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Amazon.co.uk Review
Like the Rolling Stones' similarly enjoyable 40 Licks, things do get a bit sticky towards the end of Disc Two, though there's mercifully nothing from the two Tin Machine albums. Obsessives should note, too, that the tracklisting of Best of Bowie varies from country to country: the albums have been compiled according to the most popular songs in each territory. Wonder which lucky place got "The Laughing Gnome" included on their version? --John Mulvey
Review
Best Of brings the story right up to date. Released in 22 different versions across the globe (the one song common to all being ''Fame'') and accompanied by a remastered DVD, this package is as near perfect as it can be. Disc one takes us from his 1969 career-breaker ''Space Oddity'' up to his first personal crisis (the usual stuff: drugs, occultism, flirtations with right wing imagery) in 1975. On the way you meet all those favourites, more like old friends than actual songs.
Hunky Dory's piano-led beauties (''Oh! You Pretty Things'', ''Changes''), Ziggys hard-riffing pop classics (''Starman'', ''Suffragette City''), the glam overkill of Aladdin Sane (''Jean Genie''), Pin Ups (''Sorrow'') and Diamond Dogs (''Rebel Rebel'') and top marks for the inclusion of the title track of neglected masterpiece The Man Who Sold The World. From there it's all plastic soul and fragile beauty as our Dave gets a little lost in a cocaine blizzard. You can almost hear the click of razor on mirror in songs like ''Golden Years'' and ''TVC15''.
CD two, as with all chronological examinations of great people's careers, shows a little slacking off. With Dr Eno to ease him through the withdrawal in Berlin, we get gems like ''Sound And Vision'' and ''Boys Keep Swinging''. Despite the aberration of ''Under Pressure'' the new methodology held through his last masterpiece Scary Monsters, and then the curse of the 80s fell across Bowie's life. The shiny beast that is Lets Dance had all the seeds of ruin within it. The only trouble was that Dave was shipping so many units that he didn't notice it all going awry. ''Blue Jean'' barely exists, so formulaic is it, and one can't help but think that ''This Is Not America'' was beautiful because of Pat Metheny's measured touch. Tonight was not his finest moment though ''Loving The Alien'' does have a strange distant beauty to it. Like watching a ballet through a telescope.
Bowie must be gutted to this day that when he finally got to play with one of his teen idols, Mick Jagger,it was on the charity embarrassment ''Dancing In The Street''. It was to be a good eight years before it all came right again. The reunion with Eno on 1.Outside yielded ''Hallo Spaceboy'' (remixed here by the Pet Shop Boys) while the follow up Earthling showed that he'd actually started listening to contemporary music again. The drum 'n' bass fury of ''Little Wonder'' is splendidly edgy.
Which leads us up to the most recent addition to the canon: ''Slow Burn'' from Heathen demonstrates that there's more than enough life in this South London dog yet. Recent gigs have been joyous celebrations of both past and present. With this exemplary compilation under his belt maybe we can look forward to more of the old restless spirit which always marked his best work. He's not ready for suburbia just yet. --Chris Jones
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Customer Reviews
CD1 equates more or less to "the legendary years" as we're introduced to Major Tom floating in his tin can, Ziggy Stardust playing guitar, and all the most familiar songs. The order is clearly intended to be chronological, but actually isn't ("Starman" is bizarrely out of sequence), although it holds up well, presenting Bowie's own artistic progression from guitar-strumming troubadour through his mastery of glam rock and electronica. His capacity to straddle genres is abundantly clear by about five tracks in, as is his skill as a chronicler of the changing fashions of the age, from glam rock ("You Pretty Things" and "Life on Mars") through the androgynous disco era ("John, I'm Only Dancing") to punk ("Rebel Rebel"). The first half of the CD contains all-time greats as well as some less familiar classics ("Drive-In Saturday" is my personal favourite). Personally, I find everything after "Diamond Dogs" a bit painful to listen to; "Fame" and "Golden Years" may be classics of their kind but they do represent Bowie in the throes of his musical wanderlust, and the quality of the melodies and the poignancy of the lyrics take a back seat. The last few tracks are, frankly, a let-down, and not a patch on "Space Oddity" or "Life on Mars".
CD2 redeems all that, picking up at the tail end of the 70s with the glorious instrumental of "Sound and Vision". "Heroes", following it, is over-familiar now thanks to car adverts and too much Radio 2 airplay, but gives a foretaste of what was to lie in store in the 1980s. There may be fewer all-time greats on CD2 ("Ashes to Ashes", "China Girl" and "Let's Dance" being pre-eminent), but a more melodic Bowie is showcased here: still an auditory experimenter, as shown in the deranged Mockney vocals of "Scary Monsters" and the thumping cacophony of "Little Wonder", but one with a deeply soulful side, best exemplified in the glorious "Absolute Beginners". This is also the collaborative Bowie, appearing here with Queen ("Under Pressure"), Mick Jagger ("Dancing in the Street") and the Pet Shop Boys ("Hallo Spaceboy"), tracks more usually omitted from traditional compilations. The late 80s are ignored altogether, and the selection of more recent tracks seems rather arbitrary, with only "Hallo Spaceboy" really seeming to work to justify its inclusion; consequently, CD2 also seems to end on a weak note. But so much brilliance has gone before that it's hard to complain, really!
It's unlikely that any listener will like *every* track on this CD. Bowie's musical repertoire was so wide-ranging that he will never please all the people all the time. Everyone will have their own ideas about what should have been left off (for me most of the "Fame"-era stuff could have happily been ditched) and what should have been included, but wasn't (I'd have had "Time Will Crawl" and "Never Let Me Down", not to mention "The Laughing Gnome"...). Perhaps that's the strength of this collection. Listen and decide for yourself!
If there are any criticisms they would be that the track list is very similar to 1993's "The single collection2, so long term fans may not see the need to purchase these songs again, and personally I would have chosen "Everyone Says Hi" rather than "Slowburn" from Heathen. Howver this is a great introduction for Bowie initiates, and a great present for anyone!
Make sure that you do not buy this album assuming it contains all of the best songs Bowie ever released, these are only the ones that were the most commercially successful. Bowie's albums are another topic altogether and you are advised to check out his albums since many of them are classics in their own right. Some of the most creative and experimental music that Bowie recorded is not to be found on this compilation but in the filler between the tracks found on this CD when they are on their original albums.
Overall, this CD is a good introduction to Bowie, but don't be afraid to dig deeper, there's a lot more gold down there.
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