Bowie's look back
Created: 01/12/2022, 3:00 PM
From: Johannes Löhr
David Bowie in November 2015, shortly before his death, on a promotional photo for his last album "Blackstar".
© Jimmy King / Sony Music / dpa
David Bowie died six years ago - now he's released a new album.
The pop superstar recorded "Toy" back in 2000, playing songs that he had written as a young artist in London in the 60s.
Back then, the record company wasn't interested - even more today.
David Bowie's early work has frustrated generations of fans. Because the songs that he recorded for Decca from 1966 to 1968, among others, were always dug out and re-released when he was successful - so regularly from 1972. A current photo was emblazoned on the front of the record covers, and the fans of the star grabbed greedily. The music, of course, was old, pretty good sixties pop.
Now, however, an interesting variant of this recycling is coming onto the market with the album “Toy”. Because Bowie himself took his old material from the years 1964 to 1971 to his chest in 2000. With his current band he knocked out dozen of the old songs live in the studio. He wanted to publish the best as soon as possible - an approach that was once again ahead of his time. Too far, as it turned out: the record industry did not yet know how to deal with the free medium of the Internet. The concept of a “surprise album” fell on deaf ears, the label pushed the “toy” tapes onto the shelf.
A lot has changed since Bowie's death on January 10, 2016. Nobody speaks of a "fast" album anymore. “Toy” is marketed as a spectacle, not as a gimmick (which the title actually suggests). In the version of the “Toy Box” with many alternative versions, the album comprises three CDs or - as the pinnacle of the vinyl boom - six ten-inch LPs (the format of old shellacs).
But anyone who expects a revelation will be mildly disappointed. Because they are still the old songs, only in a contemporary guise. This leads to mixed results. Bowie and his band are in great harmony, but the production sounds like edgeless format radio. That works with “London Boys”, for example, but with songs like “You've got a Habit of Leaving” it makes you want the art student madness of the swinging sixties back. Significantly, it is previously unpublished songs that impress: “Shadow Man”, a self-reflection on strings and piano that dates back to the Ziggy Stardust times. And the newly written “Toy (Your Turn to Drive)”, which you can easily imagine for a summer convertible ride. The third CD, "Unplugged &somewhat slightly electric ". Here fans will find Bowie's best early song, "In the Heat of the Morning", among other things.
“Toy” is one thing above all else: the by no means unsuccessful attempt by an artist to take control of his early work.
After his death, others do the same.
As the newspaper "Variety" reports, Warner Chappell Music has acquired the rights to Bowie's catalog for a good $ 250 million.
So we can look forward to a lot of repackaging of the old songs.
David Bowie: "Toy" (Warner).
You might also be interested in: The best year of pop music
