David Bowie – ‘David Bowie’ (Deram)

By Jim Rowland

Back in 1967, a little known new singer-songwriter by the name of David Bowie released his debut album on the Deram offshoot of Decca Records. Despite critical approval, it sold poorly. The artist himself would eventually go on to do alright for himself though. That debut album gets the deluxe reissue treatment this week, and with plenty of bonus tracks on offer, there’s much to marvel at with this seminal artist’s first steps…

This album is probably the one that slips under the radar even of keen Bowie fans, such is the difference between the material here and that of his later work. It’s of its time and Bowie is still finding his feet, but the roots of what was to follow are still to be found here. From the quirky swinging sixties London pop of ‘Sell Me A Coat’, ‘Love You Till Tuesday’ and ‘She’s Got Medals’ to the acoustic folk of ‘Come And Buy My Toys’, the dramatic balladry of ‘Silly Boy Blue’ and ‘When I Live My Dream’, the vaudeville and music hall influence of ‘Uncle Arthur’ and ‘Little Bombardier’, and the frankly plain bizarre ‘We Are Hungry Men’, ‘David Bowie’ is an eclectic collection of songs that even at this stage are very well written and arranged. It makes for a fascinating, and I must say extremely enjoyable listen.

The extras available on the second disc of each edition are even better. Bringing together the singles and b-sides of the era, many in their original mono mixes, it features some of the earliest collaborations between Bowie and producer Tony Visconti. It also features some of the earliest Bowie classics – great songs like ‘London Boys’, ‘Let Me Sleep Beside You’ and ‘In The Heat Of The Morning’. A fair few of these would be re-visited and re-interpreted by Bowie decades later for the ‘Toy’ project that finally saw an official release a couple of years back. The infamous ‘The Laughing Gnome’ is of course here in two different versions, along with its incredibly cool b-side ‘The Gospel According To Tony Day’, and there’s a couple of tracks from the ‘Love You Till Tuesday’ TV film soundtrack, one of which is the early, more primitive, version of ‘Space Oddity’, which gets a first ever vinyl release here.

Most of these tracks have been compiled and released on numerous issues over the years, often on cheaply put together and poorly presented packages. Here, the original restored debut album artwork features, there’s some informative liner notes and numerous pictures and artefacts from the era. This issue of ‘David Bowie’ is released in three different coloured double vinyl editions, each one with a different bonus track: cream and green swirl vinyl featuring ‘Space Oddity (Love You Till Tuesday Version)’, indie store version on cloudy green vinyl featuring ‘The Laughing Gnome – Vocal Take 1 / Mix 1’, and the standard album on green vinyl featuring ‘Sell Me A Coat – Remix – Mono’. All three of those exclusive bonuses are brought together on the double CD version.

Clocking in at just under 90 minutes in total, this release is a weird, wonderful and hugely enjoyable journey back in time to the formative years of one of the greatest artists the world has ever seen.

‘David Bowie‘ is released on Friday (26 July).