S5 Ep8: Leah Kardos on I Can't Give Everything Away (2002 - 2016)

In this 'emergency' episode, recorded fast and raw on 9 July 2025, Leah Kardos and I react to the announcement that the final box set retrospective, the last in a series that began on September 12, 2015 with 'Five Years', will be released this September spanning "Heathen" to "Blackstar" as well as gathering up most of the b-sides, single edits, remixes and some rare live material in a box that looks- well, unexpected. What could have been included - and whatever has happened to 'Blaze'?  There's a lot to discuss and so, we discuss it. 

Berlin calling... it's September 1978 and young Mancunian punk musician, Joy Division/Factory Records associate and Germanophile Mark Reeder has hitchhiked to Berlin, the city where he would make a name for himself as a producer, DJ, musician, impresario and manager, responsible for firing up the West Berlin underground music scene during the 1980s. (For a vivid immersion into this era, check out 'B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989', the 2015 documentary chronicling Mark and the key and not-so-key players in the West Berlin post-punk scene). In this episode, we explore more of "Heroes", the most Berlin of Berlin albums, the city of darkness and division as refracted through the unique Bowie prism, aided and abetted by an assorted cast of maverick musicians, egg-head theorists, rock'n'roll, techno, experimentation and Iggy Pop. Mark and I take in the mood of the times, from his own personal memories of discovering Berlin with a Walkman and Side 2 of "Heroes" to the lingering influences of Krautrock, Isherwood, Albert King and Bolan. Thanks to Mark Reeder for his time and generosity for this episode, as well as to Thilo Schmidt for organising our previous visit to Hansa Studios and as ever, a massive thanks to Leah Kardos for composing and gifting the opening music to this episode. 

Recorded live in Hansa Studios in Berlin, this is the first of a three-part episode in which Mark Reeder and I delve into the rough, ripped fabric of 1978’s Berlin meisterwerk, “Heroes”  Manchester-born Berliner Mark Reeder has been obsessed with music ever since hearing Telstar at the age of 4. This passion led him to working in Manchester’s Virgin Records in the early to mid 1970s – then the coolest record shop in the city - where he immersed himself in Krautrock and embraced punk, in between trying to wean Tony Wilson off his beloved Bruce Springsteen albums, recommending records to future Joy Division/New Order manager Rob Gretton, befriending a pre-Joy Division Ian Curtis and playing bass in Mick Hucknall’s punk band The Frantic Elevators. But as punk began to eat itself and Virgin prepared to relaunch as a Megastore, Mark began hitch hiking to Germany, exploring the record shops of Dusseldorf, Munich and Hamburg before finally pitching up in a dark, grey, bomb-scarred Berlin in 1978, arriving around two weeks after another wandering Englishman had left, having recently completed his “Heroes” album. In this episode, we wander gently towards a chat about “Heroes” with Mark taking us back to 1970s Manchester and his place at the heart of the city’s punk scene and how he found his way to Germany, settling in Berlin in 1978 where he became the German representative for Joy Division and Factory Records from 1978-1983 and a member of synthpop bands Die Unbekannten and Shark Vegas. Die Unbekannten performed the first illegal and highly secretive gigs in the Communist East (Czechoslovakia & Hungary) for their underground scenes, and they released Dangerous Moonlight, the first record ever to feature a Roland 606 Drum Machine. During the early 80s Mark Reeder managed the all-girl avant-garde group Malaria! and organised the first secret underground punk concerts in Budapest and Prague for Die Unbekannten and Die Toten Hosen for which he was classified as a subversiv-dekadent by the Stasi.  In December 1990, he founded the first independent electronic music label MFS (Masterminded For Success) in post-Wall East-Berlin. In 2015 he produced the score for the acclaimed documentary film “B-Movie (Lust & Sound in West-Berlin)" about Reeder’s life in 80’s West Berlin avant-garde music scene. Mark is also an established DJ and remixer, for artists such as New Order, Depeche Mode, The Pet Shop Boys, Blank & Jones, John Foxx, Anne Clark, Yello or Die Toten Hosen which can be found on his remix albums ReOrdered (SO80s), Collaborator (Factory Benelux) Five Point One (Kennen/MFS), Mauerstadt, or Subversiv-Dekadent (MFS). Stream "B-Movie" here Thanks to Thilo Schmidt of Berlin Music Tours for organising our visit to Hansa Studios  With thanks to Leah Kardos for intro and outro music

We continue our chat with Gail Ann Dorsey as she explains the seismic impact Young Americans made on her - and hear a snippet of her breathtaking version of 'Can You Hear Me?' - and reflect on friends and collaborators from Bowie universe, past and present – from Carlos Alomar, Mike Garson and David Sanborn to her current project with Donny McCaslin, the mighty orchestral Blackstar Symphony. And of course, along the way, we come back time and again to that one omniscient figure, who brought them all together. Gail and the Blackstar Symphony play Nashville on June 18, 2025 and San Francisco on June 26th - see more via Donny McCaslin's page here  Keep up with Gail's music and appearances via her Instagram and Spotify - and keep an ear out for new music soon! Many thanks to Leah Kardos for the original music for this episode 

Buckle up listeners, we’ve got a very special guest in today and it’s none other than Gail Ann Dorsey, legendary session musician/singer/songwriter and bassist who accompanied David Bowie on tour and in the studio between 1995 and 2013. In that time, she became a core of the Bowie band, loved by David, bandmates and fans alike for her innate musicality, soaring vocals and cool, calm and stylish presence on stage.  Gail’s story stretches out way before Bowie, and has thrived afterwards too. In this episode, the first of two, we talk about Gail’s solo career, growing up in a big family in 1970s West Philadelphia, digging the city’s sizzling soul and R&B scene, as well as immersing herself in the best of the era’s music, from solo singer songwriters to the thunderous sounds of Cream, Queen and Slade – and that British guy, who had come to Philadelphia in 1975 to record an album that blew her mind… Follow Gail’s current activities on her Facebook and Instagram and check out her solo discography and concert dates on Spotify here Many thanks to Leah Kardos for the original music used in this podcast!  Image courtesy Mark Adams 

Nicholas Pegg and I are back for the final instalment of our three part extravaganza about David Bowie's 1984 album Tonight and its a good one - you'll have never heard anyone explore the joys of 'Tumble and Twirl', 'I Keep Forgetting' and 'Dancing With the Big Boys'  in quite such vivid detail before. In making this series of episodes, I've changed my mind about 'Tonight' to some extent. Going in, I'd dismissed it as a load of old horse manure, but having heard what Nick has to say has made me if not love it, at least appreciate it a bit more, especially, 'Tumble and Twirl', 'Loving the Alien' and even 'Don't Look Down'. Still can't be doing with 'God Only Knows' though. Some things will never change.  Thanks to Nicholas Pegg for his time and generosity in sharing his insights and research into 'Tonight', a huge thanks to Leah Kardos for crafting the beautiful music bookending this and previous 'Tonight' episodes and of course thanks to YOU, dear listener, for taking the time to reassess this most esoteric and divisive of albums. 

Nicholas Pegg and I continue our voyage into the heart of darkness as we venture deeper into the depths of Bowie's 1984 album 'Tonight'. Can we find our way back from the sadness of 'God Only Knows' into the light? Will there be redemption with Tina Turner on the title track? How do the ongoing Iggy covers fare? And what on earth does the surreal 1960 TV series 'The Strange World of Gurney Slade' have to do with the wonderful 21 minute mini epic 'Jazzin For Blue Jean' produced to promote one of the album's clutch of solid gold bangers? It's real, it's 'Tonight' and we're here for it. 

Returning to albumtoalbum for a long-overdue reunion is renowned actor, occasional Dalek and author of The Complete David Bowie, Nicholas Pegg. Nick's an old friend of the podcast and has tackled some of David Bowie's most acclaimed albums in previous episodes - as well as exploring entire eras (our 198More series of chats take an overview of Bowie's singles, soundtracks and various off-extramural activities 1981 - 1989). Now, he's back to tackle one of the most challenging artefacts in the Bowie oeuvre - the much-maligned 1984 album Tonight. A rag-tag bag of semi-sentient cover versions, marimbas, an absolutely bracingly brilliant long-form promo video (very 1984) a couple of superb Bowie evergreens, some blue-and-brown-eyed reggae and uncharacteristically insipid production, Tonight might not be the worst album of 1984, but it fell short of what long time Bowie fans had come to expect. Clearly geared to what Bowie assumed were his new Let's Dance-era fans, the album was recorded almost straight after the massive Serious Moonlight tour, without the satisfying thwack that conceptual cohesion and creative conviction characterising Bowie's best work to date. Here, Bowie opted to work with a young British producer, Derek Bramble, who had little awareness of Bowie's work. As Nick says in this episode, Bramble's lack of public profile might have appealed to Bowie, after the megawatt presence of Nile Rogers on Let's Dance. Fair enough. But then, getting happening, in-demand producer, most recently with The Police, Hugh Padgham on board, in the junior role of engineer, wasn't Bowie's brightest idea. In this episode, we kick off by looking back at the lead-up to the album's recording (in Canada), a cast of characters including Derek Bramble, Hugh Padgham, Iggy Pop and Carlos Alomar and the album's first three tracks - Loving The Alien, Don't Look Down and the unforgettable cover version of the Beach Boys' God Only Knows.  With thanks to Nicholas Pegg, and Leah Kardos for the background music. During the conversation, we have references from Chris O'Leary, Charles Shaar Murray and that Bowie resource par excellence, bowiebible.com

Back in 1974, Earl Slick was a 22-year old jobbing session guitarist fast developing a reputation for his supple, searing style and versatility in all idioms. Hired by Bowie to join his Diamond Dogs tour, Slick then had to suddenly pivot from apocalypto-rock to sleek Philly soul at a moment's notice - but acquitted himself so well, he was invited to play on tracks destined for Young Americans before forming the core band, alongside Carlos Alomar, Dennis Davis, George Murray and Roy Bittan to cut the extraordinary Station to Station, in LA, during October 1975. Bringing his charismatic flair to the sessions, Slick rose each time to Bowie's demands for an esoteric sonic palette, turning in one bravura performance after another despite, by his own admission, almost matching Bowie's ridiculous drug consumption levels at the time. Although his boss's directions could be at times gnomic - Bowie instructed him on one occasion to simply play a Chuck Berry riff repeatedly throughout a track - the pair sparked off each other, forging a deep bond. Despite a contretemps between Bowie's management and Slick at the end of the sessions, Earl returned to the Bowie band in 1983 for Serious Moonlight and then again during the early 2000s, when he became again, a key member of the group, up to The Next Day.  Today, Station to Station stands out as one of Bowie's finest records, the pivot from Young Americans' funk and soul to the electronic abstractions and experimental textures which would emerge fully with Low. Despite the frenzied sessions, the album's six tracks are each mini-masterpieces. In this episode, the first of two devoted to the album, we take a leisurely stroll down memory lane and begin with Earl's reminiscences of pre-Beatles America, his first audition for Bowie and Visconti, bafflement at the Philly soul era, meeting and forgetting (and then meeting again) John Lennon, and the intense sessions that made up the first side of Station to Station. Thanks to Earl, Oliver and of course the regal Tank for all their time and help in assembling this episode and as ever, please do let me know what you think of our chat and share this podcast far and wide! Follow Earl Slick on Instagram and Facebook Intro/Outro music by Leah Kardos

In this episode we analyse The Next Day Extra, November 2013's accompanying min-album chock-full of tasty treats, rambunctious remixes and some songs that inexplicably never made it onto the album proper. Never mind. Now they get their moment in the sun and thanks to Leah Kardos's encyclopaedic knowledge of all things late-era Bowie, a fascinating conversation ensues in which we gallop across this collection and appreciate anew the understated and undersung treasures that await within. Thanks again to Leah for all her time and insights and for making this conversation so enjoyable and illuminating. You can find out more about her work here and follow her here on Twittex. The opening and closing music on this and previous episodes is also composed by Leah - follow her musical adventures here!