David Bowie - David Bowie: Deluxe Edition

Who can I be now?

While Bowie’s done his best to ignore his 1967 Decca debut LP, there’s no doubting that – beneath the “Am I a mod? Social commentator? Syd Barrett or Anthony Newley?” whims and confusions – David Bowie actually remains defiantly David Bowie.

Released 1 June 1967, the same day as the then-mind-melting Sgt Pepper, and a far cry from the Ziggy persona that launched the Thin White Duke most of us started with, Bowie’s first album proper, full of light, quaint, scholarly charm, sank without trace. Any astute observer, however, would notice that, in the likes of Please Mr Gravedigger, She’s Got Medals and We Are Hungry Men, there lay the seeds for Bowie’s future theatrics, gender plays and Big Brother obsessions. When form didn’t quite dictate content, he also knocked out some neat little ditties, many of which (Love You Till Tuesday, Silly Boy Blue, Rubber Band – with the first example of Bowie trying to open his throat to that “King Bowie” roar) stand the test of time for everyone else, if not for their creator. He also proves himself an early polymath, casually dropping the Gimme Some Lovin’ riff into Join The Gang, or appropriating Love’s take on Hey Joe for She’s Got Medals.

Looking to cash in on last year’s 40th anniversary of that other David Bowie LP better known as Space Oddity, Universal celebrate this mod-psych excursion’s 43rd year with bonuses as mostly featured on 1997’s The Deram Anthology; amid The London Boys, The Laughing Gnome and Ching-A-Ling, there are barely alternate single mixes along with with both mono and stereo versions of the LP. For most, the bonus draw will be Bowie’s unreleased first BBC session, recorded in December ’67, by which time Dave had already lost interest in the material. In some ways, then, it’s like selling a coat to a polar bear; though it is a nice comforting one.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

Decca/Universal | 531 792-5 (2-CD)

Reviewed by Jason Draper
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