DAVID BOWIE - THE LEON SUITES 1994 (R.I.P. 1947-2016)
February 6, 2016 – 4:53 amJUST TO LET YOU KNOW
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DAVID BOWIE
The Leon Suites 1994 [BOWSTAT018, 1CD]
Demos. Very good soundboard.
Here’s one more for the road…
Paperdragon, Bowie Station:
I talked to one of the musicians who is on this and got a more complete story. First, these aren’t outtakes at all and, second, they weren’t initially intended to be a Bowie album. The idea was to form a sort of supergroup behind Bowie and Eno, and record an album as a one-off project for that group. This is essentially that album. So what we have here is a fully-realized concept album for a group that never came into existence.
It was then presented to the record company, who as we all know rejected it as “uncommercial.” After that, Bowie used parts of it as the basis for an entirely new project, which became 1.Outside. So, had this been released, Outside would have never happened. So, rather than this being outtakes from Outside, it’s actually more true that Outside was based on outtakes from The Leon Suites, an album in its own right.
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Thanks to jallaweb (Jan Erik) for sharing the show at Dime.
Thanks also to Learm for the artwork
jallaweb noted:
These demos were recorded and rejected by the record company in 1994. The Leon Suites eventually turned into the 1.Outside album released in 1995. Parts of the three suites have been available on earlier bootleg releases but all of them have been sourced from low bitrate MP3s. This is the first release of the complete Leon Suit in a lossless version. The source of this recording is a CDR provided by Adam Bedstroke (patdrome). A lot of thanks goes out to him for letting these demos be shared amongst fans.
Bowie Station production 2016
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Click on the highlighted tracks to download the MP3s (224 kbps). As far as we can ascertain, these tracks have never been officially released on CD.
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Track 01. Suite 1 - I Am With Name 22:09 (37.2MB)
Track 02. Suite 2 - Leon Takes Us Outside 21:29 (36.1MB)
Track 03. Suite 3 - Enemy Is Fragile 27:37 (46.4MB)
72 mins
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26 Responses to “DAVID BOWIE - THE LEON SUITES 1994 (R.I.P. 1947-2016)”
Terrific! Thank you so much.
By the sobsister on Feb 6, 2016
Wow - more Bowie and Eno? YES! Haven’t even heard this yet - can’t wait! At first, MIKE OLDFIELD’S “TUBULAR BELLS” was considered uncommercial because it didn’t have vocals. We all know what happened with that, NOW DON’T WE???? Only one of the best selling albums of all time!
By Daniel Kershner on Feb 6, 2016
Wow, this certainly looks very interesting! Thanks to BigO, as always!
By Yawn on Feb 6, 2016
Big thanks to all involved in breaking this out. I loved Bowie and Eno’s 70s collaborations.
Record companies, aren’t they wonderful?!
By Bing Bongong on Feb 6, 2016
Coming to the work of David Bowie via my interest in Eno and collecting all his work the Outside album slipped by me so this is even more fascinating and all the more valuable for not having reached commercial status!?
I echo what Daniel and Bing say too . . . . .
Thanks so much Big O
By swappers on Feb 6, 2016
Finally got a chance to listen to this. JESUS. This is some of the best Bowie I’ve ever heard. And I’ve always loved really long tracks that just keep going and going…So happy this is now in my collection. Uncommercial? How about if WE be the judge of what we like and what we don’t. “IN FAR-OFF CALIFORNIA” this Californian deeply thanks anybody and everybody involved in making this project available. And naturally I’m now going to investigate that 1.OUTSIDE release, since I’ve been completely unfamiliar with it up until now.
By Daniel Kershner on Feb 6, 2016
Thanks, This really should have been released. Have a nice day. jimg
By Jimg on Feb 7, 2016
Fascinating look inside this project: https://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/leon-takes-us-outside/
By Tony on Feb 7, 2016
Bowie at his experimental best. A really well crafted album that takes you on a sonic journey. This man could do everything.
By ictus75 on Feb 7, 2016
more of, one of the best,,, from one of the best ,,cant wait to listen ,, heard of its existence but where ??//… ah here……
thank you, thank you, thank you to all =concerned
By errols on Feb 7, 2016
hahahahahehehehehehe ,,,,this is awesome ..
By errols on Feb 7, 2016
Thanks to everyone connected with this release. Thanks to BigO for the post. Thanks to Tony for the back story link. RIP David.
By Johnny Kinkdom on Feb 7, 2016
Wow - absolutely tremendous - and totally bonkers at the same time! Thanks so much for sharing
By Ronnie Carnwath on Feb 8, 2016
Interesting…I have not listened to it yet…Maybe is like the second side of LOW a little… We will see…
By Theo on Feb 10, 2016
if anyone is interested i’ve edited the 3 parts together and uploaded to youtube ..(also i ran it through a hiss reduction, boosted the eq and cut out that awkward mix after the touchshriek track)
By johnb on Feb 10, 2016
here is the youtube link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tQUB7nrnI4
By johnb on Feb 10, 2016
also ive just uploaded an “outside re-creation” (using the studio rehearsals and a couple of live tracks).. the idea was to try to re-create the outside album using only live recordings.. however i could not find a full set so had to add in a couple of the cd released tracks .. having said that it sounds cool as an alternate take on the outside album.
By johnb on Feb 10, 2016
here is the link to that one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NZ_k2RoHB0
By johnb on Feb 10, 2016
–Wild! Don’t know what to make of it, except still listening. It sure don’t sit still, that’s for sure. I’m hot and cold w/ DB, loved Low, Heroes, but have yet to be able to penetrate Blackstar. Thanks for the surprises, Big-O.
By Happy Camper on Feb 12, 2016
Interesting…that’s all I can say at this point…very interesting.
Thanks for this, BIGO!
By YogaforCynics on Feb 15, 2016
Thank you very much! Again, my question for 20 years now: Why is Brian May’s live version of Hammer to fall (”Gimme that a one more time!”) from the Brixton Academy (released 1994) used in I am with name? What’s the meaning of it? Do you maybe know the answer Brian Eno?
By Eddy on Apr 17, 2016
Hi there,
Just wanted to say have downloaded and listened to these - absolutely brilliant. I made a version of my own many years ago, from bits found in different places but this is the stuff!
One day maybe…
By Roy F on May 27, 2016
VERY VERY COOL! THANK YOU THE STARMAN WILL LIVE FOREVER!!! Cheers!,HENRY”MEDAC”PONDS
By HenryPonds on Aug 23, 2016
P.S, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEITH MOON WHERE EVER YOU ARE IN THE COSMOS WITH YOUR FRIEND DAVID BOWIE I”M SURE!!
By HenryPonds on Aug 23, 2016
thank you so much. This is an extraordinary recording. Love the connections into Outside, but this is a world unto itself, really amazing. THX!!!!!
By EdKeller on Jan 12, 2017
I love this fantastic album more than outside..It’s more true to (i would say) Bowie’s original vision of the outside project before the label made Bowie churn out marketable songs for outside.
Chrome is a wow track and i love the new character called “English” who gave up flogging at Oxford and bids us welcome to the truss ..Number one packet sniffers.
By Ged on Jun 8, 2017