The Buddha of Suburbia is a 1993 soundtrack album by David Bowie which accompanied the 4-part television serial The Buddha of Suburbia on BBC2 (itself adapted from the book The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi).
The album is David Bowie's nineteenth full-length studio recording, sitting between Black Tie White Noise (1993) and Outside (1995). It was produced and mixed at Mountain Studios (Montreux) in Switzerland and according to Bowie it took only six days to write and record, but fifteen...
The Buddha of Suburbia is a 1993 soundtrack album by David Bowie which accompanied the 4-part television serial The Buddha of Suburbia on BBC2 (itself adapted from the book The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi).
The album is David Bowie's nineteenth full-length studio recording, sitting between Black Tie White Noise (1993) and Outside (1995). It was produced and mixed at Mountain Studios (Montreux) in Switzerland and according to Bowie it took only six days to write and record, but fifteen days to mix due to some "technical breakdowns".[3]
The album has been classified as a soundtrack although the title track was the only song to be featured in the television programm (see below).
Two of the tracks are ambient instrumentals and quite similar to Bowie's work with Brian Eno in the late 1970s. Other tracks on the album make strong use of saxophone, electronic keyboards and piano.
Deletion
Despite Bowie once hailing it as his favourite album[4] the American and European versions were deleted for many years, or as Bowie put it: "The album itself only got one review, a good one as it happens, and is virtually non-existent as far as my catalogue goes – it was designated a soundtrack and got zilch in the way of marketing money. A real shame."[4]
To confuse matters even more a "Buddha of Suburbia" single was also released in various guises, including a CD with holographic print. Consequently the album itself is sometimes overlooked, despite the fact it is a full length studio recording and featured nine tracks previously unreleased by the artist.
The album was re-issued on 17 September 2007,[5] in the UK and on 2 October 2007[6] in the US The official press release showed that the cover of the re-issue would be similar to the 1995 US cover, but in colour and Bowie holding a slightly different pose, however the actual cover is just a colorised version of the original US cover art. The re-issue contains both Bowie's former liner notes from the original UK issue and the inner artwork of the original US issue.
Releases
The album was first released in the UK and included extensive liner notes by Bowie that were not included with the later US release.
The album was packaged with an alternative cover in the US and was not released until 1995 (possibly due to a dispute between Bowie and the music industry).
Arista/BMG released a special edition of the soundtrack in a translucent plastic box, packaged with the Hanif Kureishi book. The catalogue number is Arista/BMG 74321-17822.
Virgin/EMI rereleased the album in 2007. Its catalogue number is 50999 5 00463 2 4/V2-00463.
Producers:
David Bowie
David Richards
Musicians:
David Bowie – vocals, keyboard, synths, guitar, alto sax, baritone sax, keyboard percussion
Erdal Kizilcay – keyboards, trumpet, bass, guitar, drums, percussion
3D Echo – drum, bass, guitar on "Bleed Like a Craze, Dad"
Mike Garson – piano on "Bleed Like a Craze, Dad" and "South Horizon"
Lenny Kravitz – guitar on "Buddha of Suburbia"
All songs written by David Bowie.
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