The Enigma of David Bowie's Rykodisc "Tech Unit"

I love my Ryko Bowie compact discs. But, since I didn't switch to CD until 1994, I missed the boat on the "Tech Unit". I recall seeing it in the store at the time, but it was rather expensive. I bought the cassette tapes instead. They were nice. Very uniform in appearance. And almost all new music for me. Back when the reissue campaign first started, the only Bowie I had in my collection was a Diamond Dogs LP and an ancient RCA "Heroes" cassette tape (another treasure found in the Woolworth's $3.99 tape rack). Oh, and Tin Machine, which I got for my 13th birthday. I saw Bowie on his Sound and Vision tour the following year.

Anyway, it was winter of 1995 I think when I finally got around to purchasing all the Ryko Bowie discs in a systematic order. It was many more years after that when I remembered the mysterious "Tech Unit" and sought one out. I ended up getting one from eBay for $30.



Once I got it, I wasn't sure what to do with it. When I saw it in the store sealed, it was hard to see it's innards due to a cardboard obstruction. Here's a picture of a sealed one I found online:



"High-tech shelf unit"?

I expected some sort of slots or something to hold the CDs. Nothing doing. This is merely a piece of molded steel. The disc scrape against it when I take them out and I clench my teeth as if someone had scratched their nails down a chalkboard.

Then there's the matter of what was meant to go in it. When I fill it only with Bowie's catalog from Space Oddity to ChangesBowie, the CDs tend to slump. Observe:



I added in my Fame '90 Cd single. Still rather roomy.



Finally, I wedged my Live in Santa Monica CD in there, just to hold the CDs in place.



Was there something else that was meant to go in this thing? I considered the Bowie Singles set, also by Ryko, but an additional fatboy would not fit. I guess it was meant to be roomy. But you'd think something called the "tech unit" would be rather mobile and fully operational, kinda like the Death Star. It sounds like something you could wear on your belt, dispensing your Bowie CDs at the drop of a hat. Maybe even warding off muggers. Instead, it's a 10 pound eye-sore that is slowly grinding your unreplaceable Rykodisc jewelcases down to nothing.

But I love my Tech Unit and have it on top of the bookshelf for all to see!

 

Nice post!
I suspect some ribbon-steel consignment was going cheap.

 

Funny, I never heard anything about this, and I bought all the Bowie Rykos when they came out.

 

I've got this. Couldn't agree more. Teeth clenching indeed. I filled it out with the '69-'74 comp.

 

It does look cool, if that's any consolation!

Sound & Vision was my first Bowie tour as well. That was a fun "hits" show, although Adrian Belew's searing guitar work gave it a razor sharp edge.

 

Hahah. Marvellous!
I had never heard of this object until seeing this thread.
Perhaps the missing disc is the Bowie/Eno Sampler

 

Say, maybe you're right! I didn't know about that one. I went straight to Amazon and bought one from a dealer for $4. Perhaps now my Tech Unit will truly be complete!

Hmm, but now I see there's also the "High-Tech soul" sampler and the "Sound + Vision" sampler too....Well, at least things will look more uniform with another Ryko in the mix as opposed to the black sheep (Santa Monica). And the tracklisting from the Eno sampler looks like something I'd enjoy playing.

 

Oh man, my roommate in college bought one of these things and I remember us all teasing him MERCILESSLY when he brought it home!

 

Why?

 

David Live and Stage will easily fit in hinged-tray two-disc cases, if you don't mind sacrificing the superfluous fatboy front liner. That should give you enough space for the Bowie Singles set (which requires a fatboy, due to the thickness of the enclosed booklet).

- M.

 

Well, he only owned like two other Bowie titles and so the whole thing just looked kind of pathetic there, with only five or six CDs in it.

Plus, it's a bit of a "white elephant" ain't it?

 

Hmm. What can I say? I want this elephant.

 

I don't have one of those, but I certainly remember it when it was released.

Rykodisc and Frank Zappa released a similarly fashioned purple wooden box with the release of YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON STAGE ANYMORE Volume 6 before Zappa's death in 1993. I've got one. It has rounded metal corners but is otherwise all purple wood construction and was designed to hold all six volumes of the original fatboy cases of the original YCDTOA 2-CD sets. It's a rarity for sure.

Anyone else got one of these beauties?

 

I've got one, thought was kind of cheaply done, one of the metal corners has dropped off & as if that weren't enough, when the Zappa catalogue was reissued in '95 I offloaded all the originals, so I now have an empty box.
How could I be such a fool?

 

I got one - waste of money, honestly. But I'd have purchased a Bowie Polished Turd back then!

 

Oy vey baby!

 

This is what I did. I placed all the studio albums, both live albums, and the singles collection in it and they fit quite nicely.

 

Yep
Got the fatboy YCDTOSAs all sitting right in there. Was a bit of a bummer for those who bought vol. 2 as the 3LP set.

 

Me wanty.

 

Perhaps the discs from the original Sound + Vision box set? 3 regular size jewel cases and one slimline?

 

I just threw mine away because I don't have the space anymore. I should have thought of selling it.

 

I remember seeing this around but by the time I did I already had all the Bowie Rykos. I'm wondering if you're supposed to have the deluxe Ziggy Stardust Ryko set instead of the regular jewel case. Maybe that's how they fit in better.

 

If I remember correctly BMG record club offered this for awhile.I passed on it.Looks like I made the right move.

 

The Bowie Tech unit was designed as a highly mobile, highly durable, musical library you could carry with you in periods of high speed, high intensity travel. It was to be part of a traveling unit consisting of music, metal case, and portable stereo. It was considered essential equipment if you had to underground in a hurry. It is rumored Bowie carried a unit similar to this during his Station To Station period. The tech unit itself could withstand the shock of a high powered explosion, protecting your music if needed.