Kronos Audio Visual were delighted to have been involved in their second Classic Album Sunday in association with Armagh County Museum and DJ Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy which took place on 26th March 2023.
The Iconic album chosen for this event to mark its 50th Anniversary was David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane and we were joined at the event by the album’s producer Ken Scott who has worked as a producer and engineer with the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Lou Reed, Elton John, Pink Floyd and Duran Duran just to name a few and is one of the UK’s best known music producers.
The event was completely sold out and sadly many people missed out on this amazing event.
Obviously David Bowie, who sadly passed away in 2016, has had an amazing career and Aladdin Sane is one of his most iconic albums. Bowie was perhaps the first musical chameleon as he was able to adapt his music and songwriting over a number of decades and genres and even in Aladdin Sane virtually no track is the same with everything from rock to haunting ballads and jazz influences.
The audience were treated to not just the album playing on a very high end system but Colleen and Ken gave insightful information on each track and Ken was able to explain about the studio (Trident) and even on some of the instruments like the piano used on the album. Ken also spoke about David Bowie and his relationship with David over the years as well as touching on other people like Lou Reed and the Transformer album. David was a big fan and good friend of Lou and the Velvet Underground and he helped Ken to produce the album.
Again a lot of insightful information about the production, including a really interesting insight in vinyl production, and many of the considerations that go into this processes for producers and how David Bowie suggested the use of backing singers on Walk on The Wild Side.
The system used for the album was as follows: Gold Note Galileo Rack, Gold Note Bellagio Reference Turntable with the B7 Ceramic tonearm and Titanic Audio Model G MC cartridge, Gold Note PH10 phono stage and power supply, Vitus R-101 Integrated amplifier, Diapason Adamante speakers and stands, Cables were by Titan Audio and Siltech.
Everyone went away from the event much more knowledgeable about David Bowie and the Aladdin Sane album and many commenting on hearing the album for the "what felt like the first time" with the system allowing them to hear details, subtleties and the true sound of instrumentation and vocals, that Ken and David had sent so much time perfecting.
Many thanks to Armagh County Museum for hosting the event, Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy from Classic Album Sunday and to Ken Scott for his enlightening insight into the making of Aladdin Sane. As a huge Bowie fan myself I loved the event and took so much out of it. I can’t wait for the next one.
David Campbell, Kronos AV Managing Director