David Bowie’s ‘Never Let Me Down’ has been completely remade by producer Mario McNulty for the new box set ‘Loving The Alien (1983-1988)’.
‘Loving The Alien’ is the fourth in a series of David Bowie box sets.
For Mario McNulty, remaking what Bowie considered a flawed album was about getting it right a second time. “It was emotional for a lot of reasons,” Mario tells Noise11.com. “I had known David for a long time. We go back to 2001. I have a history with him and I have been working with him since then. It forges something special over that many years. It was an amazing experience, but an emotional experience”.
The project began with the one-off recreating of ‘Time Will Crawl’ in 2008. It wasn’t until after Bowie’s death in 2016 that Mario decided to revisit the entire album. “It was only as an idea with him saying it would be great to do it. He never made any plans to do it,” Mario says. “‘Time Will Crawl’ happened but he never said anything like do the whole album. He would bring it up occasionally as something he wanted to do but it never got to the point of talking about what he had in mind. It was an idea. This was very similar to our ideas with ‘Time Will Crawl’.”
The 2018 edition of ‘Never Let Me Down’ is a brand new record with a new band assembled by Mario in the studio. “This is something quite unusual because its not taking something from the back catalogue and doing a simple remaster and putting it back out. This was really ambitious,” he said. “Nigel at Parlophone contacted me and brought it up. I had a conversation with him and then talked to the estate and said ‘this is a good idea’. That got the ball rolling”.
McNulty made the new version of ‘Never Let Me Down’ based on Bowie’s blueprint for ‘Tim Will Crawl’. “The energy given to me by David on ‘Time Will Crawl’ was the energy I use that in a sense towards the new music and new band on the new album,” he said. “This is based on what he would have wanted the sound to be and these musicians get you there really fast. In a sense he wasn’t looking to go back. He was looking to do something different. He wasn’t satisfied with what happened. There are so many variables to why it happened but the bottom line is he wasn’t looking towards the past. He wanted something that made him happy regardless of error”.
The original ‘Shining Star’ featured actor Mickey Rourke. The new version features Laurie Anderson. “That song took a long road to get to where it was,” Mario says. “It was the last song I finished with the group. I wanted to do something that would make David happy and suit the content of the song much better and given some meaning. I do think Laurie has provided that. Her voice is angelic in its quality. The previous version was problematic thematically and musically and it was strange combination of sounds. That was in a big departure from where it was”.
Loving The Alien box
CD – LET’S DANCE
Modern Love
China Girl
Let’s Dance
Without You
Ricochet
Criminal World
Cat People (Putting Out Fire)
Shake It
CD – SERIOUS MOONLIGHT (LIVE ’83)(DISC 1)
Look Back In Anger
“Heroes”
What In The World
Golden Years
Fashion
Let’s Dance
Breaking Glass
Life On Mars?
Sorrow
Cat People (Putting Out Fire)
China Girl
Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
Rebel Rebel
CD – SERIOUS MOONLIGHT (LIVE ’83)(DISC 2)
White Light / White Heat
Station To Station
Cracked Actor
Ashes To Ashes
Space Oddity/Band Introduction
Young Americans
Fame
Modern Love
CD – TONIGHT
Loving The Alien
Don’t Look Down
God Only Knows
Tonight
Neighborhood Threat
Blue Jean
Tumble And Twirl
I Keep Forgettin’
Dancing With The Big Boys
CD – NEVER LET ME DOWN
Day-In Day-Out
Time Will Crawl
Beat Of Your Drum
Never Let Me Down
Zeroes
Glass Spider
Shining Star (Makin’ My Love)
New York’s In Love
’87 And Cry
Bang Bang
CD – NEVER LET ME DOWN (2018)
Day-In Day-Out
Time Will Crawl
Beat Of Your Drum
Never Let Me Down
Zeroes
Glass Spider
Shining Star (Makin’ My Love) (ft Laurie Anderson)
New York’s In Love
’87 And Cry
Bang Bang
CD – GLASS SPIDER (LIVE MONTREAL ’87) (DISC 1)
Up The Hill Backwards
Glass Spider
Day-In Day-Out
Bang Bang
Absolute Beginners
Loving The Alien
China Girl
Rebel Rebel
Fashion
Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
All The Mad Men
Never Let Me Down
CD – GLASS SPIDER (LIVE MONTREAL ’87) (DISC 2)
Big Brother
’87 And Cry
Heroes
Sons Of The Silent Age
Time Will Crawl / Band Introduction
Young Americans
Beat Of Your Drum
The Jean Genie
Let’s Dance
Fame
Time
Blue Jean
Modern Love
CD – DANCE
Shake It (Re-mix aka Long Version)
Blue Jean (Extended Dance Mix)
Dancing With The Big Boys (Extended Dance Mix)
Tonight (Vocal Dance Mix)
Don’t Look Down (Extended Dance Mix)
Loving The Alien (Extended Dub Mix)
Tumble And Twirl (Extended Dance Mix)
Underground (Extended Dance Mix)
Day-In Day-Out (Groucho Mix)
Time Will Crawl (Dance Crew Mix)
Shining Star (Makin’ My Love) (12″ mix)
Never Let Me Down (Dub/Acapella)
CD – RE:CALL 4 (DISC 1)
Let’s Dance (single version)
China Girl (single version)
Modern Love (single version)
This Is Not America (The theme from ‘The Falcon And The Snowman’) David Bowie / Pat Metheny Group
Loving The Alien (re-mixed version)
Don’t Look Down (re-mixed version)
Dancing In The Street (Clearmountain mix) – David Bowie and Mick Jagger
Absolute Beginners (from Absolute Beginners)
That’s Motivation (from Absolute Beginners)
Volare (from Absolute Beginners)
Labyrinth Opening Titles/Underground (from Labyrinth)
Magic Dance (from Labyrinth)
As The World Falls Down (from Labyrinth)
Within You (from Labyrinth)
Underground (from Labyrinth)
CD – RE:CALL 4 (DISC 2)
When The Wind Blows (single version) (from When The Wind Blows)
Day-In Day-Out (single version)
Julie
Beat Of Your Drum (vinyl album edit)
Glass Spider (vinyl album edit)
Shining Star (Makin’ My Love) (vinyl album edit)
New York’s In Love (vinyl album edit)
’87 And Cry (vinyl album edit)
Bang Bang (vinyl album edit)
Time Will Crawl (single version)
Girls (extended edit)
Never Let Me Down (7″ remix edit)
Bang Bang (live – promotional mix)
Tonight (live) Tina Turner with David Bowie
Let’s Dance (live) Tina Turner with David Bowie
