months after the release of "Blue Jean" as a single and eight months after the release of the album. The single reached No. 19 in the UK.

Background

As a demo track, the song was simply called "1". Bowie said "'Alien' came about because of my feeling that so much history is wrong - as is being rediscovered all the time - and that we base so much on the wrong knowledge that we've gleaned."[1] He recorded the demo in Montreux, Switzerland.[2] He would later comment that the production on the song undid the power of the lyric, saying he preferred the demo version.[3] The music video was co-directed by Bowie with frequent collaborator David Mallet.

Bowie performed the song on his 1987 Glass Spider Tour.[3] On the Reality Tour in 2003 and 2004, he again performed this song, but this time a stripped down version with only Bowie on vocals and Gerry Leonard on guitar; in the film of the tour, Bowie remarked that this arrangement was perhaps "the way it should have always been done."

Track listing

7": EMI America / EA 195 / EAP 195 (UK)

  1. "Loving the Alien" (Re-mixed version) (Bowie) – 4:43
  2. "Don't Look Down" (Re-mixed version) (Pop, Williamson) – 4:04

12": EMI America SEAV-7860 / 12EA 195 / 12EAP 195 (UK)

  1. "Loving the Alien" (Extended Dance Mix) (Bowie) – 7:27
  2. "Don't Look Down" (Extended Dance Mix) (Pop, Williamson) – 4:50
  3. "Loving the Alien" (Extended Dub Mix) (Bowie) – 7:14

Download: EMI / iEA 195 (UK)

  1. "Loving the Alien" (Re-mixed version) (Bowie) – 4:43
  2. "Don't Look Down" (Re-mixed version) (Pop, Williamson) – 4:04
  3. "Loving the Alien" (Extended Dance Mix) (Bowie) – 7:27
  4. "Loving the Alien" (Extended Dub Mix) (Bowie) – 7:14
  5. "Don't Look Down" (Extended Dance Mix) (Pop, Williamson) – 4:50

Charts

Chart (1985) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart 19
Irish Singles Chart 9
Australian Kent Report Singles Chart 65
German Singles Chart 27

Production credits

Producers
Musicians

Other releases

Cover versions

The Scumfrog vs Bowie

"The Scumfrog vs Bowie : Loving the Alien"
The cover for the single shows the name of the artists and the song on a black background with purple dots
Single by David Bowie; The Scumfrog
A-side "Loving the Alien"
B-side "8 Days, 7 Hours"
Released 2002
Format CD
Length 3:20 (single version)
Label Nettwerk America

In 2002 the Dutch producer The Scumfrog made a club mix of the song and released it as a single together with the original video of the song.

Track listing

  1. "Loving the Alien (Radio edit)" - 3:20
  2. "Loving the Alien (Original Club mix)" - 8:23
  3. "8 Days, 7 Hours (by Scumfrog)" - 7:43
  4. "Loving the Alien (video)"

References

  1. ↑ Murray, Charles Shaar (25 October 1984), "Let's Talk, A Conversation with David Bowie", Rolling Stone magazine (433): 14, 18, 74
  2. ↑ Fricke, David (December 1984), "David Bowie Interview", Musician magazine (74): 46–56
  3. 1 2 Bromberg, Craig (June 1990), "David Bowie (Interview)", Smart: 50–57

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, May 04, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.