Keyboard maestro has gone back to work with the English Rock Ensemble for the follow-up to his 2020 album, and he says the process feels like early 70s Yes. (Loudersound)
Although he hesitated over the prospect of a sequel, he soon found there was a lot of source material to draw on for the tentatively-titled Return To The Red Planet, the release date of which is yet to be confirmed.
He reveals that he drew on his experience playing with David Bowie back in his pre-Yes days. “When we did Life On Mars? we talked a lot about it; he was fascinated with Mars – not to the depth that I am, but it intrigued him. So I wrote a track, almost like a tribute to David, called Bowie’s Vision. I’m very pleased with it.
“Then there’s one I’ve done on the three epochs of Mars – very proggy, based around the fact that Mars was essentially created in three periods of time over billions of years. So I’ve separated those and made a suite of that.
'Life on Mars?' is credited to David Bowie alone, but that doesn't mean he didn't have some help making it the classic we all know, with Mick Ronson and Rick Wakeman making vital contributions.
David wrote most of the song in one afternoon travelling from Beckenham High Street to Lewisham with the riff stuck in his head, though he did give the lyrics quite a rewrite before it was eventually recorded.
It was originally released in 1971 on his fourth album Hunky Dory, but got a belated single release in 1973 (backed by the even-older 'The Man Who Sold The World') to capitalise on the burgeoning wave of Ziggy fever.
Pop historians will be well aware that 'My Way' didn't start off as 'My Way'. That song started off as a French hit 'Comme d'habitude' ("as usual"), by Claude François and Jacques Revaux, first released in 1967.
Bowie wrote his own English lyrics to the music, which he retitled 'Even a Fool Learns to Love'. The song was shelved, and Paul Anka bought the rights to the François/Revaux original, rewrote it as 'My Way' and gave it to Frank Sinatra.
DB was clearly a bit bemused and/ore miffed by the whole thing, and borrowed a few of those portentous big band elements for 'Life on Mars?', even scrawling "INSPIRED BY FRANKIE" on the cheeky back cover of Hunky Dory. (Goldradio)
