That artwork is one ugly Mutter, or maybe in this case : eight (seven 10" + one 12" BA) - with an optional #9 in March, not counting the cds and cassette
Huge thanks for this, @Bink Still trying to decide if I should go for the Toy:Box or not. Currently £27 on amazon. Has it been higher or lower than this? I forget what the pre-order figure was. EG.
When the pre-order links appeared I think the price was around £24.99 IIRC. It is quite pricey for 3 cds and maybe it will come down in price. Personally, I am very selective with what posthumous Bowie releases I get. For example, I haven't bought any of the era boxsets and only bought one of the Brilliant Live Adventure cds, but I was happy to buy this.
Yeah, 24.99 rings a bell. I might wait and see if there's a price drop. I have the Toy in the BA boxset for now. EG.
Except for the 2 tracks, ‘Slip Away’ and ‘Afraid’, ‘Heathen’ has zero to do with TOY. ‘Slip Away’ was re-recorded from scratch. ‘Afraid’ was using the original track as basic, but then mixed more like the other tracks on ‘Heathen’. Anyway, those 2 tracks was recorded during the end of the TOY sessions and evidence points towards that the tracks wasn’t going to be part of the album anyway.
Yeah I agree my point was he decided to scrap Toy in favour of working on Heathen and I prefer it that way.
But he did of course complete the recording of Toy and he did talk about releasing the album as late as 2003. So it wasn't as if the release of Heathen meant that Toy was completely abandoned.
Yes it will. The Brilliant Adventure press release stated that only the BBC concert and the Re:Call sets were ‘exclusive’. People have then speculated that the ‘mainstream’ release outside Brilliant Adventure is the TOY:BOX, but as with all other Bowie releases from the last 5-6 years, the estate has mentioned every time something ‘might’ get released later on. For example the 1969 demos boxes. Every press release said something to the effect of ‘the recordings may be released as part of another release later’. People didn’t read it properly, ran out and bought the boxes, only to find they where released as part of the ‘Conversation Piece’ boxed set later on… To answer the question: The Brilliant Adventure press release doesn’t mark the ‘main album’ of TOY as an exclusive. I have no doubt it will be released in about 6 months, together with the main albums from that box. I think it’s totally Bowie! Grimm, horrific, outrageous. This cover is by the man who gave us cover art such as ‘Lodger’ and ‘The Next Day’. Bowie knew how to stand out from all others!
Tony Visconti mixed many of the tracks, probably during the Heathen sessions for use as b-sides. It’s those appearing on disc 2 of the TOY:BOX.
I agree. I know a lot of people hate the cover. I have even seen the word 'ugly' used to describe it. But is there a rule that album covers, or indeed any visual art, should be beautiful? Bowie was interesting in playing with ideas and this is very much in keeping with that aesthetic.
Yes indeed, got all those, that also suggests many of those recorded in 2000 weren’t finished at the time.
Two of them would go on Heathen. Some more would be B sides and bonus tracks. A few would just leak out here and there. Some would just slip away……..
Be my guest, but you are asking for annotations. The Youtube versions are work-in-progress and not finished by any means. Low streaming quality too. It’s even more sporadic than what you are getting in the TOY:BOX. And Youtube has zero annotation to anything. I’m not quite sure what you want, but to me it seems you want liner-notes and recording information. Then you say you will listen to the Youtube version which doesn’t have that either and is unfinished. The TOY:BOX has at least nearly every single version of those recordings together, finished and mixed. Then the 2000/01 period mixes/versions as well as bonus. It doesn’t get more real than this.
They are all on the disc 2 of the new box set now. With the exception of the ‘alternate ending’ of ‘Silly Boy Blue’ which is only a streaming b-side (don’t know if it’s a Visconti mix or a new Mark Plati mix, but it is, as far as I know, a proposed 2000 version/mix).
I like the use of green in the cover and in all the interior sleeves and photos and lining. The cover image itself is not meant to be liked but I feel that they did a good job with carrying that color scheme through it all. If you hate the cover, just look at the more modern “suit photo” that is the booklet cover, and think of it as the cover instead. It has the title and everything.
I’d heard the leaked Toy years ago and was underwhelmed so was hoping the Brilliant Adventure Toy would grab me, but didn’t, so gave the extended Toy a listen today and still feel it’s in the lower league of Bowie releases; a la Hours. I can’t see a reason for listening to this ? The material is mediocre and despite some nice vocals its not worth repeated listening. Am I going to reach for Toy if I fancy a Bowie hit, which is daily, no. I’m especially dismissive of the box set Toy - what is the point of disc 2 & 3 ? I couldn’t even finish the acoustic disc. I’m writing this whilst watching Bowie’s Glastonbury performance on the BBC and it really is excellent, but the obvious euphoria he felt in 2000 led to one of his occasional poor decisions. The label was right to reject the album - it adds little of anything to his remarkable body of work. A couple of years later he released Heathen and Reality and showed the world his muse had returned.
