NewsDavid Bowie 1990s-era box set confirmed for 2021
‘Era 5’ box set will cover 1993 to 2001
In a fairly unusual statement, the official David Bowie website yesterday confirmed that a 1990’s era Bowie box set would be released in 2021.
In general, labels and official channels like to keep release plans very close to their chest, but Bowie’s website points out that “every time we make a post on the official channels regarding new releases, a great number of you use the opportunity to comment on the lack of news regarding the Era 5 set. That’s to be expected and your frustration is understandable.”
They then lay out what has happened to date, which is as below:
Era 1 = Five Years (1969–1973) – Released 2015 = 42 years
Era 2 = Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976) – Released 2016 = 40 years
Era 3 = A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982) – Released 2017 = 35 years
Era 4 = Loving the Alien (1983–1988) – Released 2018 = 30 years
DavidBowie.com then posted the following:
“So with the Era 5 box which was originally going to cover the years 1993 to 1999, the plan was to release last year. Though that meant it was only a 20 year gap between ‘hours…’ and the release of the Era 5 box, it was considered a set that many fans were clamouring for due to the titles that hadn’t been released on vinyl originally or were hard to find.
However, we then decided to increase the span of the box up to 2001, so to keep at least a 20 year gap between the last year covered and release date, it means the box won’t now be released till next year.”
This statement confirms that the two Tin Machine albums (issued in 1989 and 1991 respectively) will not form part of the next box set. The five studio albums covered for this era are Black Tie White Noise (1993), The Buddha of Suburbia (1993), 1. Outside (1995), Earthling (1997) and hours (1999). Increasing the span to take ‘Era 5’ from 1999 to 2001 is curious. It doesn’t give us any additional studio albums (the next album after hours was 2002’s Heathen) but it does afford the opportunity for the label to include something like the Live at BBC Radio Theatre performance from June 2000, which is officially unreleased on vinyl and was heavily edited when included as a bonus CD with the Bowie at the Beeb compilation (issued in 2000).
Confirmation that this 1990s box will definitely happen next year also means that any kind of follow-up to last year’s 1969-centric Conversation Piece that centres around The Man Who Sold The World and/or Hunky Dory seems unlikely. Next year will be the 50th anniversary of the latter.
Having said all that, we know that Parlophone and the David Bowie Estate simply cannot stop putting out anniversary product – even if they appear to have quietly axed the 40th anniversary seven-inch picture discs, without any word to fans. The final comment on yesterdays’ official statement underlines this commitment to putting out product:
“Of course, that doesn’t mean you won’t be getting anything new until next year. You may have noticed that various other releases have peppered the months in-between the era boxes, including live albums and the Conversation Piece set last year, along with other releases.
Indeed, stay tuned for the announcement of another exciting project before the end of next week.”
Since this update was posted late last night, ‘next week’ means ‘this week’!
What are your thoughts on the prospect of this ‘Era 5’ box set next year? Are you disappointed that Tin Machine won’t feature? Would you rather continue with Conversation Piece type sets and work through the early 1970s? What has happened to the seven-inch picture discs? If you have been collecting them, how do you feel about them just stopping before we get to the Scary Monsters singles? Leave a comment.
Read the full Era 5 update post at DavidBowie.com
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Completely silly to not include Tin Machine.
Possible tin machine box set:-
1. Tin machine
2. Tin machine II
3. Oy vey, baby
4 & 5. singles/ b- sides etc
6. live in paris
Not sure how many Bowie fans would really want it though. They could easily fill another 2 discs with outtakes but who is gonna spend £60+ plus on tin machine?? I’m a bit of a Bowie completist but maybe i would have to draw the line at some point…
I loved Tin Machine and would be very happy to see a box set.
Me too for 2021, I sure would love to see a box set?! Yet to be seen and great timing, sure hope so now!
As a Bowie fan and collector, I am very happy to spend $60 plus on tin machine. And many of my friends would too. I saw tin machine 15 times and would have gone to more if I could. And would love to heer the outtakes. spaceboy1958.
Maybe….
1. Black tie album
2. Buddha of suburbia
3. Outside
4. Outside v2 (maybe remixed)
5. Earthling
6. Hours
7 & 8. Bbc radio theatre
9. Toy
10 & 11. Re:call 5
Surely at some stage “Toy” will get some kind of deluxe official release. It is easily obtainable in cd form although the vinyl is some what expensive. The sound is official release quality so the record company and the Bowie estate are losing a fortune by not releasing.
To me it’s one of his greatest albums. His reworking of older songs is a delight and the best original tracks were all remixed or re-recorded for “Heathen”.
If you have not heard this album you are missing out big time.
Toy is a fantastic album – it’s criminal that it hasn’t been officially released yet. Looks like it will be included in Era 5. Finally. These vinyl box sets are gonna fly off the shelves before they even get there.
I would really love it if the Tin Machine recordings were included in this next box. I thought maybe it would also include a concert recording of the Sound & Vision tour, Black Tie White Noise, Buddha of Suburbia, Outside & related material, maybe some miscellaneous things on Recall. But, oh well. Not excited about them skipping over some years! Not sure I’ll buy this one.
And what happened to the 7″ picture discs?! I have been especially waiting for the Scary Monsters singles. They aren’t going to be released? I thought maybe they were delayed by the Covid plague somehow.
I know that Paul has addressed the issue of the apparent stop to the Bowie 40th anniversary vinyl picture disc singles in his news story about the Era 5 box set. But I wonder if anyone knows if they will be resumed at any time in the future? As Hammerhedley has rightly pointed out, the 1980-81 Scary Monsters’ album related singles are vintage Bowie songs. If anyone has any info, I would really appreciate hearing about that. Cheers and thanks.
A bit unfortunate that at least the first TM album is not included. I can see why II is not a part of this, although one would expect Parlophone to reach out and get TM II to include in the latest set.
Still, welcome news that all early 90s material will come together. Doubly excited about a Hunky Dory issue is forthcoming.
6 live 2cd/LPs by Bowie been announced. First released end of October. Live in Dallas from 1995. On his official site you could get a limited edition slip case for the 6 CDs and the same for the LPs but all appear to be sold out already.
So the Friday Bowie surprise was a Bowie live boxset to collect over the coming months and put in the ‘purchase separately’ and now sold out slipcase.
I am hoping Warner Japan does something about the live box. For the box to be sold barely before I even knew is was coming is irksome. Going back in time, the Toshiba-EMI box from the mid 2000’s is very good to have, and the slip case was issued as an aquire-with-stamps offer, as was the extremely good Sony set. Still among my most precious Bowie CD issues.
Come on, Warner Japan. Give us the live releases in a slipcase!
I just want the following on vinyl without paying extortionate ebay prices, Black Tie, White Noise, Earthling, Hours and the longer version of Outside. I hope we see some separate re-releases.
Bowie’s 90s output was for me one of my favourite periods, with ‘Black Tie White Noise’ being my guilty pleasure. Would be really interested to see what they come up with for this box set. I do hope the lost ‘Toy’ album makes an appearance, although some of these tracks did find their way onto the ‘Nothing Has Changed’ compilation, it would be nice to hear the album as it was originally intended with the original mixes of ‘Uncle Floyd’ (‘Slip Away’) etc..
Six live albums from 1995-1999 as limited edition CD & Vinyl sets were just announced!
include something like the Live at BBC Radio Theatre performance from June 2000, which is “officially unreleased” on vinyl??
A slip of the pen perhaps….
Can you just say what you mean…?
I suspect TOYS is not included in the box. TOYS and HEATHEN belong together like little brothers and sisters.
I could roughly imagine the following compilation:
1. BLACK TIE …
2. BLACK TIE … remixes
3 BUDDHA OF …
4. OUTSIDE
5. OUTSIDE unreleased songs (as far as I know “2nd Outside” was finished)
6. EARTHLING
7. EARTHLING remixes
8. HOURS
9. HOURS – Omikron and Remixes
10. + 11.: unreleased live album
12. RE: CALL
I am really hoping it includes the two disc versions of Outside, Earthling, and Hours.
They should include the Omikron game soundtrack
exclusive …the next release will be Shilling the Rubes ep(4 sigma sound era outtakes)
Wouldn’t get my hopes up concerning Toy because they could just throw in the single B-sides or Nothing Has Changed tracks and call it a day on 2001.
What will be really interesting about this set, is how they’ll cherry pick the remixes for recall and of course, what album will be the duplicate.
Maybe versions 1 and 2 of outside? Possibly remastered or remixed versions, to make fans think they’re getting something new?
What would be good in terms of the next announcement is an official set of his 50th birthday bash from January 1997. Excellent show with plenty of interesting guests/songs andBowie on full “alt-90s” form. The duet with Robert Smith on Quicksand a highlight. That would tie in with the recent releases from this period that have been mined already (the ChangesNowBowie tracks from the show’s rehearsal sessions and IIAW). Maybe it could be announced/released on the 5th anniversary of his death which is sadly looming next January.
I imagine rights negotiations would kill the prospect of a 50th Birthday Bash release.
Here’s my guess…Tin Machine will get released but in a Conversation Piece sort of way. The big announcement for this week, will be a 40th anniversary box of Scary Monsters with bonus tracks and out takes. The big surprise will be a 5.1 version of Scary Monsters! When I meet Tony I had asked him about 5.1 mixes and he told me he would love to do Scary Monsters!
Just a guess, but I think it makes complete sense. It could also include the 7″ picture discs of all the singles from the LP.
Chris that sounds just perfect!
Presuming the final box will go up to Blackstar, does that mean it won’t come out until 2036?
Sadly I was never in a position to pick up the first set, and thus never picked up any of the boxes (my wife has said she wants to get them all for me, but the cost of the first set alone makes that a near impossibility). I was lucky enough to get my hands on the two live albums from the last box, Dance, even the remix of Station To Station individually ( and had chances to get the ReCall’s and others but had to pass at the time)….
All that being said, I’m glad this news is out and that the next box is coming. Like most I still need Black Tie White Noise and Buddha to complete my collection. Hopefully I’ll be able to snag any exclusives when someone breaks a box open.
I wonder if Parlaphone might release Tin Machine 1 by itself, or maybe a Sound + Vision show before Christmas this year like they did with Glastonbury last year.
The inclusion of Buddha and Toy would make this box compelling for sure. Initially I though it would be strange to break Toy’s connection to Heathen. However, IF this is to be the last box, then I suppose it makes more sense.
Also there is a ton of live material to choose from. It will be interesting to see which album(s) get supplemented with a live LP/CD from that era.
Glad to hear box set 5 is on its way – the completest in me wants this and #6 to complete the set. The 20-year delay release argument is bollocks for box sets such as these – it would only apply to an anniversary reissue of an individual album.
During Bowie’s lifetime I only ever purchased 2 of his albums, the compilation ChangesBowie, and Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) – the latter I loved (and personally thought rather un-Bowie-like), so these box sets are a perfect way for me to get his full studio discography (to be honest, I’m not a fan of live stuff, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere on Paul’s site). My only concern is the price; in the past I could choose where in the world I purchased the sets from, but now most places will not ship internationally (Amazon, I’m looking at you), so my choices for purchase might be local, and local means top-dollar prices unfortunately.
Personally, I’m not at all interested in the picture discs or coloured vinyl (unless they just happen to be part of a box set anyway), and the only expanded album I would be interested in is Scary Monsters. A potential #4.5 set of Tin Machine would be tempting, if only to complete the set.
Yes! This is the one I’ve been waiting for, for ages. Really hope Toy is included, signs look good based on some tracks making that compilation few years back.
There are a lot of demos we know of (and most likely some that we don’t) whose copyright expires on 31st December 2020 under the new 50 year “use it or lose it” copyright rule. Tracks like How Lucky You Are (Miss Peculiar), Tired Of My Life, I’ve Got Lightning, etc. I would guess those tracks will either be streamed and/or released as a small boxed set of vinyl records initially (before the end of this year in order to renew the copyrights) and will then end up on a 50th Anniversary Deluxe ‘Hunky Dory’ at the end of 2021. It makes sense for the next ‘era’ box to cover the end of the Parlophone era, so that the final (?) box set after that covers the Iso/Columbia releases. But will ‘Toy’ get a proper mix and an official release? And which box does it belong in??
somewhere there is someone weeping over the new there will be no remastered versions of Fame 90 or Real Cool World
Would love to see this boxset come to life. Black Tie,Buddha and Outside are amongst my favorites.
Can’t say I’m that bothered about the era 5 box set release but I’ll pick it up at some point as I have the others, but it would be nice to get an official Toy release maybe with some unreleased tracks? Never particularly liked Tin Machine but I think a collected box would be nice for fans. Personally, wouldn’t be too bothered about remixes being reissued but I’d love to hear some of his classic albums in 5.1 or some proper Bowie SDE’s like the Station To Station box. I for one liked the picture discs and was really looking forward to seeing the Scary Monsters ones too, so if they have stopped I’ll be disappointed.
“Never particularly liked Tin Machine but I think a collected box would be nice for fans.”
Reeves and the Sales brothers have confirmed that the Tin Machine material will not be included in the Bowie boxes.
Dan hi I was referring to a separate Tin Machine box (as the material is not included in the “Bowie Era” boxes), not something I’d be interested in but I’m sure there are enough people that’d buy one if released. Cheers.
I work for a record label and not always do “press releases” tell the full story behind a release. Reasons why certain albums, songs etc are not included in box sets/collections could be many: unavailability of rights to the use of the masters, lack of source material (mis-placed/lost master tapes) etc. In the case of box set Era 5, the whole “20 – 30- 42 year span” is all baloney (malarkey for the Brits ). They need to make up some kind of excuse to justify the logic behind the next box set (Bowie himself would be appalled of this deceitful tactic were he still alive).
Bowie was a very smart business man and understood the advantage to owning his masters. He (and now his estate) licensed the use of his masters to various labels throughout the years (RCA, EMI, Virgin, Ryko, BMG, Sony etc.) to maximize their value. Licensing deals have variable terms that eventually expire and the rights revert back to Bowie (now his estate). The delay could have been due to the estate waiting for the ownership of certain rights to revert back to them so that those masters can be re-licensed to Parlophone who is now re-issuing all the box sets. Hence why the delay in the release of the box set Era 5.
Why Tin Machine releases are not included in Era 5?
– Originally Tin Machine I was released as the last “Bowie” contract album through EMI. That’s why it was included in the 1999 re-issues of the Bowie catalog on EMI/Virgin. Note that Tin Machine II & Oy Vey were not included in said re-issue campaign because originally released through Victory/Polygram, and at the time they still probably had rights to the exploitation of those masters.
– By looking at iTunes, the copyright line for TM1 indicates that the masters are owned by Parlophone which means that technically they could be included in Box 5. However what would be the point of including one Tin Machine album and not the other two which they don’t have rights to? Add to the fact that Tin Machine were a “group” and many Bowie fans hated that period of his career so why include something that wouldn’t drive the purchase of the casual (not true) fans?
– Finally, Tin Machine II was just re-released through MOV which further confirms the assignment of rights use (still Victor Ent) as well as the estate’s intention to bypass the Tin Machine era in the box set retrospective.
So with all that said, the estate’s only viable option was to include 2001 in the box set year-span so they could justify adding the unreleased Toy album (YAY!) as a true value for the set (probably making it exclusive a-la “The Gouster”) as well as other exclusive live albums. All the output from Heathen through Blackstar are still licensed to Sony so not eligible for inclusion.
My guess as to what the box set will include:
Black Tie, White Noise 2LP
Buddah of Surburbia LP
Outside – 2LP
Earthling – 1LP
Hours – 1LP (possibly 2LP considering it’s 46’ long)
Toy – 1LP
Live & Well (Bowienet only live album) – 2LP
Bowie & Beeb Live 2000 (bonus disc from 3CD set) – 2LP
Re:Call 5 – 3LP
Considering the plethora of outtakes, b-sides, remixes from the albums in the expanded editions of the below, I expect disappointment in the exclusion of many from the ReCall album.
BTWN – 12 extra tracks
Outside – 14 extra tracks
Earthing – 13 extra tracks
Hours – 17 extra tracks
Alternatively, the b-sides & outtakes of these albums could get grouped as companion LPs to each album leaving the remixes for ReCall, which has been what it was intended for. But who knows?
The B-sides will invariably end up on Re:Call 5, and if the compilers are smart, they’ll limit the remixes to the most interesting, much like Pet Shop Boys only included their own remixes on their reissues. Speaking of which, I can see that the PSB mix of Hallo Spaceboy is more interesting to the Bowie fan than five variations of I’m Afraid Of Americans.
Reeves Gabrels has already confirmed that Tin Machine will be a standalone box set unconnected to the Bowie ‘era’ boxes. Royalty issues are messy – it seems that the Sales brothers are demanding 25% each of songs they didn’t even write.
Arndur thanks for this insight and Paul thanks as always for this forum. This seems like a very good assumption of what could potentially be on this particular box set. It does seem like the ‘official announcement’ is not wanting to have to explain to the masses any details such as waiting for rights to expire, and perhaps they contractually aren’t allowed to. For once though it would be nice if maybe someone within the estate or controlling parties would quit operating like the music business used to and perhaps try something different….they don’t have to give day-by-day communication but regular updates good/bad/otherwise that don’t insult the intelligence of the very people willing to give continued support would be a start. I’ll step out of the complaints line for now.
Regarding the Tin Machine albums: I know many people would have liked to see them included in #5 box but personally, I always liked that these album stand a bit aside from the Bowie catalogue. I know it’s mainly licensing reasons (for TMII and the live album) as the first TM album even got a re-release under the Bowie arch, but I do think these albums are a bit different from the rest. Cause of the “democratic” principle, other people singing etc. So no complaint from me that they are not included.
I suspect the reason the 7″ picture discs have been abandoned is cos they just haven’t been selling well enough or quick enough: Heroes, Zeroes, Beauty And The Beast and Be My Wife from 3 years ago are still available from Amazon Proper (not Marketplace sellers). Not what you’d expect for a ‘limited edition’ and probably not what the rcord company would have expected or wanted.
I’m all for the next box of Bowie, even sans Tin Machine. I’ve always thought DB was very specific about TIN MACHINE and TIN MACHINE II standing on their own merits, outside his solo work. If that is what he wanted, I’ll be understanding here (Maybe one day the two albums and bonus materials might be their own set? ). As for the picture-disc singles? For a while there is was old (with new) on top of new (at the end of his life)… I can barely keep up now! I like to celebrate Mr. Bowie – but sometimes picture disc singles are meant to be more seen than heard (surely they don’t sound as good!) Still, some of the unique b-sides or unreleased mixes etc are treasures to most. I have a few of them, but I can’t imagine trying to “collect them all”!
Maybe they’ll spread the tin machine releases over enough discs to get a separate box set out of it? They managed it with wcibn!
All the era box sets have been produced beautifully so far. The design, reproductions, re:call extra content, the books. No reason to believe that the era 5 box should be any different. Looking forward to it. Toy released properly within the box would be great.
Great news! I am looking forward to this release.
Additionally to the 5 albums (Black Tie, Buddha, Outside, Earthling, Hours) there is a ton of already released material (All Saints, Storyteller, Ouvre, ChangesNow, Wonder, Liveandwell, Air, Beep, Glastonbury) from the era 1993 to 2001.
I hope they don’t give this already released material into the #5 box but some new and unreleased stuff, like “Toy” or the “Leon” material from 1994/95.
I will ofcourse buy the vinyl-box as I have all the previous ones.
But it would seem like there will be no live album from the Sounds and Vision tour which is a huge dissapointment. I guess we may get it on a RSD or something like that…
Tin Machine – do all the rights sit with the Bowie estate yet? Or could that be the announcement ? Including Live it Tokyo, the Hamburg Oh Vey Baby footage …. brilliant stuff Albeit
BBC Radio Appearance seems to be set up for an announcement this week – DVD + CD;
Toy – could that be included in the next set? Is that 2001?
One day could we see a complete BBC box set .
Picture discs – shame they are stopping – not for me – no longer have the space to keep on buying more and more. If they sell ( and they do ) not sure why the Estate would stop it
The Estate doesn’t own Tin Machine II or Oy Vey Baby so they’d have to license or buy rights to that completely, to use it.
The comment from Ken A.! on September 22 regarding the Layla 5oth blog post first got me thinking about whether that really was the first one album-only oriented box, then realized how far this market has evolved in 30 years.
In 1990 it was how can I afford this four disc box and do I really want supplemental music to any album, however beloved. While reading these comments and those for SOTT last week, it seems we now expect/demand everything (including hi-res, but no tat ever – we even have mixed feelings about beautifully produced books) and there seems to be no limit to this appetite. By 2050 will we demand the studio chatter during the recording sessions? If so, the music companies will gladly oblige in the 80th anniversary edition of Layla (but that edition will not include the Fully Immersive 16-Channel Virtually in the Room Hyper Mix that was on the 65th anniversary edition).
I get it, this is the Internet and if we can’t use it a platform to complain, then what benefit does it provide? But the artist (or estate) should always have the right to share their work as they choose and see fit. In the case of Prince specifically, we would not be granted access to any archival material at all if he was alive. But he is not, so glass half empty because we don’t have the opportunity to see him morph into possibly a Duke Ellington-type band leader and all the music he could have given us with another 20 years or more.
By all means keep the Era 5 box suggestions coming. The announcement for 2021 may have been a means to elicit suggestions and input from this and other sites. But please remember to be grateful for the music that is shared when the contents are announced. In the end, our choice is to buy or not. And it is okay to not buy. We can still lead a full, happy life without that, or any other, box set.
All that said, it does not account for music company business ethics re: customers. In that spirit I offer a (hopefully) light-hearted prediction of the announcement later this week, “The David Bowie Estate proudly announces the release of a 7″ picture disc box set that will include each and every one of David’s singles through to and including Scary Monsters, to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Scary Monsters in 2020. Please note the Scary Monster picture disc singles from this album will be exclusive to this complete singles box set.”
Doesn’t The Beatles’s Anthology have studio chatter tracks (may be wrong, long time since I listened to them) and Queen’s Live On Air thingy box feels like it has more talk than music. Not in-studio chatter but still not something I’d want to listen over and over and over.
Literally no one considered the time from the last album in a set and the box’s release. lol. Something they’ve made up that means nothing, just say “It’ll be out next year” which is what we all expected anyway.
If Toy is in this box then because it was recorded in 2000/2001 that’s fine with me, but as it’s unreleased and therefore has no official release date I reckon it’ll be in the following box with Heathen as an extra.
I welcome the Fifth Bowie box, but the big concern with the years elapsed since an album and a box set is super silly. They should include “Heathen” (2002) and “Reality” (2003) since there are only two studio albums beyond 2001 (excluding “Blackstar.”) To make me really happy, they should include a few of the 12 inches left of Box 4, such as “Magic Dance” (won’t hold my breath).
Why has there been no visual releases? I know you can watch them on YouTube but I’d really like a Blu-ray of all of Bowie’s videos. Also Blu-rays of the three BBC documentaries
Can’t remember the specifics, but at a Q&A with Francis Whately (the director of the 3 Bowie docs), he confirmed due to certain rights issues they could never be commercially released unfortunately.
The 90s was when I got into Bowie, so this set is really exciting for me. I’ve really enjoyed the boxed eras up until this point, but it’s going to be great to have it catch up to when I came on board. “Jump They Say” came out while I was in high school, and I fell in love with Bowie from then on.
A few observations:
1. No one cares about the 20 year or 19 year gap. Complete nonsensical explanation that I used to give my boss when I was in my 20’s and screwed sth up.
2. They don’t explain why they decided to change from 1993-1999 to 1993-2001, here is my explanation and this ties in with what I said under #1. No one realized till later that all the albums in the 1993-1999 period have already been re-issued with at least 1 bonus disc each (Black Tie had 2) so to release that again, the Era 5 box set has to contain some valuable box-only content to attract fans. Perhaps they are not that unprofessional that they wouldn’t know these albums had already been reissued with lavish bonus content but they underestimated it and realized only later that they needed additional content to attract fans. To do this, they expanded it to 2001.
3. Am I excited about Era 5 box? Not particularly. I already have The David Bowie “Boxed” set which included Outside, Earthling, Hours, Heathen and Reality. All 5 with a bonus disc. I also did buy the Black Tie 3 disc deluxe reissue. This box will undoubtedly add tracks not on those bonus discs (I should hope) but do I really need that? Whatever bonus material they come up with, it will have to be good but what else is there other than a live disc?
4. I always thought Tin Machine was stand alone. I’m sure this will be reissued in due time in a Tin Machine only box set: The 2 albums, maybe a disc with outtakes, the live disc and done. Another year covered with a Bowie box because after Era 6 they will be done. So I’m assuming after Era 6, they will continue with the Conversation Piece-like box sets which is fine by me.
5. I wasn’t interested in the picture discs but it is weird of course to just stop that series without any explanation to fans. Will the next thing they come up with stopped as well without explanation? That’s not very nice to your fans.
This sounds great to me:
– Can’t stand Tin Machine (I’ve tried, God how hard I have tried!)
– Buddha of Suburbia is (to my mind) an underrated release from his catalogue and deserves to be heard more widely AND it will be great to get it on vinyl
– BTWN is one of my most-played Bowie albums from his later years. I still remember the excitement of seeing the Jump they Say video for the first time (a special preview on some music show, the Tube perhaps?) and thinking “Yes! He’s back!!”.
I’ve been wanting a vinyl copy for ages but have you seen the prices? The Box set will be justified for that alone.
– I still have my originals of the others included in the box but it will be interesting to see what treatment they get in terms of Re:Call material.
So, some of us are left hoping for a Tin Machine box then….. Hopefully it’ll follow. Conversation Piece was a small set by BowieBox standards, so I’m they can do the same with TM.
I would be very suprised if ‘Toy’ is included in the set,there’s all those remixes of ‘Jump They Say’ to fill it up instead.
Its exciting to think we could get a full release of toy possibly with tracks that weren’t on the leak but strongly rumoured to have been recorded, can’t help thinking about me & karma man.
2001 could also be a red herring covering just a couple of tracks on recall like nature boy. It happened on the lta boxset, 1988 only covering the live Tina Turner tracks.
Also why isn’t 1992 covered with real cool world?
It could be a hefty boxset with potentially 6 studio albums, live at bbc theatre 2000, recall at least 2 cds, many 12 inch remixes, the 3 live albums released for streaming, an extra remixed album.
Interesting what the announcement of a new project could be, hopefully it is tin machine. Or the beginning of a visual series of dvd/bluray.
Sound and Vision live tour and the Ryko additional tracks will all be missing. So perhaps will be released separately.
Where is TM1 ?!
I assume they’ve made an album of Toy and that’ll be the 2001 bit.
If there are rights issues to Tin Machine era why don’t they…
Release the box with just the normally enclosed book and an album from that era that Bowie owns the full rights to.
Release the rest separately and we build our own box.
I know I, for one, have spent many a sleepless night worried that a Bowie box set would be released less than 20 years after the last album it contains. I’m so pleased the estate has put my mind at ease. Now I don’t need to fret about this until 2036!
Gaps between release date are reducing each time so it’ll be less than 20 years to number 6!
I truly don’t care about the 7″ picture discs series, I’d rather see a release of a 7″ box set (either black or clear vinyl) and CD singles box set of all Bowie’s singles.
I agree about skiping Tin Machine and starting with the excellent Black Tie White noise. It’s a great era for Bowie. I hope they will include the Bowie 50th anniversary show at Madison Square Garden in 1997. I guess this box set will be a success because most of these albums are hard to find on vinyl. Outside wasn’t even released on vinyl at the time, there was only a shortened version (excerpts of outside) on vinyl. I bought the US ISO Friday white double LP of Outside 5 years ago when it was released and it sounds fantastic. Sadly it had sold out quickly and became very expensive on Discogs and eBay for Bowie fans. Same for Hours. Excellent release from ISO but also sold out after a few weeks and available on import only.
So this box set is very good news for Bowie fans who will have the chance to buy these LPs for £20 (instead of £200).
After that, there will be one last box set (2003-2016) and as outside of Re-Call LPs there are no extras or bonuses, I guess they will start a super deluxe edition series for each album?
They probably have tons of demos, outtakes, complete live sets, etc. Enough material for SDEs. Toni Visconti could also release 5.1 mixes of Bowie’s albums. I read in Visconti’s autobiography, he’s a fan of 5.1 surround sound,