Bowie Album-By-Album Thread- Second Run

You mean Stage? That was a 78 concert, right?

Tim

 

Yeah sorry, I meant Stage.

 

Looks like it was Christchurch, although the hair looks shorter:




…or Aukland:

 

In store 3D display is for sale at Rock Explosion, just GBP 385

 

Agreed. While I don't prefer the style of David Live for the most part, the performance and sound are great. Compared to Stage, the band is very much in the groove. The Ryko lps are surprisingly great. I just bought an original US RCA pressing to compare. On a truly great system, there is more of a stage on Live than Stage. Perhaps the only Ryko Bowie vinyl that I can say is superb. Not the cd's.

The performance on Stage is just dull in comparison. I've read that the band was not in their best form, and it shows.

 

Looks like the next record is another hits collection, this time from K-tel of all places:



The Best Of Bowie (1980)

Interesting tracklist:

Side one
"Space Oddity" – 5:07
"Life on Mars?" (K-tel edit) – 3:34
"Starman" – 4:07
"Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" – 2:56
"John, I'm Only Dancing" (Sax version) – 2:37
"The Jean Genie" – 4:03
"Breaking Glass" (Live from Stage) (Bowie, Dennis Davis, George Murray) – 3:27
"Sorrow" (Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein, Richard Gottehrer) – 2:51

Side two
"Diamond Dogs" (K-tel edit) – 4:36
"Young Americans" – 5:05
"Fame" (Edit) (Bowie, John Lennon, Carlos Alomar) – 3:25
"Golden Years" (Edit) – 3:20
"TVC 15" (Edit) – 3:28
"Sound and Vision" – 3:00
""Heroes"" (Edit) (Bowie, Brian Eno) – 3:26
"Boys Keep Swinging" (Bowie, Eno) – 3:15

How did this come into being, on K-tel of all labels? I'm assuming there's an interesting story here.

The record itself did quite well, getting to #3 on the UK album charts.

 

I have never owned a Bowie hits compilation, so I can't say much other than they all include some good songs! Way too many edits here, though.
This one has the live "Breaking Glass", which is a surprise.

 

Yeah, the live "Breaking Glass" seems like an odd inclusion, especially since it wasn't even close to being a hit anywhere, was it?

 

Stage came out in the middle of the tour. When I saw him at the MCG the album was already out.

 

Stage was already in the shops when those concerts happened.

 

Has to be his most iconic album comp cover.

 

Ah, by jove your right Holmes! So the search is on again for the source of the cover shot!

 

Good questions, I don't recall much more than being surprised at the time, especially with the label's reputation. Artwork was so different too. Have a copy somewhere, probably never played. The inclusion of Breaking Glass live isn't strange since that had been released as a three track single in some European countries (remember Stage doing better here than in the US ? ).
Why K-tel ... who can tell ?

 

It was just a spin-off of the "Fashion" single sleeve:

 

some further info on the Best of Bowie K-Tel album...
there are a number of variations available, with regional differences.
with one notable exception (France), the running order remains the same but there are different versions of a few songs:

• Starman (loud mix and quiet mix)
• JIOD (original and sax versions)
• Breaking Glass (live and studio versions)

the very first French edition swapped Breaking Glass for Drive-In Saturday, which was listed on the cover.
unintentionally, however, Young Americans was omitted and replaced by Beauty And The Beast and Breaking Glass (!)
corrected versions initially came with a sticker over Drive-In Saturday, before a reprinted cover was introduced. others came in a UK sleeve.
(NB: initial UK sleeves also listed Drive-In Saturday which were similarly over-stickered).

while the "UK" version uses authentic single edits of some tracks, it also contains two "K-Tel edits".

• Life On Mars? (3'36" edit, an early fade before the piano coda)
• Diamond Dogs (4'37" edit. the version on EMI's Diamond Dogs deluxe edtion CD is NOT accurate, with the edit point in the wrong place)

here is a list of known edits found on other editions.

• Diamond Dogs (4'25" edit, faded album version - Australia/NZ)
• Diamond Dogs (3'03" edit, faded album version - Italy)
• Diamond Dogs (4'25" edit - Spain)
  
• Young Americans (4'02" edit, faded album version - Australia/NZ)
• Fame (3'16" edit, faded album version - Spain)
  
• Golden Years (3'42" edit, faded album version - Australia/NZ)
• Golden Years (3'09" edit, faded album version - Spain)
  
• TVC15 (4'02" edit - Australia/NZ)
• TVC15 (3'36" edit, faded album version - Italy)
  
• "Heroes" (5'18" edit, faded album version - Australia/NZ)

the Australian edit of TVC15 is brutal, chopping out the first dozen lines of lyrics.

there may be other edits yet to be identified, the album was issued in 16 countries.

the appearance of the loud mix of Starman heard on some editions of this album suggest the "lost" master tape for that mix may have last been handled by whoever cut this.

despite the lengthy sides, sound quality is very good.

one final piece of trivia, it was counterfeited in Australia alongside the legitimate release. the sleeve claims it is a New Zealand issue, the print and sound quality is poor and the channels have been flipped.

 

Holy cow - you should update the Wikipedia article! That's great info!

 

I guess this is the next one...


CHANGESTWOBOWIE (1981)

I don't recall seeing this record much when I was a kid, to the point where when it did crop up I wondered if it was a bootleg or something. Kind of an odd collection of minor hits, non-singles with a few tracks that had seen genuine chart action (at least in the UK). Most of these tracks wouldn't make it onto the subsequent Changesbowie CD a decade or so down the road (it really should have been a double CD, but we'll get to that later I suppose).

Side one
"Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?)" (from Aladdin Sane, 1973) – 5:08
"Oh! You Pretty Things" (from Hunky Dory, 1971) – 3:13
"Starman" (from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, 1972) – 4:13
"1984" (from Diamond Dogs, 1974) – 3:25
"Ashes to Ashes" (Single edit) (from Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), 1980) – 3:39

Side two
"Sound and Vision" (from Low, 1977) – 3:03
"Fashion" (Single edit) (from Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)) – 3:24
"Wild Is the Wind" (from Station to Station, 1976) – 5:59
"John, I’m Only Dancing (Again)" (from the non-album single of the same name, 1979) – 6:59
"DJ" (Single edit) (from Lodger, 1979) – 3:23

A chart dud, it didn't make it into the Top 40 in the US, or the Top 20 in the UK. I wonder if the chart performance of this record could have been part of what prompted Bowie's far more commercial turn on Let's Dance?

Oh, and I think that cover is awful.

 

Changesonebowie is probably his best cover or close to it, where as, Changestwobowie's cover is quite the opposite! Sorry not a comment on the album itself but that maybe part of the reason it was ignored in shops? IMO I think if they had used the Rare cover it may well have sold many more copies.

In reality Bowie had left (or was leaving) RCA and they wanted to milk the cow as much as they could. Personally I quite liked this album. It's a shame how 1984 seemed to be considered a major track in the early eighties but has been ignored since and it's strange it didn't include "Heroes".

 

Dreadful cover (he looks like Zaphod Beeblebrox), but surprisingly good compilation. I've often wondered if Bowie had a hand in sequencing this, as he did with Changesonebowie - I can't see the record label choosing to open with Aladdin Sane. He's on record as disliking the subsequent RCA compilations, but I've never heard of him criticising this one.

Wonder if this was produced with the UK market in mind, finally correcting the omission of Starman from the first album!

I have the RCA JP-for-EUR CD, which I got for £10 off a bulk seller, and I spin it quite often. Good tracklisting, the only vintage RCA digital cut of JIODA, and the single mixes are interesting and pretty skillfully done.

 

Always liked Rare. Interesting if flawed selection. Very early Bowie comp for me. it was an album released without Bowie's permission as I recall.

 

Probably "Heroes" was already sold out in shops from that first cd run .
Yes the cover was awful, maybe a one-off. Anyone ever see a contact sheet or alternative shots from that session ? Studio filled with smoke within minutes, no doubt. That Rare cover was a far better one.

 

Another comp I never owned. You can keep your single edits.
I may be the only one who doesn't mind the cover photo.
The Rare cover photo is far worse. I call it "smilin' and scratchin'".

 

I too prefer the Changestwo cover to the Rare album. I didn't get the latter because I already had (all or nearly all) the tracks on the singles, etc.

 

You might be right about the cover. I always think these single compilations should have the edits. That's what the casual fan heard on the radio and the serious fan already has the the album versions so it seems to make sense to use the edits!

 

I understand why the edits are there. And if that's what the casual fan wants, as I said...they can keep them.
In no way am I criticizing anyone who purchases a comp of single edits. Just stating my own preferences.
In the words of Lou Reed: "You can KEEP IT! Just KEEP IT!"