DESCRIPTION:
The original version of Can You Hear Me was recorded in late 1974, and released in March 1975, on the David Bowie album, Young Americans. Nine months later, in late November ‘75, Can You Hear Me was used as the B-side of Golden Years, the first single from the forthcoming Station To Station album.

The live vocal duet with Cher was aired on November the 23rd, 1975. It was recorded at the CBS studios in Fairfax, Los Angeles. No recording date could be ascertained.

The three Bowie Cher Show performances are so contrasting – the fierceness of Fame, the showmanship of the Young Americans medley, and the tenderness of Can You Hear Me.

As a Bowie fan, it is tempting to ruminate on whether it would have been be better if the performance of Can You Hear Me had been by Bowie alone. But in my opinion this duet is a delight - Cher’s extraordinary beauty and her gorgeous, seemingly effortless singing voice are a fine compliment to Bowie’s. Bowie gives her perhaps the best line of the song, “I want love so badly, I want you most of all”. And she handles it beautifully, with her apparent ease. Another highlight of the performance comes later in the song, when Bowie flirts quite outrageously with Cher, causing her to blush.

Bowie claims to remember almost nothing of the recording of the show or of meeting Cher. This is consistent with his claims about the entire Station To Station / LA period where there was little sleep and sustenance was mainly in powder form. Years later Bowie speculated, “I was probably this crazed anorexic figure walking in. I’m sure she didn’t know what to make of me”.

It might seem somewhat surprising that Bowie didn’t choose to perform his new single, Golden Years which was released the same week the Cher show was aired. But not a man who liked to repeat himself, two and half weeks prior to the Cher show, Bowie had stumbled his way through Golden Years on Soul Train, and so perhaps he thought there was no need to perform it again.

The intro to my video is of course from the notorious “live by expensive satellite” Russell Harty TV interview. Bowie was in “beautiful downtown Burbank, Los Angeles” (about 10 miles from Fairfax, where the Cher Show was recorded) and Harty in London. The interview was recorded just four days after the Cher show, and it’s interesting to note that in both shows, Bowie has the same lack-of-sleep late-night lines under his eyes.

Towards the end of the Harty interview, Bowie introduces the Soul Train performance of Golden Years, utterly unashamed of the fact that his abilities are noticeably under the influence of “a couple of drinks”. “Does it show?” ask Harty. “Oh yes!” says Bowie.

When I was dreaming up this vid, in my memory Russell Harty said at the beginning of the interview, “Can You Hear Me, David Bowie? And I thought, that’s too perfect; I must use that. Unfortunately, when I checked the interview, I found out that what Harty actually says is, “Are You There, David Bowie?” But I went with it anyway. I already knew that I wanted to replace the audio at the beginning, with the album version. On the original Cher Show audio, the intro is shortened and mostly buried under the canned applause anyway. And I needed footage to go with it, as the original visual from the show is of a spinning medallion of Cher’s name.

And it’s enjoyable to me watching Bowie’s silent reaction to the first of Harty’s inane statements - an idiotic reminiscence of the last time Harty had interviewed him for TV in 1973, about an earring Bowie was wearing “in either your left ear, or right ear, I can’t remember”. Russell Harty is often derided for his vacuous questions and condescension in the interview. But it seems a little unfair - Harty had probably assumed that the time with Bowie would be another friendly little chat, like the one he had enjoyed three years prior. He could have in no way anticipated that he would be dealing with a stroppy Thin White Duke. This being the first time that he, or really anyone was fully confronted with the new austere Bowie persona.

This version of the Cher Show performance features my own re-EQ’d audio, and is a composite of several versions of the video. For the main, it relies on a recording of the recent GetTV rebroadcast of the Cher Show, Episode 25. This was supplied to me by the dbDigital Archive, for which I am very grateful.

Hope you dig it!

Do me an' yerself a favor - watch it in the Highest Def available with the sound UP LOUD!

If anyone has any other footage, or ideas for another video project, of material from Bowie's classic period, do please get in touch: nachomarcho@gmail.com

Putting this video together was another huge labour of love, made with love and with respect for the source.

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.

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