David Bowie is The Man Who Fell To Earth – Epilogue – What Happened to The Visitor? – 2017

David Bowie is The Man Who Fell To Earth – Epilogue – What Happened to The Visitor? – 2017

Uploading this video on the occasion of having heard today, that arranger and orchestrator Paul Buckmaster has just passed away. The Rolling Stone obituary published a few hours ago states, “Buckmaster’s alternately lush and brooding string arrangements enriched, deepened and darkened pop records for nearly 50 years.”

Paul Buckmaster has been known in the Bowie universe for two things. Firstly, he arranged the strings for Space Oddity. And secondly, he and Bowie worked together in 1975 on the intended soundtrack for the movie Bowie was starring in, Nic Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth. The music they created together was recorded in December 1975, at Cherokee Studios in LA. Famously, their soundtrack was never used and remains almost unheard to this day. This despite many signs at the time that it would be used. For instance, Bowie mentions the soundtrack on his Soul Train appearance, and that he was working on it with his friend, Paul Buckmaster. Also, on the rear cover of the paperback of The Man Who Fell to Earth, that had been reprinted with movie cover-art, it stated “Album available on RCA”.

However, Bowie stated that parts of the unused music were later incorporated into his albums Station To Station and particularly Low. Nic Roeg says that when Low came out, Bowie sent him a copy and said “This was the music I think I would have done for The Man Who Fell to Earth”. In this excerpt from David Bowie is The Man Who Fell to Earth, scenes from the movie have been reworked with tracks from the second side of Low. It is not known specifically what parts of Low originated in the 1975 sessions with Paul Buckmaster. And only Subteraneans credits him (with playing an ARP Odyssey Synthesizer).

Young Americans and Station to Station producer, Harry Maslin recorded and produced the recording sessions for the soundtrack. He remembers things this way: “Nothing on Station to Station was recorded for The Man Who Fell To Earth…it was all meant for Station to Station”, and he confirms, “I did record much for the film, some of which was used on Low.” At the end of the video, the two famous photographs used were taken by Brad Elterman, who had waited up all night to take them. It’s Bowie and Paul Buckmaster, leaving Cherokee Studios at 7am. Harry Maslin “David is indeed carrying video tapes and shooting script of The Man Who Fell to Earth”. How very intriguing that a rough cut of the film was actually produced, that features Bowie and Buckmaster’s original music. What became of those video tapes?!

In David Bowie is The Man Who Fell to Earth, it was decided not to use Warasawa from Low, because the music for it was composed by Brian Eno, which pretty much eliminates it from having originated from the Cherokee sessions with Paul Buckmaster.
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The music featured is as follows:
Dennis Davis isolated drum track from Golden Years, from the 1976 David Bowie album, Station to Station, and the tracks, Art Decade, Weeping Wall, and Subteraneans, from the 1977 David Bowie album Low.

The majority of the footage is from the 1976 Nic Roeg movie The Man Who Fell to Earth. Also featured is David Bowie’s appearance on Soul Train and on the Russell Harty Show, both in 1975.
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This video is an excerpt from the film David Bowie is The Man Who Fell To Earth – a film about a film – Nic Roeg’s 1976 esoteric science fiction movie – The Man Who Fell to Earth. Roeg’s film has beguiled and baffled audiences since it’s release. It explores, often in abstraction and allegory, the themes of alienation, power, love, trust and betrayal. David Bowie is The Man Who Fell To Earth is an attempt to partly explain the movie. And it is a look at the way the film came together and at Roeg’s working methods, and at the creative process itself. And because it is a film about the creative process, it was felt that it should also in itself, try to also be creative. Complete film available to watch below,

David Bowie is The Man Who Fell To Earth (A Nacho Documentary, 2017)

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Hope you dig it!

I don’t own the rights, and I’m not making any money out of this etc. Just a fan making videos for other fans.

Nacho, November 9th, 2017.