I was looking at the latest feed on Discogs and noticed a Bowie compilation that was new to me this morning. “Chameleon” was an Australian/New Zealand compilation new to me, and with a very dated line in airbrush art using the now hoary cut-up matrix of Bowie archetypes forming a collage of his various looks. But a glance at the contents was more inspiring! Like all of the compilations we’ll review today, it attempts to be a single disc LP that encompassed the crucial 1970-1980 period upon which Bowie’s reputation actually rests.
And that got me thinking of the practicality of making a single LP that could most successfully make the case of Bowie’s artistic relevance to the 70s and beyond. So I started looking at the other compilations for the artist. I discounted the several in the 70s that compiled his proto-“Space Odyssey” material as being of marginal interest at best. What we wanted to consider here were the albums that captured Bowie at his artistic peak. The sort of album that would act as a gateway drug to a lifetime of Bowie fandom. Seeing if there was a clear leader in the field. We’ll start with the grand daddy of them all.
David Bowie: ChangesOneBowie – US – LP [1976]
- Space Oddity
- John, I’m Only Dancing
- Changes
- Ziggy Stardust
- Suffragette City
- The Jean Genie
- Diamond Dogs
- Rebel Rebel
- Young Americans
- Fame
- Golden Years
In 1979, a friend was taking a trip to visit his older brother who had a famously large collection of albums. I gave my friend a few blank tapes and asked him to tape me a few to expand my horizons. The tape I can vividly remember 43 years later was significant. One side was “Ziggy Stardust” and the other was “Changesonebowie.” I had only heard a handful of Bowie songs on the radio by 1979, so “Changesonebowie” was perhaps the most expansive “greatest hits” album possible, with many of the tunes new to my teenage ears. All of them were great songs! And the introspective Hollywood glam shot of Bowie on the cover by Tom Kelley oozed class, intelligence, and panache. Picking up the design cues from the then just out “Stationtostation” didn’t hurt a single bit.
The one failure for the album I can possibly suggest, was that owing to its release in the spring of 1976, it missed out on the apogee of Bowie’s artistic growth arc. Which I would maintain peaked in the ’76-’80 period. So, as wonderful an enticement to Bowie fandom that this is, it’s missing what I would consider the best work of his career. And in a hard-to-believe factoid, I’ve never owned a copy.
David Bowie: Bowie Now – USP – LP [1978]
- V-2 Schneider
- Always Crashing In The Same Car
- Sons Of The Silent Age
- Breaking Glass
- Neuköln
- Speed Of Life
- Joe The Lion
- What In The World
- Blackout
- Weeping Wall
- The Secret Life Of Arabia
This was a US promo designed to get reticent, stick-in-the-mud US DJs and Program Directors to possibly play the two “weird” new albums that Bowie issued in 1977 to deaf ears on the US radio waves. I can say that until I bought my “Nice Price” budget RCA copies of “Low” and “Heroes” in 1981 I had never heard a note from these opuses. Which was a crying shame! This compilation alternated cuts from each of the albums in question and while none would balk at the selections, there was always so much more that could have been included!
I can’t believe that “Heroes” or “Beauty + The Beast” were not here. Nor “Sound + Vision” or “Be My Wife,” either! But, aaaaah…! This was the only one with “The Secret life Of Arabia!” That counted for a lot. In 2018, this album was reissued commercially on white vinyl for Record Store Day, so if it calls to you, it won’t cost an arm and a leg if you can do without an original pressing.
David Bowie: Chameleon – OZ – LP [1979]
- Starman
- Aladdin Sane
- Sorrow
- Diamond Dogs
- 1984
- Breaking Glass
- Heroes
- V-2 Schneider
- Beauty And The Beast
- Boys Keep Swinging
- D.J.
- Look Back In Anger
Now this is a fascinating playlist! Side one is a quick sweep through 72-74 before getting deep into the Proto-Post-Punk peak of Bowie with seven tracks from the “Berlin Trilogy” of ’77-’79! With my taste in Bowie, this one was weighted very surprisingly to the modern sounds that I appreciated the most. And you were gifted with “Heroes” and “Beauty + The Beast” this time! That’s more like it! Early material got short shrift, but at the end of the day, this playlist fascinates me as it seems the work of a kindred spirit. Tracking down one of these in the northern hemisphere might prove difficult, but if I saw one <$10 it would be mine in a heartbeat. Used prices in the US range from $16-$200+ on Discogs, for what it’s worth.
David Bowie: 1980 All Clear – USP – LP [1979]
- The Man Who Sold The World
- Space Oddity
- Ziggy Stardust
- Panic In Detroit
- Always Crashing In The Same Car
- 1984
- Golden Years
- Fascination
- Heroes
- Boys Keep Swinging
This one is actually in my Record Cell due to the thoughtful ministrations of my loved one, who keeps a sharp eye peeled for this sort of thing in her travels. Of course, The Glam Rock Nun is a Bowie fan too! It’s got crucial songs like “Space Oddity” and “Ziggy Stardust” but had lots of room for fascinating deep cuts like the electric “Panic In Detroit” or “1984.” And this was the only one with anything from “The Man Who Sold The World.” While still keeping the door open for some of the late 70s canon. A very well curated selection. I might not like this more than “Chameleon,” but I might agree that it was on objectively “better” a representation of the breadth of Bowie’s music.
David Bowie: The Best Of Bowie – UK – LP [1980]
- Space Oddity
- Life On Mars
- Starman
- Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide
- John, I’m Only Dancing
- The Jean Genie
- Breaking Glass
- Sorrow
- Diamond Dogs
- Young Americans
- Fame
- Golden Years
- TVC 15
- Sound And Vision
- Heroes
- Boys Keep Swinging
Here’s another one that I ran across and bought just for the sake of it! This was the only K-Tel artist compilation that might appeal to me [apart from “The Magic of ABBA®]. Aside from “Heroes,” it’s lacking most of my absolute peak favorites, but this was still a very strong selection. Possibly the strongest yet in this review.
The critical factor here, though, and to its technical detriment, was that many of these songs were edited down from their LP versions in unique edits to cram sixteen [16 HITS – 16!] Bowie tunes onto a single LP. of course, that was precisely why I bought this! Those obscure Bowie edits that appeared nowhere else were a magnet to me. The cover design, carried over from the then-current Edward Bell “Fashion” single, didn’t hurt either.
David Bowie: Fame + Fashion – US – CD [1984]
- Space Oddity
- Changes
- Starman
- 1984
- Young Americans
- Fame
- Golden Years
- TVC 15
- “Heroes”
- D.J.
- Fashion
- Ashes To Ashes
This was the last Bowie compilation that drew upon the era in question here. And like some of the ones we’ve already discussed, it drew upon the then-current Bowie style for its visage. Unfortunately, this was the “Let’s Dance” era and the “Geraldine Ferraro” look of Bowie’s that I have exactly zero time for! I find it interesting that “Rebel Rebel” from “Diamond Dogs” was hard to find on any of these, yet “1984,” what I would consider a deep cut, was on half of these albums. I find that strange.
To its credit, this was the only one that had the singles from “Scary Monsters” in the running, which was a real benefit. I ran across my CD copy in the wilderness years where Bowie on the silver disc was impossibly scarce, so I was happy to have this CD. It was well-balanced, if lacking in many of my absolute favorites. But a shame about the cover. Not to mention the scabrous state of whatever masters RCA dredged up to digitize for this one! Some of these songs sound as if they were sourced from flexi-discs!
There would be many Bowie compilations to come down the pike in the next 37 years, but most of them were multi disc CD sets that allowed for much greater depth of inclusion. But there was something to be said for the succinct challenge of making a single LP that could capture all of the many facets to this artist. And the attempt to make each one of these albums was a noble attempt to count the number of angels who could dance on the head of a Bowie-shaped pin.
-30-
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Post-Punk Monk 
PPM,
I love Bowie, but the mid-to-late ’80s were such a weird time for him (I know, he needed to cash in and go mega-pop for a bit). I was in high school when “Let’s Dance” was released, and while that album has it’s charms (and a strong nostalgic pull for me), it’s not in the same league as his work in the ’70s up to 1980’s “Scary Monsters.”
Your spit-take funny summation of this time is so spot-on: “Unfortunately, this was the “Let’s Dance” era and the “Geraldine Ferrero” look of Bowie’s that I have exactly zero time for!’
I salute you, sir!
Steve
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Steve Shafer – I’m impressed you can find any charms with “Let’s Dance.” The singles from it were gut-punches to me. And they were better than the rest of the album, which I didn’t hear until 1997! Even the cover was stolen from Iggy Pop!
But Steve, which compilation did you vote for? At the end of the day K-Tel won for me. Edits and all. Besides, I have read that “Bowie Now” also performed edits to the critical intro to “Beauty + The Beast!” That’s just not done!
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PPM,
I went with “The Best of Bowie” comp, though it really suffers for not including “D.J.” (what a track!). Never realized that Bowie stole the “Let’s Dance” cover imagery from Iggy. I guess he figured Iggy owed him for all of the help resurrecting his career in 1977.
Also, I didn’t say I was proud of my affection for “Let’s Dance”!
Best,
Steve
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Steve Shafer – As long as you admire “Let’s Dance” honestly! That’s all I ask of you. I’ve got no time for knee-jerk contrarians. At the end of the day I’m happy that at least he helped to fatten Peter Godwin and Duncan Browne’s coffers with that “Criminal World” cover.
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I would be much more interested in fan curated tracklists for homemade Bowie collections.
Mine would be a 2 disc set of album cuts, professional mixes/extened versions and fanmade mixes, Dreamtime had some excellent ones before his footprint from the web largely disappeared (still has a very small presence on Soundcloud). Disc 3 would be the best Bowie mashups I’ve found. One of the things I loved about music blogs in their heydey was reading peoples dream tracklistings for these sets.
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ugh, what a terrible question, lol. I once sat down with a 90 minute cassette and raided a friends Bowie collection for a very best of home made tape. I eventually walked away with three 90 minute cassettes of “essential” Bowie, including some of those notorious pre Space Oddity songs and, it being 1987, lots of post 1980 tracks. Nowadays I tend to reach for the 74-80 and post 2010 period stuff mostly. Although I have a soft spot (or morbid fascination) for his cover of God Only Knows.
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Dave Richards – Well, I also feel that those eras [74-80, 2010+] were the freshest for Bowie, too. As for “God Only Knows,” I’d seek professional help if I were you. But don’t listen to me. I have a 7″ of “John Wayne Is Big Leggy” [that I paid $10 for!!] that I’m equally drawn to/repelled by.
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The fact that it’s a K-TEL album sort of cements it for me and wins my vote. Well, of THESE options. Kudos on the Ferraro reference. Personally I can’t think of a single disc offering that is up to the task. That collection released during his Tin Machine phase, not Sound + Vision, but Singles Collection I think – it was a two disc affair and initial copies had a mindisc of “Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy” which is why I picked it up. THAT would be my pick. Yes, it’s not a single disc, but it really does a great job of capturing his… let’s just call it greatness.
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postpostmoderndad – I remember the “Singles” comp. That one with the CD3 of “Little Drummer Boy” was always taunting me. But more for the original LP mix of “Cat People” than the Bowie/Bing duet. I did buy the laserdisc that accompanied this compilation. In 1993, this was The Bomb we’d been waiting a decade for!
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If I had to pick one single disc collection that captures the greatness of Bowie is ChangesBowie (the AU20 version with the original version of Fame). If I had to pick a flaw on this release is that it ignores Low – there is room on the disc to include Sound & Vision – but other than that this would be my recommendation to anyone looking for a gateway drug to the wonderful world of Bowie.
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roc51 – I had forgotten about the Rykodisc “remix” of “Changesonebowie!” But I was trying to keep it contemporary with just releases from the contemporaneous LP era. True, I have “Fame + Fashion” on CD, but there’s no difference from the LP in terms of content.
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PPM,
I will be the lone vote for Fame and Fashion because it was my first Bowie purchase. I rode my bike three miles to K-mart and rode home mostly no-handed so as not to damage the cover. This was a budget album in every way ($6.98) that came in a plain white sleeve with nary a word about where the songs came from. That’s tough to a 12 year old who needed leads as to where to go from there. I still have this album, and it’s very nearly my oldest in the collection.
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Interesting article, Chameleon us a good one. Also Golden Years from ’83.
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the press music reviews – When researching this, I came across your posting on the fine album as well! And curse me for the novice!! How did I neglect the OTHER RCA compilation trading in “Let’s Dance” era imagery!!??! I must re-edit this post ASAP!!!
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awesome, thanks for linking it up. I love Chameleon. Totally skips over Young Americans and Station to Station but has a good chunk of “Heroes’ and Lodger – and Aladdin Sane the title cut.
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the press music reviews – “Chameleon” really sticks its neck out in a way that impresses me. When I looked into that one it inspired this post [and the next one].
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Great stuff ppm. Look forward to it.
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The K-Tel Best of was my first Bowie purchase in 1981,followed by the sublime ChangesTwoBowie. It gave me a great overview as a new fan of young age who had only heard the current hits from Scary Monsters.
Nobody in my family was even vaguely interested in The Dame,so being the black sheep as I was,I embraced him,Toyah,Visage and The Human League warmly.
I would love a copy of that Bowie Now LP,looks amazing!
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Gavin – I should have included “Changestwobowie” in this selection! As well as the duplicitous “Golden Years.” Watch this space. At least you can get “Bowie Now” for what is called “chump change” in the vernacular! on white vinyl!
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Changestwobowie was a missed opportunity. Not including Heroes was a sin. If it had ditched the pre 76 material and John, I’m Only Dancing (Again) it would have had the space to do a proper overview of late 70s Bowie, properly complementing Changesonebowie.
My Changesbowietwo
Sound and Vision
Be My Wife
Heroes
Beauty and the Beast
Boys Keep Swinging
D.J.
Ashes to Ashes
Fashion
Scary Monsters
Under Pressure
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David – Welcome to the comments! It’s weird. “Changestwobowie” was one of those phenomena that I discounted at the time, like “Bowie rare.” So I never really got a handle on the album at all. As I look at it now, I would agree that the 69-76 period should have been relegated to “Changesonebowie” with the second album looking only forward from 1976. It could have been a tremendous record, so I agree 100% with your thoughts.
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Glad you’re adding ChangesTwoBowie, as that was my gateway drug! I gave it to my brother for Chrismukkah (LOL) and made a tape for myself. I already knew ChangesOne because my sister had it, but this was further proof that something fantastic was happening here. Funnily, enough, I never bought any official compilation on LP, preferring to assemble a complete collection of the albums from TMWSTW thru Scary Monsters, but I did get this: https://www.discogs.com/release/3555230-David-Robert-Jones-ChangesThree. Could be fun to add if you expand your list to bootlegs…
Thanks for this excellent read
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Jeremy Shatan – Was not aware of “ChangesThree” and especially not “ChangesThreeAndAHalf!”
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That makes two of us! Never saw that before, then again, I have far fewer bootleg CDs than LPs…and I don’t have many of those.
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Jeremy Shatan – Releases from Roxy Music make up about 90% of the bootlegs I have on CD/LP. I’ve got at least a dozen. But I do have a copy of “Vampires of Human Flesh.”
.
I recall reading a news blurb in 1981 about this being an imminent Bowie album release in the year after “Scary Monsters” and the press release said that Marianne Faithfull was the cover model! I saw that bootleg in 1994 and immediately pounced at a record show, to find out that it was actually demos of “Scary Monsters” material. Including a run-though of “I Feel Free” that went unused. Marginally interesting, but not the “missing album” between “Scary Monsters” and “Let’s Dance.”
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‘Fame and Fashion’ also came out on CD in Europe. And it sounds fine, definitely not like a flexi disc. Obviously nowhere near as good as the recent compilations but perfectly acceptable. The favourite remains ChangesOneBowie purely for nostalgia reasons.
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Dave Turner – Then US RCA might have been working from multi-gen safety copies. I remember comparing those tracks to the Rykodisc “Sound + Vision” box versions with good headphones on and having my jaw scrape the floor.
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For sentimental reasons, it has to be K-Tel ‘Best Of Bowie’ compilation for me – it was a staple on rotation in my secondary school art class of the time in early 1981 and many a lesson was spent with it playing away – the killer track for me was the inclusion the live version of ‘Breaking Glass’ from the ‘Stage’ album – the sleeve art also did it a lot of favours too, with all those different looks on show sitting nicely along with the re-purposed ‘Fashion’ single sleeve art.
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iac4ad – Wow, so the version of “Breaking Glass” was the extended live version from “Stage?” I don’t think I ever knew that.
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hi mr monk,
i only got a bowie compilation in the last few years.
so i don’t have any of the ones listed.
i do have one that has the same title, but different tracklisting:
the best of bowie. i don’t mind some of the latter songs that are included:
Bowie* – Best Of Bowie
Label: EMI – 7243 5 41929 2 0
Format:
CD, Compilation
Country: US
Released: 2002
Genre: Electronic, Rock
Style: Pop Rock, Glam
1 David Bowie – Space Oddity 5:12
2 David Bowie – Changes 3:33
3 David Bowie – Suffragette City 3:24
4 David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust 3:12
5 David Bowie – The Jean Genie 4:05
6 David Bowie – Rebel Rebel 4:28
7 David Bowie – Young Americans 3:13
8 David Bowie – Fame 4:14
9 David Bowie – Golden Years 3:27
10 David Bowie – “Heroes” 3:35
11 David Bowie – Ashes To Ashes 3:35
12 David Bowie – Fashion 3:25
13 David Bowie w/ Queen – Under Pressure 3:56
14 David Bowie – Let’s Dance 4:08
15 David Bowie – China Girl 5:32
16 David Bowie – Modern Love 4:45
17 David Bowie – Blue Jean 3:10
18 David Bowie w/ Mick Jagger – Dancing In The Street 3:20
19 David Bowie w/ The Pat Metheny Group* – This Is Not America 3:51
20 David Bowie – I’m Afraid Of Americans (V1) 4:30
Total Time: 1:18:35
i think its a good mix of the old and new.
later
-1
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negative1ne – There’s also a version of that CD with a bonus DVD of what I am assuming are life-threatening Post-Modern remixes of classic Bowie material. I’m guessing that any remixes with the name “Scumfrog” attached to them should be approached with extreme caution? Looking at that track list reminds me: has anyone ever made a mashup called “I’m Afraid Of Young Americans?” Sounds like a natural! Tim, any thoughts there?
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hi mr monk.
yes, i saw there was a version with newish mixes, and videos.
however, i will probably pick up the 2xdvd version, that has the
more historical clips, and lots of them: 47 spread out over 4 hours
https://www.discogs.com/release/258661-David-Bowie-Best-Of-Bowie
later
-1
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negative1ne – That 2xDVD is The Bomb. The Glam Rock Nun gave me that as a gift when it came out to my utter delight. I am hoping that one day we’ll get a DVD of the post-1999 videos.
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a very good round up of Bowie compilations from the late 70’s early 80’s, only missing a few like the ChangesTwoBowie and BowieRare albums that capture the RCA years. i used to see the Chameleon album in the very early 80’s in the record shops in Aberdeen (Scotland), most notably The Other Record Shop but as it was an import it usually had a high price tag to match it. i finally did get a copy of it but only after a trip to Adelaide (Australia). I think it is one of the better compilations of that era with a nice division between the glam and the more electronic songs.
There are different versions of ChangesOneBowie around, some of which have the album version of John, I’m Only Dancing, while the majority have the sax/single version. the 2016 re-release on clear vinyl is a very good pressing and i would recommend it if anyone was thinking of adding ChangesOneBowie to their collection.
Bowie Now i find is a good companion album to ChangesOne, more so than ChangesTwo, it’s more of a what Bowie did next disc but as your article is looking for the definitive single disc it doesn’t really count but it is one of my firm favourite Bowie compilations.
I have found a good few 1980 All Clear bootlegs in my time, the majority of them being very good facsimiles of the original, i have one in a silver/black cover which to my ears sounds better than the official release.
when the K-Tel Best Of Bowie was first advertised i was quite excited about it and managed to get my hands on a French copy on the K-Tel/Telemedia label, but i was quite disappointed when i played it, the sound was not great with cramming so many tracks on to a single platter and the placement of the Stage/live single version of Breaking Glass was just so wrong. a very nice sleeve though.
so the last on your list is the Fame And Fashion collection, by this stage of the game it had become all too predictable and unexciting, Bowie by numbers, good for those who just want a bit of an introduction and can play it in the background when friends are around, a coffee table album
i had already mentioned ChangesTwo and Rare (worth getting just for the Italian version of Space Oddity and the “Heroes”/Helden mashup which was only available on a german 12” at the time) but there have been others such as Lifetimes but that contains the really awful Across The Universe and sticks Round And Round, a 1972 track straight after Ashes To Ashes, bizarre, but a good selection otherwise. Another compilation that i like is the soundtrack to Christiane F. but that concentrates on the Station To Station – Lodger era
to ask for a definitive Bowie single disc compilation is hard, do you go for the predictable such as Fame And Fashion with the extremely well known tracks, the K-Tel variant which covers everything (but hopefully with everything in order), the more obscure but still good representation of the era such as Rare and Lifetimes or just have albums that cover particular periods (glam / plastic soul / eno era). tough call, i just go with what mood i am in at the time
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lieutenant 030 – I will admit that I was a bit hasty as I knocked out Friday’s post. I was acting in haste and missed come titles, that you mention that we will be seeing in the follow up today. But not “Bowie Rare,” As it stood as an interesting curio at the time, but in no way useful as an overview of the 70s for Bowie as it was derived from marginalia. I remember that it was heavily imported at the time and cheap copies were in the local import cutout bins. I didn’t bite at the time as it had a whiff of illegitimacy [via its Italian origins – where copyright law was only a suggestion…] and I was unsure that it was not a bootleg. Now, we have most of this material [apart from the Italian “Space Oddity”] on the Ryko CDs.
Speaking of bootlegs, I’ve never actually played my quite legit “1980 All Clear” LP to ascertain its aural quality. But I’m astonished at your mention of the sonic qualities of the bootleg version. In my universe, bootleg discs tend to me pressed on a wing + a prayer and sound pretty poor as a rule. For desperate fans only.
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As far as Lets Dance goes, after putting out 14 studio albums of mostly stellar, inspiring, innovative music over a decade, can’t a brother bask in the pop spotlight for a brief moment and enjoy the same success that many of his New Wave progyny were experiencing? Well deserved and LD was still better than many other Pop albums of the time. Plus it was a doorway drug to many who would then discover his other fantastic accomplishments.
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ocaadultchild – Well, after almost a decade of indenture to Mainman Management, by “Let’s Dance” he was finally free of that contract and settlement to earn some real money! I understand it, but I don’t have to like it.
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Oh yes you do! :)
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Well this certainly attracted a fair few comments! To answer the question, for the selection of music I’d probably go with Best of Bowie, but given the horrific sound quality I have to pick Chameleon overall, though a very honourable mention must go to Bowie Now for being both daring and completely accurate in its title for the year of its release.
Bowie Best-Ofs are always problematic unless you’re going strictly from a “charting singles” playlist, as he was too complex and uncommercial an artist (for most of his career) to really capture in a single disc, even a 79-minute CD! The more I delve into Bowie, the more I find as many peaks and valleys as a closeup of the grooves of a vinyl record amongst all his fuzzily-defined phases.
My chief complaint amongst (nearly) all of these compilations is that they mostly include just one song from the pre-1970 period, that of course being “Space Oddity.” If you’re talking “strictly” about 1970-1980, you have to start with Metrobolist aka The Man Who Sold the World and work forward from there … but I still don’t see how you’d manage to pare it down to a single disc, even if the only track you used from TMWSTW was the title track! That incredible and bewildering pivot from “been reading too much Orwell” to “soul music is amazing halfway through touring Diamond Dogs is endlessly fascinating and the fact that it worked is just jaw-droppingly mind-blowing! Then just a quick move to Berlin a year or so later and we again get a total reinvention again … well … cocaine is a helluva drug! And that should be the title of the comp!
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chasinvictoria – I was wondering where you were in all of this thread! I don’t have a problem with the first David Bowie album being glossed over, even though that period contains 2-3 songs [“London Boys,” “Let Me Sleep beside You,” “In The Heat Of The Morning”] which could be shoo-ins for inclusion, had it come to that. But yes, TMWSTW really did get short shrift among all of these albums. That said, what would I include from it, if pressed? It’s not a favorite. I can’t stand the title track, apart from the SNL live arrangement, which was the only version of the song by anybody to have any currency with me! The one song I can approach liking was “Width Of A Circle,” which is too long for compilation use, but should not [and cannot] be edited. I’m more shocked that the triumphant “Hunky Dory” barely had any consideration among all of these attempts.
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