Customer Reviews

Early on (1964-1966)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is strictly for hardcore fans. Those who have an avid interest in pre-Space Oddity Bowie (Jones) will know of his numerous incarnations and will find this a 'must have' for their collections. Even at the age of 17, David's musicianship and talent as a lyricist can be heard. Not all the songs are masterpieces, and the recordings can be pretty sloppy but it has to get 5 stars for the insight it gives us to a great artist.

For many years these songs were hidden in a file cabinet. Long gone from Bowie's ever shifting memory, and lost forever from his fans. Luckily, they were finally discovered and released. Early On is nicely packaged and deserves a five star rating. "Liza Jane" sang by Bowie (then Jones) and backed up by The Kingbees. "Liza Jane" is a great song, and though many believe sounds too much like The Rolling Stones, I believe these songs were the foundation of what Bowie's music is all about today. "Louie, Louie Go Home" may be referring to the song "Louie, Louie" from the 1950s. Which was later covered and updated by Bowie's friend, Iggy Pop, on his 1993 album American Caesar. "I Pity The Fool" is Bowie upset and frustrated after his once lover left him. Little did young David know that his once serious relationship with his girlfriend would end in an explosion of emotions. "Take My Tip" is a typical pop tune of the time, except for those extraordinary lyrics! No one can deny the fact that David was far beyond his time when writing these songs. "That's Where My Heart Is" is a more serious song than any of the others, and kind of reminds me of Space Oddity's "Cygnet Committee" in that the song's central core of subject is very touchy and emotional. "I Want My Baby Back" seems to be very repetitive and heart warming. Yet I understand how Bowie was being driven into that position by his manage Ken Pitt. Starting on track 7, "Bars of The County Jail," the sound quality becomes less than perfect to say the least. Track 8, "You've Got A Habit Of Leaving" is most likely the most respected and obviously Bowie's favorite because of his reworking of the song for his 1993 album Black Tie, White Noise. "Baby Loves That Way" is again another repetitive pop tune focusing on puppy love and typical teenage problems for South London teenagers. "Glad I've Got Nobody" looks like a preview of 1977's Low, where Bowie describes isolation and living with nobody else in his world. Tracks 12-17 can be found on the nicely packaged 1966 Pye Singles with a detailed booklet and great pictures.

Before Ziggy, their was Davie Jones. This album is a collection of Davie Jones(Bowie) hits before his start of his career with Space Oddity. This album is great and shows some signs of Bowie's originality. Containing R&B, jazzy songs, this is a number one album on my list.

17 all mono early 1964-1966 Bowie. This collection is the early singles prior to him signing to Deram and his music hall phase. What is significant is that "I Pity The Fool" and "Take My Tip" are outakes (different vocal takes from the original single). 5 of the tracks are unissued demos and most are acetates with less than ideal sound quality, but they are all worth listening to.

I absolutely recommend this CD to any Bowie fan.

This CD is a David Bowie collector's dream. It includes David's first six singles on three different record companies (licensing can work miracles) plus five demos for previously unreleased songs (the tracks marked thus: #). The singles had been available on different CDs, but here they can be found on one place, forming an imaginary album that David might have released between '64 and '66 (his actual first album came out in 1967 on Decca). The style ranges from basic rhythm'n'blues ("Liza Jane") to mod-style rock. "Can't Help Thinking About Me" was revived for David's mini-tour in 1999 and is probably the strongest track of the set. The booklet has good liner notes by Julie Stoller, who published the excellent fanzine "Sound and Vision" from '87 to '92 then put up her entire Bowie collection for auction in 2002 (go figure...). I give it five stars not for the music, but for the consistency of the package from a collector's standpoint.

For David Bowie fans who think his recording career began in 1969 with "Space Oddity" a pleasant surprise is in store for you if you give this great CD a spin. David's distinctive voice is already mature here, and this collection of 17 songs are similar in style & quality to very early Beatles, Stones, Animals & Kinks. This album is not merely a curiosity but a high quality collection of early rock & roll that is more than worth the mere $10.

Sound quality is excellent throughout, even on the three earliest tracks from
1964(demos transferred from vinyl-all other songs are of the finest quality). Highly recommended addition to your David Bowie or early British Invasion R&B/Rock & Roll collection.

Enjoy, happy listening and God bless :-)

This is a must for Bowie collectors. You can definitely tell it's him but in an early, unrefined Bowie version. The music and his voice is distinctive, but he hasn't really established his well known style of singing and musicality yet. It's still growing and he's still "finding" himself. I love this CD simply because it is very early Bowie and I love listening to the songs and picking out what becomes his unique qualities in future music.

In 1976, David Bowie had a persona/character called the Thin White Duke. Since then, people often refer to The Gentleman himself by that nickname. But let me just say something. As far as I'm concerned, Bowie is not a duke. He's not even a king. He is the EMPEROR of all male rock stars. (An emperor is higher and grander than a king,and certainly higher and grander than a duke.) So, in my eyes, Bowie is the Thin White Emperor (my other code name for him)
Well, this musical delight is a showcase of the music of the Thin White Emperor as an absolute beginner in the music world. The tunes are lovely little nuggets of British Invasion-sounding music, enhanced even further by Bowie's enchantingly angelic yet masculine voice. You can tell this is a young fellow who will make his mark. This is Bowie before Ziggy and Plastic Soul and Berlin and Let's Dance, Bowie before Labyrinth and Glass Spider and Tin Machine, Bowie before he even heard of Iman.
Like I said, Elvis may have been the king of rock-n-roll, but David Bowie was the emperor, and this delightful disk, from raucous rave-ups like "Liza Jane," Beatles-esque pop gems such as "I Say to Myself" and "I'm Not Losing Sleep," and folk-tinged masterpieces such as "Bars of the County Jail, is an entertaining look at the Man who Would be Emperor.