>> DAVID BOWIE :: DIAMOND DOGS

"Hello Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"It's me, David. David Bowie. I've been up all night going through my phone book phoning old friends and I saw your name. How are you? Would you like to get together for a social evening?"

A few nights later David walks into my kitchen in Courtfield Gardens, Kensington, and the baby-sitter, a Bowie freak, drops my son's bottle of milk on the floor. Hot water and milk are everywhere. David Bowie is standing there in full Ziggy garb, makeup and all, looking amused!

Later my wife (Mary Hopkin) and I, with Angela and David, cruise through the tiny streets of Covent Garden in David's stretch limo to see Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in "Behind The Fridge", (a parody of "Beyond The Fringe", a '60s TV satire). The limo is so huge the driver accidentally wedges the car between cars parked on opposite sides of the street and dents the limo and the other cars severely. We get out and walk, not unnoticed because of the way David and Angie are dressed (Angie was not to be outdone by David). We have a great evening. We are friends again.

"Hello Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"David here, David Bowie. I'm having no luck mixing my new album. I tried everywhere in town I can think of. This is the first one I'm producing myself. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Funny you should ask that. I'm just putting the finishing touches to my new home studio. It's 16-track, and I've got all the latest gadgets. Give it a try."

David insisted on coming there right away with his tapes. I hadn't even bought control room chairs yet, so we mixed the first session sitting on the carpenter's saw horses! David loved the sound of his mixes so much he asked to mix the entire album at my place. I hadn't even moved into the house yet. It was so brand-new I had no furniture! The next day a huge delivery van pulls up in front of my new house in Melrose Terrace, Hammersmith, and out come control room chairs, a dining room table, four dining chairs, crockery and silverware, all from Habitat. David gave them to me as gift, but he also said he need something to eat from when he was mixing. I was extremely touched by this gesture.

About 80% of the mixes were finally used, and David and I were once again professional cohorts.