 | David BowieA Retrospective: 1964-2016 |
Overview:Glam-rock singer/songwriter David Bowie was born David Robert Jones 1/8/1947 in Brixton, London, England. He died on 1/10/2016 in New York City from liver cancer. He took the name David Bowie 9/15/65 to avoid confusion with the Monkees’ Davy Jones. Bowie is celebrated for the chameleonic ability he had at tackling different musical genres and taking on different personas. “Even when he was out of fashion in the '80s and '90s, it was clear that Bowie was one of the most influential musicians in rock, for better and for worse. Each one of his phases in the ‘70s sparked a number of subgenres, including punk, new wave, goth rock, the new romantics, and electronica. Few rockers ever had such lasting impact.” AMG He is estimated to have sold 140 million records. In addition to creating his own music, Bowie produced Mott the Hoople ("All the Young Dudes") and Lou Reed (Transformer). He also worked with Iggy Pop as a producer and songwriter on Pop’s The Idiot and Lust for Life. Groups:
On the Web:
Lists:Spotify Podcast:Check out the two-part Dave’s Music Database podcast The Best of David Bowie, 1964-1979, debuting January 11, 2022, at 7pm CST, and The Best of David Bowie, 1980-2016, debuting January 18, 2022, at 7pm CST. Tune in every Tuesday at 7pm for a new episode based on the lists at Dave’s Music Database.
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Awards:
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The Studio Albums:Hover over an album cover to see its title and year of release. Click on the album to go to its dedicated DMDB page. 
Compilations:
* Different versions of these albums were released in the U.S. and U.K. Songs unique to one or the other are noted (such as SC-US or SC-UK) while songs on both collections do not have a sub-code (SC). Under each album snapshot, songs featured on the anthologies are noted. If the song charted, the date of the song’s release or first chart appearance and its chart peaks are noted in parentheses. Click for codes to singles charts. |
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David Bowie (1967): “David Jones began performing music when he was 13 years old, learning the saxophone while he was at Bromley Technical High School…Following his graduation at 16, he worked as a commercial artist while playing saxophone in a number of mod bands.” AMG He changed “his name to David Bowie in 1966 after the Monkees’ Davy Jones became an international star…The following year, he signed with Deram, releasing the music hall, Anthony Newley-styled David Bowie.” AMG
Space Oddity (aka “Man of Words, Man of Music” (1969): His next effort was “Man of Words, Man of Music, a trippy singer/songwriter album featuring ‘Space Oddity.’ The song was released as a single and became a major hit in the U.K.” AMG The album has now become better known as Space Oddity.
The Man Who Sold the World (1970): Bowie then hooked up with his old friend Mark Bolan, of T-Rex, for The Man Who Sold the World. “Produced by Tony Visconti, who also played bass, [it] was a heavy guitar rock album that failed to gain much attention.” AMG
Hunky Dory (1971): Bowie followed the album…with the pop/rock Hunky Dory, an album that featured Ronson and keyboardist Rick Wakeman.” AMG
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972): “Bowie [then] began to develop his most famous incarnation, Ziggy Stardust: an androgynous, bisexual rock star from another planet.” AMG “Taking cues from Bolan's stylish glam rock, Bowie dyed his hair orange and began wearing women's clothing. He began calling himself Ziggy Stardust, and his backing band…the Spiders from Mars.” AMG “Bowie claimed in a January 1972 interview with the Melody Maker that he was gay, helping to stir interest in his forthcoming album.” AMG “The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was released with much fanfare in England…it helped him become the only glam rocker to carve out a niche in America.” AMG In the process, Bowie redefined “glam rock with [the Ziggy] persona.” AMG
Aladdin Sane (1973): “Bowie quickly followed…with Aladdin Sane [and] produced Lou Reed’s Transformer, the Stooges’ Raw Power, and Mott the Hoople’s comeback All the Young Dudes, for which he also wrote the title track.” AMG “After recording the all-covers Pin-Ups with the Spiders from Mars, he unexpectedly announced the band's breakup…during the group's final show that year.” AMG
Pin-Ups (1973):
Diamond Dogs (1974): “He retreated from the spotlight to work on a musical adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984, but once he was denied the rights to the novel, he transformed the work into Diamond Dogs. The album was released to generally poor reviews…yet it generated the hit single ‘Rebel Rebel,’ and he supported the album with an elaborate and expensive American tour. As the tour progressed, Bowie became fascinated with soul music, eventually redesigning the entire show to reflect his new ‘plastic soul’…Bowie refashioned his group into a Philly soul band and recostumed himself in sophisticated, stylish fashions.” AMG
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The Best of 1969-1974David Bowie |
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Released: October 7, 1997 Recorded: 1969-1974 Peak: -- US, 11 UK, 54 CN, 14 AU Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.3 UK, 0.75 world (includes US and UK) Genre: glam rock |
Tracks: (1) The Jean Genie (2) Space Oddity (3) Starman (4) Ziggy Stardust (5) John, I’m Only Dancing (sax version) (6) Rebel Rebel (7) Let’s Spend the Night Together (8) Suffragette City (9) Oh! You Pretty Things (10) Velvet Goldmine (11) Drive-In Saturday (12) Diamond Dogs (13) Changes (14) Sorrow (15) The Prettiest Star (16) Life on Mars? (17) Aladdin Sane (18) The Man Who Sold the World (19) Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide (20) All the Young Dudes Total Running Time: 77:34 |
Rating:  4.338 out of 5.00 (average of 12 ratings)
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About Best of 1969/1974: Released in 1997, this album served as the first of three albums which would be packaged together as The Platinum Collection, a three-disc collection covering Bowie from 1969 to 1987. This set covers much of the same ground as ChangesOneBowie with eight of those cuts featured here: Space Oddity, Changes, Suffragette City, Ziggy Stardust, John, I’m Only Dancing, The Jean Genie, Rebel Rebel, and Diamond Dogs. Other hits from the era which hadn’t made that set, but show up here include Life on Mars?, Starman, Drive-In Saturday, and Sorrow. Also of note here is the original 1970 single version of The Prettiest Star and Bowie’s original recording of All the Young Dudes, which would become a hit for Mott the Hoople. Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums:
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Young Americans (1975): “Young Americans, released in 1975, was the culmination of Bowie’s soul obsession, and it became his first major crossover hit, peaking in the American Top Ten and generating his first U.S. number one hit in Fame, a song he co-wrote with John Lennon.” AMG Bowie referred to his brand of blue-eyed soul and R&B as “plastic soul.”
Station to Station (1976): “Bowie relocated to Los Angeles, where…he recorded Station to Station, which took the plastic soul…into darker, avant-garde-tinged directions, yet was also a huge hit, generating the Top Ten single Golden Years. The album inaugurated Bowie's persona of the elegant ‘Thin White Duke,’ and it reflected Bowie's growing cocaine-fueled paranoia.” AMG
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ChangesOneBowieDavid Bowie |
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Released: May 21, 1976 Recorded: 1969-1976 Peak: 10 US, 2 UK, -- CN, 8 AU Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 3.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: glam rock |
Tracks: (1) Space Oddity (2) John, I’m Only Dancing (sax version) (3) Changes (4) Ziggy Stardust (5) Suffragette City (6) The Jean Genie (7) Diamond Dogs (7) Rebel Rebel (8) Young Americans (9) Fame (10) Golden Years Total Running Time: 44:14 |
Rating: 4.554 out of 5.00 (average of 11 ratings)
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About ChangesOneBowie: This was the first official compilation of David Bowie’s then-young career. DT1 While dozens of collections would follow, this one triumphs as the first to gather into one package now-classic songs like Space Oddity, Changes, Ziggy Stardust, Suffragette City, The Jean Genie, Diamond Dogs, Rebel Rebel, Young Americans, Fame, and Golden Years. This was the first LP appearance for single John, I’m Only Dancing and marked a revival for “Space Oddity” in the U.K. The song originally hit #5, but rebounded on the charts and went to #1. DT “As with so many pre-CD age Bowie compilations, it's very easy to overlook Changesonebowie in favor of the more-bang-for-your-buck career-spanning collections that have since emerged. It remains, however, a charming time capsule, a reminder of the days when Bowie was as much a chart-topping pop star as an iconic idol.” DT1 Of course, the 1990 CD release of ChangesBowie rendered this collection obsolete as it included everything on the original album plus hits running through Bowie’s commercial peak in the ‘80s. |
Low (1977): “Soon, he decided Los Angeles was too boring and returned to England; shortly after arriving back in London, he gave the awaiting crowd a Nazi salute, a signal of his growing, drug-addled detachment from reality. The incident caused enormous controversy, and Bowie left the country to settle in Berlin, where he lived and worked with Brian Eno.” AMG “Bowie sobered up and…developed a fascination with German electronic music, which Eno helped him fulfill on their first album together, Low…[It] was a startling mixture of electronics, pop, and avant-garde technique…It proved to be one of the most influential albums of the late ‘70s.” AMG
Heroes (1977): This was considered the second album in the Berlin trilogy. “In 1977, [Bowie] also helmed Iggy Pop’s comeback records The Idiot and Lust for Life.” AMG
Lodger (1979): “During 1979, Bowie and Eno recorded Lodger in New York, Switzerland, and Berlin.” AMG It was the third and final album of the Berlin trilogy.
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The Best of 1974/1979David Bowie |
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Released: April 20, 1998 Recorded: 1974-1979 Peak: -- US, 39 UK, -- CN, 49 AU Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.1 UK, 0.1 world (includes US and UK) Genre: glam rock |
Tracks: (1) Sound and Vision (2) Golden Years (3) Fame (4) Young Americans (5) John, I’m Only Dancing (Again) (6) Can You Hear Me? (7) Wild Is the Wind (8) Knock on Wood (live) (9) TVC 15 (10) 1984 (11) It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City (12) Look Back in Anger (13) The Secret Life of Arabia (14) DJ (15) Beauty and the Beast (16) Breaking Glass (17) Boys Keep Swinging (18) Heroes Total Running Time: 69:33 |
Rating:  4.079 out of 5.00 (average of 10 ratings)
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About The Best of 1974/1979: This was the second of three albums which would make up The Platinum Collection, a three-CD set covering Bowie’s career from 1969 to 1987. This set included hits such as Fame, Young Americans, Golden Years, Sound and Vision, Heroes, Boys Keep Swinging, and DJ. Also here are the 1975 re-recording of John, I’m Only Dancing, which saw release as a single in 1979, and Knock on Wood, a top ten hit in the UK only available previously on a live Bowie album. Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums:
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Scary Monsters (1980): Some of the videos shot in support of this album (“Ashes to Ashes,” “Fashion”) became staples in the early days of MTV and helped further Bowie’s reptuation as both a visual and musical icon.
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ChangesTwoBowieDavid Bowie |
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Released: November 16, 1981 Recorded: 1971-1980 Peak: 68 US, 24 UK, -- CN, 53 AU Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.1 UK, 0.1 world (includes US and UK) Genre: glam rock |
Tracks: (1) Aladdin Sane (2) Oh! You Pretty Things (3) Starman (4) 1984 (5) Ashes to Ashes (6) Sound and Vision (7) Fashion (8) Wild Is the Wind (9) John, I’m Only Dancing (Again) (10) DJ Total Running Time: 42:37 |
Rating:  3.705 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings)
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About ChangesTwoBowie: The follow-up to Bowie’s first compilation, Changesonebowie, was a clear case of a record company’s contract with an artist coming to an end. DT2 Bowie wasn’t consulted in compiling this “strangely disjointed ragbag of tracks scraping through the past decade with little regard for either continuity or, perhaps surprisingly, the hits.” DT2 The collection plucked some material from the same ground covered by the previous collection, both hits (Starman) and album cuts (Oh, You Pretty Things, Aladdin Sane, 1984). Strangely absent, however, are the songs “Drive-In Saturday” and “Sorrow,” both which hit #3 in the UK. Similarly overlooked were some of the post-1976 hits (“TVC 15,” “Heroes,” “Boys Keep Swinging,” “Beauty and the Beast”) which would have made sense on this collection. What is here, however, are hits Ashes to Ashes, Sound and Vision and DJ, as well as Wild Is the Wind, which was re-released to promote this collection. DT2 |
Let’s Dance (1983): “In 1983, [Bowie] signed an expensive contract with EMI Records and released Let’s Dance. Bowie had recruited Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers to produce the album, giving the record a sleek, funky foundation, and hired the unknown Stevie Ray Vaughan as lead guitarist. [It] became his most successful record, thanks to stylish, innovative videos for ‘Let’s Dance’ and ‘China Girl,’ which turned both songs into Top Ten hits. Bowie supported the record with the sold-out arena tour Serious Moonlight.” AMG
Tonight (1984): Bowie followed the commercial juggernaut of Let’s Dance with another album in a similar vein. It was also a platinum seller and produced the top-10 hit “Blue Jean,” was wasn’t well received critically.
Never Let Me Down (1987): Never Let Me Down was a more rock-oriented album, but largely fit alongside the last two pop-oriented albums Bowie had recorded. He launched the Glass Tiger in support of the album and while it was a commercial success, it was another critical failure.
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The Best of 1980/1987David Bowie |
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Released: March 19, 2007 Recorded: 1980-1987 Peak: -- US, 34 UK, -- CN, 30 AU Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US and UK) Genre: glam rock |
Tracks: (1) Let’s Dance (2) Ashes to Ashes (3) Under Pressure (with Queen) (4) Fashion (5) Modern Love (6) China Girl (7) Scary Monsters and Super Creeps (8) Up the Hill Backwards (9) Alabama Song (10) The Drowned Girl (11) Cat People (Putting Out the Fire) (12) This Is Not America (with Pat Metheny) (13) Loving the Alien (14) Absolute Beginners (15) When the Wind Blows (16) Blue Jean (17) Day-In Day-Out (18) Time Will Crawl (19) Underground Total Running Time: 77:14 |
Rating: 3.830 out of 5.00 (average of 10 ratings)
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About The Best of 1980/1987: This was the third album in a set packaged as The Platinum Collection, a three-CD retrospective of Bowie’s career from 1969 to 1987. While the first two discs existed as albums prior to the conclusion in the box set, this album was released first as part of the box set and later as in individual album. This was the most commercially successful era of Bowie’s career, with U.S. top ten hits Let’s Dance, China Girl, and Blue Jean. Also included are Ashes to Ashes (a #1 in the UK) and UK top ten hits Fashion, Modern Love, and Absolute Beginners. The latter song, as well as This Is Not America, Underground and When the Wind Blows were cuts originally appearing on soundtracks. Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums:
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ChangesBowieDavid Bowie |
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Released: March 4, 1990 Recorded: 1969-1990 Peak: 39 US, 11 UK, -- CN, 8 AU Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.3 UK, 4.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: glam rock |
Tracks: (1) Space Oddity (2) Starman (3) John, I’m Only Dancing (4) Changes (5) Ziggy Stardust (6) Suffragette City (7) The Jean Genie (8) Life on Mars? (9) Diamond Dogs (10) Rebel Rebel (11) Young Americans (12) Fame ’90 (Gass Mix) (13) Golden Years (14) Sound and Vision (15) Heroes (16) Ashes to Ashes (17) Fashion (18) Let’s Dance (19) China Girl (20) Modern Love (21) Blue Jean Total Running Time: 74:32 |
Rating: 4.557 out of 5.00 (average of 17 ratings)
Awards: (Click on award to learn more).
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About ChangesBowie: Changesbowie was essentially a CD version of the 1976 Changesonebowie collection updated to include songs released since then. Hits from that first collection include Space Oddity, Changes, Ziggy Stardust, Suffragette City, John, I’m Only Dancing, The Jean Genie, Diamond Dogs, Rebel Rebel, Young Americans, and Golden Years. Songs released after that collection which are included here are Heroes, Ashes to Ashes, Fashion, Let’s Dance, China Girl, Modern Love, and Blue Jean. “Consequently, it functions as a definitive single-disc introduction to Bowie.” STE The only real flaw in the collection is the substitution of a 1990 remix of Fame instead of the original. Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums:
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Black Tie White Noise (1993): After his short-lived excursion with the band Tin Machine, Bowie returned with his first solo effort since 1987’s Never Let Me Down. Nile Rodgers (who had produced Let’s Dance) returned to the fold and Reeves Gabrels from Tin Machine stayed on as Bowie’s collaborator. The album garnered positive reviews, but his new label went bankrupt.
Buddha of Suburbia (1993):
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The Singles CollectionDavid Bowie |
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Released: November 16, 1993 Recorded: 1969-1993 Peak: -- US, 9 UK, -- CN, 49 AU Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.3 UK, 0.67 world (includes US and UK) Genre: glam rock |
Tracks, Disc 1 (UK Version): (1) Space Oddity (2) Changes (3) Starman (4) Ziggy Stardust (5) Suffragette City (6) John, I’m Only Dancing (7) The Jean Genie (8) Drive-In Saturday (9) Life on Mars? (10) Sorrow (11) Rebel Rebel (12) Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide (13) Diamond Dogs (14) Knock on Wood (live) (15) Young Americans (16) Fame (17) Golden Years (18) TVC 15 (19) Sound and Vision Tracks, Disc 2 (UK Version): (1) Heroes (2) Beauty and the Beast (3) Boys Keep Swinging (4) DJ (5) Alabama Song (6) Ashes to Ashes (7) Fashion (8) Scary Monsters and Super Creeps (9) Under Pressure (with Queen) (10) Wild Is the Wind (11) Let’s Dance (12) China Girl (13) Modern Love (14) Blue Jean (15) This Is Not America (with Pat Metheny) (16) Dancing in the Street (with Mick Jagger) (17) Absolute Beginners (18) Day-In Day-Out Tracks, Disc 1 (US Version): (1) Space Oddity (2) Changes (3) Oh! You Pretty Things (4) Life on Mars? (5) Ziggy Stardust (6) Starman (7) John, I’m Only Dancing (8) Suffragette City (9) The Jean Genie (10) Sorrow (11) Drive-In Saturday (12) Diamond Dogs (13) Rebel Rebel (14) Young Americans (15) Fame (16) Golden Years (17) TVC 15 (18) Be My Wife (19) Sound and Vision (20) Beauty and the Beast Tracks, Disc 2 (US Version): (1) Heroes (2) Boys Keep Swinging (3) DJ (4) Look Back in Anger (5) Ashes to Ashes (6) Fashion (7) Scary Monsters and Super Creeps (8) Under Pressure (with Queen) (9) Cat People (Putting Out Fire) (10) Let’s Dance (11) China Girl (12) Modern Love (13) Blue Jean (14) Loving the Alien (15) Dancing in the Street (with Mick Jagger) (16) Absolute Beginners (17) Day-In Day-Out (18) Never Let Me Down (19) Jump They Say Total Running Time: 154:14 (UK version?) |
Rating: 4.483 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings)
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About The Singles Collection: This double-disc compilation gathered material from Bowie’s entire career up to that point. The collection essentially supplanted ChangesBowie, released three years earlier, by including all the tracks from that set. The only difference was the 1990 remix of Fame on the previous collection while this one returns to the original version. That means the usual suspects are back: Space Oddity, Changes, Suffragette City, Ziggy Stardust, John, I’m Only Dancing, The Jean Genie, Rebel Rebel, Diamond Dogs, Young Americans, Golden Years, Heroes, Ashes to Ashes, Fashion, Let’s Dance, Modern Love, China Girl, and Blue Jean. The LP and cassette versions of the ChangesBowie album also included Life on Mars?, Starman, and Sound and Vision, which are all present here. That still left room for more than a dozen more songs, notably including some previously overlooked UK hits. Drive-In Saturday, Sorrow, Boys Keep Swinging, and Absolute Beginners were all top tens in the UK while Under Pressure (with Queen) and Dancing in the Street (with Mick Jagger) were both #1’s. The U.S. and U.K. versions differed slightly. Unique to the U.K. version were Rock and Roll Suicide, Knock on Wood, Wild Is the Wind, Alabama Song, and This Is Not America. Of these, Bowie’s live version of “Knock on Wood” was the most successful, hitting the top ten in the UK. Seven songs were unique to the U.S. version: Oh, You Pretty Things, Be My Wife, Look Back in Anger, Cat People (Putting Out the Fire), Loving the Alien, Never Let Me Down, and Jump They Say. Only “Cat People” hit the charts in the U.S., peaking at #67. Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums:
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Outside (1995): Bowie reconnected with Brian Eno, with whom he’d collaborated for the Berlin trilogy (1977’s Low and Heroes, 1979’s Lodger). This time Eno was the producer for “the wildly hyped, industrial rock-tinged Outside…Bowie supported it with a co-headlining tour with Nine Inch Nails in order to snag a younger, alternative audience, but his gambit failed; audiences left before Bowie's performance.” AMG
Earthling (1997): Bowie’s next foray was into techno music. It “received generally positive reviews, yet the album failed to gain an audience, and many techno purists criticized Bowie for allegedly exploiting their subculture.” AMG
Hours (1999):
Toy (2001): This is an unreleased collection of songs from early in Bowie’s career which he re-recorded.
Heathen (2002): 22 years after Bowie had last worked with producer Tony Visconti on 1980’s Scary Monsters, the pair reconnected for Bowie’s first album with Columbia Records.
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Best of BowieDavid Bowie |
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Released: October 22, 2002 Recorded: 1969-2002 Peak: 4 US, 11 UK, -- CN, 6 AU Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 1.2 UK, 4.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: glam rock |
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Tracks, Disc 1 (European Version): (1) Space Oddity (2) The Man Who Sold the World (3) Oh! You Pretty Things (4) Changes (5) Life on Mars? (6) Starman (7) Ziggy Stardust (8) Suffragette City (9) John, I’m Only Dancing (10) The Jean Genie (11) Drive-In Saturday (12) Sorrow (13) Diamond Dogs (14) Rebel Rebel (15) Young Americans (16) Fame (17) Golden Years (18) TVC 15 (19) Wild Is the Wind Tracks, Disc 2 (European Version): (1) Sound and Vision (2) Heroes (3) Boys Keep Swinging (4) Under Pressure (with Queen) (5) Ashes to Ashes (6) Fashion (7) Scary Monsters and Super Creeps (8) Let’s Dance (9) China Girl (10) Modern Love (11) Blue Jean (12) This Is Not America (with Pat Metheny) (13) Loving the Alien (14) Dancing in the Street (with Mick Jagger) (15) Absolute Beginners (16) Jump They Say (17) Hallo Spaceboy (18) Little Wonder (19) I’m Afraid of Americans (20) Slow Burn Tracks (US Version): (1) Space Oddity (2) Changes (3) Suffragette City (4) Ziggy Stardust (5) The Jean Genie (6) Rebel Rebel (7) Young Americans (8) Fame (9) Golden Years (10) Heroes (11) Ashes to Ashes (12) Fashion (13) Under Pressure (with Queen) (14) Let’s Dance (15) China Girl (16) Modern Love (17) Blue Jean (18) Dancing in the Street (with Mick Jagger) (19) This Is Not America (with Pat Metheny) (20) I’m Afraid of Americans Total Running Time: 156:20 (European version) |
Rating (European version): 4.489 out of 5.00 (average of 17 ratings)
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About Best of Bowie: Best of Bowie lives up to its title as the best compilation to-date of his material. It covers nearly another decade of material since the release of The Singles Collection. Like that set, this one saw different versions released. In fact, the album was released in 21 territories, each with its own track listing, based on what songs were popular locally. A total of 63 tracks appeared on all the iterations of the album. WK In some markets it was released as single-disc package and in other areas it was released as two. The U.S. version, a single-disc release, covered much of the same territory as 1990’s ChangesBowie and both the U.S. and U.K. versions of 1993’s Singles Collection with the following appearing on all of the collections: Space Oddity, Changes, Suffragette City, Ziggy Stardust, The Jean Genie, Rebel Rebel, Young Americans, Golden Years, Heroes, Ashes to Ashes, Fashion, Let’s Dance, Modern Love, China Girl, and Blue Jean. After the inclusion of an unnecessary remix of Fame on ChangesBowie, The Singles Collection went back to the original, as does Best of Bowie. Also on The Singles Collection and this one are two songs which went to #1 in the UK – Under Pressure (with Queen) and Dancing in the Street (with Mick Jagger). Best of Bowie also added This Is Not America, which had appeared on the U.K. version of The Singles Collection, and I’m Afraid of Americans, the only post-1993 song on the American version of Best of Bowie. All of those songs were on the two-disc European version of Best of Bowie, with more than a dozen more songs which had appeared on the U.K. version of The Singles Collection and another couple of songs which had appeared on the U.S. version. While it had nearly been a decade since 1993’s Singles Collection, this set only adds four post-1993 songs: Hallo Spaceboy, I’m Afraid of Americans, Little Wonder, and Slow Burn. |
Reality (2003): After Bowie reunited with producer Tony Visconti for 2002’s Heathen, they worked together again for this album.
The Next Day (2013): After a ten-year hiatus, Bowie finally returned to the studio and released this surprise album, collaborating once again with producer Tony Visconti.
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Nothing Has ChangedDavid Bowie |
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Released: November 18, 2014 Recorded: 1969-2014 Peak: 57 US, 5 UK, -- CN, 3 AU Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.1 UK Genre: glam rock |
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Tracks, Disc 1: (1) Sue (Or in a Season of Crime) (2) Where Are We Now? (3) Love Is Lost (4) The Stars Are Out Tonight (5) New Killer Star (6) Everyone Says “Hi” (7) Slow Burn (8) Let Me Sleep Beside You (9) Your Turn to Drive (10) Shadow Man (11) Seven (12) Survive (13) Thursday’s Child (14) I’m Afraid of Americans (15) Little Wonder (16) Hallo Spaceboy (17) The Hearts Filthy Lesson (18) Strangers When We Meet Tracks, Disc 2: (1) The Buddha of Suburbia (2) Jump They Say (3) Time Will Crawl (4) Absolute Beginners (5) Dancing in the Street (with Mick Jagger) (6) Loving the Alien (7) This Is Not America (with Pat Metheny) (8) Blue Jean (9) Modern Love (10) China Girl (11) Let’s Dance (12) Fashion (13) Scary Monsters and Super Creeps (14) Ashes to Ashes (15) Under Pressure (with Queen) (16) Boys Keep Swinging (17) Heroes (18) Sound and Vision (19) Golden Years (20) Wild Is the Wind Tracks, Disc 3: (1) Fame (2) Young Americans (3) Diamond Dogs (4) Rebel Rebel (5) Sorrow (6) Drive-In Saturday (7) All the Young Dudes (8) The Jean Genie (9) Moonage Daydream (10) Ziggy Stardust (11) Starman (12) Life on Mars? (13) Oh! You Pretty Things (14) Changes (15) The Man Who Sold the World (16) Space Oddity (17) In the Heart of the Morning (18) Silly Boy Blue (19) Can’t Help Thinking About Me (20) You’ve Got a Habit of Leaving (21) Liza Jane |
Rating: 4.336 out of 5.00 (average of 14 ratings)
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About Nothing Has Changed: This three-disc set came more than a decade after 2002’s Best of Bowie, but didn’t have much new ground to cover since Bowie had only released two studio albums in that time. This collection does, however, include roughly a disc’s worth of content not featured on previous compilations. There are five songs from 2003-2014, including New Killer Star from 2003’s Reality album and three cuts (Where Are We Now?, The Stars Are Out Tonight, Love Is Lost) from 2013’s The Next Day. Also here is one new song – Sue (Or a Season of Crime), a version of which would also appear on his final album, 2016’s Blackstar. Most interesting is the conclusion of a few early Bowie songs (Liza Jane, You’ve Got a Habit of Leaving, Can’t Help Thinking About Me, Silly Boy Blue) which preceded his 1969 breakthrough with Space Oddity. Also here are a trio of songs (Let Me Sleep Beside You, Shadow Man, Toy (Your Turn to Drive)) from Bowie’s 2001 unreleased Toy album. This collection also does a better job representing the 1993-2002 era by including seven songs which were not featured on Best of Bowie: Buddha of Suburbia, The Heart’s Filthy Lesson, Strangers When We Meet, Thursday’s Child, Survive, Seven, and Everyone Says “Hi”. This set was also released in single and double-CD editions. Only the 3-CD set has been included on this page. Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums:
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Blackstar (2016): Bowie’s final studio album was released just days before his death from liver cancer at age 69.
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Legacy: The Very Best ofDavid Bowie |
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Released: November 11, 2016 Recorded: 1969-2015 Peak: 78 US, 5 UK, 68 CN, 31 AU Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.1 UK Genre: glam rock |
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Tracks, Disc 1: (1) Space Oddity (2) The Man Who Sold the World (3) Changes (4) Oh! You Pretty Things (5) Life on Mars? (6) Starman (7) Ziggy Stardust (8) Moonage Daydream (9) The Jean Genie (10) All the Young Dudes (11) Drive-In Saturday (12) Sorrow (13) Rebel Rebel (14) Young Americans (15) Fame (16) Golden Years (17) Sound and Vision (18) Heroes (19) Boys Keep Swinging (20) Fashion (21) Ashes to Ashes Tracks, Disc 2: (1) Under Pressure (with Queen) (2) Let’s Dance (3) China Girl (4) Modern Love (5) Blue Jean (6) This Is Not America (with Pat Metheny) (7) Dancing in the Street (with Mick Jagger) (8) Absolute Beginners (9) Jump They Say (10) Hallo Spaceboy (11) Little Wonder (12) I’m Afraid of Americanss (13) Thursday’s Child (14) Slow Burn (15) Everyone Says “Hi” (16) New Killer Star (17) Where Are We Now? (18) Lazarus (19) I Can’t Give Everything Away Total Running Time: 2:30:55 |
Rating: 4.483 out of 5.00 (average of 8 ratings)
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About Legacy: This was the first compilation released after Bowie’s death and thus the only set to cover his last studio work. Lazarus proved as vital a Bowie song as anything he’d done in his career, showcasing an artist who knew he was dying but still had a final creative burst. Also from Bowie’s final album Blackstar is I Can’t Give Everything Away. Otherwise this collection is a pared-down version of the three-disc Nothing Has Changed compilation, released just two years earlier. This was also released in a single-disc format which is not highlighted on this page. |
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Last updated 1/18/2022. |
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