In reply to:

---

we are talking about panic in detroit, space oddity, etc.

also BAAL

---

None of which were recorded in 1980.

The re-recorded versions of Space Oddity, Panic In Detroit and Rebel Rebel (the lattest remaining unreleased) were made in 1979 for use at Kenny Everett's New Year's Eve Show. I doubt any of them were meant for release at the time, although the acoustic Space Oddity did appear as a B-side in 1980. In fact, the recordings were made at the insistance of David Mallet (who was Kenny Everett's director).

As for Baal (recorded 1981, released 1982), if Bowie didn't want to record anything at the time, why record this at all? His deal with RCA had ended with Scary Monsters and he had no obligations to release anything at the time (and if would have been bound by contract to deliver something, a 15 minute EP would have hardly satisfied the company). He could have just sat back and watch his commercial appeal rise. In fact, releasing such an uncommercial offering as Baal could have damaged Bowie's chances of getting a new record deal.

As for Toy, if it was indeed never intended for release, why write new songs for it, why re-record previously unreleased songs, and why include older songs that at the time were licensed to EMI/Virgin anyway? (I admit I don't know the stance on unreleased material precisely, do they belong to the record company who first released them or to the company at the time of the unreleased recording). Why make so much publicity out of it, and why have Mark Plati mix it twice in attempt to get it published? If he wanted to get rid of his Virgin contract, surely there would have been an easier way.

KArt | Project Michelangelo | LiveJournal

Edited by Sysiyo on 11/26/04 02:16 PM (server time).