David Bowie:
A New Career In A New Town 1977-1982:
CD/LP/DD:
Parlophone:
A new generation is being turned onto David Bowie with unprecedented attention aimed at his untapped catalogue and this lavish widescreen box-set covers his arguably most influential period, the so-called Berlin years.
Topped off with expanded or remastered versions of live double-album Stage and Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), ANCIANT might not include every single track from the time but it sure as hell tries to satitate the most ardent of fans and eager of onlookers. It's a weighty (and pricey) beast but hey, the festive season beckons with tick-lists to be completed and stockings to be filled.
Any self-respecting music fan should already own the straight-forward albums in this set. Low remains as remarkable and contemporary as it did in 1977, with its predominantly song-based first side and eerie but beautiful flip. There's no filler and any artist who can kickstart a career and game-changing album with as pin-sharp an instrumental as Speed Of Life deserves to be invested in. Sound and Vision and Warszawa will never age while Art Decade inspired many a synth-wielding newbie worth their salt in the '80s and beyond.
Follow-up Heroes is also essential with Beauty and the Beast, Sons of the Silent Age and the perennial title-track in tow while Stage is very much a timeless document of Bowie's peak performances taking in these two albums' highlights and earlier classics such as Ziggy Stardust and The Jean Genie. Completing the standard line-up is the hit-and-miss Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) set which includes Fashion, Ashes to Ashes and the superlative title-track alongside a few of his less memorable album tracks.
The real sweeteners here are the 2017 versions of both Stage and Lodger. The former benefits from bonuses and a remaster while the latter has had a complete overhaul by Tony Visconti at the behest of Bowie himself, just prior to his death. Some might argue the point of remixing Lodger but Visconti has worked his magic with a sympathetic wash-and-brush up that strips back all the clutter of the 1979 recordings. Only D.J. loses any of the original's warmth and charm and but for a rearrangement of the running order, Lodger 2017 is about as good as it will ever be.
Both French and German Heroes EPs are present, plus there's Re:Call 3, a somewhat cobbled together artefact of the good and bad of the era. Mostly good with the extended mix of Beauty and the Beast, 7" edits of singles, the underrated Crystal Japan but there's also the heinous Little Drummer Boy, Baal's Hymn and The Dirty Song to contend with.
Not so much a box-set, more of an event 40 years on and from a time when punk, disco, rock and the first electronics were being touted as the norm, Bowie used all four genres to nourish his career.
9/10
A New Career In A New Town 1977-1982:
CD/LP/DD:
Parlophone:
Topped off with expanded or remastered versions of live double-album Stage and Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), ANCIANT might not include every single track from the time but it sure as hell tries to satitate the most ardent of fans and eager of onlookers. It's a weighty (and pricey) beast but hey, the festive season beckons with tick-lists to be completed and stockings to be filled.
Any self-respecting music fan should already own the straight-forward albums in this set. Low remains as remarkable and contemporary as it did in 1977, with its predominantly song-based first side and eerie but beautiful flip. There's no filler and any artist who can kickstart a career and game-changing album with as pin-sharp an instrumental as Speed Of Life deserves to be invested in. Sound and Vision and Warszawa will never age while Art Decade inspired many a synth-wielding newbie worth their salt in the '80s and beyond.
Follow-up Heroes is also essential with Beauty and the Beast, Sons of the Silent Age and the perennial title-track in tow while Stage is very much a timeless document of Bowie's peak performances taking in these two albums' highlights and earlier classics such as Ziggy Stardust and The Jean Genie. Completing the standard line-up is the hit-and-miss Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) set which includes Fashion, Ashes to Ashes and the superlative title-track alongside a few of his less memorable album tracks.
The real sweeteners here are the 2017 versions of both Stage and Lodger. The former benefits from bonuses and a remaster while the latter has had a complete overhaul by Tony Visconti at the behest of Bowie himself, just prior to his death. Some might argue the point of remixing Lodger but Visconti has worked his magic with a sympathetic wash-and-brush up that strips back all the clutter of the 1979 recordings. Only D.J. loses any of the original's warmth and charm and but for a rearrangement of the running order, Lodger 2017 is about as good as it will ever be.
Both French and German Heroes EPs are present, plus there's Re:Call 3, a somewhat cobbled together artefact of the good and bad of the era. Mostly good with the extended mix of Beauty and the Beast, 7" edits of singles, the underrated Crystal Japan but there's also the heinous Little Drummer Boy, Baal's Hymn and The Dirty Song to contend with.
Not so much a box-set, more of an event 40 years on and from a time when punk, disco, rock and the first electronics were being touted as the norm, Bowie used all four genres to nourish his career.
9/10