David Bowie Low mixed by Tony Visconti in 5.1

QuadraphonicQuad

Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

artwwweb

400 Club - QQ All-Star
Joined
Dec 23, 2010
Messages
498
I am reading Visconti's autobiography and he mentions all the Bowie music that he's mixed into 5.1. All the known albums are there, but he also mentions Low. I came straight to QQ, but couldn't find any mention of it here, so I thought I'd start a new thread. The book is a few years old now, but Visconti simply includes Low in the list of all his other Bowie 5.1 work. He doesn't say it's unreleased, so I am assuming that, certainly at the time, he thought it was still going to be released.

So, there's no news that it is going to be released soon, but I think we can take it as pretty much definite that a 5.1 mix of Low exists.

This is (weakly) backed up by a post on a Bowie forum, supposedly using inside information.http://www.teenagewildlife.com/Interact/cp/showflat.pl?Board=newstoday&Number=544843

Just had a chat with my contact at EMI's London office:

The catalogue department are working on the assumption that they will have windows/permission from Bowie to repackage a maximum of THREE other studio albums before the contract expires in the Spring of 2012.

They are very likely to be double disc sets of:

Scary Monsters 5.1 CD/DVD (fourth quarter of 2010)
Hunky Dory 2CD (not 5.1) (second quarter of 2011)
Low 5.1 CD/DVD (fourth quarter of 2011)
 
I am reading Visconti's autobiography and he mentions all the Bowie music that he's mixed into 5.1. All the known albums are there, but he also mentions Low. I came straight to QQ, but couldn't find any mention of it here, so I thought I'd start a new thread. The book is a few years old now, but Visconti simply includes Low in the list of all his other Bowie 5.1 work. He doesn't say it's unreleased, so I am assuming that, certainly at the time, he thought it was still going to be released.

So, there's no news that it is going to be released soon, but I think we can take it as pretty much definite that a 5.1 mix of Low exists.

This is (weakly) backed up by a post on a Bowie forum, supposedly using inside information.http://www.teenagewildlife.com/Interact/cp/showflat.pl?Board=newstoday&Number=544843

Well it's certainly not happening now (at least not on the EMI label as it's defunct)
If and when we'll ever see the 5.1 mixes of "Scary Monsters" and "Low" released, who knows.
It's especially aggravating that "Scary Monsters" was released as a stereo-only SACD, when it could have been mixed in 5.1 at the time of release. If it would have contained 5.1, I would have been all over it! :)
 
Well it's certainly not happening now (at least not on the EMI label as it's defunct)
If and when we'll ever see the 5.1 mixes of "Scary Monsters" and "Low" released, who knows.
It's especially aggravating that "Scary Monsters" was released as a stereo-only SACD, when it could have been mixed in 5.1 at the time of release. If it would have contained 5.1, I would have been all over it!

Maybe once the fuss has died down over his new release, Bowie will think about his legacy stuff. I assume he was holding it back until his EMI contract ran out. It's good that Visconti is still close to Bowie and such an evangelist for 5.1 - it makes it slightly more likely that it will get released.

Agree about the Scary Monsters SACD. I saw it at the time but passed over because no 5.1. (Should have bought it anyway seeing what it's going for now :) )
 
Low & Scary Monsters in 5.1 all done and dusted yet unreleased too..!?!?

Well, Visconti only mentions Low, he doesn't mention Scary Monsters. So it's only 1 classic that is *definitely* sitting on the shelf. So that's alright then. ;)
 
Well, Visconti only mentions Low, he doesn't mention Scary Monsters. So it's only 1 classic that is *definitely* sitting on the shelf. So that's alright then. ;)

Your first post mentions CD/DVD 5.1 for Scary Monsters....
 
LizardKing - Visconti mentions Low but not Scary Monsters. The other quote is from a forum where somebody says they have spoken to an EMI insider, and that mentions Low and Scary Monsters. I only quoted it to (as I said, weakly) back up the 5.1 of Low. I treat the former as almost certainly true, and the latter as interesting rumour, for hopefully obvious reasons. I'd love it for Scary Monsters to be in 5.1 but I am doubtful - you'd think Visconti would have mentioned that as well. (And judging by the rest of his auto-biog, I reckon if it had/has been remixed by somebody else, Visconti would still have mentioned it, if only to say, "I wish they'd asked me to do it".)
 
This is about Lodger, not Low, but it seemed appropriate to put in the same post.

The new Bowie boxset has Lodger remixed by Visconti from the master tapes. Into stereo. I wonder if he sneaked a 5.1 mix in as well? He made it clear in his biog that he loves surround. Seeing as he's already hinted heavily about a Blackstar 5.1 release, can I start a rumour about a Bowie 5.1 boxset? :)

http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/david-bowie-a-new-careeer-in-a-new-town-1977-1982-13lp-or-11cd-box/

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/showthread.php?23009-Blackstar-in-SURROUND!&highlight=
 
This is about Lodger, not Low, but it seemed appropriate to put in the same post.

The new Bowie boxset has Lodger remixed by Visconti from the master tapes. Into stereo. I wonder if he sneaked a 5.1 mix in as well? He made it clear in his biog that he loves surround. Seeing as he's already hinted heavily about a Blackstar 5.1 release, can I start a rumour about a Bowie 5.1 boxset? :)

http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/david-bowie-a-new-careeer-in-a-new-town-1977-1982-13lp-or-11cd-box/

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/showthread.php?23009-Blackstar-in-SURROUND!&highlight=

We can certainly speculate about if a 5.1 mix exists for "Lodger" (or any of the albums from this time period) but what is clear is that this new box set will NOT contain any surround sound at all.
Just like the other box set releases, it is CD & vinyl only.
What a disappointment...

:(
 
We can certainly speculate about if a 5.1 mix exists for "Lodger" (or any of the albums from this time period) but what is clear is that this new box set will NOT contain any surround sound at all.

I didn't mean to imply that this set has any surround content (but I realise now my post could be read that way). But it does seem a shame if he actually went back to the multis and only mixed stereo. We all know about 5.1 mixes that didn't happen because they couldn't locate the multis, but this is so tantalisingly close to getting a surround mix done! I'm not holding my breath, but I have a tiny amount of hope that he did a surround mix which will be released in the future. But, as you say, that is just speculation.
 
From January 2016, post #17 of this thread:

I briefly spoke to Mr. Visconti when he visited Phoenixville PA while on tour with Holy Holy. He confirmed that Lodger in 5.1 is in coming.

So apparently, both Low & Lodger already mixed in 5.1 and gathering dust in the vaults. :(

These Bowie boxes have really been annoying me. Even if they didn't do any surround content, there's still plenty of good stuff in the vaults that they could give us, but they just recycle the same old stuff instead. (As it is, the box doesn't even include the bonus cuts from the 1990's Ryko releases, so it's not even a complete collection of the previously released material from the era.) There were lots of concerts recorded and a few even filmed on the 1978 tour. If they would have put some of that in this box I'd buy it in a heartbeat. But they're not getting my money for my umpteenth copy of Scary Monsters. Why won't the labels wise up and give fans some unreleased stuff? Previously unheard 5.1 mixes, concert recordings and video would certainly increase the marketability of the set.
 
So apparently, both Low & Lodger already mixed in 5.1 and gathering dust in the vaults. :(

These Bowie boxes have really been annoying me. Even if they didn't do any surround content, there's still plenty of good stuff in the vaults that they could give us, but they just recycle the same old stuff instead. (As it is, the box doesn't even include the bonus cuts from the 1990's Ryko releases, so it's not even a complete collection of the previously released material from the era.) There were lots of concerts recorded and a few even filmed on the 1978 tour. If they would have put some of that in this box I'd buy it in a heartbeat. But they're not getting my money for my umpteenth copy of Scary Monsters. Why won't the labels wise up and give fans some unreleased stuff? Previously unheard 5.1 mixes, concert recordings and video would certainly increase the marketability of the set.

I know what you mean. But the good thing about the boxes not having the 5.1 mixes is that they might be released separately at a sensible price, rather than having to spend a lot of money on a box in order to get the surround mix.
 
ahhh..so many 5.1 mixes all ready to be released that are gathering dust and cobwebs!!!!

But , yeah, the Bowie ones make me IN SANE!!!!!

(also the Goldfrapp "Black Cherry" one)
 
Back
Top