BBC Sessions, The - Pretty Things (The)

Advantages: Up close and intimate during Ziggy's birth
Disadvantages: Huh??

...A recording by David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars – including the band’s first live performance with Mick Ronson – is out on the street... It appears somebody has been beamed behind the two-feet thick, triple-locked carbon-steel doors of Auntie Beeb’s most secret vault. They obviously wanted to steal the raw energy available in Ronno’s axe-work to recharge their starship’s exhausted dilithium crystals, and are now getting rid of the evidence. Nope – nothing so banal. The truth is that on September 25, 2000, "BOWIE AT THE BEEB: The Best of the BBC Radio Sessions 68-72" was released. This 2CD set contains tracks personally chosen by my favourite extra-terrestrial, and unlike NMC's planned - but never realised - DAVID BOWIE BBC SESSIONS 1969-1972 3CD set, this release is officially sanctioned by the artist. The original (mainly mono... Read review

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Advantages: 3 cds from a living legend
Disadvantages: absolutely none

...David Bowie at the Beeb is a fantastic 2 cds worth of radio sessions from 1968 - 1972. The 37 tracks was definitely worth the £14 I paid for it ( which also came with bonus cd of David Bowie at the BBC radio theatre June 27th 2000 ). I am a HUGE Bowie fan and found these sessions very interesting. Bowie appeared on shows such as John Peel's Top Gear,Jonnie Walker's Lunchtime Show, Dave Lee Travis Show and Sounds of the 70's introduced by Bob Harris - all top dj's of the era. These 2 cds take you on a journey starting before Space Oddity made Bowie a household name through to the much admired Ziggy Stardust & Spiders from Mars phase. As these sessions took place before my time ( 5 years to be exact ) I can only sit in awe and wonder at how these songs were received at the time. The earliest tracks are the first 4 four on cd1 taken from... Read review

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Advantages: 30songs,great value for money.An unofficial Greatest Hits
Disadvantages: a few dodgy tracks on disc 1

...The Cocteau Twins 'BBC Sessions' is a great album and the second of theres that I purchased.It reads like a best of but played live via mainly John Peel and Mark Radcliffe sessions between 1982 and 1996. An added bonus is the tracks therefore appear pretty much chronologically so you can chart the groups musical progression. Tracks Wax And Wane Garlands Alas Dies Laughing Feathers oar Blades Hearsay Please Dear Heart Bind Dumb Deaf Hazel The Tinderbox Of A heart Strange Fruit Hithertoo From The Flagstones Sugar Hiccup In Our Angelhood My Hue And Cry Musette And Drums Disc 2 Hitherto From The Flagstones Musette And Drums Pepper Tree Beatrix Ivo Otterley Serpentskirt Golden Vein Half Gifts Seekers Who Are Lovers Calfskin Smack Fifty fifty Clown Violaine The Cocteau sound was made up of thudding bass,treated guitar a drum... Read review

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