Reviews:

'The Complete David Bowie' book examines every track Bowie ever recorded in alphabetical order, a cut-up technique similar to Bowie's own, before launching on more in-depth (and chronological) examinations of the albums. The pitch is exactly right: it's not too musicianly, not too fannish, and entertains the wild speculations of biographers as possibilities rather than history. Also, Pegg seems to have paid attention to every Bowie resource and taken the best from all of them, leading to an overview that carefully wanders round its subject to see it from all angles.

Marks 8/10 ...A valiant attempt at referencing all of David Bowie's output to date via an A to Z song reference guide, albums, singles, concerts, films, the internet and more. I like Pegg's writing style very much, giving the book a nice flowing feel to it, (although the line column width makes it slightly difficult to read). As a long standing db anorak fan there wasn't much in here that I didn't already know, but it is a handy reference guide nontheless all compacted into one handy sized publication. Most of the information contained within has been taken directly from other books and web sites. The tour performances section have been cut and pasted directly from LW without even a proper acknowledgement to the original source or researcher. There are also direct lifts from Bassman's and also TW. There are errors made in book, in fact quite a few. Along with some glaring omissions, one for example would be no mention anywhere of the US TV series 'Dream On'. I think if Nicholas had of corresponded with some of the longer standing and more knowledgeable Bowie fans from around the globe, this book could have been even better. Maybe if there is to be a second edition published some of the errors can be put right. My main gripe is with the actual book title. I'm afraid that naming anything 'Complete', 'Definitive' or 'Concise' is that it never is, or ever can be justified. There's only ONE person who could justifiably claim that for a title.

...Hard to dispute this book's billing as "The Most Comprehensive Bowie Book Ever Published!" Although the author drew from existing sources without conducting any original research, his encyclopedic knowledge of the subject more than makes up for it. David's music is analyzed from two perspectives: song by song (from A to Z) and album by album (in chronological order). And the entries are far from superficial: they scrutinize each topic exhaustively. Bowie's other works (movies, videos, etc.) are also covered. With 446 pages full of text in small print (no pictures).

'The Complete David Bowie' is published by Reynolds & Hearn Ltd October 2000 priced £17.95. If you prefer not to enter this free competition you can still purchase a copy of 'The Complete David Bowie' at the SPECIAL 20% DISCOUNT PRICE of £14.36 - Purchase here.