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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)

@bowiesongs.bsky.social
4.4K followers 588 following 7.7K posts

Books (Rebel Rebel; Ashes to Ashes), blogs (64 Quartets; Pushing Ahead of the Dame; Locust St.)

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 4h
A slow reunion of the records; still quite a few 'wait, what's in this box?'additions to come
Two rows of LPs slowwwwwly getting into shape, w Fanny and the 70s NYC Loft jazz sessions
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 6h
Last draft of the Buffalo Springfield chapter done; what a joy it was to write about this band
Buffalo Springfield LPs and box set
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 6h
The next 2 years are going to be just a barrage of this crap. "by the power vested in me, the federal government will use the term 'smackeroo' instead of 'dollar'
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"smokey stevenson" @kurtblumenau.bsky.social · 8h
@bowiesongs.bsky.social, you might like this: 50 yrs ago, as part of the promo tour for the first Dr Buzzard album, you could see them in such exotic locations as the Dedham Mall
Full page ad from the Boston Phoenix alternative newspaper, September 1976, promotes the first Dr Buzzard album in a variety of ways — including a chance to win a 10-speed bike, and the opportunity to “see Dr Buzzard live” in three Boston-area locations, including the suburban Dedham Mall
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 10h
wait, this started as a Genesis parody? tribute? had no idea
"I've Seen the Lamb Lie Down on Broadway (Miami 2017 demo, 1975"
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Jesse Hawken @jessehawken.bsky.social · 14h
For the true record shop owner experience Claude should be telling you that band you like sucks and “we don’t sell bad music in here”
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 16h
here's to Iggy's best album of the decade, w/ some of Bowie's strongest compositions during what he called his "doldrums." A record fully of its time, filled w/Yamaha DX-7 & nicking a Huey Lewis riff on one track--yeah, it's "dated." but also a lot of fun, & has some great melodies & vocals
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Tilda Swinton's Karen Crowder in "Michael Clayton" is a good example of "common" evil, in a world without morality. You can see her rationalizing everything she does, getting deeper into it, losing all perspective, until she's justifying murders as being for the good of the shareholders
Swinton as Karen Crowder
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Douglas Wolk @douglaswolk.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Woke up to the news that Stevie Wonder was surprise-dropping an EP of four outtakes from "Songs in the Key of Life": open.spotify.com/album/7gzJYO... Which is a bit like "oh, 'Nine Stories' was originally going to be 'Thirteen Stories,' here are the other four..."
open.spotify.com
Songs In The Keys Of Life - EP by Stevie Wonder | Spotify
Stevie Wonder · EP · 2026 · 4 songs
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
50! An overflowing album (a double Lp with bonus 45; it seems meant for the CD or streaming age). Its richness still astounds, full of fresh discoveries ("Contusion," "All Day Sucker,"etc)
Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life (rel 28 Sept 1976)Back cover w 45 Liner note credits, inc listing by name all the great Motown players and an apology for taking so long to release it
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
RIP Mighty Sparrow. A great calypso of his on 1979, "the rule of the tyrants decline..so they corrupt, so they vile". "Gairy! is a wanted man! Idi Amin! is a wanted man! Shah of Iran found it hard to survive!" one day, there will be other names to sing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHIJ...
youtube.com
Mighty Sparrow - Dead Or Alive
YouTube video by Edward Spencer
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The nominations for this bring home what a time this was, hundreds of incredible tracks
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Colin Smith @colinsmith.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Siouxsie Sioux on London’s Westminster Bridge before the Houses Of Parliament, 1980, by Adrian Boot.
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Sean T. Collins @seantcollins.com · 26/09/2026
I am back at @pitchfork.com for the first time in five years with a Best New Reissue review of the massive, astonishing new Joy Division live box set, Eternal
pitchfork.com
Joy Division: Eternal (Live)
Read Sean T. Collins’ review of the album.
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Sam Amidon @samamidon.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Talked about John Coltrane and folk music
substack.com
From the Reel: Sam Amidon Plays John Coltrane
The idiosyncratic singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist on the connections between folk traditions and free jazz, with a transcription of his improvisation on Coltrane’s “The Drum Thing.”
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the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Jackie Jackson died two days ago. His death did not get the fanfare that the big celebrities get but I assure you he was no less than any of them: a titan astride the earth. In this thread, a few of the songs he played bass on. You know these songs. You know their bass parts. youtu.be/DKVB_CtU8XQ
youtu.be
Pressure Drop
YouTube video by Toots & The Maytals - Topic
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Reeves Gabrels @reevesgabrels.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Robert Smith guested with David Bowie when we gave 'The Last Thing You Should Do' its first performance ever, 9 Jan 1997 at Bowie's 50th Birthday in NYC. Written by Bowie/Gabrels/Plati for Earthling which released in Feb; produced by us 3 as well. The Birthday show is how Robert & I met. 🎸✨️
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Keith Harris @usefulnoise.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
you can't sum up the 80s in a single screensh—
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jesse jarnow @bourgwick.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
tonight in portland! come say hullo if you make it out...
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
A bizarre, at times comic event in early 19C history: fleeing Napoleon's invasion, Portuguese royals and government, even the state library, flee across the ocean to their neglected, exploited South American colony, & wind up inventing modern Brazil
Laurentino Gomes, 1808: The Flight of the Emperor
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
an album I keep coming back to this year: some lovely, oddball songs on it: slipperssss.bandcamp.com/album/slippe...
slipperssss.bandcamp.com
Slippers 08, by Slippers
11 track album
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
35 now? yikes. my best friend from high school had gone to Syracuse & came back summer '91 into the Seattle bands. the big ones for us were Mudhoney & Tad; he had a dub of the "Sliver" 45 too. early fall 91 he wrote to say 'new Nirvana is good!' & i was like '? oh the 'grandma take me home' group'
nirvana: oh you know this album
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
as of this morning, a tie between James Jamerson and Leslie Langston
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Fully agree: one of the masterpieces of the '80s, and the entire sequence has almost never been in print or streaming at the same time. Deserves far better
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
late 70s/early 80s new wave was a great opportunity for those who'd been at it for a while---Byrne was the same age as Michael McDonald and Paul Stanley! RIP
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Dominic Umile @dominicumile.com · 23/09/2026
Re-shared this great 2020 piece by Ismail Muhammad on "Alabama" the other day, if ya haven't read www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/06...
theparisreview.org
On John Coltrane’s “Alabama” by Ismail Muhammad
June 17, 2020 – The sonic landscape that John Coltrane conjures on “Alabama” suggests something about the temporality in which black grief lives.
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bonanos @bonanos.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Here's a nice transcription of the opening section of Coltrane's "Psalm" (part IV of 'A Love Supreme'), with the words he was reciting through his horn.
A transcription of Coltrane "reading" his devotional poem as music, through his horn.The poem, printed on the record sleeve of 'A Love Supreme' (1986 pressing, MCA Impulse, Canada).
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jeff @jazyjef.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Kahil El’Zabar • Sketches for Trane: A Centennial Tribute Reimagining the Music of John Coltrane feat. Isaiah Collier, David Murray, Dwight Trible, & Corey Wilkes out today kahilelzabar-is.bandcamp.com/album/sketch...
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
a celebration of 100 years of John Coltrane. one of the earliest mentions of him in print: the Louisiana Weekly of 15 January 1949. And Ralph Gleason's praise from the SF Chronicle, 15 Sept 1960
"Eddie Vinson's New 'Kid' Band Is Sensational," with Coltrane listed along with James Young, James Rhodes, William Garland and John Coles
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Pete Fraser @petefrasermusic.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
And what’s so fascinating about him is that, despite the sixteen-hour practice sessions and very well-documented recording career, he essentially didn’t talk about any of it. He invented a system of harmony, meticulously, painstakingly - Coltrane harmony is SO fucking hard - and said nothing.
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Pete Fraser @petefrasermusic.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
A century 🎂
John Coltrane, holding a tenor saxophone
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Alan Sepinwall @sepinwall.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Newman was SO happy to be an old man on screen. Great as he was in his youth, he became almost superhumanly relaxed as an actor post-50, which led to an amazing and varied collection of performances in movies like The Verdict, Nobody's Fool, Slap Shot, and Color of Money (which won him his Oscar).
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Jessica Ritchey @jmritchey.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
As the AI sloop flood gets worse I'm buying older books on how things are made or photograph books more and more, so at the least I can have a small personal library of the real.
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Apple TV email: we are increasing yr monthly subscription by two bucks for no stated reason. me: damn, ugh, well I guess I should try to finish "Silo" season 3 now? (i'll renew whenever Foundation shows up again)
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 22/09/2026
this really has been such a stupid loss of what was once one of the internet's purest pleasures
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Nate Chinen @natechinen.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
My report from inside the Coltrane centennial complex, which is a lot more soul-affirming than that description makes it sound
thegig.substack.com
Countdown: John Coltrane at 100
In celebration of an artist who set so much in motion
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
another 50th anniversary. A feeling of luxe disappointment pervades this record, a quiet, frustrated vibe of 'what could have been'. still, there are a couple of really ace songs (even an NY all-timer), a smooth "early yacht rock" vibe (from Neil more than Stills, even!), & the band is solid.
Stills Young Band, Long May You Run (rel. 20 September 1976)side 1Side II
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𝖆𝔫𝔫𝔦𝔢'𝔰 𝖈𝔬𝔪𝔭𝔩𝔞𝔦𝔫𝔱 @anniefish.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
ok one more… byeeeeeeee (my book)
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Tyler Wilcox @tylerwilcox.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Wrote a little bit about Neil's SECOND SONG over on @aquariumdrunkard.com.
aquariumdrunkard.com
Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts :: Second Song - Aquarium Drunkard
At 80, Neil Young remains gloriously unfinished. Second Song, his latest with the Chrome Hearts, is a weathered, luminous meditation on memory, mortality, love, and the strange passage of time. With s...
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Natalie Weiner @natalieweiner.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
trying to make sense of "choosin' texas" takery. tl dr I think we're in a culturally improved place overall if choosin texas is bigger than morgan wallen (yes he is probably coming home to roost but i'm hoping against hope he won't) www.dontrocktheinbox.com/t/
dontrocktheinbox.com
Country Music and Politics: 'Choosin' Texas' Edition
The historic reign of "Choosin' Texas" (as of this week it's officially the longest-running Hot 100 No. 1 song ever, without a clear end in sight) is sparking all kinds of takes — that it's slop (all ...
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
the 1st episode of "I Claudius" aired 50 years ago on this date. i remember watching it when it aired at some odd hour on PBS in the late '80s--4 or 5 PM, right after school. & being hooked almost immediately: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7XR...
youtube.com
I, CLAUDIUS (1976) - Episode 01 - A touch of murder
YouTube video by Serie TV Britanniche storiche
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 22/09/2026
saw a Smith college undergrad complaining online about her roommate playing Sufjan Stevens too loud, and I'm just so touched that against all odds, the old liberal arts college traditions are still being maintained
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
here's to a new autumn: inkhornterm.blogspot.com/2008/09/outo...
inkhornterm.blogspot.com
Locust St.
Outono Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass, 'Tis Autumn. Françoise Hardy, Autumn Rendez-vous. Hugh Hopper and Richard Sinclair, Long Lingers Autumn...
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
YOUR BICAMERAL MIND/ MIND YOUR BICAMERAL: Bowie's etching on the runout groove of the Boys Keep Swinging single, 1979
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Reuniting some of the As
Non jazz CDs from A named types
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
"man, you ain't hearin' no church bells ringing, 12 o'clock in the day" "yes indeed! somebody must be dead!" "ain't nobody dead, somebody must be dead drunk"
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Aquarium Drunkard @aquariumdrunkard.com · 21/09/2026
At 50, Maddy Prior & June Tabor’s Silly Sisters remains a magical hinge album: two transcendent voices, ancient songs, and luminous harmonies. Recorded in 1976 but somehow outside of time, it’s a raw, sophisticated, mysterious gem hiding in plain sight. aquariumdrunkard.com/2026/09/21/m...
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Alfred Soto @sotoalfred.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The late Leonard Cohen albums don’t conceive of romance as a state to which we succumb from a distance, yet Cohen’s trick is to play the intercessor between listeners and their unspoken desires. My list. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2016/10/12/m...
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
Monkeys and plywood violins: The best of Leonard Cohen
During what I have often referred to as the Poppy Bush Interzone, “Leonard Cohen” was a portent, a mood. On my college station as a low and dishonest decade sputtered, “Everybody …
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
no, I wrote that poorly--i'm angry it's only ranked 95
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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
a handful of entries in, and already a "oh *hell* no" from me on this NYT alleged 'best TV of the 21st C' list
Halt and Catch Fire ranked 96 in a list of 100 tv shows
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