In the long-standing tradition of my glorious tracklisting threads, I present to you yet another. When you've been into an artist for several years, it's important to find new ways to make their old music fresh again. CD-R's are the best for this. And I recently bought some 100 minute ones to expand the possibilities. Compiling Bowie is a tough task and no compilation has ever gotten it quite right. He's got so many styles and eras to his career that sometimes, things don't mesh well together or important songs get overlooked. I think the closest they've gotten to getting it right was Virgin's The Best Of David Bowie 1969/1974. I'm all for edits on a compilation as well, as they're only an overview, cliffnotes of sorts. I've only covered the classic era as those Virgin comps did. Here's what I've got so far.

Best of Bowie 1969/1974:

1. Ziggy Stardust
2. Space Oddity (edit)
3. Starman
4. The Jean Genie
5. John, I'm Only Dancing (sax version)
6. Queen Bitch
7. Rebel Rebel
8. Let's Spend The Night Together
9. Suffragette City
10. Oh! You Pretty Things
11. Velvet Goldmine
12. Holy Holy
13. Drive-In Saturday
14. Diamond Dogs
15. Changes
16. Sorrow
17. The Prettiest Star
18. Life On Mars?
19. Aladdin Sane
20. 1984
21. Moonage Daydream
22. The Man Who Sold The World
23. Rock 'N' Roll Suicide
24. All The Young Dudes
25. Time (edit)

I really like how they mixed it up on the released version, so I kept the running order mostly intact with a few new inclusions to flesh it out. Anyone that can help me with edits of 'Diamond Dogs', 'Starman', 'Drive-In Saturday' would be much appreciated.

Now the companion disc from 1974/1979 by Virgin left a lot to be desired, imo. It was too short. 'Knock On Wood' sucks and is live. There was no 'Be My Wife' and they should've gone up through 1980 for it, that way each compilation would cover 5 years and 6 main studio albums each. Balance people. And their order kinda sucked. Here's what I did with it:

Best of Bowie 1975/1980:

1. Sound And Vision
2. Golden Years (edit)
3. Fame
4. Fashion (edit)
5. DJ (edit)
6. John, I'm Only Dancing Again (edit)
7. Young Americans (edit)
8. Boys Keep Swinging
9. Up The Hill Backwards
10. It's So Hard To Be A Saint In The City
11. Can You Hear Me?
12. Wild Is The Wind (edit)
13. What In The World?
14. Joe The Lion
15. TVC15 (edit)
16. Breaking Glass
17. Beauty And The Beast
18. Scary Monsters (edit)
19. Fascination
20. The Secret Life Of Arabia
21. Fantastic Voyage
22. Word On A Wing (edit)
23. Ashes To Ashes (edit)
24. Look Back In Anger
25. Stay (edit)
26. Be My Wife
27. Heroes (edit)

There are a few bugs in there that I still have to work out. Like the transition from 'Wild Is The Wind' to 'What In The World'. But I like how this works much better than the released version. The overall flow of the disc goes from uplifting to crazed to desperate by the end. That's how I decided what went where. And always what's going to sound good back to back. Anyone that knows of a 'Fascination' or 'Can You Hear Me?' edit wins a special prize.

Tell me what you think.

Nate, these are EXCELLENT track listings!!! You did a damn good job! I miss talking to you, brother! I hope to see you at the Madonna party at Menjo's next month!!!

DudeDrops said:

Thanks!

Is it for her birthday? What are the details?

Details? Hmmm...I know it's on her birthday, and they'll be spinning nonstop Madonna music all night long. I'll try and find out more.

You must go! I'd REALLY like to meet you!

DudeDrops said:

I'll see what I can do. What is her birthday again? I might be out of town if it's when I think it is. I've got a Liz Phair concert on the 25th and Bjork in Toronto on the 26th.

TRON said:

You're seeing both Liz and Bjork??? You better hope I don't see you--I'm gonna kick your ass from jealousy!!! Have fun, buddy!

DudeDrops said:

You should go then! I think there are still tickets available for both.

Nah, I can't. Money's REALLY tight right now. Still, have fun! Did you move to Farmington Hills yet?

DudeDrops said:

LOL. No. Is that where you're at? I'm still thinking about moving. But closer to Detroit rather than further.

btw, Liz is only $15.

TRON said:

uggh..you're killing me, Tron!

I need to find some serious money, QUICK

endorphin74 said:

Anyone care to boost Darin's out of town concert fund?

The poor man is desperate!

I have a collection of Bowie's that I think is a fairly good compilation

It is a rykodisc 2-CD release of all of his singles from 1969 - 1993, remastered. Misses some non-singles of course, but it's still very thorough. And, it is chronological, so we can hear his progression through music.

Hi Tron/Nate?


That looks pretty goopd to me man
I've been thinking of doing a similar thing, but with db outtakes, and making it a killer 1cd on a 99min cdr

You may have inspired me to give it a go when I have a few hours spare one calm day


TheLodger

TheLodger said:

Let me know how it turns out and what you include.

TRON [/quote]
Let me know how it turns out and what you include. [/quote]


Will do, I'll try and remember to post it on this forum actually


TheLodger

Sounds great! Where's the art? "Life on Mars?" to the end of that disc is particularly great.

Be My Wife is my all-time favorite Bowie song. At least, at this very moment.

OK, see, now it's Drive-In Saturday...

theblueangel said:

Me too! And video.
[This message was edited Wed Jul 23 6:20:13 PDT 2003 by TRON]