Actors - Stage

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	Actors - Stage

Stage is David Bowie's second live album, released by RCA in 1978. Though it was rumoured at the time that this would be his final outing with the label, following dissatisfaction over the promotion of Low
and "Heroes"
, Bowie would in fact remain with RCA until 1982.

The recording was culled from concerts in Philadelphia, Providence and Boston, USA. As expected, it primarily included material from Bowie's most recent studio albums to that date, Station to Station
, Low
and "Heroes"
but, in a surprise bit of nostalgia, also featured five consecutive songs from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
. Aside from Bowie's core team of Carlos Alomar, Dennis Davis and George Murray, band members included ex Frank Zappa sideman Adrian Belew on guitar, Simon House from Hawkwind on electric violin, and Roger Powell, best known for his work with Todd Rundgren in the group Utopia, on keyboards. All would reunite the following year on Bowie's next studio LP, Lodger
.

Generally considered more relaxed than Bowie's previous live album, David Live
(1974), Stage was praised on its initial vinyl release for the fidelity with which the band was able to emulate in concert the electronic and effects-filled numbers from Low and "Heroes", as well as for the singer's vocal performance. However it was criticised for lacking a 'live' atmosphere, thanks to the recording being largely taken from direct instrument and microphone feeds which increased sound quality but minimised crowd noise. The original concert running order was also changed, with fades between tracks similar to a studio album.

As Bowie rarely tampered with the arrangements - in contrast to his method on David Live - Stage added little to what was available on the original albums, and hence was seen by some commentators as simply a marketing exercise that did not do justice to a memorable series of live concerts. Even the cover picture came in for criticism, more so because the rest of the package contained only variations of the same shot.

Stage reached #5 in the UK album charts but only #44 in the US. "Breaking Glass", which originally appeared in shorter form on Low, was released as a single.

A 2005 reissue has seen most of the criticisms of the original LP addressed, and the new version garnered some favourable reviews.

Track listing

All tracks written by David Bowie except where noted.

# "Hang on to Yourself" - (3:26) # "Ziggy Stardust" - (3:32) # "Five Years" - (3:58) # "Soul Love" - (2:55) # "Star" - (2:31) # "Station to Station" - (8:55) # "Fame" - (4:06) (Bowie, Lennon, Alomar) # "TVC15" - (4:37) # "Warszawa" - (6:50) (Bowie, Eno) # "Speed of Life" - (3:44) # "Art Decade" - (3:10) (Bowie, Eno) # "Sense of Doubt" - (3:13) # "Breaking Glass" - (3:28) (Bowie, Davis, Murray) # ""Heroes"" - (6:19) (Bowie, Eno) # "What in the World" - (4:24) # "Blackout" - (4:01) # "Beauty and the Beast" - (5:08)

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Actors - Stage

Track listing

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