UNRELEASED BOWIE

“I believe in Beatles,” he said in 2002’s Afraid (from the album Heathen). But does David Bowie believe in following their lead in opening up his back catalogue? Steve Pafford, co-author of the BowieStyle book, delves deep into the Fort Knox of musical archives and attempts to come up with some answers.

EMI targets Bowie in new focus on back catalogue,” screamed The Times headline back in March, reporting that the catalogue division is to “develop the success EMI has had in repackaging music from The Beatles and Queen.” New department head Stephen Alexander admitted that EMI had “not universally applied” the treatment given to The Beatles. “If you look at the recordings of David Bowie, it’s not clear that we have done them anything like justice,” he said.

Considering the lack of genuine rarities made available in the 11 years since the label won a 15-year contract to exploit the bulk of Bowie’s catalogue, that’s a pretty encouraging development, though Alexander conceded that it might not be so easy to talk DB and RZO (the company that keeps a strong Dr. No-like grip on his closely-guarded vault) round: “I’m told that he is not always easy to persuade, but we’ll try to see if we can work up serious plans that have credibility.”

Let’s hope that includes the visuals. He’s been 45 years in the business, but for a major artist of such iconic stature, David is shockingly under-represented on DVD. EMI have released just three of his concerts in the format, while a fourth, taped for the VH-1 Storytellers programme, when he was …

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