while i'm a huge fan of Baal, i don't think it will be held over as it's never built much of a reputation (i.e. it's never been viewed as a sought after or costly item). it will also sit uncomfortably with what came after. Let's Dance thru Tin Machine is a tough sell but they have the Serious Moonlight and Glass Spider live sets to pad that out, along with OOP and pricey albums like Oy Vey Baby to entice. mine too if not for the inference from MadamAdam that it's a two word title.
Having seen Who Can I Be Now? there's no way the next box will have SM&SC on it. WCIBN? Has only 3 studio albums in it, so there's precident for building a box around that few records. Stage and the remixed Stage will take up 5 records, shouldn't be too hard to fill it out from there. Isn't all of Bowie's catalogue under on roof now? So the 2018 box that starts with SM&SC could go through to Tonight.
Why would they keep back Scary Monsters? All four albums (Low to SM) were produced by Tony Visconti, had Carlos Alomar, George Murray and Dennis Davis as the core rhythm section. The BS of the "Berlin Trilogy" needs to be dispelled, with Low recorded mainly in France and Lodger recorded in Switzerland. SM was recorded in Switzerland and NYC.
Exactly how I was thinking. Scary Monsters would need to be included with the weaker --but more popular--Let's Dance, as well as the lamer follow-ups to that album, to make a stronger box, while "The Berlin Trilogy" has enough cache and mystique to stand on it's own. But what do I know? I thought Diamond Dogs belonged on the Five Years box, not Who Can I Be Now?
That will have to be on there, even though it's just a basic cut and paste extension. I have it on 12", and Beauty & the Beast is one of my favourite Bowie tracks but even I think the extended version is a bit crap. I think that SM and LD despite being polar opposites in terms of artistic achievement have a lot in common, in that they both propelled Bowie to the No 1 spot and made him a mega-being. They could fit on the same box thematically for that reason. It could be called "Criminal World, God Only Knows, WTF Happened?".
Move On would be the appropriate title for the box set. Sure a Low and Lodger remix would be nice, but not enough to get the box. Find it very hard to be patiently waiting for something new, unreleased or multichannel, without even knowing if one will live to witness that.
No Peter and the Wolf? The Scary Monsters debate depends if the 80's box can be made interesting enough. I have the 70's vinyl and the Stage/Live DVDAs, so it will be the third vinyl box I skip. I still look forward to the Lodger box with 14 outtakes and the 10 or so outtakes from Low/Heroes - even if it's them mucking about in the studio than "songs".
We're gonna be waiting sooooooo long. I've been putting out the fire with gasoline Putting out fire With gasoline.
They were released after the fact. Everything on the Re:call sets so far has been a mop-up of stray tracks released during the timespan covered by the box. That Bowie blog also suggests Abdulmajid is possibly a ringer, or at the very least worked up in the late 80s from a bare bones Berlin-era recording. Lest we forget, Iman's maiden name is Abdulmajid…
The "format" are songs he intended to release in era they were recorded. Plus I wondered if several of the Berlin Trilogy Ryko bonus tracks had modern fiddling in 1992.
It all depends - Sweet Head wasn't included on the first box but Velvet Goldmine was, and neither Alternative Candidate nor After Today was on the second box. Velvet Goldmine wasn't approved for release the first time so I don't really get it. It's a bloody mess. Now he's dead and gone it could be different (crosses fingers).
Changing terms of reference halfway through. When the first box was released they said they were only collecting material released at the time on albums and singles. They then realised they needed more material for the second box so recreated an unreleased album with unique unreleased mixes/versions, which completely flew in the face of their previous criteria. So who knows what will be on the next one. They are making it up as they go along.
I'm firmly in the camp that believes Scary Monsters absolutely belongs in a box with the "Berlin Trilogy." The music has much more in common stylistically with the more pop/rock-oriented tracks on the "Berlin" albums (it's like a culmination/continuation) than Let's Dance or any of Bowie's subsequent 80s output. Plus, it's the final RCA album, bringing a nice close to a broader era. To me Scary Monsters should definitely be seen as part of a particular path that begins with Low. (Of course, I've never been a fan of this notion of a "Berlin Trilogy," given that only one of these three albums was recorded primarily in Berlin, and Lodger, IIRC, was recorded in Switzerland and New York. I guess it was Bowie himself who referred to these albums as a trilogy, but it just doesn't make that much sense to me. It would really be more accurate to call it the "Eno Trilogy," since Eno was involved with all three [a bit less so on Lodger], and refer to Low and 'Heroes' as a "Berlin Duo" [even though most of Low was actually recorded in France!], since those two albums are structured so similarly, like sister albums. But speaking more broadly, Scary Monsters fits much better with the preceding three albums than anything that came after it.)
'Velvet Goldmine' was released as a B-side to 'Space Oddity' (I believe) in 1975, so it makes sense that it's a bonus track, even if it's on Five Years since it lines up more with the era. I don't believe 'Sweet Head', 'Candidate', or 'After Today' were released as B-sides.
Maybe the 'Eno Trilogy' would be a better term to use. But I agree that Scary Monsters should be included.
True - but only without Bowie's authorisation - and in 1975 - 3 years after Ziggy. By that logic, all the Ryko bonus tracks should have been included and at least DB gave the nod to those. Anyway, the Gouster LP has thrown everything up in the air with the release of the bootleg early versions. It's not a trilogy anyway. Why do we have to call it anything - because of "Zeit!" or because two of them have one side that's mainly instrumental. You could call it "The Euro Trilogy" but it doesn't sound as good!
Well - I don't know - did they REALLY change their MO? Its not like there was an completed, unreleased album that should have been on the first box that wasnt. That would have been clear evidence that they changed their MO. If there's any future completed, unreleased albums excluded from future boxes that would be much clearer evidence that they are changing/making it up as they go along. So if (for example) the Bowie Dance Mix album is excluded from the 80s box, then that would be evidence in your favor. Until/unless that happens then you are only speculating/assuming/guessing that they are actually CHANGING their MO with each box.
Actually, no that logic doesn't hold. 1 - Velvet Goldmine was included in its vintage single mix while IIRC the Ryko versions was a newer mix ...but even if I'm misremembering on that point... 2 - a very large number of the Ryko debut rarities were new mixes (and some cases new recordings [Look Back In Anger] - or at least some new overdubbing [some of the Berlin era outtakes]) 3 - The Gouster isnt "bootleg early versions" - its a finished album that very nearly saw release at the time but was reworked due in part to Lennon's late involvement
