Wait until that Gravedigger song.

"Join The Gang"...and we're back to being silly. I literally cringed when he sang 'agaaaaaaaain'.

"She's Got Medals" has a pretty great driving beat, and begins to pick up at the end. Too bad that wasn't the entire song.

I'll follow this one through the 70s and conclude with Scary Monsters.

I'm definitely interested in going beyond what I've already thoroughly digested - everything from Space Oddity through Scary Monsters minus Pin-Ups - and seeing what, if anything, there is that's worthwhile in his later stuff.

Yeah, "Please Mr. Gravedigger" is pretty horrible.

Looked up the producer for this record to see if he had done anything else--turns out Mike Vernon had/has a pretty nice career. Working with bands like Fleetwood Mac, Savoy Brown, John Mayall, Clapton, and forming his own blues label. Don't know how he got roped into producing this piece, seeing as at the time it seems like he was concentrating on blues.

I'm going to move on to the second disc and listen to the singles.

I'm going to tell you all right now--if we make it to "Never Let Me Down", I'm going to be unashamedly into it. That was my first Bowie record back when I was 7. I remember I asked my parents for it solely on the cover, not knowing who David Bowie was.

"London Boys"..I kinda dig.

"The Laughing Gnome"...oh man. Bowie singing with chipmunks. Wow. I would love to make an animated music video for this a la Robert Smigel.

i was gonna suggest bowie as the next one. i'll do some

I have a soft spot for it as well. I saw him in '87 while he was touring the Glass Spider spectacle and obviously the set was heavy on the NLMD songs. 'Shining Star' still does it for me.

"Love You Til Tuesday" (single version) I like the album version better. Maybe I'm just used to his voice in a different context, but his voice just doesn't fit with this style of music.

"Did You Ever Dream", once again in the context of the period isn't horrible.

"Let Me Sleep Beside You" almost loses Bowie's voice...almost.

"Karma Man" definitely has rumblings of where he would eventually go in the next records. Imagine the chorus without those strings and just guitar.

"Love Bye Ta-Ta" there's a reason why this was unreleased...however, its not more horrible than any of the other songs on the record.

"In The Heat of the Morning" Almost positive that this became Ziggy Stardust. There are certain moments where you swear he's going to break into "Ziggy played guitar..."

"The Gospel According to Tony Day" Bassoons and rock do not mix.

"When I'm Five" / "Ching-A-Ling" / "Sell Me A Coat" remix -- This is the kind of filler I've come to expect from these deluxe versions. They add nothing to overall package. I'll probably never listen to them again.

Thanks for taking the hit for all of us .

This would seem to imply that you plan to listen to the rest of this album again.

"Love You Til Tuesday"/ "When I Live My Dream"/ "Little Bombadier"/ "Silly Boy Blue"/ "In The Heat of the Morning"

All these were recorded for BBC Radio One's "Top Gear" program. I expected stripped down live versions. My hope was that a less produced/raw sound might make these songs listenable. Unfortunately, these are essentially direct ports of the original recorded versions.

I have a bad habit of not deleting things. I'm not gonna say that there won't be a time when this comes up on shuffle and it fits right in with the mood.

They're probably pretty comparable. Van probably has more studio albums. NY has more live albums.

Yeah, after I looked them both up it seems like they're pretty equal.

I guess I never cared very much about Van so he has way more stuff that I just wasn't aware of.

Although if the Archives get thrown in for NY, that adds a lot.

OK so I made it through this thing. I listened to the deluxe version, but not the entire thing. I went with the mono version of the album (because... why not?) and only one version of each of the songs contained as bonus tracks, "The London Boys", "The Laughing Gnome", etc. No redundant alternate versions of anything. Still, kind of a chore to get through. Glad it's over, and I don't think I'll be revisiting the proper album. Some of the bonus tracks seemed OK and probably deserve a second listen.

Has anyone heard 'Bowie at the Beeb'?

Some of these tracks are taken from that release. The comp covers probably the first 3 Bowie records and the various BBC sessions he did. Its interesting that so much from this era exists.

So, does anyone think this early Bowie stuff is anything other than complete and utter garbage?