From A Distant Star ('Aladdin Sane' Mix) by thouston and cuthbert

[cuthbert]

This was originally an instrumental named 'Starman' that Tony Houston had posted in Collaborations:

https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?topic=5688.0

While I was listening to it, the words to a chorus immediately sprang to mind and Tony's story of how he came up with the music caught my attention - it really is quite an interesting story:

I'm big David Bowie fan, and while watching 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' on Blu-ray http://tinyurl.com/ydzb6x9, I heard this Pink Floyd style melody in the background during a scene.

I have a ZOOM H2 digital recorder http://tinyurl.com/2q73yd that keep handy for quick music ideas, so I grabbed it and recorded the short music segment.

Bowie had recorded music for the film, but due to a creative and contractual dispute, no official soundtrack was ever released for the film. The music I heard was composed by Japanese percussionist-composer Stomu Yamashta and others.

So, I took what I heard and created a 'new' composition.

It was recorded on my BR-600, using my 'beater' Strat, Squier P-Bass and BR-600's drums.

Inspired by the story and being a bit of Bowie fan myself, I downloaded Tony's composition and decided to take a crack at writing some lyrics. I borrowed a few ideas from the film, and then mixed in a couple of Bowie personas and the lyrics practically wrote themselves. All the vocals were recorded on my MicroBR using the built-in microphone. Tony then added some lead guitar and heavenly choir, and here's what we got:

[soundclick]8636892[/soundclick]

I really enjoyed working with Tony on this one - it was a blast! I like to consider this the 'Aladdin Sane' mix, due to its lead guitar sound. I may post a 'Low' mix (more electronic, cuz I have no lead guitar chops) a bit later if it all works out.

Hope you enjoy it,
cuth

[Gritter]

Wow, great tune!...you definitely achieved the Bowie sound!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJqYRffUTNA

[Bluesberry]

This is deadly.  Great song, holy crap, great song.

[Tangled Wires]

Wow, some spaced out sounds here..absolutely wicked song!!

[launched]

Yeah, I got into it. I'm going to get into it again right now...

Peace,

Mark

[Vanncad]

Holy crap Cuthbert- is that you or Bowie singing?
You've got it nailed bro - even the lyrics sound like something Ziggy would write.

Gotta love the "Heavenly Choir" Tony!

Geez - this is awesome guys!

[Satchwood]

Whoa - very cool song man !!  You are David Bowie_himself Cuth - great music - great vocals !!  Great work guys!  Luv it!

[OsCKilO]

F*ck Me..........

Tiz Awesome!

[thouston]

Yeah, cuthbert did a awesome job with the lyrics. I write too, I wrote four songs on our first album, and all the songs for the next album.

But, Starman wasn't intended to be a 'real' song, meaning I didn't plan to write lyrics, and that's what makes cuthbert's creative endeavor even more amazing to me.

[Wiley]

Cool job guys!!