Best of Bowie 2CD Compilation

This is the best 2CD set ever released. Now that we've got that straightened out....

I'm speaking of the US version of the 2CD set. There are supposed to be twenty different versions, each with a track listing tailored to a different country. Some if not all of the countries get a 1CD version as well. The secret message here is that this easily could have been one jam-packed 3CD set for all markets but somebody didn't want to do a box set for the 2002 Christmas season.

The 2CD set is so good, if you chicken out and go for the 1CD version you're a big fat wanker. You know, the kind of person who uses dishwashing liquid for shampoo because real shampoo is "so expensive". The kind of person who scores a date with the hottest woman on campus and then pulls out a coupon to pay for dinner. When everybody agrees to meet for cuisine you scan the menu and ask the waiter if they have any cheeseburgers.

All tracks are fresh remixes from either 1999 (album cuts) or 2002 (single versions). Suffragette City sounds so beefy you'd swear it must be the Ribeye Mix. Thursday's Child sounds more robust than I remembered it. Time Will Crawl has never sounded better.

Collectors will revel in the nuances of the various single versions and radio edits all collected up in one place, some never before commercially released, others never before released on CD. This is the only Bowie album with tracks like Dancing In The Street (with Mick Jagger), This Is Not America (with the Pat Metheny Group) and the soundtrack version of Cat People. If it's true that Black Tie White Noise is out of print this is also the best place to get Jump They Say.

One thing. The sticker on the CD that says "first career-spanning 2CD set ever" is a bunch of crap. Nine years ago Ryko did the excellent The Singles: 1969-1993. Basically that's out of print. I could quibble about how that collection included must-haves Loving The Alien and Little Wonder (both of which appear on the UK version of Best of Bowie but not the US version), Beauty and the Beast and Look Back In Anger...but I won't.

What makes this 2CD set so transcendent is the inclusion of deserving tracks like Panic In Detroit, the scalding hellfire of Under The God and Bowie's original version of The Man Who Sold The World. Not to mention that since The Singles came out Bowie has put out some of the best music of his career, with a song per album represented on this new collection.

Could I complain? You're asking me, could I complain? I can always complain. Does this cover art look like they hired away K-Tel's art director or what? Still, it's eye-catching, it's commercial and it should get its share of attention in the racks. Nice big letters on the cover, no mistaking what this is. Apart from the cover the rest of the package is nicely done, especially the typography. Well, except for the picture on the back where all the perspective lines point to Bowie's mouth. Makes him look like he's got "George Jones lips". I like the colorful album inventory in the booklet; these belong in any best of because compilations are the best shopping guide around...next to my pompous rants of course.

Best of Bowie 2 DVD Compilation Excellent gift choice for the Bowie fan on your list. A whompin' 47 videos in one collection plus another nine hidden tracks. Over four hours of video, not counting the hidden stuff. Bowie was a video pioneer, his first videos going all the way back to 1969. Only the Beatles can claim earlier video promotions. The earliest videos here go back to 1972 with photographer Mick Rock creating four early experiments in visual promotions. There are some nice individual stills throughout the four videos but all in all they're very static. Ditto for the 1977 videos for "Heroes" and Be My Wife. Live performances make up most of the rest of the seventies. Narrative picks up with Boys Keep Swinging. Although I'd never been a fan of this song, the video is quite fun, what with Bowie toggling between the roles of testosteroni singer and his trademark queen bitch routine. Another highlight is Ashes To Ashes. Surrealistic images effectively capture the feeling of the song, the Scary Monsters era clown drifting through a sequence of emotional prairies, the shrieking of nothing haunting him in the padded corner of the safest place possible. DJ video from 1979 I'm not one for videos or TV but for my taste Bowie's best videos came in the nineties; I really enjoy Little Wonder, Hallo Spaceboy (with the Pet Shop Boys), I'm Afraid Of Americans (with Trent Reznor), and my favorite, Jump They Say. Jump They Say; 1993 During 2002 the LA and NYC Museums of Television and Radio featured Bowie films, videos and footage all summer long. Five separate sessions, each two hours plus, revealed the depth of Bowie's archives. Here's hoping that a second DVD set is released soon with highlights like the duet with Marianne Faithfull from the 1980 Floor Show or the kinescope of Warszawa from a performance on German television. And of course it would have to include the hilarious and charming television interview that a seventeen year old Bowie did on behalf of his "Society For the Prevention of Cruelty to Long Haired Men". In the meantime this collection should keep you entertained for a while. Best of Bowie - 2 DVD Set DISC 1: 1. Oh! You Pretty Things (from Old Grey Whistle Test) 2. Queen Bitch (from Old Grey Whistle Test) 3. Five Years (from Old Grey Whistle Test) 4. Starman (from Top of the Pops) 5. John, I'm Only Dancing 6. The Jean Genie 7. Space Oddity 8. Drive-In Saturday (from Russell Harty Plus Pop) 9. Life On Mars? 10. Ziggy Stardust (from the Motion Picture) 11. Rebel Rebel (from TopPop) 12. Young Americans (from The Dick Cavett Show) 13. Be My Wife 14. "Heroes" 15. Boys Keep Swinging 16. D.J. 17. Look Back In Anger 18. Ashes To Ashes 19. Fashion 20. Wild Is The Wind 21. Let's Dance 22. China Girl 23. Modern Love 24. Cat People (from Serious Moonlight Tour) 25. Blue Jean 26. Loving The Alien 27. Dancing In The Street (w/Mick Jagger) DVD 2: 1. Absolute Beginners 2. Underground 3. As The World Falls Down 4. Day-In Day-Out 5. Time Will Crawl 6. Never Let Me Down 7. Fame '90 8. Jump They Say 9. Black Tie White Noise 10. Miracle Goodnight 11. Buddha Of Suburbia 12. The Heart's Filthy Lesson 13. Strangers When We Meet 14. Hallo Spaceboy 15. Little Wonder 16. Dead Man Walking 17. Seven Years in Tibet 18. I'm Afraid of Americans 19. Thursday's Child 20. Survive

HIDDEN TRACKS:

Want to know how to access these hidden tracks? Paul Kinder has the answer on his Bowie fansite bowiewonderworld.com.
    This tip courtesy of Bonnie's Bowie newsletter.

Oh! You Pretty Things (The Old Grey Whistle Test - take 2)
Interview with David Bowie and Russell Harty
    (before Drive-In Saturday)
Screen ad for forthcoming Ziggy Stardust DVD release
    (Hammersmith Odeon 1973)
Jazzin' For Blue Jean (Complete Promo)
Blue Jean (MTV edit recorded at The Wag Club)
Day In Day Out (Extended Mix)
Miracle Goodnight (Remix)
Seven Years In Tibet (Mandarin version)
Survive (Live in Paris)

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