Customer Reviews

Singles Collection

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the complete track list of this CD (the one I own anyway):

Disc 1

1. Space Oddity
2. Changes
3. Starman
4. Ziggy Stardust
5. Suffragette City
6. John, I'm only dancing
7. The Jean Genie
8. Drive in Saturday
9. Life on Mars?
10. Sorrow
11. Rebel Rebel
12. Rock & Roll Suicide
13. Diamond dogs
14. Knock on Wood
15. Young Americans
16. Fame
17. Golden Years
18. TVC 15
19. Sound & Vision

Disc 2

1. Heroes
2. Beauty & The Beast
3. Boys keep swinging
4. D.J.
5. Alabama song
6. Ashes to Ashes
7. Fashion
8. Scary Monsters (and super creeps)
9. Under pressure (featuring Queen)
10. Wild is the wind
11. Let's Dance
12. China Girl
13. Modern love
14. Blue Jean
15. This is not America (featuring Pat Methany)
16. Dancing in the streets (featuring Mick Jagger)
17. Absolute beginners
18. Day-in Day-out

Fantastic overview of the thin white duke's career chronologically arranged, so one can observe his development and various experiments over the years.

It features my all time favourite Bowie song, the dramatic, epic ballad `Wild is the wind'. I hunted high and low for an extensive Bowie collection with this song and this is the one.

Also featured are vital non album tracks like `Absolute beginners' (from the movie of the same name), `Alabama song', `Dancing in the streets', `Under pressure' (on which Vanilla Ice's career was based), and the beautiful `This is not America'.

I became a Bowie fan in 83 when I heard the Nile Rodgers produced razor sharp dance/rocker `Let's dance' and have been ever since. Other standouts are the rocky, catchy `Rebel rebel', `Golden years' (covered by UK R&B group Loose Ends), the funky 'Sound & vision', 'Heroes' (covered so many times by many artistes), `Young Americans', the gender bending `John, I'm only dancing' (hello Franz Ferdinand!!), `Starman', and `Ashes to ashes'.

To me, Bowie has always sounded different form other rockers; his vocal delivery is measured and precise, rather like a crooner's, coupled with its changes from relaxed to booming. Add to this his experimentation with various sounds and effects.

An excellent collection!!!

Forget about buying "Singles, Vol.1 " and "Singles, Vol. 2". This has both CD's and all the same songs for a cheaper price. Yup - all the same songs. It's a mystery why this is so hard to find, as the original double disc sold so well.

Apparently, Bowie's "The Singles" came with several different collection of songs (but the same cover art). Here's the Rykodisc line-up I have:

CD One: 1. Space Oddity; 2. Changes; 3. Oh, You Pretty Things; 4. Life on Mars?; 5. Ziggy Stardust; 6. Starman; 7. John, I'm Only Dancing; 8. Suffragette City; 9. Rock 'n' Roll Suicide; 10. The Jean Genie; 11. Diamond Dogs; 12. Rebel Rebel; 13. All the Young Dudes (live); 14. Young Americans; 15. Fame; 16. Golden Years; 17. TVC 15

CD Two: 1. Sound & Vision; 2. Heroes; 3. DJ; 4. Boys Keep Swinging; 5. Ashes to Ashes; 6. Fashion; 7. Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps); 8. Let's Dance; 9. China Girl; 10. Modern Love; 11. Blue Jean; 12. Loving the Alien; 13. Dancing in the Street (with M. Jagger); 14. Absolute Beginners; 15. Day-In Day-Out; 16. Never Let Me Down

This is an excellent survey of the many incarnations of David Bowie. Highly recommended!

It's almost impossible to conceive how this fantastic 2 disc set is buried so deeply in the Bowie canon and is so hard to find. I'm not even sure of how much longer it's destined to stay in print, given the new 2 CD "Best of Bowie" that's been released this past year and includes a number of the same songs. That being said, this is a set that should be in your collection, and includes all of the songs on the "Vol. 1" and "Vol. 2" Singles discs in one set.

Even after one listen, you'll be amazed at how many of the Bowie songs here that you instantly recognize. It includes almost all of his hits from 1969's Space Oddity up through "Black Tie White Noise" circa 1992?ish. Where else can you snag hits like "Ziggy Stadust", "Suffragette City", "Space Oddity", "Changes", "Life on Mars?", "Heroes", "Sound and Vision", "Rebel Rebel", "Fame", "Young Americans", "Look Back in Anger", "Golden Years", "Ashes to Ashes", "China Girl", "Modern Love", "Blue Jean", "Under Pressure", "Let's Dance", "Never Let Me Down", and "Jump They Say" in one collection? The only true stinker here is the Bowie/Mick Jagger duet "Dancing in the Streets" *shudders*, but other than that, everything is amazing.

In conclusion, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of "The Singles" while you can, because it's the best 1-shot David Bowie fix available. Enjoy.

I agree with the previous reviewer when he states that it's almost impossible to conceive how this fantastic 2 disc set is buried so deeply and is so hard to find. I'm not even sure of how much longer it's destined to stay in print, given the new 2 CD "Best of Bowie" that's been released this past year and includes a number of the same songs. That being said, this is a set that should be in your collection, and includes all of the songs on the "Vol. 1" and "Vol. 2" Singles collection in one set.

Even after one listen, you'll be amazed at how many of the Bowie songs here that you instantly recognize. It includes almost all of his hits from 1969's Space Oddity up through "Black Tie White Noise" circa 1992?ish. Where else can you snag hits like "Ziggy Stadust", "Suffragette City", "Space Oddity", "Changes", "Life on Mars?", "Heroes", "Sound and Vision", "Rebel Rebel", "Fame", "Young Americans", "Look Back in Anger", "Golden Years", "Ashes to Ashes", "China Girl", "Modern Love", "Blue Jean", "Under Pressure", "Let's Dance", "Never Let Me Down", and "Jump They Say" in one collection? The only true stinker here is the Bowie/Mick Jagger duet "Dancing in the Streets" *shudders*, but other than that, everything is amazing.

In conclusion, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of "The Singles" while you can, because it's the best 1-shot David Bowie fix available. Enjoy.

Maybe you are like me, you first fell in love with David in Labyrinth and loved the music. David's music is a little different then Labyrinth. This music is great, classic rock 'n' roll Bowie. There are songs like "China Girl" and "Ziggy Stardust" that have a bit of a poppy clang to them. Then there are songs like "Rock 'N' Roll Sucicide" and "Starman" that have more depth. All in all I love David Bowie's music. If your new to Bowie's music this cd is a must. Classic Bowie for sure

It's tough to figure out why this superb two-CD release is buried so deep within the bowels of amazon.com's database. I figured it would pop to the top of Bowie's stuff on a generic search, replete with hundreds of reviews. And yet...here it sits with "no image available," two posted reviews to date, a rank of 72,000+ and some confusion vs. similarly-named imports (which further muddle the situation with staggered Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 releases).

That's all a shame, because Bowie's 'Singles Collection' is nothing short of fabulous. And, as other reviewers have pointed out, even though it's not obvious from the slim info provided on this page, you get *all* the Vol. 1 and 2 hits wrapped into a single package.

Bowie's career has been a spectacular series of imaginative re-invention...of both his music and himself. Throughout all that, he's never lost his relevancy, his musicianship, or his integrity. Compare that to other long-time acts: The Stones staying power is impressive, but you can make a case that their musicianship has been in a tailspin since Mick Taylor left in 1975 (okay, one man's opinion); Madonna's re-re-re-invention of herself seems calculated and attracts derision (the acquired British accent ended it for me, even though I was a fan through 'Ray of Light'). There are countless others who lost their relevancy and simply faded away.

The thing that will strike you listening to this compilation is the sheer number of Bowie tunes that have been seared into our collective consciousness. It's a staggering lifetime achievement.

Lots of great songs here (37 in all). "The Singles Collection" from 1993 covers most of his major radio hits from the 1970's thru the early 90's (tho he really didn't do much in the early 90's). Bowie has so many albums to draw material from... that it's almost not fair to put his career 'only' on 2 cd's. There are many Bowie compilations... the most easily found are probably "ChangesBowie" from 1990, or 2002's "Best Of Bowie". Every song on "ChangesBowie" you will find on this "Singles Collection", so you won't need both. While "ChangesBowie" has only the major hits, the "Singles Collection" gives you the major hits plus another 19 songs - some major, some not. "Singles" grabs 2-3 songs each from his classic albums - "Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust", "Aladdin Sane", "Young Americans", "Heroes", "Station To Station", etc. How do you classify Bowie - he's touched on so many genres of music... from rock & pop, to glam, folk, new wave, electronica & dance, R&B, etc. Like every 'greatest hits' package, there will be hits & misses. There are a few Bowie tunes here that are subpar in my book ("Knock On Wood", "Beauty & The Beast", "Boys Keep Swinging", "Alabama Song" and "Wild Is The Wind")... and I feel there are several tunes that could have easily taken their place ("The Man Who Sold The World", "Moonage Daydream", "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)". "All The Young Dudes", Aladdin Sane's "Panic In Detroit" or "Watch That Man", "Time Will Crawl", Low's "Speed Of Life" or "Breaking Glass"). Bowie teamed up with Brian Eno on 3 albums and the one I really felt was unequalled was "Low"... and this "Singles Collection" only features one tune from "Low" ("Sound & Vision")... too bad. In the liner notes there are some nice pictures of David Bowie - past & present. The liner notes contain all the song lyrics and the producer of each song. It would have been great to know which albums these songs were taken from, the year they were recorded, and/or maybe some history or personal thoughts for each. While Bowie for me has always been an album experience, this collection serves as a wonderful place to start if you're just getting into the artist; or you just want some of his better stuff on 2 cd's. If you want to try any of his studio albums first, any of the above mentioned albums would work, especially the remastered versions of "Ziggy Stardust", "Aladdin Sane", or "Station To Station". ** Also - note that his friend Peter Gabriel took the cover photo.

I do wonder about the future status of this great collection, which seems to be supplanted by the recent 2-disc "Best of Bowie". The new one seems interesting enough and contains much of the same material, but how can it be a "best-of-Bowie" without "Starman"? An egregious omission, to be sure. Of course, the other collection contains material of the last ten years (this one only gathers his works through 1993), but Bowie's essential work remains in the 1970's and 1980's. This collection of singles is a little frustrating at times, with truncated single versions of classics like "Space Oddity", but it is nonetheless a very satisfying collection and worth seeking out. Among the 150-odd "best-of" collections in my personal library, this remains one of my very favorites.

This is an excellent collection of Bowie favourites. My personal "winners" include, Space Oddity, Life on Mars and China Girl. The only regret I have is that the producers have changed the content of this release to the earlier released in the mid nineties. Several songs such as "Oh you pretty things", "Look Back in Anger" and "Cat People (putting out the fire)", are not on these CD's. Nonetheless, these CD's are a permanent resident in my 6 CD changer.