Bowie – Deep Cuts Pt.1

We all know about comfort food but what about comfort music? Look no further, this Bowie collection of different mixes, demos versions, and album Deep Cuts acts fast to provide immediate soothing relief to get you through whatever life throws at you, be it a global pandemic, lockdowns, or earthquakes. An elixir for these dark and strange times.

David Bowie – Deep Cuts Pt.1 mp3

TRACKS

1. Up the Hill Backwards – This rare prototype version can be found on Vampires of Human Flesh, a bootleg of demos and alternative takes of Scary Monsters tracks recorded at New York’s Power Station in February 1980.

2. Red Sails – Tony Visconti remixed Lodger with Bowie’s approval, as they were never really satisfied with the original mix. It was eventually released in 2017 and Red Sails sounds freshly muscular, however Visconti adds quite a bit of echo, reverb and moves things around the stereo field from left to right, as was his want.

3. Hang Onto Yourself – Studio version of a track on the Ziggy 30th Anniversary set, this underrated album track was the concert opener on many of the Ziggy US dates back in 1973.

4. Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?) – The title track may have been a more suitable curtain raiser for the chart topping Aladdin Sane with it’s dissonant sprawls coming alive in both clarity and tone on this 40th Anniversary 2013 remaster, featuring the debut of long-time Bowie avant-jazz pianist Mike Garson.

5. Boys Keep Swinging – Bowie promoted this song famously on the Kenney Everett Video Show in 1979 to remarkable effect, and this is the audio recording of that performance with a different vocal take to that off Lodger.

6. Holy Holy – A remake of the original 1970 single, this magnificent amped up Spider From Mars version didn’t make the cut for Ziggy, rather winding up as a B-side a few years later.

7. Queen Bitch – Unrepresentative of the general sound and feel of Hunky Dory, this energetic Bowie-fied Velvets pastiche was the B-side to the Life on Mars? single in 1973.

8. Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (Reprise) – One of the finest ever moments committed to tape, this is taken from the iSelect compilation released in 2008 and is a single track, rather than being split up song by song as it has been released on previous CD versions of Diamond Dogs.

9. Sound and Vision – Low was remastered in 2017 as part of Parlophone’s ‘Berlin’ box set A New Career In A New Town (1977-1982), and like most of side one the euphoric Sound and Vision is bass-heavy, previously hampered by the restrictions of vinyl regarding the bottom end. Not sure it sounds better than my German 1977 vinyl pressing of Low though.

10. Joe the Lion – One of the greatest, most chaotic songs Bowie ever recorded, it was originally on “Heroes”, however this version is taken from the handsome Rykodisc box set Sound and Vision released in 1989, not the pointless 1991 remix of the song.

11. A New Career in a New Town – Side one of Low closes with this stunning instrumental that was the B-side to the Sound and Vision single in February 1977.

12. D.J. – Another interesting Tony Visconti 2017 remixed Lodger track, this one is quite spectacular: crisp and perfectly balanced highlighting Adrian Belew’s guitar fireworks and Simon House’s queasy electric violin.

13. Teenage Wildlife – One of Bowie’s longest ever songs and something of a ‘sister song’ to the classic “Heroes”, this version of Teenage Wildlife is another remaster from A New Career In A New Town (1977-1982), a box set which included the Scary Monsters album.

14. Space Oddity – Recorded for the 1979 New Year’s Eve telecast, Will Kenny Everett Make It To 1980?, this remake of the original Bowie classic shows how powerful it is as a song without all the strings and synthesizers, featuring only piano, drums, acoustic guitar and bass. This stripped down POB-era Lennon-esque dramatic affair packs a punch, and was released as the B-side to Alabama Song in 1980, although the version we have here was from a 1992 reissue of Scary Monsters in a different mix which notably extends the deafening silence after the line “may God’s love be with you”. Stunning.

15. I Can’t Explain – Tucked away on Pin Ups, this is a cover of The Who’s second ever singles from 1964, one of Bowie early favourite bands of the London club circuit. It’s all about Mick Ronson’s guitar tone here and this underrated gem showed up on a very good, yet unauthorised, RCA compilation called Golden Years in 1983.

16. Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed – Parlophone released a box set of five CDs featuring recordings from 1968–1969 called Conversation Piece to mark the 50th anniversary of Space Oddity. It included a 2019 mix of this track by original producer Tony Visconti, but this is a very good song, and an album highlight whichever way you slice it.

17. Stay – Live version off the 2005 reissue of Stage which reinstated the concert song order and added two unreleased songs, one of them was was Be My Wife, the other was this scintillating performance of a Station to Station album cut.

18. Cat People (Putting Out Fire) – Originally from a 1982 OST album to the erotic horror film of the same name, this Giorgio Moroder collaboration is taken from the Re:Call 3 remastered tracks disc on the A New Career In A New Town (1977-1982) box set. Remade for Let’s Dance, and had a ninth life when featured in Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards.

19. Because You’re Young – “Look in my eyes, nobody ho-ooo-ome”, another track off Vampires of Human Flesh, a demo of what ended up buried on side two of Scary Monsters. This version delivers an entirely different arrangement, occasionally altered lyrics and a different title “Because I’m Young”.

20. Remembering Marie A. – Lifted off the original Baal EP, this passion project for Bowie consisted of five tracks recorded at Berlin’s Hansa Studios in 1981 applied the same recording techniques as “Heroes”, and used a proper 15-piece German pit band of old guys. The result is ornate and lush; the lovely standout Remembering Marie A is an exquisite Deep Cuts closer.

Further Reading:

♥  The “Life On Mars?” and “Vampires Of Human Flesh” sleeves are excellent fan art by Honeypot Designs.