He's the man who went from Philly soul to Scary Monsters by way of Station to Station and all things Berlin - yes, it's Carlos Alomar, guitarist, songwriter, collaborator, bandleader and all round musical machine joining me on this episode for a wide ranging conversation spanning technology, working with David Bowie, James Brown, George Murray, Dennis Davis, The Monkees, Jimi Hendrix, watermelons, cherries and pineapples and much more. He even gets his guitar out and demonstrates where just a couple of those legendary licks originated from.

Now, as he prepares to finally hit the road with his Dam Trilogy road show - a long-awaited celebration of the killer trio who shaped the Bowie sound in the studio and on the road from 1975 into the 1980s - I sat down with him on Zoom recently to find out how and why he, George Murray and the gang are heading out on the road - and where that road might end up.

For more information and tickets for the Dam Trilogy BACK TO BERLIN Tour 2025, head HERE

Thanks to Leah Kardos for the intro/outro music for this episode

Part Two of my conversation with Tin Machine co-producer and amanuensis Tim Palmer takes in the aftermath of the 1989 debut LP and the fractured coming together of elements to make up the arguably stronger second album - a smorgasbord of some classic Bowie songwriting, noise, avant garde guitars, sex toys and good time rock'n'roll.

In this episode Tim reflects on those sessions that took place simultaneously with David's round-the-world Sound + Vision tour (in which he set out to lay his back catalogue to rest) as well as the frequently astonishing level of innovation, invention and energy that went into Tin Machine 2.

Thanks to Tim for his time and generosity in recalling those days for us and you can find out more about his activities here >>> 

Thanks also to Leah Kardos for her presence on this talk and her questions for Tim - and of course her beautiful original music, used in the intro and outro. More on Leah's numerous projects and passions here >>>

What have U2, The Mighty Lemon Drops, Pearl Jam, Robert Plant, The Mission, The Polyphonic Spree, Gene Loves Jezebel oh and - David Bowie all in common? That's right - superproducer Tim Palmer has worked with them all, and countless others over the decades and is regarded as one of the most accomplished and renowned names in the biz.

Following our Tin Machine 2 conversation earlier in the year, Leah Kardos and I thought it would be fun to talk to the man Bowie chose to co-produce his exciting new experiment back in summer 1988, all about his experiences working with the embryonic Machine.

Tim was there, from the band's tentative first steps, through to their final sessions for Tin Machine 2. And in this episode, he spills the beans on what really went on behind the scenes in studios across the world from a huge empty casino in Switzerland to a beachside studio shared with Status Quo in Nassau to surveying Reeves's collection of sex toys in Sydney.

A genial, knowledgeable and hands-on facilitator and enabler, listening today to Tim talking about his collaboration with Bowie, Gabrels & Saleses, it is obvious how his positive and constructive presence was a vital element in the complex Tin Machine dynamic. Fair to say, its thanks to his work behind the scenes that this disparate group of characters gelled their talents into two albums which despite being much maligned* still offer up plenty of riches for the Bowie fan to discover or rediscover.

So, in this first of two parts, we meet Tim, as Tim meets Tin Machine and the whole unlikely, unwieldy, unexpectedly wonderful project lurches into life and Tim reflects on the unbelievable stash of Tin Machine tapes and DATs in his archives (none of which, to be clear, was used in the making of this episode).

This recording was meant to have included my Tin Machine co-conspirator Leah Kardos but sadly on the day of recording, her internet connection went totally berserk - less Goodbye Mr Ed, more a live version of Sorry. Her presence is throughout, nevertheless, and I am very grateful to her, not least for the insightful questions that she came up with for Tim.

Thanks of course to Tim for his time and generosity in speaking with me and for more info on his work and projects do check out his site here

Thanks also to Leah for the intro and outro music for this episode

*Maligned by people who have no taste, of course :) 

Sorry! Join me for the second part of my conversation with author, musician, professor and all round superstar Leah Kardos on Tin Machine II – the overlooked, underrated work by Hunt and Tony Sales, Reeves Gabrels and David Bowie, from 1991. So underrated, in fact, that it's not even properly available -  a mystery in itself. There have been occasional rumours of a Tin Machine box but this never quite happens. Leah and I feel this is a great tragedy, as to ignore Tin Machine is to ignore a crucial, transformative and vital moment in Bowie’s evolution. 

Made largely in Australia, in between Bowie's Sound + Vision tour and filming commitments for The Linguini Incident, Tin Machine 2 was released to a muted critical reception and an even more muted commercial reaction, despite a Herculean effort by the lads to promote the record around the world. But clearly, for whatever reason, the spark didn't burst into flame. Maybe it was the label's lack of promotion as Bowie would later angrily claim ("They did dick to promote it") or perhaps the timing wasn't right, or maybe it was just the weather or something like that. But Nile Rogers was waiting in the wings, Black Tie White Noise was about to get underway, a loved-up Bowie was ready to walk Iman down the aisle and the laddish hi-jinks and rumoured intrapersonal issues within the unit were just too much to deal with.

Yet, despite being passed off as yet another misfire in a period where poor old Bowie couldn’t seem to catch a commercial or critical break, we feel there’s some inspired songwriting and brilliant performances on this album. Listen to Amlapura, Goodbye Mr Ed, hell even A Big Hurt - and tell us we're (Betty) wrong. Inventive, boundary-pushing musicianship, flashes of sheer brilliance from the band, moments of sublime songwriting - under different circumstances they would be standout moments in the Bowie canon. Unfortunately, given the times, they were forgotten. Until now.

If you want a fat tasty vinyl edition of Tin Machine 2, check out

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tin-Machine-II/dp/B087L8DB9L

https://www.juno.co.uk/products/david-bowie-tin-machine-tin-machine-ii-vinyl/867550-01/

https://uk.rarevinyl.com/collections/tin-machine/products/tin-machine-tin-machine-ii-silver-vinyl-uk-vinyl-lp-album-record-movlp2715-834103

etc 

Thanks to Leah Kardos for the intro/outro music

 

Tin Machine 2! Turkey or twizzler?

It has to be said, full marks to Bowie and the boys for steaming ahead with their second album despite bemused reactions to the 1989 debut, Bowie gallivanting off around the world on the mammoth May - Sep 1990 Sound + Vision tour, being dropped by EMI (leaving DB without a record deal for the first time since 1966) and Reeves getting into the intricate properties of sex toys* - all of this conspired to create this, the occasionally brilliant, sometimes baffling, entirely peculiar Tin Machine 2. Bangers and clunkers come together in a far more focused way than the first album, a greater spectrum of songwriting and Reeves revels in the spacious soundscapes, aided and abetted by producer Tim Palmer. 

In this opening episode Leah Kardos and I get to grips with the background to the album, its long gestation and the first few tracks, swooning over our favourites and coming to angry blows over "If There Is Something". Come ahead and dive in! 

Many thanks to Leah as ever and also for her background intro music for this and all recent episodes - more information about Leah's many activities at https://www.leahkardos.com/

*I feature Reeves Gabrels, taken from an earlier albumtoalbum episode - do check out his whole interview here! https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/davidbowie-albumtoalbum/id1355073030?i=1000547920678

Tin Machine 2 is not currently available on streaming, but cheapish second hand copies abound on ebay and amazon. (Leah and I feel strongly it should be reissued)

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