CD Description
This EMI David Bowie set seems like it was compiled by a devoted fan; a fan on intimate terms with the early albums andbent on showing casual listeners "the real Bowie". (Rumour has it, in fact, that Bowie himself picked the 12 cuts here). To wit, COLLECTION sidesteps the mega-hits: "Space Oddity", "Changes", and "Suffragette City" are nowhere to be found.Instead, COLLECTION cherry-picks one track from each of Bowie's albums from SPACE ODDITY to SCARY MONSTERS, and the results play like the world's greatest Bowie mix-tape.
The great protean sprawl of Bowie's best decade can be traced in abbreviated form here with early psychedelic folk-rock ("Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed"), witty social satire ("Andy Warhol"), groovy glam rock ("Soul Love"), blue-eyed R&B ("Somebody Up There Likes Me"), futuristic avant-pop (Beautyand the Beast"), and streamlined, decade-closing anthems ("Teenage Wildlife"). The songs equal, and in some cases surpass, Bowie's better-known hits, reminding us that he was a first-rate craftsman of brilliant creativity, and that he churned out enough stellar material in the '70s to pack at leasttwo or three more discs like this with hidden treasures.