
Disk Title: The David Bowie Compilation – Volume 1
Back in Dec 2016, I had come up with a one CD project called The David Bowie Compilation that comprised mainly of recordings from his albums between 1967-1973 plus two earlier recordings from singles released in 1965 & 1966. Shocked by the news of his passing, by the end of the following year, I had decided to attach further volumes to this project, thus creating a five volume compilation of all that I found significant in Bowie’s catalogue per period. In doing so, the one CD concept germinated into a two CD per volume project. It is a testament to the high quality of the artistry and creativity of this man that in a five volume, 9CD compilation, I still feel the absence of certain songs.
Returning now to this compilation in hopes of upgrading as many sound files of inferior bit rate as possible, I felt an urge to twink the sequences, without changing any of the previous selected songs on CD1 but altering songs and re-sequencing playlist on CD2. All done and concluded by 21 Feb 2019.

Like many kids of his generation, during post world war England, the teenager David Jones felt a connection with rock ‘n’ roll and decided to become a musician. A tremendous Little Richard fan, he dreamed of being a good enough sax player to be in Richards’ band one day. Joined various bands in the early sixties that went nowhere till Jones had the initiative to write a letter to entrepreneur John Bloom explaining what a wonderful opportunity Bloom has to invest and promote a young rock band in ascension. Bloom admired this kids boldness and wrote back offering him the name and number of manager Les Cohen, who would take Davie Jones & The King Bees on to manage. After releasing a few singles, Cohn finds him another band, The Mannish Boys obtaining similar results. By the time Cohn matched him with The Lower Third, Davie Jones had already adopted the artistic name David Bowie.
By 1966, after a stint with The Buzz, Bowie was on his own trying to break through in the music business outside of rock n roll. He signed with Deram Records and recorded an album and a half worth of middle-of-the-road theater-esque songs much in the style of Anthony Newley (author and arranger of Goldfinger). The record company sat on it for six months finally releasing in June 1967. Deram was a minor label that had two young upstart artists but only one of them was achieving minor hits. Therefore, it is understandable their choice of letting David Bowie go and keeping Cat Stevens.
During 1967-68, Bowie had given up on music altogether, spending the year studing in a Budist temple in Scotland followed by studying the art of the mime with Lindsay Kemp. By 1969, he had worked in minor roles in such movies as “The Image” and “The Virgin Soldier”; and tried yet failed to get a part in the play “Hair.” After founding a multi-media theater group he named Beckenham Arts Lab, Bowie needed some funds and with a demo tape in hand struck a deal for one single with Mercury Records. That single became Space Oddity, whose theme of spaceman lost adrift in space released days before Apollo 11 lifted off to the moon, caught the public’s imagination and sold well in England making David Bowie a known name in his homeland. This success was a great incentive for Mercury to offer him a deal for a full album, effectively bring Bowie back to thinking of himself as a recording artist.
Working with Tony Visconti, he slowly began assembling a band concept where each member would be a character. The band was called The Hype and the characters, complete with costume and make-up, had David Bowie as Pirateman, guitarist Mick Ronson as Gangsterman, Tony Visconti on bass was Superman and drummer John Cambridge became Cowboyman. After Cambridge was sacked, Ronson suggests bringing in his former Rats bandmate Woody Woodmansey. This became the band that recorded the album “The Man Who Sold The World”. Because it did not sell as well as his previous album and Mercury now more excited with their two newly contracted artists Rod Stewart and Elton John, David Bowie was once again let go.
CD 1 – From Davie Jones To David Bowie – All files in wav but two @320.
101 – Liza Jane (1964 – The King Bees)
102 – When I Live My Dream (1967)
103 – An Occasional Dream (1969)
104 – Love You Till Tuesday (1967)
105 – Take My Tip (1965 – The Mannish Boys)
106 – You’ve Got A Habit of Leaving (1965 – The Lower Third)
107 – All The Madmen (1970)
108 – Space Oddity (1969)
109 – Fill Your Heart – Andy Warhol (1971)
110 – The Man Who Sold The World (1970)
111 – Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed (1969)
112 – In The Heat Of The Morning (1967)
113 – She Shook Me Cold (1970)
114 – Oh! You Pretty Things (1971)
115 – Changes (1971)
116 – God Knows I’m Good (1969)
117 – Black Country Rock (1970)
118 – Life On Mars? (1971)
119 – Memory’s of Freecloud (1969)
120 – And I Say To Myself (1966 – The Lower Third)
121 – Please Mr. Gravedigger (1967)
Total Time: 01:19:03
Meanwhile in the USA, management at RCA Records have realized that they had no artist under contract that made rock music save Elvis Presley who wasn’t really doing rock ‘n’ roll anymore. They proceeded to sign with The Kinks and were now looking really hard at Lou Reed and David Bowie. After signing Bowie and under his suggestion, Iggy Pop; by 1972 RCA will have purchased and re-released Bowie’s two Mercury albums.
Visconti had made a name for himself as a record producer so again Ronson brought in ex-Rats bass player Trevor Bolder. This became The Spiders From Mars. Ziggy Stardust as a character was an amalgam of different people that Bowie either knew or knew about. Most notably Vince Taylor, a pre-Beatles English rocker of the late fifties that after Beatlemania hit hard had moved his place of business to France where one fine day, possibly after too much acid, went on stage and proclaimed himself to be Jesus Christ on earth, nearly getting himself lynched by his own fans as a result. Spray over that concept some Marc Bolan glitter with an injection of Iggy Pop’s suicidal aggressiveness and you start to get the taste.
CD2 – The Spiders From Mars – All files in wav except Candidate @320.
201 – Five Years (1972)
202 – All The Young Dudes (1972)
203 – Panic In Detroit (1973)
204 – Friday On My Mind (1973)
205 – Moonage Daydream (1972)
206 – Time (1973)
207 – Velvet Goldmine (1972)
208 – Starman (1972)
209 – The Jean Genie (1973)
210 – Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?) (1973)
211 – Ziggy Stardust (1972)
212 – Cracked Actor (1973)
213 – Soul Love (1972)
214 – Suffragette City (1972)
215 – Don’t Bring Me Down (1973)
216 – John, I’m Only Dancing (1972)
217 – Sorrow (1973)
218 – Candidate (1973)
219 – Lady Stardust (1972)
220 – Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide (1972)
221 – Lady Grinning Soul (1973)
Total Time: 01:19:08




