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David Bowie ‘lost’ album to be included in next box set: Who Can I Be Now?

By Paul Sinclair

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111

gouster_mont_1000sq

The follow-up to Parlophone’s David Bowie box set, Five Years, will be announced next week, but the label have revealed that, exclusive to the new set, which will be called Who Can I Be Now?, will be a previously unreleased complete album…

The Gouster is the name of the album and it is, in effect, an embryonic version of Young Americans. The album begins with John, I’m Only Dancing (Again), David’s reworking of his 1972 single. Tony Visconti, who has written sleeve notes for the new box, describes the reworking as sounding like “it was played live in a loft party in Harlem”.

It’s Gonna Be Me and Who Can I Be Now? were both unreleased until their appearance on the Rykodisc/EMI reissues of Young Americans in 1991. An alternate version of the former was also included in the 2007 CD+DVD reissue of the same album.

The other four tracks on The Gouster – Somebody Up There Likes Me, Can You Hear Me, Young Americans and Right – all ended up on the finished Young Americans, although hopefully, these will be alternative mixes.

There is no sign of Across The Universe and Fame, of course. Visconti had flown back to England and in his autobiography describes being “deflated” when Bowie calls to tell him that they’d written “a new song based on a riff that Carlos Alomar has been doodling with; we’ve called it Fame.” Visconti’s response was to say “I would’ve happily paid to fly over on Concorde just to be at that session.”

The sleeve for this box set version features a previously unpublished picture from the original photo session for the album. Stay tuned to SDE for full details of the new box set.

The Gouster

Side 1

  • 1. John, I’m Only Dancing (Again)
  • 2. Somebody Up There Likes Me
  • 3. It’s Gonna Be Me

Side 2

  • 1. Who Can I Be Now?
  • 2. Can You Hear Me
  • 3. Young Americans
  • 4. Right

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111 Comments

111 thoughts on “David Bowie ‘lost’ album to be included in next box set: Who Can I Be Now?”

  1. Pingback: David Bowie / Who Can I Be Now? [1974-1976] full track listing and details | superdeluxeedition

  2. I’m hoping the next box set will cover 10 years 77-87 and be called Art Decade
    1. Low
    2. Heroes
    3. Lodger
    4. Scary Monsters
    5. Lets Dance
    6. Tonight
    7. Never Let Me Down
    8. Christiane F
    9. Labryinth
    10. Recall 3
    11. Stage

    1. I cant see it would be possible to make 12 cds or 13lp from Low, Heroes, Lodger Stage and Recall 3…. 7 at most unless of course there is a few more lost albums in the Berlin period

  3. Paul, will you immediately post links here or make a brand-new post if “Who Can I Be Now?”-boxset comes available for preorder in either format (cd/lp)?
    Thanks for the blog and pages, I have had plenty of good times here..

  4. Looks good to me. A tiny bit underwhelming compared to the Five Years set. I wonder if this will be a touch cheaper RRP. About £150.
    I don’t own any of these albums and I guess these kind of sets are aimed at someone who wants everything or doesn’t have anything. Got a couple of best of albums and the best of DVD (which I used to play non stop). This will go great in vinyl with the first set and Bowie at the Beeb box!!

  5. @Jason C
    “I will also guess that next year’s box will be called “A New Career In A New Town 1977-79″”

    either that or Speed of Life.

  8. Does the indications of box-exclusive discs on the press release indicate that Live Nassau Coliseum will get a stand-alone release or just that’s it’s been previously available in the same form elsewhere?

    I’d really like a copy without buying having to buy either this or the Station to Station box.

  10. I’ll be happy to buy the CD set, copy the audio and sell it with very little money lost, having also read the book. As I did with ‘Five Years’. especially considering the lack of worthwhile content in this, which we know will be stupidly priced.

    There’s a tendency to get infatuated with new box sets and a desire to have them on show but the audio is what matters and there will be something different out in a few years covering the same music. There always is.

    The only sets I keep now are ones with exclusive 5.1 mixes. They could have included the 5.1 ‘Rise and Fall’ in the first box and the 5.1 STS in this box (even though it’s poor).

      1. It’s the record companies that are thieving so I play them at their own game. I only keep material output that justifies the price.

        They are reselling the same uninspired repackages/remasters time after time, idiots like you suck it up.

        1. How about just not buying it, like most people who are unhappy with the value/money proposition? Or buy a used copy? I’m sorry, the “record company is charging too much” nonsense just doesn’t fly. You just want something for free/cheap that you’re not entitled to.

          I can’t believe that there’s anyone on this site who thinks the kind of behavior you describe is OK, frankly.

  11. P.S. I’m a little bit disappointed that ‘Re:Call 2’ is only going to be a 1-discer. I suppose the rest of the set has some rare stuff, but still…

  12. I’m interested in the digital download option (I don’t really have the space/money for a big physical box) but I see the only way to get the ‘complete’ set in digital is to go standard/mastered for iTunes – can anyone give advice/detail on MFiT quality vs CD quality? Or should I just hang back and hope for a future deal alert like the ‘Five Years’ one last week?

  15. A lot of repetition. Both original and expanded versions of David Live? Why???
    why not include an unreleased show like an official version of the “portrait in flesh” bootleg?
    I know at the end of the day theyre a business, whose aim is to make money, but they could have added SOMETHING for fans to get really excited about

  16. Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976) details

    “Putting on a face that’s new”

    As we mentioned yesterday, the follow up to Parlophone’s award-winning box set, David Bowie – Five Years (1969 – 1973), will be David Bowie – Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976), which will be released on September 23rd.
    Aside from the box cover and contents pictured here, there is a hand-written note by David Bowie pertaining to the original intended content of The Gouster, which we also told you about yesterday.
    We will be posting more exclusive content from the box over the coming weeks, but meanwhile here’s the full list of contents.

    #WCIBNBox #WhoCanIBeNowBox

    DAVID BOWIE – ‘WHO CAN I BE NOW? (1974 – 1976)’

    The 2nd IN A SERIES OF DAVID BOWIE BOX SETS – RELEASED 23RD SEPTEMBER, 2016
    CD, DIGITAL AND AUDIOPHILE VINYL BOX SETS FEATURE THE PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED ALBUM ‘THE GOUSTER’

    22nd July, 2016 London

    Parlophone Records are proud to announce DAVID BOWIE ‘WHO CAN I BE NOW? (1974 – 1976)’ the second in a series of box sets spanning his career from 1969.

    The follow up to the awarding winning and critically acclaimed DAVID BOWIE ‘FIVE YEARS (1969 – 1973)’ will be released on 23rd September and will contain the previously unreleased album from 1974 called ‘THE GOUSTER’.

    The twelve CD box, thirteen-piece vinyl set and digital download features the material officially released by Bowie during the so-called ‘American’ phase of his career from 1974 to 1976.

    The box set, which is named after a track recorded in 1974 but not officially released until the 1990’s, includes ‘DIAMOND DOGS’, ‘DAVID LIVE’ (in original and 2005 mixes), ‘YOUNG AMERICANS’ and ‘STATION TO STATION’ (in original and 2010 mixes) as well as ‘THE GOUSTER’, ‘LIVE NASSAU COLISEUM 76’ and a new compilation ‘RE:CALL 2’ a collection of single versions and non-album b-sides.

    All of the formats include tracks that have never before appeared on CD/vinyl/digitally as well as new remasters.

    Exclusive to each of the box sets is the previously unreleased as a complete album ‘THE GOUSTER’ that was recorded at Sigma Sound, Philadelphia in 1974 and produced by Tony Visconti. The album was mixed and mastered before David decamped to New York to work with John Lennon and Harry Maslin on what became the ‘YOUNG AMERICANS’ album. ‘THE GOUSTER’ contains three previously unreleased mixes of ‘Right’, ‘Can You Hear Me’ and ‘Somebody Up There Likes Me’.

    For the 2016 release, Tony Visconti has overseen the mastering from the original tapes and photos taken by Eric Stephen Jacobs have been put together for the sleeve based around one of David’s original concepts for the album.

    Also exclusive to the CD, vinyl, standard digital and MFiT box sets will be the remastered ‘DAVID LIVE (original mix)’, the 2010 Harry Maslin mix of ‘STATION TO STATION’ (previously only available on an audio only DVD in 5.1 and stereo as part of the ‘STATION TO STATION’ Deluxe box set in 2010) and ‘RE:CALL 2’.

    This new compilation features the original single mix of ‘Rebel Rebel’, which has only featured on a 40th anniversary picture disc in 2014 since its original release on single in 1974, and a previously unreleased on CD Australian single edit of ‘Diamond Dogs’, the only place in the world that this edit was issued. Also appearing on CD for the first time is the single edit of the live version of ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me’, which was issued to radio stations in the U.S. to help promote the ‘DAVID LIVE’ album.

    ‘RE:CALL 2’ features newly originated artwork with 1975 in-studio images from the ‘STATION TO STATION’ recording sessions by David’s friend and backing vocalist Geoff MacCormack aka Warren Peace.

    The alternative cover for the 2010 mix of ‘STATION TO STATION’ by Harry Maslin, features the originally intended colour sleeve for the album that never got further than a few colour proofs and was replaced by the more familiar black and white image.

    The vinyl box set has the same content as the CD set and is pressed on audiophile quality 180g vinyl.

    The box set’s accompanying book, 128 pages in the CD box and 84 in the vinyl set, will feature rarely seen and previously unpublished photos by photographers including Eric Stephen Jacobs, Tom Kelley, Geoff MacCormack, Terry O’Neill, Steve Schapiro, and many others as well as historical press reviews and technical notes about the albums from producers Tony Visconti and Harry Maslin.

    The CD box set will include faithfully reproduced mini-vinyl versions of the original albums and the CDs will be gold coloured rather than the usual silver.

    DAVID BOWIE ‘WHO CAN I BE NOW? (1974-1976)’

    LP Box Set:
    84 Page hardback book
    Diamond Dogs (remastered) (1 LP)
    David Live (original mix) (remastered) (2 LP) *
    David Live (2005 mix) (remastered) (3 LP)
    The Gouster (previously unreleased as an album) (1 LP) *
    Young Americans (remastered) (1 LP)
    Station To Station (remastered) (1 LP)
    Station To Station (Harry Maslin 2010 mix) (1 LP) *
    Live Nassau Coliseum ’76 (2 LP)
    Re:Call 2 (Single versions and non-album B-sides) (remastered) (1 LP) *

    * Exclusive to ‘Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976)’

    CD Box Set:
    128 Page hardback book
    Diamond Dogs (remastered) (1 CD)
    David Live (original mix) (remastered) (2 CD) *
    David Live (2005 mix) (remastered) (2 CD)
    The Gouster (previously unreleased as an album) (1 CD) *
    Young Americans (remastered) (1 CD)
    Station To Station (remastered) (1 CD)
    Station To Station (Harry Maslin 2010 mix) (1 CD) *
    Live Nassau Coliseum ’76 (2 CD)
    Re:Call 2 (Single versions and non album B-sides) (remastered) (1 CD) *

    * Exclusive to ‘Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976)’

    Digital download 192kHz/24bit box set:
    Diamond Dogs (remastered)
    David Live (original mix) (remastered) *
    The Gouster *
    Young Americans (remastered)
    Station To Station (remastered)

    * Exclusive to ‘Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976)’

    Digital download 96kHz/24bit box set:
    Diamond Dogs (remastered)
    David Live (original mix) (remastered) *
    The Gouster *
    Young Americans (remastered)
    Station To Station (remastered)

    * Exclusive to ‘Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976)’

    Digital download standard/MFiT box set:
    Diamond Dogs (remastered)
    David Live (original mix) (remastered) *
    David Live (2005 mix) (remastered)
    The Gouster (previously unreleased as an album) *
    Young Americans (remastered) (1 CD)
    Station To Station (remastered) (1 CD)
    Station To Station (Harry Maslin 2010 mix) *
    Live Nassau Coliseum ’76 (non MFiT)
    Re:Call 2 (Single versions and non album B-sides) (remastered) (non MFiT) *

    * Exclusive to ‘Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976)

    ‘WHO CAN I BE NOW? (1974-1976)’ CD & Vinyl Tracklistings (showing Vinyl side breaks)

    DIAMOND DOGS
    Released on RCA APLI 0576 (U.K.) / CPLI 0576 (U.S.) on 31st May, 1974.

    Side 1.
    1. Future Legend
    2. Diamond Dogs
    3. Sweet Thing
    4. Candidate
    5. Sweet Thing (Reprise)
    6. Rebel Rebel

    Side 2.
    1. Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me
    2. We Are The Dead
    3. 1984
    4. Big Brother
    5. Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family

    DAVID LIVE (ORIGINAL MIX)
    Released on RCA APL2 0771 (U.K.) / CPL2-0771 (U.S.) on 29th October, 1974.

    David Live was culled from performances on the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th of July, 1974 at the Tower Theater, Philadelphia.

    Side 1
    1. 1984
    2. Rebel Rebel
    3. Moonage Daydream
    4. Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (reprise)

    Side 2
    1. Changes
    2. Suffragette City
    3. Aladdin Sane
    4. All The Young Dudes
    5. Cracked Actor

    Side 3
    1. Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me
    2. Watch That Man
    3. Knock On Wood
    4. Diamond Dogs

    Side 4
    1. Big Brother
    2. The Width Of A Circle
    3. The Jean Genie
    4. Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide

    DAVID LIVE (2005 MIX)

    David Live was culled from performances on the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th of July, 1974 at the Tower Theater, Philadelphia.

    Released on EMI 874 3042 on CD and also in 5.1 on the DVD-Audio EMI 874 3049 on 14th November, 2005.

    Side 1
    1. 1984
    2. Rebel Rebel
    3. Moonage Daydream
    4. Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (reprise)

    Side 2
    1. Changes
    2. Suffragette City
    3. Aladdin Sane
    4. All The Young Dudes

    Side 3
    1. Cracked Actor
    2. Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me
    3. Watch That Man
    4. Knock On Wood

    Side 4
    1. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
    2. Space Oddity
    3. Diamond Dogs

    Side 5
    1. Panic In Detroit
    2. Big Brother
    3. Time

    Side 6
    1. The Width Of A Circle
    2. The Jean Genie
    3. Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide

    THE GOUSTER

    Previously unreleased as a complete album.

    Side 1
    1. John, I’m Only Dancing (Again) – not on ‘Young Americans’, first released as a single in 1979 to promote the ‘CHANGESTWOBOWIE’ compilation.
    2. Somebody Up There Likes Me – alternative early previously unreleased mix
    3. It’s Gonna Be Me – not on ‘Young Americans’, first released as a bonus track on the EMI/Ryko edition of ‘Young Americans’ in 1990. An alternative mix with strings was released on the 2007 EMI edition of ‘Young Americans’.

    Side 2
    1. Who Can I Be Now? – not on ‘Young Americans’, first released as a bonus track on the EMI/Ryko edition of ‘Young Americans’ in 1990.
    2. Can You Hear Me – alternative early previously unreleased version.
    3. Young Americans – same version that ended up on ‘Young Americans’.
    4. Right – alternative early previously unreleased version.

    YOUNG AMERICANS

    Released on RCA RS 1006 (U.K.) / AQL1-0998 (U.S.) on 7th March, 1975.

    Side 1
    1. Young Americans
    2. Win
    3. Fascination
    4. Right

    Side 2
    1. Somebody Up There Likes Me
    2. Across The Universe
    3. Can You Hear Me
    4. Fame

    STATION TO STATION

    Released on RCA APL1 1327 on 23rd January, 1976.

    STATION TO STATION (2010 HARRY MASLIN MIX)

    First released on EMI BOWSTSD 2010 in 5.1 and in stereo at 48kHz/24bit on the DVD format within the Station To Station deluxe set on 20th September, 2010.

    Side 1
    1. Station To Station
    2. Golden Years
    3. Word On A Wing

    Side 2
    1. TVC 15
    2. Stay
    3. Wild Is The Wind

    LIVE NASSAU COLISEUM ’76

    Recorded live at the Nassau Coliseum Uniondale, NY, U.S.A., 23rd March, 1976. Released on EMI BOWSTSD 2010 within the Station To Station deluxe set on 20th September, 2010.

    Side 1
    1. Station To Station
    2. Suffragette City
    3. Fame
    4. Word On A Wing

    Side 2
    1. Stay
    2. Waiting For The Man
    3. Queen Bitch

    Side 3
    1. Life On Mars?
    2. Five Years
    3. Panic In Detroit
    4. Changes
    5. TVC 15

    Side 4
    1. Diamond Dogs
    2. Rebel Rebel
    3. The Jean Genie

    RE:CALL 2

    Non Album Singles, Single Versions and B-Sides.

    Side 1:
    1. Rebel Rebel (original single mix)
    2. Diamond Dogs (Australian single edit)
    3. Rebel Rebel (U.S. single version)
    4. Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me (live – promotional single edit)
    5. Panic In Detroit (live)
    6. Young Americans (original single edit)

    Side 2:
    1. Fame (original single edit)
    2. Golden Years (original single version)
    3. Station To Station (original single edit)
    4. TVC 15 (original single edit)
    5. Stay (original single edit)
    6. Word On A Wing (original single edit)
    7. John, I’m Only Dancing (Again) (1975) (single version)

    1. I reckon maybe six?

      Five Years
      Who Can I Be Now
      Berlin box
      Eighties
      Nineties
      21st Century

      Obviously, exactly where they put the dividing lines we don’t know and it might not even have been decided yet.

  18. Will there be any CD/10” which will be exclusive to the David Bowie official store, as there was when ordering the 1st box set from this store?

  20. A question for anyone that knows:
    How different is the ‘Station To Station (Harry Maslin 2010 mix)’ from the version that we all know and love?

  21. It just seems like there’s more padding with this and content left off. I love the comprehensive nature of the series, but do we really need two mixes of David Live when there are already two live albums in there? They’re clearly stretching this out… But for a tasty enough price, hard to complain.

  23. I’m fine with this. Five Years is a beautifully presented bit of kit and the newly remastered albums sounded tip top. This new set seems to be following the same MO but is attracting more ire for some reason. There was nothing of earth-shattering note present in the first box and yet I recall (no pun intended) everyone remarking on it being a lovely package. We all tend to whine a lot about box sets back-filling with a lot of padding instead of sticking to what was actually released at the time – the recent Phil Collins campaign being a case in point. Yet, here we have a collection with 3 great (remastered) studio albums (1 with two different mixes), a live album in it’s original and contemporary flavoured mixes, another live album only previously available as part of SDEs, an unreleased album and, yes, an album that mops up all the single edits and b-sides of the period… in summary, the kind of box that we’ve all hitherto been guilty of demanding from our favourite artists. No complaints here.

    1. “an unreleased album”

      Featuring previously released tracks, albeit with a couple of unreleasd mixes. Two copies of Station to Station, two copies of David Live, a collection of single edits (have you heard the appalling edit of Young Americans that rips the heart out of the song?), another live album… Most who buy it will be delighted with it and it’ll look handsome on their record shelves but this is a slim pickings box set that I’ll pass on.

  24. From the press release: “and a previously unreleased on CD Australian single edit of Diamond Dogs”. Why would anyone want to listen to an edit of Diamond Dogs instead of the full length album version?

  28. Nothing earth-shattering, but I’ll be buying in order to have a copy of The Gouster as it was originally intended. I realise that it’s likely the “new” versions will likely be those already found on the 1991/2007 reissues, but to me it’s worth a lot to have an actual official CD/piece of vinyl, rather than compiling my own version.

    Like another poster above, I’m hoping that in due course we get a complete release of Toy, although that might be a few years off if future box sets are released at similar intervals to the gap between the first two.

  29. Allegedly, the track listing for THE GOUSTER:

    Previously unreleased as a complete album.

    Side 1
    1. John, I’m Only Dancing (Again) – not on ‘Young Americans’, first released as a single in 1979 to promote the ‘Changestwobowie’ compilation.

    2. Somebody Up There Likes Me – alternative early previously unreleased mix

    3. It’s Gonna Be Me – not on ‘Young Americans’, first released as a bonus track on the EMI/Ryko edition of ‘Young Americans’ in 1990. An alternative mix with strings was released on the 2007 EMI edition of ‘Young Americans’.

    Side 2
    1. Who Can I Be Now? – not on ‘Young Americans’, first released as a bonus track on the EMI/Ryko edition of ‘Young Americans’ in 1990.

    2. Can You Hear Me – alternative early previously unreleased version.

    3. Young Americans – same version that ended up on ‘Young Americans’.

    4. Right – alternative early previously unreleased version.

    So, three previously unreleased mixes.

  30. Allegedly, the track listing for RE:CALL 2:

    Non Album Singles, Single Versions and B-Sides.
    Side 1:
    1. Rebel Rebel (original single mix)
    2. Diamond Dogs (Australian single edit)
    3. Rebel Rebel (U.S. single version)
    4. Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me (live – promotional single edit)
    5. Panic In Detroit (live)
    6. Young Americans (original single edit)

    Side 2:
    1. Fame (original single edit)
    2. Golden Years (original single version)
    3. Station To Station (original single edit)
    4. TVC 15 (original single edit)
    5. Stay (original single edit)
    6. Word On A Wing (original single edit)
    7. John, I’m Only Dancing (Again) (1975) (single version

    Nothing earth shattering there but I’m assuming that things like Shilling The Rubes and Lazer are being held back for a future release.

  31. The CD box set will probably have a £100 price tag. If the alleged leaked contents listed above are accurate, there’s just nothing here that makes it a worthwhile purchase. Even if it was £50, there’s just too much repetition.

  32. Maybe it is time for the box series to end, and new deluxe editions of the albums to begin. I know there were deluxe editions of some albums before, but now that the vaults can be explored a bit more each album could be 3 discs.

    Diamond Dogs deserves better than this.

    Young Americans is getting special treatment… and that’s fine if the other albums were too (but they aren’t). So, they could have released a 3 disc set of Young Americans/The Gouster/G-YA outtakes instead.

    And a 3 disc set of Diamond Dogs/DD early versions and outtakes. And so on.

  33. Why didn’t they finish (mix) “Shilling the Rubes” and “I Am a Lazer”? These probably would have ended up as b-sides for The Gouster album if it had been released, so ignoring them seems like a lost opportunity. Get Pete Humphries in to finish them.

    The full box track list has been leaked and “Shilling the Rubes” and “I Am a Lazer” are NOT on the box anywhere.

    Maybe in the future they will release The Gouster as a stand-alone, and add “Shilling the Rubes” and “I Am a Lazer” as bonus tracks. That would solve the problem.

  34. Going forward, that mean there’s a strong possibility of a Berlin trilogy boxset. Unless they choose to go as far as Scary Monsters which 1977-1980 is would be better than 1980-1987

  35. I will be mightily disappointed if there are no ‘I am a Laser’/’Lazer’ and ‘Shilling the Rubes’ somewhere in this following the sale of the Drexel recordings to Bowie – but then maybe that is what they are up to ?!

  36. 13Lp or 12cd set contents:
    84 Page hardback book
    Diamond Dogs (remastered) (1 LP)
    David Live (original mix) (remastered) (2 LP) *
    David Live (2005 mix) (remastered) (3 LP)
    The Gouster (previously unreleased as an album) (1 LP) *
    Young Americans (remastered) (1 LP)
    Station To Station (remastered) (1 LP)
    Station To Station (Harry Maslin 2010 mix) (1 LP) *
    Live Nassau Coliseum ’76 (2 LP)
    Re:Call 2 (Single versions and non album B-sides) (remastered) (1 LP) *

  37. When they say, “Picture from the original photo sessions for the album.” do they mean the “Young Americans” album or for what was supposed to be “The Guster” album? I guess “Young Americans”, eh as that’s what “The Guster” ended up becoming? Maybe the answer is somewhere in the dates.

    1. The former. I think the cover to The Gouster was supposed to be the photo they ended up using on that iSelect Bowie compilation. Is that right? It’s definitely from the same sessions.

    2. I was looking at the back cover of Heathen today. If you look closely at the book that is being torn up its called “United States”.

  39. With regard to “John I’m only dancing again” that shows up on “The Gouster” – is this the same version that made a guest appearance on a 12″ single way back in the late 70s ?

    Twasn’t that good as I remember.

  40. That’s a stretch by the label calling it a “previously unreleased complete album…”. Like many others, I’m listening to it right now.

  42. I’m actually kinda disappointed the next box set is only covering 3 years with only 3 studio albums and more “fluff”. They are really gonna milk these re-issues. The previous box set covered 5 years and 6 studio albums.

    As for The Gouster, I can sequence that album on my Young Americans Deluxe Edition. Here’s what I think they should have included and they should have called it “Golden Years”, a better segue from Five Years:

    1974-1979
    Diamond Dogs
    David Live
    Young Americans
    Station To Station
    Low
    Heroes
    Stage
    Lodger
    ReCall2

    6 studio albums + 2 Live albums + ReCall. They could have still added The Gouster as a bonus LP, like they did with the Ziggy new mix.

    But that’s just my opinion…

    1. “they should have called it “Golden Years”, a better segue from Five Years”

      Golden Years was the title of a Bowie compilation from the eighties. To be honest, despite it being the title of a Bowie single I think it sounds a bit too K-Tel-esque for a Bowie box set.

  43. Hm, a bit of marketing, no? I mean what’s *new* about this “new album”? As far as I can see, we’ve heard all the music before, and as Bowie fans, already own the tracks. The days when we needed a label to pull stuff together like this is long gone. I mean, I could pull some FLAC files together and burn that this afternoon – no?

  44. Hard to get excited about this “unreleased” album since all of the tracks have been released before, but I’m very happy that the box set series is continuing. Hopefully they’ll keep coming every year, if not more often!

  45. I was disappointed with the last box ie .. Re call 1 had a lot that was on previous aniversary editions like the Ziggy double cd .
    So will Re call 2 have the extras that were on the double Diamond Dogs cd ?
    Apart from the Gouster cd , I would like something really rare .

  47. Can’t wait to get my hands on the standalone remastered CD releases of ‘Diamond Dogs’, ‘Young Americans’ and ‘Station to Station’. I don’t remember if the standalone CDs were released at the same time of the first box set or they came after, anyone? My prediction for this box is 10 CDs:

    Diamond Dogs
    Young Americans
    Station to Station
    David Live (x2)
    Nassau Coliseum 76 (x2)
    The Gouster
    Re:call 2 (x2)

    following this logic for the 77-79 box they should pull out another live album, since we got only ‘Stage’ from that period, and an alternate mix/version of one of the Berlin LPs.

    1. Also, anyone else thinks that the box set series will stop at ‘Lodger’? Do you see another one covering the period from ‘Scary Monsters’ to ‘Never Let Me Down’? I believe standalone reissues of ‘Scary Monsters’ and maybe ‘Lets Dance’ will be issued instead.

  50. I still wish second boxset could cover more regular albums. But I understand they didn’t want to split Berlin era triptych. Oh well, I hope we’ll get at least tons of extras. I’m really excited anyway.

  51. “Re: Call 2” chould include (at least) these:

    “Rebel Rebel” [original single version] (1974) – 4:22
    “Rebel Rebel” [US remixed single version] (1974) – 2:58
    “Diamond Dogs” [Single Edit] (1974) – 2:58

    “Knock on Wood” (Live) – 2:58
    “Panic in Detroit” (Live) – 5:49

    “John, I’m Only Dancing (Again)” [12″ Extended Mix] (1974) – 6:59

    “Young Americans” [U.S. single version] (1975) – 3:11
    “Fame” [Single Edit] (1975) – 3:30

    “It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City” (1975) – 3:46

    “Golden Years” [Single Edit] (1976) – 3:22
    “TVC 15” [Single Edit] (1976) – 3:43
    “Word on a Wing” [Single Edit] (1976) – 3:10
    “Stay” [Single Edit] (1976) – 3:21
    “Station to Station” [STS Box Version] (2010)

    1. It should really include After Today, but since it wasn’t commercially issued at the time, it might not. Re:call 1 missed out plenty of Ryko bonus tracks…

    2. If John, I’m Only Dancing (Again) is on ‘The Gouster’ I don’t think it’ll be on the compilation too. There are some ‘Diamond Dogs’ outtakes though, like Dodo, Alternative Candidate, Growin’ Up and the 1984/Dodo medley. Plus the string version of It’s Gonna Be Me, assuming the original one will be on ‘The Gouster’.

      1. There are 2 edits of JIOD (Again) – 7″ and 12″ – so in theory it could appear on 2 albums in the Set. Besides didn’t Recall 1 have 2 versions of Holy Holy?

  52. Eamonn, agree on WIN, it’s my favourite track on YA.

    Not sure if the Ryko or the 2007 versions are diff. The DVD is 2 secs longer ::::

    Can pick up Ryko on e-Bay now and again, can be expensive tho.

  53. I’ll get this for completeness but I’m really looking forward to what they will do to cover the so-called ‘Berlin years’. It would be great if they came out with something truly surprising…

  56. I was thinking we might get a live album based on the 1980 floor show concept. Maybe his last gig with Ronson, for American TV which had a guest appearance from Marianne Faithful duetting on I Got You Babe. This was post Pin Ups and just pre Diamond Dogs.

    1. Daniel,

      Regarding the 1980 Floor Show, Jeff Rougvie, who produced the Sound + Vision box set for Rykodisc, wrote the following on his website about when he went through Bowie’s archive to compile the box set and Ryko reissues:

      “Some tapes were in very rough shape. The 2 inch 16-track unmixed masters for the “1980 Floor Show” were falling apart in our hands. Recording tape in the 70’s was a thin piece of plastic coated in ferric oxide, which electronically transcribed recordings with a very high level of fidelity. But, if improperly stored, the fragile tapes start to break down. The oxide loses hold of the plastic and starts to “shred”. It was terrifying to open a box and see little bits of dark tape fall out.

      “There are sometimes ways to rescue these tapes. At the time, one of newest developments was baking the tapes. This is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. You have to very carefully put the failing tapes into an oven, and hope the shredding oxide cooks itself back onto the plastic. It sometimes works with great results. Other times, the materials are just too far gone and can’t be saved. Such was the case with “1980 Floor Show”.

      “We made every effort to breathe life back into the 16 track masters for those, but they were lost. I seem to recall hearing that NBC had held them for years and were only released back to Bowie in the 80’s. It’s quite possible there are decent two track masters for the recording somewhere, but I have to assume the final mixdowns were mono, as stereo TV was not a thing at that point.”

      http://www.jeffrougvie.com/bowie-blog/

  57. I just do not understand the release of “The Gouster”. It is essentially “Young Americans” with John I’m Only Dancing, Again (an eminently forgettable version of the song) and It’s gotta be me. These remixes etc, should have been placed on a three or four record Re:Call 2. While I despise Bowie’s version of “Across The Universe”, and would gladly skip over it on CD every time, I really don’t think this should be released like this. Are these older mixes of the other songs significantly different than what went on the final Young Americans album? We can reshuffle and burn. It would be so much better to have all the extras from this time rather than a retread of the almost same album twice. There are tons of outtakes from Diamond Dogs and Young Americans sessions that really should be included here and my guess is that other than some very slight differences in five of these songs are are going to be significantly the same as the previously released versions. Crazy. A duplication of 20 minutes.

    1. We’ll find out more details next week. Agreed it repeats stuff, but it was a genuinely sequenced album that could have been issued back in the day. Historically it’s quite good to recognise this and also, let’s face it, without something like this, they may have struggled to get fans truly excited about this box.

  58. Shameless self-promotion time: there’s a chapter on The Gouster in my increasingly inaccurately-titled book The Greatest Albums You’ll Never Hear, available for about a fiver from Amazon and Fopp.

    1. I have this book and it was/is a great read!

      It is interesting to see that more and more of the albums you cover are becoming available – I’m thinking of Eno’s My Squelchy Life as another example. Don’t have the book in front of me at the moment…

  59. Exciting… the song ‘Win’ from Young Americans has become my favourite Bowie song since he died, I would have been really excited if a demo version had appeared on The Gouster. I believe an alternate mix of Win appeared on the ’91 Ryko reissue but not the 2007 deluxe edition. Is the Ryko CD worth tracking down for this version can anyone tell me? Otherwise I hope it crops-up in this box-set’s Re:Call segment, should there be one.

  60. I thought the previous version of YA was called ‘Shilling the Rubes’ or something like that. Never heard of ‘The Gouster’. Anyway just some bonus tracks (that have been available for years) sequenced with a few YA tracks. I suppose alternate mixes would be somewhat appealing.

    1. Just found the Tony Visconti section in the book of the 1982 Radio One series ‘The Record Producers’ and Visconti refers to it there:
      ‘…And let it be known that “Young Americans” was originally called “The Gouster”…So I’ve got these tapes labelled “The Gouster” by David Bowie and it has tracks you haven’t heard yet, which will be released at some point in the future.”

  62. Being a huge Young Americans and Station to Station fan, this box set seems like a must-have!

    I missed Station to Station deluxe from a few years back, so defo looking forward to getting hold of the Nassau gig, I just hope they include it!

  64. So my guess is it’s 11 LPs:

    Diamond Dogs
    David Live (Double)
    The Gouster
    Young Americans
    Station To Station

    with added
    Nassau 1976 (Double)
    Re:Call 2 (Double)

    and maybe
    Station To Station alt mix/1985 CD master
    (Like the alt. Ziggy in Five Years)

    I will also guess that next year’s box will be called “A New Career In A New Town 1977-79”

    1. I do hope the next box set will include albums up to 1981 including Scary Monsters, bits from Christiane F. soundtrack, Baal and the Moroder version of Cat People. ..
      Scary Monsters to me doesn’t belong to the era started with Let’s Dance…

      LP1: Low (1977)
      LP2 Heroes (1977)
      LP4/LP5: Stage (1978)
      LP6: Lodger (1979)
      LP7: Scary Monsters (1980)
      LP9/LP10: Re:Call 3 [including tracks from the soundtrack Christiane F (notably the versions of TVC 15, Stay that have different arrangements), Panic in Detroit (1979 version), Crystal Japan (Japanese Ad music and B side), the Ep Baal, Cat People (82 version with Moroder) plus all the bonus tracks that appeared on the Ryk0 re-releases of the above albums (Abdulmajid etc.)…]

  65. So the new box set will likely be (given that the official site has said it will cover 74-76):

    Diamond Dogs
    Young Americans
    Station to Station
    The Gouster
    David Live
    Re:Call 2

    Plus a book.

    Anything else? Changesonebowie? Probably not.

    I think it makes sense because to carve up the catalogue and split the “Berlin” trilogy would be madness, and to include all of the above AND the “Berlin” trilogy would make it too big and expensive. I’m all for slightly smaller packages than Five Years, simply from a cost perspective.

    Thoughts?

  66. So, I guess we can expect 9 to 10 discs in this new “Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976)” box set:

    LP1: Diamond Dogs (1974)
    LP2/LP3: David Live (1974)
    LP4: The Gouster (1974 – cancelled)
    LP5: Young Americans (1975)
    LP6: Station To Station (1976)
    LP7/LP8: Live Nassau Coliseum ’76 (2010 STS box set)
    LP9/LP10: Re:Call 2 (2016)

    Any thoughts for what’s going to be included on the Re:Call 2? One or two discs of material?

  67. Is this really an unreleased complete album?

    I would seem that it is already released tracks and would not have appeared anyway.

  68. An excellent addition to a box set of some challenging, but ultimately rewarding albums that were made after those included in the Five Years set. I do hope they continue the boxes (albeit slowly for my finances’ sake) up to the end. There are quite a few of the later albums I have never owned on vinyl.

          1. That’s not completely correct PAul. The Pin ups radioshow (cd version) was seperatly for sale from their wwbshop for a tenner.

          2. That’s a different. It wasn’t part of the box, it was a separate incentive to order from their store…

  70. Really excited about this after getting the delivery of my 5 Years box set this morning! Got the cheap Amazon France deal that I saw on this site the other day :) Thanks.

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