Best Of Bowie

The single-disc "Best of Bowie" is a greatest-hits package for absolute beginners. If you don't mind the edited versions of "Young Americans," "Heroes," "Ashes to Ashes" and "Let's Dance," by all means give this a listen. Otherwise, track down "Changesonebowie" or the revised "Sound + Vision" box set.

Not really a Bowie fan, I always feel like he's contrived and a bit of a Queen. But years later, I gotta admit a lot of his songs makes you think of some your carefree days, I guess because the tunes are so danceable and they were always playing them in parties. The lyrics are never flippant and ofcourse there's that distinctive Bowie voice.
This CD is also very generous with 20 of his best songs that span his illustrious career. Bowie is never boring, you can't be if you're an icon, and he's still around. The best thing about this CD is that, even if you're not a huge Bowie, I bet you can find a few of your favorites like "Modern Love," "Lets Dance" "Young American" and ofcourse everyone's favorite, "China Girl." Hard not to not like this one.

David Bowie is one of my top ten favourite singers of all time.
He was a superstar of the 70s and 80s with his magnifficent combination of Rock, Pop, Glam Rock, Art Rock, Industrial Rock and Space Rock.
This album showcases his best known hits.
The poetry of the lyrics is brilliant-and the music astronomical .
It begins with that wonderful space fantasy Space Oddity (1969). Remember this was the year that Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon!
Changes (1972) outlines the strain of rapid change while pointing out its inevitability.
What follows is the wonderful disco funk of Suffragette City (1976), the superb The Jean Genie, Rebel Rebel (1974), slight transition from hard rock to cool funk with Young Americans (1975 and the hypnotizing Fame (1975), Golden Years (1975), the rhythmic Heroes (1977) which is classic Bowie. One of my alltime, favourites is Ashes to Ashes (1980) a type of reminiscence of Bowies career and life up to then with the central theme a major one of the 80's:A wake up to reality and a resolve to turn ones back on the drugs and decadence of the preceding years.The disco beat of Fashion (1980) contains a powerful social commentary.
Then there is the famous and successful collaboration between Bowie and Queen....Under Pressure (1981), The 80's disco of Lets Dance (1983) ,China Girl(1983) and another favourite of mine Modern Love (1983) shows how Bowie adapted to new eras in music without losing any of his talent, the superb Blue Jean (1984) and Modern Love (1983)which shows how Bowie adapted to new eras in music without losing any of his talent
The collaboration with Mick Jagger Dancing In The Street (1985) is followed by This Is Not America and I'm Afraid of Americans.

The chameleon of pop. Major Tom. Ziggy Stardust. The Thin White Duke. Folk, glam, soul, funk, dance, pop, drum & bass. David Bowie has gone through many pivotal phases in his illustrious career. But capturing the essence of his character for the sake of beginners is a tricky task. This one-disc compilation attempts to reconcile the many phases of Bowie's varied career within the 80 minute time limit imposed by the format. How well does it accomplish this task, and what material made the final cut?

Well:

1. Space Oddity- A folkie sort of tune about a man in space. Very well produced, with strings and other instruments occasionally adding flavour to this essentially acoustic song.

2. Changes- A classic pop tune. The "ch-ch-ch-changes" bit should be familiar to most, as should the "Time may change me/but I can't change time" refrain.

3. Suffragette City- "Hey Man" and "Wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am" are the choiciest bits of this glam rock track. This song signals Bowie's entry into glitter infamy as he takes up the persona of Ziggy Stardust.

4. Ziggy Stardust- Another classic. Very well produced: an acoustic on one stereo channel and an electric guitar on the other. Catchy, utterly senseless ("he could like 'em by smiling") and timeless.

5. The Jean Genie- Fantastic glam riff, so great it was later copped by the Sweet for "Blockbuster." The bass intro itself is great, and the lyrics are uber-bizarre.

6. Rebel, Rebel- One of Bowie's more well-known compositions. Take to guess what it's about?

7. Young Americans [Single Version]- Any bits of glam rock are gone by 1975. This track shows Bowie fully immerse himself into the Philly Soul sound, and the results are quite nice. Its a lively track, with back-up singers and the works, and there's a great frantic quality about the whole song. This compilation gives us the abridged single version. It's not a huge problem, though.

8. Fame- A funky masterpiece. It's got a street-wise minimalist strut that's hard to beat. Also from '75 and made with a little help from an ex-Beatle, this song is another instant Bowie classic. It's one of the highlights from the "Young Americans" album, and clearly a highlight of Bowie's career.

9. Golden Years [Single Version]- The funkyness of "Young Americans" is consolidated and plasticized on this track. The groove and the soul still there, but they've been molded into Bowie's framework. Again, this version is abridged.

10. Heroes [Single Version]- One of the best songs of all time. Heart-wrenching delivery, gripping lyrics that teem with a universal theme & unique production. This track was the one that most got my attention off the entire compilation. My misgiving? It's the abridged version. The original is over 6 minutes long and has Bowie's delivery evolved from aloof to extremely passionate. The edited version remains powerful, but a bit of the strength is sapped by cutting it down.

11. Ashes To Ashes [Single Version]- Remeber Major Tom? He's still around, but on this track, we find out he's actually a junkie "strung out in heaven's eye/hitting an all-time low." The song has a space-age production that still sounds fresh today, sort of like early Roxy Music taken to its logical extreme. Abridged, but that's no problem.

12. Fashion [Single Version]- Another abridged song? Yep. No problem, though. This slightly-veiled pastiche against fascism is remains great. Angular guitar work, dark neon production and goofy lyrics that counterpose fashion and authoritarianism all have a place in this song. Wonderful.

13. Under Pressure- Bowie and Queen. The bass line of the century. Universal subject. Excellent delivery. Classic all the way.

14. Let's Dance [Single Version]- The track that broke Bowie into our hearts. Moody, danceable, retro, modern... a set of contradictions embodied in a single track. Unbelievably fun, though. Abridged.

15. China Girl [Single Version]- Originally recorded by Iggy Pop but written by Bowie and the ex-Stooge, this song takes the moodyness found in Let's Dance and allows it to become the core of the composition. Any song that can incorporate oriental cliches, Marlon Brando and swastikas just so happens to be crazy enough to work. "Oh baby, just you shut your mouth...shhhh...." Abridged.

16. Modern Love- Takes off where the poppy Let's Dance track left off. Dancey with a bit of retro-jukebox twist, yet still a product of the 80s. Catchy and bouncey, but not as creatively-driven as his 70s output.

17. Blue Jea- Like Modern Love, but with the occasional horns. Good fun, but increasingly hollow.

18. Dancing In The Street- Bowie and Jagger. Should've been genius, like Bowie and Queen. Alas, its anything but. This cover of a Martha & the Vendellas track is notable for its triteness and shoddy nature. This is where the Bowie's quality control department instinct fell asleep at the wheel. Somehow, people remember this aberration, hence its inclusion here.

19. This Is Not America- David Bowie and Pat Metheny Group make a song. World falls asleep.

20. I'm Afraid of Americans (V1) [Radio Edit]- V1? Radio Edit? Well, the version on the "Earthling" album is quite different from the one here. It's arranged a bit differently and it has a different mix. This version stems from the "I'm Afraid of Americans" single, which is essentially an EP where Trent Reznor gets to muck about and make noise. There are 6 versions of the songs on that single. This is version one, i.e., V1. It's also shortened by about a minute. All I can say is that its not the best track off "Earthling," but it did get attention because of the video.

So what are the pros of this collection? Well, it touches upon most eras of Bowie's work. Great songs are chosen throughout. Its everything you might ever want, and then some.

Cons? The edited songs are sure to miff many fans, but for the most part, nothing really major is cut out. Another misgiving one can have about the collection lies in the fact that its a one-CD set, and thus omits many hits, favourites and even entire periods (hardly any album tracks from 84-97, nothing from 97-02!). One can also argue that the last few songs could have been replaced by better choices.

So what I have to say about this compilation? For me, it was an excellent introduction to Bowie. It wasn't too cumbersome, and it gave a solid overview. The latter tracks are weak selections, but aside from that, nothing else ticked me off. In retrospect, one would have hoped for better tracks at the end and maybe less abridged versions. But that's about the only big faults I can name. If you want a sturdy introduction to Bowie, check out some of the multiple-disc collections. If you are looking for an affordable one-disc Bowie compilation, this is a great place to start.

I happened across this disc while looking for something else. I'm not a huge Bowie fan, but this disc contains songs of his that I'm most familiar with - Ashes To Ashes, Fame, Fashion, Blue Jean, and my favorites from the Let's Dance album - Modern Love, Let's Dance and China Girl. This is enough for me - I would have been disappointed had I bought the two-disc.