MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: DAVID BOWIE - SPYING THROUGH A KEYHOLE, CLAREVILLE GROVE DEMOS

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.

There's lots of complaining about these sets, focused on the price tag, questioning why they weren't offered simply as a CD/download at a reasonable price. The criticism is fair, although I do admire the 45 packaging. It must be working though; there's another whole set of demos, 10 more from later in '69, again with Hutch, coming on an album in late June. You can either jump for joy, or shake your head.