This week marks the 40th anniversary of David Bowie‘s seminal 1977 album, Heroes. To celebrate the album’s legacy, the BBC has released a new radio documentary hosted by none other than Florence Welch.
Listen to an hour-long documentary celebrating the 40th anniversary of David Bowie’s seminal 1977 album, Heroes.
The radio documentary runs for over 50 minutes, during which Welch explores the album and the influence Berlin had on its inception, Bowie’s relationship with long-time producer Tony Visconti, archival interviews with Bowie himself, as well as interviews with Iggy Pop and Brian Eno.
The projects description elaborates:
“Florence will feature archive of the late David Bowie explaining why he chose to live and work in Berlin and the impact the city’s history had on the masterpiece he created. She’ll also meet the album’s producer Tony Visconti to get an insight to the unique recording techniques he employed to interpret Bowie’s creative vision and how the characteristics of the famous Hansa Studios, which are situated in a huge former chamber music concert hall, contributed to the album’s influential sounds.
Iggy Pop, who was living with Bowie in Berlin during the recording of the album, recalls how a battle with drug addition, bankruptcy and a legal dispute with his ex wife for access to his son all provided inspiration for the album’s lyrics and Brian Eno, who collaborated with David throughout the LP’s recording, explains the unique musical structures he and David employed to compose the innovative songs.
Berlin’s radical cultural diversity had always fascinated Bowie and Florence will explain how the opportunity to live and work in the city during the turbulent political period prior to the fall of `the Wall’ provided the perfect austere environment for David and his collaborators to experiment with music inspired by several German techno bands of the 70’s, including Neu!, Kraftwerk and Can.”
Listen to the whole documentary here via BBC.
