Always brilliant, always iconoclastic

David Bowie has been through so many public personae that it's a cliche to say he's a chameleon. In fact, as the liner notes point out, a chameleon tries to blend in, which is actually the opposite of Bowie's modus operandi.



This was true even during the sessions that produced the brilliant work found here, often superficially referred to as Bowie's Anthony Newley period. True, the vocals are often very Newleyesque, as if he were channeling Top Of the Pops by way of light musical theater. While the Beatles held the world's attention, this young man was busily mowing his career path in an entirely different direction. If one truly *listens* to this excellent work, however, Bowie's unique perspective shines through unabashedly.



A number of these songs are as eerie as anything from Diamond Dogs, or as any scene from The Man Who Fell to Earth. Please Mr. Gravedigger, for example, could easily be a Twilight Zone lost episode, as could We Are Hungry Men, Uncle Arthur, The London Boys, Little Bomardier, She's Got Medals, or even Maid of Bond Street, all of which are strikingly vivid character portraits of characters on the fringes, much like Bowie has always portrayed.



There are more straightforward mid-60s pop tunes here too, although with more an orchestral backing a la Petula Clark than anything one would associate with this artist. The Laughing Gnome is a memorable embarrassment, with its Chipmunk style, but unforgettable tunes like Love You Till Tuesday, Did You Ever Have a Dream, Let Me Sleep Beside You, and In the Heat of the Morning are as solid as any of his worldwide hit singles of later years. Oddly, the lyrics of many of these early tunes seem, in retrospect, more mature than many found on later LPs like The Man Who Sold the World, Space Oddity, etc. (Speaking of that Space Oddity LP, Hermione herself turns up as a co-lead vocalist on one of the tracks here, called Ching-A-Ling as well as backing David on a couple of alternate versions of better-known early tracks.)



Any Bowie fans who haven't heard these tracks owe it to themselves to add this collection to the regular rotation on their CD changers. It's a terrific 80-minute aural snapshot of the artist in development, showing that he clearly had the chops to take it to the next level, as indeed inevitably happened.

Early Bowie

I personally like this album a lot. I first heard some of it on vinyl in the seventies. The anthology has a nice clean sound and the genius of early Bowie can now be heard. My favorite Bowie album is still Hunky Dory, but this early stuff is still a gem.

Music hall nightmare

Recorded in 1966, this strange album displays Bowie's seeds of genius. The dark subject matter is presented in a type of music hall feel that is unconventional even now, three decades later. The wide variety of themes are often set to noteworthy tunes, whilst the inclusion of an early version of Space Oddity and the charming song The Laughing Gnome make the album a must for Bowie completists.

Tracks like Maid Of Bond Street, London Boys and Join The Gang deal with Bowie's youth in swinging London, whilst She's Got My Medals examines gender roles. The ominous We Are Hungry Men depicts a totalitarian nightmare where population control is carried out by cannibalism, amongst other things. Then there's Please Mr Gravedigger, about infanticide, and Little Bombardier, about child abuse. Bowie also explores the innocence of childhood in songs like This Is A Happy Land, Uncle Arthur and Come And Buy My Toys. Let Me Sleep Beside You and When Live My Dream are songs of yearning, quiet moving and memorable.

In a way, Bowie returned to this style of song on 1973's futuristic cabaret Aladdinsane, albeit with more contemporary instruments and arrangements. That was also the year in which the re-released Laughing Gnome made the top ten in the UK. The music is remarkable and unusual but could find no audience in the psychedelic late sixties when rock legends were made. Those Bowie fans who have assimilated all his transformations down the years might find this an interesting collection, but it often still sounds weird. How great that Bowie persevered to make some of the most compelling music of the 1970s and 1980s. The roots of his genius are certainly evident here.