| Identifier | 8734072 |
| Created At | Tue May 23 2023 23:54:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) |
| Media Type | cdr |
| Media Count | 1 |
| Sound Rating | a+ |
| Note |
From the earliest recordings made in 1967 to the sixteenth session in 2002 Bowie has contributed some fascinating live sets to the BBC archives. The early recordings of Bowie at the BBC particularly hold great interest and document an artist still trying to find his way in the world with apparent giant leaps in style although if you really study them it’s more of a rapid evolution. Most of the unofficial recordings have variable sound quality and generally attribute the wrong dates to the various sets Bowie performed up to the early 70s. Pick and mix bootlegs confuse matters still further as do the often repetitive set lists. The official Bowie at the BBC release is by far the best available but is far from complete so this is where this new release from Godfather steps in as in contains many of the important tracks missing from the original release and all in excellent quality. Okay, the four volumes of ‘The Rise and Rise of Ziggy Stardust’ are more complete still, but have poor quality on some sessions. So if you have the official release then the ‘Lost Beeb Tapes’ makes a sensible purchase filling in most of the gaps in great quality. The first session documents all the tracks from the Top Gear session of 1967. This vaudevillian period is often derided by Bowie fans but in truth the songs reproduced here live are worthy of re-evaluation and Bowie’s juvenilia is much more refined and developed than many would have us believe. These are clever songs for those with open minds and beautifully played. ‘When I’m Five’ is a sentimental monologue from the 1968 Top Gear Session and is the only full studio recording of the song (A rough demo also exists). The Dave Lee Travis Show of 1969 brings us a great version of ‘unwashed and somewhat slightly dazed’ delivered quite ferociously that in some way could be attributed to the then recent death of Bowie’s father. The 1970 show offers us ‘Waiting for the man’ and ‘The Width of a Circle’ backed by Bowie’s then band ‘The Hype’. Both songs are guitar heavy workouts almost progressive in delivery. The John Peel show of 1971 is quite an oddity and unique in sound and structure with various guest vocalists and friends helping Bowie fulfil his Warhol-come-Svengali aspirations. The pick of the sessions is the 1971 Bob Harris show featuring just Mick Ronson and Bowie in a stripped down acoustic set of ‘Hunky Dory’ songs. All the songs are played quite superbly and it’s surprising the whole set didn’t feature on the official release. The 1972 Bob Harris session completes the disc with a full on Ziggy version of the Velvet’s ‘White Light/ White Heat’. So it’s a 10/10 for Godfather so far. Bonus tracks feature three tracks wrongly attributed to ‘Arnold Corns’ with the exception of ‘Moonage Daydream’. Unfortunately more complete and better quality versions of these three bonus tracks are available elsewhere. |
| Tech Note | Audio Source: radio broadcast Lineage: Silver --> EAC --> WAV --> FLAC 8. |
| Trades Allowed |
Performance
| David Bowie 1939-??-?? The Lost Beeb Tapes, London, UK | |
|---|---|
| Set 1 | 01 - Love You Till Tuesday
02 - In The Heat Of The Morning 03 - Silly Boy Blue 04 - When I Live My Dream 05 - Little Bombardier 06 - When I'm Five 07 - Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed 08 - Waiting For The Man 09 - The Width Of A Circle 10 - Queen Bitch 11 - The Supermen 12 - Song For Bob Dylan 13 - Andy Warhol 14 - Oh! You Pretty Things 15 - Kooks 16 - Fill Your Heart 17 - Amsterdam 18 - Andy Warhol 19 - White Light, White Heat 20 - Lady Stardust 21 - Right On MOther 22 - Moonage Daydream Tracks 01-05 - Top Gear (18-12-67) Track 06 - Top Gear (13-05-68) Track 07 - Dave Lee Travis Show (20-10-69) Track 08 - Sound Of The 70's: Andy Ferris (25-03-70) Tracks 09- 13 - In Concert : John Peel (03-06-71) Tracks 14 - 18 - Sound Of The 70's: Bob Harris (21-09-71) Track 19 - Sound Of The 70's: Bob Harris (23-05-72) Tracks 20-22 - Arnold Corns, Radio Luxemburg Studios (10-03-71) |
| Set 2 | |
| Set 3 | |
| Comment | |