David Bowie – The Jean Genie (The 1980 Floor Show, new edit)

A Mister Sussex edit.

This is the latest of my ‘1980 Floor Show’ re-edits. Although broadly similar to the broadcast version, it differs from from it in many places. It keeps the emphasis squarely on Bowie and Ronson with less cutaways. In fact I would almost call it an ‘un-edit’, as it restores the interplay between Bowie and Ronson which was covered over with insert shots by the nervous US TV network.

These performances were very different to the experience of a live gig. Bowie and the band would run though each song several times until he was happy with it. Between takes as the equipment was reset, Bowie would exchange banter with the audience which was comprised of specially invited fan club members.

Often he would stop a song- mid-performance if he was unhappy with something. Other takes were halted by technical faults.

As far as I can tell, the live feed from the various cameras were fed into a vision mixer and an instant edit was created while Bowie performed.
Once Bowie was happy with a performance, the cameras were re-positioned and the audio from his chosen take was played back over the PA while Bowie and the band mimed and lip-synched to the playback. Often during these lipsynched runthroughs, Bowie or Ronson would miss a cue or come in too soon. Parts of this performance would later be intercut with the original ‘live’ edit for the broadcast version.

For this edit. I’ve gone back to the actual live performance to create something more raw and authentic. I’ve only had to use an insert shot very occasionally to cover up something awkward in the original edit. A shot of Bowie at the mic wasn’t used in the broadcast version probably because the camera wobbled badly. Luckily that can be easily fixed these days with digital tools and so I’ve put it in.

Running at two minutes longer than the album version, this is a blistering performance of ‘Jean Genie’. Turn up the volume and enjoy.

Mister Sussex.