"The black and white image on the A-Side of the disc is by the famous Hollywood photographer of the 1940s/50s, Tom Kelley. The image is probably more closely associated with the session that produced the cover for the CHANGESONEBOWIE album and Suffragette City single in 1976. However, this particular shot was first used for the Italian Fame 45 in 1975.
The photograph on the AA-Side was shot by Steve Schapiro, who recently had this to say about working with Bowie and this session in particular: “I think Bowie is very smart and I think he has a great sense of images and in coming up with new kinds of images. The first session I did with him started at four in the afternoon and ended at four the next morning when I did that picture of him on the motorcycle, and we used the headlights of a car to light it. He would constantly come up with new costumes and I would pick up my camera to photograph him and it would be an incredible outfit, but he would stop me and say, ’Wait a minute, I need to fix something,’ and he would go to the dressing room and come back 20 minutes later in something totally different. Fortunately, there would be a lot of things he would try on, so we would get a lot of pictures."
Pre-orders for the limited edition 40th anniversary Young Americans picture disc will be available soon.
Published December 13th, 2014 @ 3:50 PM