How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Outstanding
Value for Money
Advantages:
Up close and intimate during Ziggy's birth
Disadvantages:
Huh??
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
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) recordings have been remastered to obtain the highest possible degree of sound quality and resolution. A third CD (more about this later), is included along with the original Beeb sessions.
The first and second CD contain the classic stuff, including David’s 1968 session with the Tony Visconti Trio, while the third disc, a limited edition bonus CD included with the compilation when I bought it, is a recording of Bowie's stunning performance at the BBC Radio Theatre in Portland on 27 June 2000, which was recorded in front of a studio audience made up of a hundred-odd lucky ilegitimates chosen from the Bowienet community only two days after his appearance at the Glastonbury Festival.
So with the preamble out of the way, let’s get down to business…
Before this last job, the last time the BBC dragged Bowie into one of their Radio Studios was in 1972 - a pity because who knows what thunder and lightning would have emerged from later seventies live performances. But this is a statement that shows the young David's already intense fledgeling personality at the tender age of twenty three or so.
CD1 Track List: In The Heat Of The Morning/London Bye Ta Ta/Karma Man/Silly Boy Blue/Let Me Sleep Beside You/Janine/Amsterdam/God Knows I'm Good/Width Of A Circle/Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed/Cygnet Committee/Memory Of A Free Festival/Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud/Bombers/Looking For A Friend/Almost Grown/Kooks/It Ain't Easy
These tracks represent Bowie’s musical “Who do I want to be today?” beginnings, as he grapples with Anthony Newley, Bob Dylan and Scott Walker influences, through to his Ziggy and Aladdin Sane incarnations. From mainstream pop like “In the Heat of the Morning” and “Let Me Sleep Beside You” we enter into the late Hippy influenced “Memory of a Free Festival” and Bowie’s dabble in psychedelic rock with outings such as “Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed” and “Cygnet Committee”. Gotta love ‘em - especially if you're "a phallus in pigtails". From the album “The Man Who Sold The World” we have Bowie’s flirt with heavy rock in “Width of a Circle” with Mick Ronson already showing his depth even though he’s just a week-old Spider From Mars. The track is incomplete, but the potential is evident. And look out for “Bombers” – in my opinion, this is where Ziggy Stardust was conceived.
CD2 Track List: The Supermen/Eight Line Poem/Hang Onto Yourself/Ziggy Stardust/Queen Bitch/Waiting For The Man/Five Years/White Light White Heat/Moonage Daydream/Hang Onto Yourself/Suffragette City/Ziggy Stardust/Starman/Space Oddity/Changes/Oh! You Pretty Things/Andy Warhol/Lady Stardust/Rock 'N Roll Suicide
Fans of "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" will home in on this disc. Many of the tunes here are more immediately hard-edged than the “official” versions on your RCA vinyl (or remastered CD). This is Ziggy Stardust blistering the backside of rock’n’roll with the help of occasional flashes of Martian Spider-genius, and boy, are they having a good time. Listen to Ronson’s fingerboard slashing on “Moonage Daydream” and tell me the man wasn’t ahead of his time. Bowie gives the nod to Lou Reed with a high-energy version of “White Light White Heat”, and the overall impression is that all tracks are rougher and louder than the sugared vinyl versions we know. Bloody good stuff and wicked fun – play ‘em back to back and see what I mean.
Although I suspect that CD2 will get the most attention from die-hard Bowie fans, with its intense brand of Ziggy Stardust glam-rock overdrive and blazing quick-fire immediacy, CD1 has some memorable moments that show the shape of things to come. For those of us too young (just!) to have experienced “Swinging London”, the tracks “London Bye Ta Ta”, “Silly Boy Blue” and “Karma Man” give a feel for just why London became the capital of the “Swinging Sixties”. For me, the standout track on CD1 is the absolutely amazing live rendition of “Wide Eyed Boy From Freecloud”, where the young Bowie’s theatrical persona bleeds through the audio media to give some indication of what the future holds.
CD3 Track List: Wild Is The Wind/Ashes To Ashes/Seven/This Is Not America/Absolute Beginners/Always Crashing In The Same Car/Survive/Little Wonder/The Man Who Sold The World/Fame/Stay/Hello Spaceboy/Cracked Actor/I'm Afraid Of Americans/ Let's Dance
Class, as they say in Italy, is not water. CD3 is the icing on the cake that was baked in the 60’s and 70’s, and as such deserves its place in the set. All Bowiephiles, with the possible exception of Major Tom (last heard of in Heaven’s High), are familiar with these tracks, and the seeds sown as Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane are growing fine, thanks.
I love Earl Slick’s precise guitar work, but I can’t help wondering what would have transpired if our man was still teamed with Mick Ronson. Watching Ronno onstage, carrying his black Les Paul like a low-slung Howitzer - as he hammered only slightly less apocalyptic sounds from it - was an awesome experience, and the sessions on CD2 give us a tantalising glimpse of the searing power of Bowie and the Ronson fronted Spiders.
Check this CD set out - whether you’re a new or an old fan, there’s definitely something that’ll appeal and impress. This is where outrageous androgynous glam rock first reared its painted head, and now that the BBC has released their versions, along with my bootlegs (ahem!!) and official RCA albums, they’re an almost complete picture of one of the musical myths of our age.
I say almost, because Bowie sometimes surprises himself… a few years ago a bootleg of a 1970 session surfaced – and it included the heaviest version of "Waiting For The Man" that ever graced a vinyl groove. Our David admitted at the time that he had forgotten even recording it!
Do I recommend this set? Well... is the Pope a Roman Catholic?
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How does it rate alongside the competition
Outstanding
Cover / Inlay Design and Content
Outstanding
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