Dour‑Faced Bowie Article: Feb 1974

✦ FEBRUARY 9, 1974

David Bowie: “Dour‑Faced Bowie” Article (New Musical Express)

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A candid, slightly barbed NME snapshot of Bowie in the middle of the Diamond Dogs recording sessions

✦ SUMMARY

On February 9, 1974, New Musical Express ran a one‑page feature often referred to as “Dour‑Faced Bowie,” capturing David Bowie during sessions at Trident Studios. The article presented a wry, tongue‑in‑cheek look at Bowie’s mood, his working environment, and the swirl of rumours surrounding him at the time.

The accompanying photograph showed Bowie with pianist Mike Garson, both appearing notably unenthused. The piece joked that Bowie was struggling without Mick Ronson, though it also noted that two tracks — including Big Brother — had already been completed on the first night of recording. This places the article squarely in the early Diamond Dogs period, when Bowie was transitioning away from the Spiders From Mars and shaping a darker, dystopian sound.

The article also touched on Bowie’s personal life and cultural interests: spending time with avant‑garde writer William Burroughs, taking French lessons, and preparing to travel to New York to meet his wife Angie, who was doing screen tests in Los Angeles. In typical NME fashion, the piece mixed gossip, humour and surreal asides, ending with a playful football score: Wolverhampton Wanderers 2, Lord Clark Of Civilization 0.

✦ HIGHLIGHTS

• Published February 9, 1974 in New Musical Express

• Photo shows Bowie and Mike Garson during Trident Studios sessions

• References early Diamond Dogs recordings, including Big Brother

• Rumours about Bowie struggling without Mick Ronson

• Mentions Bowie spending time with William Burroughs

• Notes Bowie taking French lessons

• Mentions Angie Bowie’s screen tests in Los Angeles

• Ends with NME’s trademark surreal humour

✦ CONTEXT

The article captures Bowie at a moment of transition:

• The Spiders From Mars era had ended

• Diamond Dogs was taking shape as a concept album

• Bowie was shifting toward a more theatrical, dystopian aesthetic

• His personal life was increasingly nomadic and media‑scrutinised

• Collaborators like Mike Garson were central to the new sound

This NME piece is typical of the era’s music journalism — irreverent, chaotic, and half‑serious — but it also provides a rare candid glimpse of Bowie between personas.

✦ FULL ARTICLE TEXT (TRANSCRIPT)

THIS CANDID snaperoo shows dour‑faced Bowie with equally unenthused Mike Garson during current sessions in Trident studios. Vile rumour has it that Bowie is finding the going difficult in the absence of Ronson — although two numbers, including one called Big Brother, were reportedly completed on the first night of recording.

Latest in mainman fashion has it that our lad is hanging out a lot with avant‑garde novelist William Burroughs and taking French lessons. He’ll shortly be going to New York to meet Mrs. B., who has been doing screen‑tests in L.A., and hairdresser Freddie will take over their house in Cheyne Walk until they get back.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 2, Lord Clark Of Civilization 0.

Pic: Catherine Simon

✦ SOURCES

New Musical Express, February 9, 1974

Trident Studios session history

Diamond Dogs recording documentation

Photographic credit: Catherine Simon

✦ ALT TEXT (SEO)

Vintage 1974 NME article featuring David Bowie and Mike Garson at Trident Studios, showing Bowie with a serious expression during early Diamond Dogs recording sessions.

If you want, I can also create:

• a Discography Sidebar for the Diamond Dogs singles

• a Glam Flashback companion post on the Burroughs meeting

• a visual timeline of Bowie’s 1974 transformations

Just tell me what you’d like next.David Bowie: "Dour-Faced Bowie" Article (1974)

David Bowie’s "Dour-Faced Bowie", a one-page article in New Musical Express, February 9, 1974.