S5 Ep11: Tim Palmer on Tin Machine (Part One)

What have U2, The Mighty Lemon Drops, Pearl Jam, Robert Plant, The Mission, The Polyphonic Spree, Gene Loves Jezebel oh and - David Bowie all in common? That's right - superproducer Tim Palmer has worked with them all, and countless others over the decades and is regarded as one of the most accomplished and renowned names in the biz. Following our Tin Machine 2 conversation earlier in the year, Leah Kardos and I thought it would be fun to talk to the man Bowie chose to co-produce his exciting new experiment back in summer 1988, all about his experiences working with the embryonic Machine. Tim was there, from the band's tentative first steps, through to their final sessions for Tin Machine 2. And in this episode, he spills the beans on what really went on behind the scenes in studios across the world from a huge empty casino in Switzerland to a beachside studio shared with Status Quo in Nassau to surveying Reeves's collection of sex toys in Sydney. A genial, knowledgeable and hands-on facilitator and enabler, listening today to Tim talking about his collaboration with Bowie, Gabrels & Saleses, it is obvious how his positive and constructive presence was a vital element in the complex Tin Machine dynamic. Fair to say, its thanks to his work behind the scenes that this disparate group of characters gelled their talents into two albums which despite being much maligned* still offer up plenty of riches for the Bowie fan to discover or rediscover. So, in this first of two parts, we meet Tim, as Tim meets Tin Machine and the whole unlikely, unwieldy, unexpectedly wonderful project lurches into life and Tim reflects on the unbelievable stash of Tin Machine tapes and DATs in his archives (none of which, to be clear, was used in the making of this episode). This recording was meant to have included my Tin Machine co-conspirator Leah Kardos but sadly on the day of recording, her internet connection went totally berserk - less Goodbye Mr Ed, more a live version of Sorry. Her presence is throughout, nevertheless, and I am very grateful to her, not least for the insightful questions that she came up with for Tim. Thanks of course to Tim for his time and generosity in speaking with me and for more info on his work and projects do check out his site here Thanks also to Leah for the intro and outro music for this episode *Maligned by people who have no taste, of course :)

You can listen to S5 Ep11: Tim Palmer on Tin Machine (Part One) online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

S5 Ep11: Tim Palmer on Tin Machine (Part One) is an episode from DAVIDBOWIE: ALBUMTOALBUM.

This episode is 43:26 long.

This episode was published on Sep 8, 2025.

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