For those who are interested or still insist the album Station To Station was intended as the soundtrack for TMWFTE heres an article I found on Bowiegoldenyears No soundtrack album was ever released, despite the fact that the back cover of the 1976 Pan edition (released to tie in with the film) states that the soundtrack is available on RCA. As it went to print, that would have been the case. Bowie had originally assumed he would be composing the music for the film (which would naturally be released by RCA). The original plan was that RCA would contribute to the film and Bowie would provide a soundtrack that included singles that would serve to promote the film. During the shoot, Bowie was asked, Are you doing any music for the film? Bowie responded: Yeah, all of it. Thatll be the next album, the soundtrack. Im working on it now, doing some writing. But we wont record until all the shootings finished. I expect the film should be released around March, and we want the album out ahead of that, so I should say maybe January or February. In September 1975, following the recording of Station to Station, Paul Buckmaster was contacted by Roeg and Michael Deeley (on Bowies recommendation) to participate in the sessions in Cherokee Studios. From David Buckleys 2007 Mojo interview with Buckmaster: There were a couple of medium tempo rock intrumental pieces, with simple motifs and riffy kind of grooves, with a lin-up of Davids rhythm section (Carlos Alomar et al) plus J Peter Robinson on Fender-Rhodes-Fender piano and me on cello and some synth overdubs, using ARP Odyssey and Solina. There were some more slow and spacey cues with synth, Rhodes and cello; and a couple of wierder atonal cues using synths and percussion. There was a ballad instrumental by David that appears on Low (Subterraneans). It was performed by David, me and J Peter on various keyboards. There was also a piece I wrote and performed using some beautifully made mbiras (African thumb pianos) I had purchased earlier that year, plus cello, all done by multiple overdubbing. And a song David wrote, played and sang, called Wheels, which had a gentle sort of melancholy mood to it. The title referred to the alien train from his character Newtons home world. Buckmaster believes the music wasnt used for three main reasons: Firstly it was just not up to the standard of composing and performance needed for a good movie; secondly, I dont think it fitted well to the picture; and lastly, it wasnt really what Nic Roeg was looking for. I considered the music to be demo-ish and not final, although we were supposed to be making it final. All we produced was something substandard and Nic Roeg turned it down on those grounds… In November, Bowie was still under the impression that the music would be used. Appearing on Soul Train Bowie was asked, do you plan on doing any soundtracks for movies?, to which he replied, Im doing the soundtrack for The Man Who Fell To Earth with a friend of mine, Paul Buckmaster. In the event Papa John Philips was assigned the job of putting together a soundtrack in London. Phillips had heard Bowies score, and later described it as haunting and beautiful, with chimes, Japanese bells, and what sounded like electronic winds and waves. Bowie had the soundtrack with him during the Low sessions and at one point played it to the musicians: It was quite excellent, recalled guitarist Ricky Gardiner, quite unlike anything else hes done. Bowie sent a copy of Low to Roeg in 1977 with a note, This is what I wanted to do for the film.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 07:38:03 +0000
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