My favourites are Memphis, Red Sky** and (the fabulously titled) My Friend is a Stooge For the Media Priests. ** "MARS! ..HAS NO WOMEN!" Classic David Thomas. Er, am off topic. Er...ground control to Major Tom, there we go
It would be the petition of the century in the entertainment industry: Parlophone, we demand you promise us NOT to release any previously released David Bowie material - yes Tin Machine included - for the duration of the contract.
I do really admire his 'I am too comfortable in this room so lets jump out of the window and see what happens' attitude.
I think we went 'off program' a while ago. But hey, we have brought this thread back to music. I have not read many complaints in the last couple of pages
What if they did a total UTurn and came out with the Ernie Johnson tapes or TMWFTE demo ost. Unlikely I know, but they might want to do something to get back on good terms with Bowie buyers. They'd probably still mess it up a bit like they did with the BowPromo. You'd have to though.
We'll see. It would have to be something very special, but I can't foresee it. Sometimes you have to draw the line when you really loathe something, even if in some ways you miss out. Not a popular or particularly recommendable position, but it's mine re this lot, as it has been on previous occasions in different contexts. Wooo, deep, man :-/
It's pretty easy to jump out of buying these releases when the next one is so...... well, let me be honest, so underwhelming - and I don't even know what's going to be in it! Just the thought of paying good money for Let's Dance, Tonight, and Never Let Me Down, is enough to cause me to reconsider. Even in the highly unlikely event they put out "audiophile" level releases, the music just doesn't resonate with me. At best I'm going to get half a decent box. And yes, I'll be buying it.
I think the original Bowie Eno "era" is so iconic nowadays, especially Low and "Heroes", despite my love for Lodger too!, that any company would understandably maximise their sales by issuing them separately as part of giant sets, but I guess we'll see.
This below is the era (1995-2003) whoever company will have the hardest time selling IMO, because it's already been done to a large extent by Sony. This 10CD thing is out of print now but it was knocking around for years, and very cheaply instores and online to presumably get rid of stock for quite some time before db died, then of course they all disappeared. I'd imagine a lot of deep Bowie fans, of which there's vast amounts in Europe, have this set. But maybe they'd buy another one anyway. David Bowie (box set) - Wikipedia
Absolutely agree on the CD version, but the vinyl version was completely different and a total miss. The CD version was a flat transfer (I believe) and sounds stunning, but the vinyl versions were done by Robert Ludwig and cut at Abbey Road. More over compression/limiting and just bad EQ ( big, undefined, boomy bass again). Another frustrating missed opportunity.
That vinyl description sounds like the first bunch of Roxy CD reissues/remasters, 1999 was it? They were boomy and weird, I got rid of them all eventually. Maybe they adapted those horrid 1999 files onto vinyl? Shame as you could tell with those 1999s that they used good sources before arsing about with processing. Same as the Bowie 1999s. I listened to Lodger 1999 today on headphones, for the first time in eons. It's trebly as hell, but even after the NR they did, the clarity often is marvellous. It's actually, astonishingly, IMO the best Lodger CD after the old German RCA. I don't use EQ for CDs but the 1999 Lodger with tamed treble on an amp or whatever is I feel certain gonna be better than a Ryko Lodger with some bass added, which I've tried just out of curiosity after reading about people doing that to their Rykos. It was a big improvement, but it still has that kind of indefinable haze that most or all the Rykos have. So that's my advice FWIW for anyone who is as pissed off with Lodger original mix 2017 CD as much as me, but unlike some of us doesn't have or have access to the old RCA. Get a 1999 for some cents or pennies and turn your treble down
On second thoughts, that hype sticker would be underselling it. Lodger: 2017 Flutter, Flicker and Chop Edition. Scary Monsters: 2017 Good But Not Really Good Enough Edition.
So far each box has contained at least one remixed or alternate version of a core album. I'm wondering what album would be a candidate for this treatment in box 4. Any guesses?
That is an interesting question. Some of that was discussed in the new box set thread 2018's David Bowie box set 4: Dancing With The Big Boys?
Hopefully all of Tonight except a couple of tracks, will be remixed by the ghost of Marcel Marceau. Seriously though, Bowie already re-did Time Will Crawl in 2008 so I suspect Never Let Me Down is gonna have something done to it. It has IMO potential, whereas Tonight is a virtual write-off, the only actual disgrace in his discography for me, and Let's Dance is what it is... hollow, with some really brilliant pop music alongside some harmless filler banality. Both of those best just left alone to be what they are.
“Strangers When We Meet” is astonishingly good, and for me his best until some of the songs on Heathen. I first heard it on Buddha of Suburbia in late 2012 (I came late to Bowie’s post-Scary Monsters work.)
I can't play it on Outside. It's great, but it's so much a part of Buddha for me. I absolutely adore the Buddha album, it's so special to me for various reasons, some too personal to share, but even apart from those, I think it's a terrific piece of work.