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David Bowie Box is Back

David Bowie Box / 2013 reissue
Bowie Box contains the albums Outside, Earthling, Hours, Heathen and Reality – all as comprehensive 2CD sets

Sony Music are to reissue their David Bowie Box (originally released in 2007) which comprehensively summarises the thin white duke‘s official output from 1995 to 2004.

This is a 10CD box set which contains the following five albums, all issued as two-CD sets: Outside (1995), Earthling (1997) Hours… (1999), Heathen (2002) and Reality (2003).

For anyone looking to investigate Bowie in the nineties and noughties, then look no further. With the exception of the Tin Machine albums, Black Tie White Noise and the soundtrack to The Buddha Of Suburbia, this set houses all the man’s studio album-related output since 1987’s Never Let Me Down – and it’s fantastically comprehensive.

For example Outside‘s bonus disc contains five remixes of lead single tour de force The Heart’s Filthy Lesson, a further four versions of Hallo Spaceboy as well as Get Real (originally a Japanese bonus track which later turned up on the Strangers When We Meet UK CD single). All the bonus discs do a similar thing, rounding up tracks from CD singles, twelve-inch vinyl, remixes and the various two-disc editions that were available at the time. Heathen‘s extra disc gathers together all the tracks (commercially issued at the time) that were originally intended for Bowie’s stillborn Toy album (Baby Loves That Way, Shadow Man etc.) In total 63 bonus tracks are included in this box.

Furthermore, the packaging is high quality japanese style mini-LP CDs (vinyl replica) with inner sleeves reproduced, decent protection for CDs, larger 135mm x 135mm dimensions, and slavish attention to the original vinyl design (Outside is called Excerpts From Outside as per the original vinyl sleeve, despite containing the full-length version and bonus disc!). All the five album packages are housed in a very sturdy slipcase which boasts design elements from all the individual releases. Sony have informed us that the packaging for this reissue will be identical to the original.

This box set has been out of print for quite a while and currently commands high prices on the used market. All that will change on 27 May when the reissue is released. Expect to pay around £40 for this set (at the time of writing pre-orders only available from Amazon Germany).

David Bowie Box / 2013 reissue

David Bowie Box full track listing:

Disc 1 (Outside)

  • “Leon Takes Us Outside”
  • “Outside”
  • “The Hearts Filthy Lesson”
  • “Small Plot of Land”
  • “Segue – Baby Grace (A Horrid Cassette)”
  • “Hallo Spaceboy”
  • “The Motel”
  • “I Have Not Been to Oxford Town”
  • “No Control”
  • “Segue – Algeria Touchshriek”
  • “Voyeur of Utter Destruction (As Beauty)”
  • “Segue – Ramona A. Stone/I Am With Name”
  • “Wishful Beginnings”
  • “We Prick You”
  • “Segue – Nathan Adler”
  • “I’m Deranged”
  • “Thru’ These Architects Eyes”
  • “Segue – Nathan Adler [Album Version # 2]”
  • “Strangers When We Meet”

Disc 2 (Outside – Bonus)

  • “The Hearts Filthy Lesson [Trent Reznor Alternative Mix]”
  • “The Hearts Filthy Lesson [Rubber Mix]”
  • “The Hearts Filthy Lesson [Simple Test Mix]”
  • “The Hearts Filthy Lesson [Filthy Mix]”
  • “The Hearts Filthy Lesson [Good Karma Mix by Tim Simenon]”
  • “Small Plot of Land” [Basquiat OST Version]
  • “Hallo Spaceboy [12″ Remix]”
  • “Hallo Spaceboy [Double Click Mix]”
  • “Hallo Spaceboy [Instrumental]”
  • “Hallo Spaceboy [Lost in Space Mix]”
  • “I Am With Name”
  • “I’m Deranged [Jungle Mix]”
  • “Get Real” [Strangers When We Meet UK CD Single]
  • “Nothing to be Desired”

Disc 3 (Earthling)

  • “Little Wonder”
  • “Looking for Satellites”
  • “Battle for Britain (The Letter)”
  • “Seven Years in Tibet”
  • “Dead Man Walking”
  • “Telling Lies”
  • “The Last Thing You Should Do”
  • “I’m Afraid of Americans”
  • “Law (Earthlings on Fire)”

Disc 4 (Earthling – Bonus)

  • Little Wonder [Censored Video Edit]
  • Little Wonder [Junior Vasquez Club Mix]
  • Little Wonder [Danny Saber Dance Mix]
  • Seven Years in Tibet [Mandarin Version]
  • Dead Man Walking [Moby Mix 1]
  • Dead Man Walking [Moby Mix 2 Us Promo 12″]
  • Telling Lies [Feelgood Mix]
  • Telling Lies [Paradox Mix]
  • I’m Afraid of Americans [Showgirls OST Version]
  • I’m Afraid of Americans [Nine Inch Nails V1 Mix]
  • I’m Afraid of Americans [Nine Inch Nails V1 Clean Edit]
  • V-2 Schneider [Tao Jones Index]
  • Pallas Athena [Tao Jones Index]

Disc 5 (Hours)

  • “Thursday’s Child”
  • “Something in the Air”
  • “Survive”
  • “If I’m Dreaming My Life”
  • “Seven”
  • “What’s Really Happening?”
  • “The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell”
  • “New Angels of Promise”
  • “Brilliant Adventure”
  • “The Dreamers”

Disc 6 (Hours – Bonus)

  • “Thursday’s Child” [Rock Mix]
  • “Thursday’s Child” [Omikron: The Nomad Soul Slower Version]
  • “Something in the Air” [American Psycho Remix]
  • “Survive” [Marius De Vries UK CD Single]
  • “Seven” [Demo]
  • “Seven” [Maurius De Vries Mix]
  • “Seven” [Beck Mix #1]
  • “Seven” [Beck Mix #2]
  • “The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell” [Edit]
  • “The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell” [Stigmata Film Version]
  • “The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell” [Stigmata Film Only Version]
  • “New Angels of Promise” [Omikron: The Nomad Soul Version]
  • “The Dreamers” [Omikron: The Nomad Soul Longer Version]
  • “1917”
  • “We Shall Go to Town”
  • “We All Go Through”
  • “No One Calls”

Disc 7 (Heathen)

  • “Sunday”
  • “Cactus”
  • “Slip Away”
  • “Slow Burn”
  • “Afraid”
  • “I’ve Been Waiting for You”
  • “I Would Be Your Slave”
  • “I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship”
  • “5:15 The Angels Have Gone”
  • “Everyone Says ‘Hi'”
  • “A Better Future”
  • “Heathen (The Rays)”

Disc 8 (Heathen – Bonus)

  • “Sunday [Moby Remix]”
  • “Better Future” [Remix by Air]
  • “Conversation Piece” [Written 1969 – Recorded 1970 Re-Recorded 2002]
  • “Panic in Detroit” [Outtake from a 1979 Recording]
  • “Wood Jackson”
  • “When the Boys Come Marching Home”
  • “Baby Loves That Way”
  • “You’ve Got a Habit of Leaving”
  • “Safe”
  • “Shadow Man”

Disc 9 (Reality)

  • “New Killer Star”
  • “Pablo Picasso”
  • “Never Get Old”
  • “The Loneliest Guy”
  • “Looking for Water”
  • “She’ll Drive the Big Car”
  • “Days”
  • “Fall Dog Bombs the Moon”
  • “Try Some, Buy Some”
  • “Reality”
  • “Bring Me the Disco King”

Disc 10 (Reality – Bonus)

  • “Waterloo Sunset” [Non-Album Track]
  • “Fly”
  • “Queen of All the Tarts (Overture)”
  • “Rebel Rebel (2003)”
  • “Love Missile F1-11 [Non-Album Track]”
  • “Rebel Never Gets Old [Radio Mix]”
  • “Rebel Never Gets Old [7th Heaven Edit]”
  • “Rebel Never Gets Old [7th Heaven Mix]”

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11 Comments

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[…] David Bowie‘s 1999 album Hours… will be issued on vinyl for the first time in June. The album, which contains the top 40 singles Thursday’s Child, Survive and Seven, will be pressed on 180g vinyl and will come with a 20-page booklet. An expanded double CD edition formed part of the Bowie Box which was reissued  in 2013. […]

Reg

Does anyone know if this box contains the original notes from the prior releases? Outside, in particular, had notes specific to the story being told on the CD. Thanks for any info…

Martijn

Yes, the box contains the original notes. But, the packaging apparently reproduces the vinyl packaging for these albums. So I don’t know if the background story of 1. Outside is as complete as it is on the original CD version.
I think this is a fantastic boxset in terms of musical content, though apparently some stray tracks were not included. The only disappointment for me is the packaging, which is a bit sloppy. It might want to mirror Japanese vinyl-style replicas, but it falls short of it. As mentioned before, the packaging for 1. Outside mirrors the vinyl issue (which had less tracks and a different running order than the CD issue). Some albums have custom inner sleeves, whereas for others it’s just a standard paper envelope. Not always is the bonus content mentioned anywhere on the packaging. Thankfully the music makes up for these annoyances.

Alan

They had to license those tracks from EMI though, they wouldn’t have been allowed to reissue the entire albums (Savage in the case of Jump They Say).

Alan

Rob C, Ryko only had the license to release Bowie’s output up to Scary Monsters. EMI/Virgin had the rights to the 80s stuff and did put out remasters in the mid 90s with some bonus tracks, although they weren’t around for long before getting superceded by the EMI/Virgin 1999 remasters which went from Space Oddity to Tin Machine 1.

Alan

This was a really good box, not quite up to Japanese mini vinyl replica standards, but good nonetheless. Shame a few errors crept into the release though.
On Outside the wrong version of I am with name is on disc two (it replicates the album version instead of the B side version) and there is noticeable crackling on the rubber mix of Hearts filthy lesson despite a good digital version being available.
On Earthling one of the mixes of I’m Afraid of Americans is labelled wrongly.
Oh hours there are mixes labelled incorrectly on disc 2.
Heathen isn’t bad, but missed the chance to add the remixes of Gemini Spacecraft, Sunday and Everyone Says Hi.
Reality missed the download only Your turn to drive and the Lohner mix of Disco King.

It is a shame they couldn’t have got these things right.

Joan C.

Alan, I just came across this site with your comment while looking for the bonus tracks from Reality. It’s been a few years since you wrote your comment, but I just don’t understand something you said. I’ve looked at Wikipedia for the tracks on Reality, and I don’t see the track you mentioned…”only your turn to drive”, or “your turn to drive”…whichever, sooo uumm, could you tell where that song is on that album? I’m curious. I see the song “Bring Me The Disco King”, but I don’t see the “Lohner” ?version anywhere on that album. Could you please explain these things to me?

Rob C

I own the original box and it is fantastic! Sturdy box, high quality replica sleeves..the works. You won’t be disappointed and I’m glad Sony isn’t cutting corners on the reissue.

Here’s hoping EMI issue a box of the 80s output, expanded with bonus tracks: Let’s Dance, Tonight, Never Let Me Down, Tin Machine and Tin Machine Ii and I’ll be happy.

Btw, why didn’t Ryko expand LD/T/NLMD? I do have the later expanded editions (long out of print) but curious why they weren’t part of the expansion program.

mini LP sleeve nut

This is great news, I’ve often looked at this on line but the 2nd hand prices are mental. I have Sony’s Bob Dylan original mono recording CD box and assume the quality of packaging to be the same for this set (rigid card box, crisp, card sleeves). In the UK you can pre order it for £35 post free from Sainsburys:
http://www.sainsburysentertainment.co.uk/en/Music/CD/David-Bowie/David-Bowie-10-CD-Box-Set/product.html?product=E10085289

chdx

Here’s my problem with my copy of the “old” version of this box:
while you do get “CD One: “and “CD two:” at the back of the vinyl replica of “Reality” and “Hours”, the bonus tracks are only listed in the inner booklet for “Heathen” and “Earthling” AND not listed at all for the “Outside” CD.
On top of this, the CDs are hosted in a classy BUT identical packaging per album , which means that if you want to know what’s on the bonus “Outside” CD, you will have to read it on the disc, once you’ve found which of the two packaging is hosting it…