David Bowie: early years

David Bowie today is older statesman and veteran of the rock aristocracy - that is why I find his very early recordings (mid to late 1960s) so interesting because they have almost nothing in common with his later work. That is - if you don't consider that he always was a highly gifted chameleon ready to adopt and re-invent himself so actually all these various disguises actually fit perfectly in his profile. What is the most fascinating is the fact that he had this particular, dry voice immediately from the start (you can always clearly recognize it is David Bowie) and took everything very seriously no matter what music he toyed at the moment.

"I Dig Everything: 1966 Pye Singles" is collection of earliest Bowie work - it is basically young artist trying to find his voice on than-current british music scene and at that time he was r&b/Britbeat singer. He was a angry young man and it shows - its the sound of "swinging London" and in fact no better or worse than hundreds of other young punks around. All the material was written by Bowie himself and there is nothing really exceptional here - love songs sung from perspective of frustrated young man who questions himself and everything around him. It brings to mind the movie "Absolute Beginners" that was actually set in these times, but of course at the time when movie was made Bowie himself was already completely different artist. The only reason why these early recordings survive and often surface on compilations is not because music is particularly interesting or innovative (frankly,it could be anybody from "Kinks" to "Them") but because its curiosity to hear familiar voice in such period piece - from the first to the last minute,listener is aware this must have been in 1960s. Almost like some strange experiment to place current artist in a time machine. The results are still fascinating because young Bowie was completely into it and absolutely in command of his voice. These early singles are actually far closer to hip, mod crowd and what was "in" than his next step.With this I mean that this music could have been played and accepted by listeners who wouldn't really get his first solo album - I can easily see rock purists liking these early singles more than what's around the corner, which many consider embarrassment.

David Bowie's self titled first album is unjustly remembered today as mistake better forgotten - rock critics often dismiss it because it has nothing to do with his later (or previous) work. This is not a "cool" Bowie that would appeal to kids who would like his various images and rock music - rather this is a quirky, sunny collection of peppy songs with a dark undertones and completely weird lyrics about grave diggers, cannibals and child molesters. Many dismiss this album completely as unworthy of rock legend and surely there is some funny things here but personally I find it fascinating - here is a young songwriter trying absolutely everything in order to get noticed, what IS noticeable is that he is literate and full of ideas,no matter how quirky they are. "Theatrical" yes, but everything about David Bowie was always theatrical. I think that what bothers people the most is music background (full of strange,gimmicky sound effects) and grandiose oh-so-british orchestration that often sounds like movie soundtrack - later we got used to his rock experiments and different soundscape so to hear Bowie chirping enthusiastically with this strings,trumpets and Disney-like background makes rock purists squirm in discomfort. How bizarre that most of the listeners don't get that this is basically same artists who would later dress in female clothes and continue doing "weird ideas" under umbrella of commercial success - thin line between acceptance and failure - as others have noted, this album actually explodes with ideas far more than say "Let's dance" album that sold in millions.

I have expanded edition with extra CD that brings even more rarities and goodies from the same era - notorious "The Laughing Gnome" is there, together with lots of previously unreleased recordings, stereo and mono mixes and few gems from BBC radio archives. There are 25 extra tracks on second disc, if you listen carefully he actually sings "...waste of fucking time" on "The Gospel According To Tony Day". I like this early album very much and wonder how would public accept it if he never turned out to be Ziggy Stardust later - I am absolutely sure it would be a cult classic and people would rave about it and discuss it like its something only rare cognoscenti know and appreciate. In a way that is what this album became - only few are aware of it and with an open mind one can enjoy it a LOT.