David Bowie Rare 1979 Re-recordings
Picture the scene; its 1979 and you are the Thin White Duke. You have been confounding audiences with your mercurial musical moves for the last seven years and you have sold a gazebo-load of records. But…your last album was a bit of an anti-cliamx, you haven’t had a big hit for a while and some podgy kid in a boiler suit from Wraysbury has nicked your icy alien image and stolen your thunder in the UK. What do you do? Well, you get your shit together with a brilliant comback but not before having a bit of a moment and remaking two of your old numbers for the post punk audience (and Kenny Everett). Ribbing aside, it took me a while to locate these versions of “Panic In Detroit” and “Space Oddity”. Only the latter appeared in Blighty on the back of a flop single and AFAIK they have only ever appeared on CD in the US. If like me you are expecting electrifying new wave re-readings, forget it. Still, of historical interest and proof that some days we all fall to earth Dave.
