Wednesday, October 15, 2003
DAVID BOWIE: SOUND + VISION 4 CD BOX SET IN STORES DECEMBER 2, 2003
Now into his fifth decade as a cutting-edge musician and artist, icon, entrepreneur, fashion guru, and all-round inspiration to several generations, David Bowie remains a unique phenomenon in contemporary culture.
Since the mid-60s, Bowie's work has won him a vast international audience, yet at the same time his continued thirst for innovation has allowed him to balance worldwide popularity with impeccable credentials as a first-grade pioneer right across the arts spectrum. Now he finally has, spanning four decades, covering the 21 albums from Space Oddity through to Buddha Of Surburbia', the retrospective he deserves.
This lavishly packaged, four-CD Sound + Vision box set provides a rich, expansive and unprecedented survey of David Bowie's many musical lives, offering a generous helping of hits and an intriguing dip into the archives, classic album tracks and long-lost B-sides, explosive in-concert recordings and hard-to-get soundtrack recordings and remixes.
With every track newly remastered using the latest technology, Sound + Vision offers a ringside seat to the making and sustaining - of a legend. We are there as he records the acoustic demo version of his first hit, 'Space Oddity', early in 1969, months before he'd made a name for himself. And we're there, too, in the 1990s as he revisits his Bromley childhood for the soundtrack to Hanif Kureishi's 'Buddha Of Suburbia'.
Between those times, Sound + Vision also documents Bowie's ever-onward work aesthetic. From Dylan-inspired folkie ('The Wild-Eyed Boy From Freecloud') to hard rocking hero to grunge legends Nirvana ('The Man Who Sold The World'), from Glam Rock superstar ('Ziggy Stardust') to white soul pioneer ('Young Americans'), electronica trailblazer ('Warszawa') to first New Romantic ('Ashes To Ashes'), dancefloor deity ('Modern Love') to high endurance 90s legend ('Jump They Say'), he's been there and back again, often before anyone else has.
And that's just for starters. This 70-track Sound + Vision collection is a vastly improved, enhanced and enlarged repackage of the original box, issued in limited quantities back in 1989 and now a collector's item. Feted on its release as probably the ultimate Bowie anthology, it's back only bigger, better and more competitively priced. Serving up a well-balanced mix of hits and obscurities, classics and curios, it's an artfully balanced and sumptuously packaged set that's as enigmatic as Bowie himself. A fitting tribute, then, to a man and a career that continues to captivate audiences old and new.
TRACK LISTING:
CD 1:
1/ Space Oddity (original demo 1969)
2/ The Wild-Eyed Boy From Freecloud (rare B-side version 1969)
3/ The Prettiest Star (single version 1970)
4/ London Bye Ta-Ta (stereo mix recorded 1970) previously unreleased stereo mix
5/ Black Country Rock (from The Man Who Sold The World)
6/ The Man Who Sold The World (from The Man Who Sold The World
7/ The Bewlay Brothers (from Hunky Dory)
8/ Changes (from Hunky Dory)
9/ Round And Round (alternate vocal take 1971) previously unreleased alternate vocal take
10/Moonage Daydream (from The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
11/John I'm Only Dancing (Aladdin Sane outtake 1973)
12/Drive-In Saturday (from Aladdin Sane)
13/Panic In Detroit (from Aladdin Sane)
14/Ziggy Stardust (live from Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture 1973)
15/White Light/White Heat (live from Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture 1973)
16/Rock 'n Roll Suicide (live from Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture 1973)
17/Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere (from Pinups 1973)
18/Sorrow (from Pinups 1973)
19/Don't Bring Me Down (from Pinups 1973)
CD 2:
1/ 1984/Dodo (recorded 1973)
2/ Big Brother (from Diamond Dogs 1974)
3/ Rebel Rebel (rare single version 1974)
4/ Suffragette City (from David Live 1974)
5/ Watch That Man (from David Live 1974)
6/ Cracked Actor (from David Live 1974)
7/ Young Americans (from Young Americans 1975)
8/ Fascination (from Young Americans 1975)
9/ After Today (Young Americans outtake 1975)
10/It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City (recorded 1975)
11/TVC15 (from Station To Station 1976)
12/Wild Is The Wind (from Station To Station 1976)
13/Sound And Vision (from Low 1977)
14/Be My Wife (from Low 1977)
15/Speed Of Life (from Low 1977)
16/"Helden" (German version of Heroes - 1989 remix)
17/Joe The Lion (from Heroes 1977)
18/Sons Of The Silent Age (from Heroes 1977)
CD 3:
1/ Station To Station (from Stage 1978)
2/ Warszawa (from Stage 1978)
3/ Breaking Glass (from Stage 1978)
4/ Red Sails (from Lodger 1979)
5/ Look Back In Anger (from Lodger 1979)
6/ Boys Keep Swinging (from Lodger 1979)
7/ Up The Hill Backwards (from Scary Monsters 1980)
8/ Kingdom Come (from Scary Monsters 1980)
9/ Ashes To Ashes (from Scary Monsters 1980)
10/Baal's Hymn (from Baal E.P.) previously unreleased on CD
11/Drowned Girl (from Baal E.P.) previously unreleased on CD
12/Cat People (Putting Out Fire) (soundtrack album version)
13/China Girl (from Let's Dance)
14/Ricochet (from Let's Dance)
15/Modern Love (Live) (B-side) previously unreleased on CD
16/Loving The Alien (from Tonight)
17/Dancing With The Big Boys (from Tonight)
CD 4:
1/ Blue Jean (from Tonight)
2/ Time Will Crawl (from Never Let Me Down)
3/ Baby Can Dance (from Tin Machine)
4/ Amazing (from Tin Machine)
5/ I Can't Read (from Tin Machine)
6/ Shopping For Girls (from Tin Machine II)
7/ Goodbye Mr. Ed (from Tin Machine II)
8/ Amlapura (from Tin Machine II)
9/ You've Been Around (from Black Tie White Noise)
10/Nite Flights (Moodswings Back To Basics Remix Radio Edit) previously unreleased radio edit
11/Pallas Athena (Gone Midnight Mix) previously unreleased Jack Dangers Remix
12/Jump They Say (from Black Tie White Noise)
13/Buddha Of Suburbia (from Buddha Of Suburbia)
14/Dead Against It (from Buddha Of Suburbia)
15/South Horizon (from Buddha Of Suburbia)
16/Pallas Athena (Live as Tao Jones Index)