Wow, if you thought the plethora of Bowie box sets, hits packages
and live albums from the past couple of years was over the top, it turns
out they were just getting started. Announcements of new collections
are coming every few weeks, some releases arriving at a rate of two or
three a month. If you're a fan, it's fantastic, unless of course you
have something else to do with your disposable income. This Bowie
collecting is getting expensive.
April and May
bring us three new offerings, all 7-inch, 45 RPM sets, but even they are
pricey. It is exciting and new-to-you however, hard to resist. Two of
the collections are demos from the early years of his career, centered
around Space Oddity and the 50th anniversary of his first hit. These are
packaged in deluxe boxes, one with four 45's, the other with three, and
will run you around fifty bucks a piece.
The
first is called Spying Through A Keyhole, at set of 9 demos from the
1968 era. Bowie had been a recording artist since the mid-60's, first as
an R'n'B singer, then more folk-styled material, crossed with a
fascination for the theatrical singer Anthony Newley. He had recorded
several singles and a failed album already, and was still desperately
searching for the right formula of hype and talent. He'd try mime,
acting, form an arts lab, all in search of broader recognition, and was
relentless in that pursuit. Luckily, he wrote lots too, and recorded
this batch at home as acoustic demos to send to record companies and
publishers.
The first known Space Oddity
is here, in two versions. The first is just Bowie, the song
recognizable, the words a bit different ("Ground control to Major Tom,
you're off your course, direction's wrong") but pretty much already
sounding great. The other is with his musical partner John Hutchinson,
who featured in duos and bands with Bowie at that time. This version is a
little closer to the final version, with Hutch backing vocals and some
of the drama added.
Bowie's late 60's songs
were often a little wacky and produced as novelties, so it's great to
hear them without that theatricality. London Bye, Ta-Ta is a lively but
campy tune in its released version of that time, but the demo heard here
is actually better, not so fast and fancy, more of a singer-songwriter
version and shows he was becoming a strong writer. Other songs making
their first-ever appearance here include Mother Grey and Love Is All
Around, both excellent songs that surprisingly weren't developed
further. Since these are home demos, the fidelity isn't that great, but
its not bad either, easy enough to listen to and appreciate.
The
second set is called Clareville Grove Demos, named for the London area
where Bowie had a flat in January of 1969, and recorded these six
tracks. All of them feature Hutchinson on vocals and guitar, and are a
bit more polished than the other demo set because of his presence. Bowie
was also getting closer to his breakthrough as well, and we get another
version of Space Oddity here with the lyrics now set, and Bowie using
his weird Stylophone to create the familiar sound effects.
There are other known songs here. An Occasional Dream would feature on his first RCA album later that year, David Bowie (a/k/a
Space Oddity), while the demo here known as Lover To The Dawn would
evolve into Cygnet Committee for that record as well. Ching-a-Ling had
been recorded in 1968 and has been featured on various Bowie collections
over the years, but here he and Hutch do a loose version the way they
performed it live. Let Me Sleep Beside You has had a famous run in
Bowie's long career, written in 1967 and even recorded later and
released in 2014 in a best-of. These are high-quality songs, obviously
Bowie's current favourites and best hopes for stardom. He wasn't wrong.
Finally,
another of the ongoing picture disc 45's marking the 40th anniversary
of the release of each of his singles has arrived. This one is for
1979's Boys Keep Swinging, and features a different mix of the track,
one done in 2017 by producer Tony Visconti. As usual the b-side is a
rare cut, and this time it's I Pray, Ole, a hard-to-find cut that came
out as a bonus track on a now out-of-print reissue of the Lodger album.
It's actually a really good cut, so good news for those who have been
searching.
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