It's pretty rare for me to spend $80 on a set of recordings. But when I saw the 5 CD David Bowie Conversation Piece on Amazon, I didn't even have to think about it, I hit that pre-order button. And venisoon after--two days, actually--it arrived on my doorstep. Thanks, Amazon. I know a lot of people I love hate you...but I still love you.
It was a busy three days wherein I literally could not put disc one in the cd player...and since the gummint has outlawed cd players in cars, that wasn't an option...so it wasn't until this morning that I was able to get my first taste.
And?
Well. Talk about yer songs of innocence. This (21 year old) David Bowie sings in that fragile, high range that is just unrelentingly poignant. And the songs...many of which I'd never heard of before, and I've spent the past 45 years running down every Bowie lead I could find...are equally delicate and personal and real. Just amazing stuff, really. The recording quality isn't always great, but that will only be a problem if you like your music air brushed. It is way better than listenable, and there are some songs which are stunningly clear.
And speaking of The Songs...check out the track listing for the first cd:
1. April's Tooth Of Gold (Home Demo)
2. The Reverend Raymond Brown (Attends the Garden Fête on Thatchwick Green) [Home Demo]
3. When I'm Five (Home Demo)
4. Mother Grey (Home Demo)
5. In The Heat Of The Morning (Home Demo)
6. Goodbye 3d (Threepenny) Joe [Home Demo]
7. Love All Around (Home Demo)
8. London Bye, Ta-Ta (Home Demo)
9. Angel, Angel, Grubby Face (Home Demo Version 1)
10. Angel, Angel, Grubby Face (Home Demo Version 2)
11. Animal Farm (Home Demo)
12. Space Oddity (Solo Home Demo Fragment) *
13. Space Oddity (Home Demo Version 1) **
14. Space Oddity (Home Demo Version 2) ***
15. Space Oddity (Home Demo Version 3) [2019 Remaster] ****
16. Lover To The Dawn (Home Demo) *****
17. Ching-a-Ling (Home Demo)
18. An Occasional Dream (Home Demo) [2019 Remaster]
19. Let Me Sleep Beside You (Home Demo)
20. Life Is A Circus (Home Demo)
21. Conversation Piece (Home Demo)
22. Jerusalem (Home Demo) ******
23. Hole In The Ground (Home Demo)
* The lyrics are a bit different on this take, and I would bet any amount of your money that this is the earliest version of the song, maybe even his first take.
** Lyrics still not in their final form, but this is closer to the demo version I've heard before...and which I am pretty sure appeared on the big RykoDisc collection Sound + Vision. (Man, I miss Rykodisc.)
*** Speaking of which, I was sure that this would be the aforementioned Rykodisc version...but nope, it's yet another one. (I have more versions of this song than I can count on all my fingers and most of my toes.) Part of the lead vocal on this one is sung by Bowie's partner John 'Hutch' Hutchinson...and the lyrics are STILL different...e.f.:"Can I please get back inside now if I may? / For here am I sitting in a tin can far above the world."
**** Um...I don't think this is the Rykodisc version, either. How many different versions of this song ARE there, FFS?
***** This seems to be an early version of "Cygnet Committee"--but it goes off into a different direction. Also, lead vocal is by J"H"H with Bowie doing the high harmonies.
****** I think the Dylan was starting to settle into Bowie's belly at this point--his vocal's got a little snide stink on it. Not that there's anything wrong with that. The vocals are kind of Dylan-y, too.
So...the blue highlighted song is the only one I've heard before in this version...and I've only heard it on The You Tub. Although it was previously released--as were some of the other songs here--on a recent collection entitled Spying Through a Keyhole which I didn't buy as it was vinyl only and kind of pricey. Hmm? Of COURSE I regret it...but it's all better now, ennit?
The underlined ones are the songs I've heard before but not these versions...and some of them were radically different from the versions I'd heard previously.
And just to put a stone on it, of the 23 songs on the first cd, there were 10 songs I've never heard before (two versions of one, so there are eleven yellow backed titles), 22 recordings I'd never heard before, and 23 songs that I didn't own.
And there are FOUR MORE DISCS in this set. Oh my my.
To Be Continued....
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