Backed by 157 Musicians, Beck Reimagines David Bowie’s 1977 Classic, “Sound and Vision”

The last time we looked, the singer-songwriter known as Beck contributed to the fall musical production, Rework: Philip Glass Remixed, before publishing Song Reader, a series of 20 songs released not as recorded music, but as sheet music meant for other musicians to interpret and perform. (Listen here to what the Portland Cello Project did with the Song Reader collection.) Now, Beck turns to an entirely different project. On Sunday night, the versatile musician appeared on a soundstage at 20th Century Fox in L.A., where he performed David Bowie’s 1977 song, “Sound and Vision,” backed by a 157-piece orchestra conducted by his own father, the composer and arranger David Campbell. According to Rolling Stone, the event was sponsored by Lincoln, the Detroit carmaker, who is using Beck’s version of “Sound and Vision” for a new ad campaign. Happily, David Bowie gave his enthusiastic blessing to the project.

Related Content:

The Story of Ziggy Stardust: How David Bowie Created the Character that Made Him Famous

Hear Beck’s Song Reader Songbook Performed by the Portland Cello Project

How “Space Oddity” Launched David Bowie to Stardom: Watch the Original Music Video From 1969


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Comments (3)
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  • Arthurtime says:

    Nice selection in terms of concept, but Becks wispier talk/sing voice isn’t matched to the symphonic/choral dynamics and gets lost out in the vast ocean of his thin idea for getting extra value out of a car commercial. Bowie always had enough idea of his voice and could project to hold his ground, or at least knew what he could and could not manage.

    But honestly, it’s a car commercial soundtrack commission. They do new orchestral versions and remakes of hits all the time. Dressing this up as if more than that doesn’t really convince. In terms of Glass etc..Beck is today’s collaborater because he apparently since more than a decade stopped being able to do anything else than fiddle around with so-called “art” concepts (re-recording songs by others each week on the net, etc.etc..) which are themselves quite aged and safe. Finding religion is rarely good for musicians it seems.

  • We are a group of filmmakers who enjoy sharing with the world the musical talent found all around. We make music videos and hope you will check out some of our work

    Here are two of our videos you can watch. Enjoy

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3db2371nrok

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGjla6pnAzk

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  • pat terry says:

    love it! can’t find it on itunes, where can I purchase it?

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