A collection of early David Bowie songs from 1965 are set to be released on a new album that should have fans and Starman completists salivating.
Coming out ten years since the death of the legendary artist, the tracks on ‘David Bowie: The Shel Talmy Recordings’ were recorded when Bowie played with his band The Lower Third. The artist then went by the name of Davie Jones – a name he later changed to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of the Monkees.
The album was made with producer Shel Talmy, who was responsible for hits for The Who (‘My Generation’) and The Kinks (‘You Really Got Me’), and will contain ten previously unheard tracks.
Contributions from pre-Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page, The Yardbirds and pianist Nicky Hopkins will also feature. Hopkins, famously played with The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Jeff Beck.
The sleeve notes, written by Alec Palao, state: “This collection, a primary chapter if not the very earliest instalment in David’s musical journey, deserves legitimate consideration. It is invariably tempting to search for clues in an artist’s tentative beginnings, and Bowie’s juvenilia has been dissected more than most, but this has rarely been done within the proper context.”
Palao adds: “The sounds here should not be judged by the standards of his later career, but by the standards of what was happening in Britain at that precise point in time. In which case, they speak as loudly of the excitement of London and its music scene in that pivotal year of 1965 as they do for the launch of its brightest future star.”
Have a listen to the previously unheard ‘I Want Your Love’:
Other unheard songs set to be included are titled 'You’ve Got A Habit Of Leaving', 'Cupid', 'Leave Her to Me', 'I Live in Dreams' and 'I Do Believe I Love You'.
‘David Bowie: The Shel Talmy Recordings’ is set to arrive on 18 September.
