Here's the first salvo from the new Bowie box set, Loving The
Alien, coming out in October. This is another of the 7" picture discs, a
series that has been following the 40th anniversary of original
singles, but this is something different. Instead, it's a "new" Bowie
single, as this features brand-new versions of two songs from the Never
Let Me Down (2018) album that is the highlight of the upcoming box.
What's
happened is that the entire 1987 album has been remade, using Bowie's
original vocals but adding mostly new instrumental parts. Bowie hated
the original album, and most of fans agreed, as it was made with drum
machines and synths and was a blatantly commercial effort. It's a little
hard to judge the final efforts, as picture discs don't have the best
fidelity, but listening to the new versions of Zeroes and the flip, Beat
Of Your Drum, these are more stripped-down, punchier tracks now. They
are quite radical remakes, a pretty rare move, but given Bowie's
oft-stated wish to redo the tracks, it feels okay. These still aren't
the best songs Bowie wrote, but it does bode well for the full album.
Me, I like these picture discs, as usual the photos are great, and as a
little bonus, these are edited versions of the new album mixes, so
there's collector interest as well.
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