The new four-CD Bowie boxset, Sound + Vision is far more than a cheap and nasty attempt to cash in on Bowie’s surprising recent resuscitation. Covering Bowie’s career from the release of the original acoustic version of Space Oddity in 1969 (a song that shows Bowie’s peculiar, and flawed blend of hippie-folk and inter-stellar imagery), through to his contributions to Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia in 1994, there’s more than enough to placate the average Bowie fan, and probably enough to appease Bowie’s more fanatical followers.
There’s a mixture of live recordings (taken from both 1973’s Ziggy Stardust: the Motion Picture and 1974’s David Live), outtakes (John, I’m Only Dancing, After Today) and the occasional rarity (The Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud, a rare B-side from 1969). The selections from the feted Bowie period – 1972’s Hunky Dory through to 1980’s Scary Monsters – largely eschew the obvious choices, with such often overlooked tracks as Panic in Detroit, Drive-In Saturday, Big Brother, Be My Wife and Speed of Life and Joe the Lion. Throughout it all, you can hear Bowie’s progress from glam rock god to coked-out LA lost soul boy to Berlin exile to feted pop star.
And then there’s the frequently maligned ‘80s material, when Bowie is generally said to have lost his way: Loving the Alien from Tonight is no less turgid than ever, though the Tin Machine tracks (featuring the talented and tumultuous Sales brothers, who’d joined Bowie in Iggy Pop’s backing band during the latter’s Berlin period) are worthy of positive reassessment. Bowie’s star may have dimmed slightly in recent years, but there will never be another artist quite like him.
BY PATRICK EMERY
Best Track: Panic in Detroit (amongst many others)
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: Um, BOWIE
In A Word: Bowie
