Celebrating the Box Set: SOUND + VISION, by David Bowie

A good box set should do one of two things, depending on the nature of the set. A "greatest hits" set should, obviously, give a good overview of the complete list of hit singles from an artist (however, it seems a lot of box sets of this nature must also include a good deal of an artists misses as well in order to qualify for box set status. In these cases it seems the singles are regarded as "hits" whether they truly were or not. If it was released to radio, it goes in the compilation). A career spanning set, however, need only give a concise overview of the evolution of the artist, whether all the songs included were hits or not. In fact, I think it even works a little better for the set if not every song included was a huge radio smash. That's what greatest hits collections are for. No one can argue there are PLENTY of Bowie greatest hits compilations out there (Changesbowie, Best of David Bowie, and Best of Bowie are the 3 big ones), and there are PLENTY of compilations featuring most of his pre-fame singles (Deram Anthology, Early On, Starting Point), but only one place to go for a solid look at the evolution of Bowie from folk singer to rock star to latter-day-musical-Renaissance man. SOUND + VISION.

Released in 1990 just as Ryko was beginning the long-awaited remastering and reissuing of Bowie's early catalogue, and meant as an introduction to that process, SOUND + VISION covers all the bases in the Bowie cannon. There's Bowie the Storyteller (Space Oddity, Wild-Eyed Boy from Freecloud, The Bewlay Brothers), Bowie the glam rocker (Moonage Daydream, Rock 'N' Roll Suicide, Suffragette City), Bowie the Soul Man (Young Americans, After Today, Wild is the Wind), Bowie the Avant-Garde Experimentalist (Speed of Life, Station to Station, Warszawa), and Bowie the Returning Rocker (Look Back in Anger, Up the Hill Backwards, Kingdom Come), and all in one very nice set.

You can go just about anywhere and get the Bowie hits "Ziggy Stardust" or Rebel Rebel", but where else can you go for "Helden" (the German-language version of "Heroes") AND the original previously unreleased '69 demo version of "Space Oddity" PLUS the B-side '71 track "Round and Round" from the Ziggy sessions all at once? Nowhere but here.

Finally there's a Bowie collection in which every studio album is represented. CHANGESBOWIE, for all its worth as a great intro to Bowie's best, leaves a few records absent from the mix. Nothing from THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD, LOW, or LODGER is represented, while the remixed '90 version of "Fame" is there. Was the remix ever a hit? I don't remember ever hearing it on the radio. But SOUND + VISION includes, not only some of the best songs from every record (finally "Moonage Daydream" is somewhere other than the Ziggy record), but there's also plenty of alternate, demo, and single versions, as well as a good selection of previously unreleased tracks.

The songs are included in order, so listening from start to finish gives you a good idea of the process of Bowie changing personas and musical tastes, instead of just throwing everything together. This mixing may have worked okay for the Prince box set, but on SOUND + VISION I definitely think chronological was the way to go.

Unfortunately, such a complete representation of Bowie's career must also open itself up to the misses. Who in the Ryko offices requested YOUNG AMERICANS' "Fascination" be included? And "Joe the Lion" from "Heroes"? Come on. The live version of "Warszawa" from the STAGE concert is on here, too. I can see including some of his Berlin-era instrumentals, as they are much-loved among most fans, but the LIVE version? Please.

Also in the unfortunate category--it's only 3 discs. Come on, someone with Bowie's song catalogue, SOUND + VISION could surely have been at least 4, maybe even 5; for every great song on here, there's 2 they missed. Where's "Five Years" or "Soul Love"? What about "Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed" and "Janine"? They leave "Space Oddity" and "Wild-Eyed Boy from Freecloud" to represent the SPACE ODDITY album? The hit and the "miss" back to back? Where's "Andy Warhol" or "Queen B!tch" from HUNKY DORY? And YOUNG AMERICANS also is represented by the hit and the miss, the title track and "Fascination". What about "Somebody Up There Likes Me" or "Can You Hear Me?" There were so many missed opportunities to really grab new fans with this set. Okay, I know, new fans aren't likely to buy the box set right away, but surely someone who owns this thing has a friend or two who doesn't know the first thing about Bowie's music. Well, some of the song selections on SOUND + VISION aren't exactly going to have them rushing to the nearest online record store and Pay-Pal-ing a copy next day air.

No, SOUND + VISION is woefully inadequate when it comes to grabbing new listeners. This one's made for the veteran fans, the ones who already either own the original albums or are familiar enough with them from their original 70s releases to remember some of these songs. SOUND + VISION comes off as less an introduction and more a celebration. That works out just fine for me because I DO own these albums and I DO know these songs and I DO like having over THREE HOURS AND FORTY-FIVE SONGS worth of David Bowie at hand. Let the celebration begin.

Track list:
1:
Space Oddity (previously unreleased original demo, 1969)
Wild-Eyed Boy from Freecloud (rare B-side version, 1969)
The Prettiest Star (single version, 1970)
London Bye Ta-Ta (previously unreleased track, 1970)
Black Country Rock (from THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD, 1971)
The Man Who Sold the World (from THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD, 1971)
The Bewlay Brothers (from HUNKY DORY, 1971)
Changes (from HUNKY DORY, 1971)
Round and Round (B-side from Ziggy sessions, 1971)
Moonage Daydream (from ZIGGY STARDUST, 1971)
John, I'm Only Dancing (ALADDIN SANE outtake, 1973)
Drive In Saturday (from ALADDIN SANE, 1973)
Panic in Detroit (from ALADDIN SANE, 1973)
Ziggy Stardust (live, from ZIGGY STARDUST: THE MOTION PICTURE, 1973)
White Light/White Heat (live, from ZIGGY STARDUST: THE MOTION PICTURE, 1973)
Rock 'N' Roll Suicide (live, from ZIGGY STARDUST: THE MOTION PICTURE, 1973)

2:
Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere (from PIN-UPS, 1973)
Sorrow (from PIN-UPS, 1973)
Don't Bring Me Down (from PIN-UPS, 1973)
1984/Dodo (previously unreleased track, 1973)
Big Brother (from DIAMOND DOGS, 1974)
Rebel Rebel (rare single version, 1974)
Suffragette City (from DAVID LIVE, 1974)
Watch That Man (from DAVID LIVE, 1974)
Cracked Actor (from DAVID LIVE, 1974)
Young Americans (from YOUNG AMERICANS, 1975)
Fascination (from YOUNG AMERICANS, 1975)
After Today (previously unreleased YOUNG AMERICANS outtake, 1975)
It's Hard to be a Saint in the City (previously unreleased track, 1975)
TVC15 (from STATION TO STATION, 1976)
Wild is the Wind (from STATION TO STATION, 1976)

3:
Sound and Vision (from LOW, 1977)
Be My Wife (from LOW, 1977)
Speed of Life (from LOW, 1977)
Helden (German version of "Heroes"--1980 remix--1977)
Joe the Lion (from "Heroes", 1977)
Sons of the Silent Age (from "Heroes", 1977)
Station to Station (from STAGE, 1978)
Warszawa (from STAGE, 1978)
Breaking Glass (from STAGE, 1978)
Red Sails (from LODGER, 1979)
Look Back in Anger (from LODGER, 1979)
Boys Keep Swinging (from LODGER, 1979)
Up the Hill Backwards (from SCARY MONSTERS, 1980)
Kingdom Come (from SCARY MONSTERS, 1980)
Ashes to Ashes (from SCARY MONSTERS, 1980)

While first issuings of this set contained a bonus disk with a CD-video for “Ashes to Ashes” plus live versions of “John, I’m Only Dancing”, “Changes”, and “The Supermen”, my version, contained only a CD-sized booklet of pictures and a brief history of Bowie’s career. I’m fine with that. An extra CD of only 3 tracks seems like a waste to me, anyway. The thrill of this set isn’t in the bonus CD, it’s in the package as a whole.