Best of 1974-1979 [IMPORT]

David Bowie

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 5, 2009)
• Original Release Date: April 20, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Emd Int'l
• ASIN: B000009RNP
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #57,955 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
UK version of superb 'Best Of' collection which was only available in the states for a limited time. 20 tracks including the classics you'd expect like 'Golden Years', 'Young Americans', 'Fame', 'Sound And Vision', 'Look Back In Anger'with relative obscurities like 'It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City' and 'John I'm Only Dancing (Again)'. An impressive, reasonably thorough overview of Bowie's glam years. 1998 release. Standard jewel case.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars AVOID THIS PIECE OF DESECRATION, March 5, 2001

By A Customer

From CD jacket, this looks like a great deal - 18 of David Bowie's good songs including a couple of rarities. But wait, how did they fit 18 Bowie songs on a single CD? Most of his tunes, the good ones in particular are over six minutes long, right? Easy, butcher them. You know, cut out the long saxaphone rifts in the middle of Young Americans (I thought my CD player was skipping the first time), the end of Heroes. As long as people here the bits where he is singing they'll be happy right?

And record companies wonder why people want to be able to freely copy their own songs and make their OWN "best of" collections? Well guys, keep churning out stuff like this and see how long people are willing to pay for it...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A frustrating let-down, January 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Best of David Bowie: 1974-1979 (Audio CD)

I always hated Rykodisc's "The Singles" double CD because of the presence of severely edited tracks. Why would they go to all the trouble of gathering so much good music, but then chop the songs up? When I heard these new "Best of..." CDs were out and saw the track listings, I felt better about the whole mess, and I bought this one. Well, Virgin is apparently taking a cue from Rykodisc and including pared-down "radio edits" which omit essential elements of Bowie's great songs (such as the distorted guitar solo of Young Americans). I hate to break it to these out-of-touch fools, but this is NOT the version the radio stations play! When I saw that the disk contained extra CD-ROM material, I hoped that there would be some pictures/videos/interviews to calm my blood pressure, but it was only an advertisement for his website. Curse all of them. Don't get suckered into buying this.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Why the arbitrary cut-off date?, August 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Best of David Bowie: 1974-1979 (Audio CD)

It wouldn't have killed the record company to extend this into a six-year retrospective - 1974-1980, which would then have included songs from what is arguably Bowie's greatest album, 'Scary Monsters and Super Creeps'. What you're left with instead is a severely butchered selection - and a fairly predictable one at that. (There's considerable overlap with 'Changes2Bowie' and other compilations - but, hey, when you're just out to make money, stick to what works!) This artist deserves a more thoughtful, better presented retrospective of his most fertile and influential period, especially as he has now ceased to make worthwhile music.