I was nine years old in 1980, and although I was already aware of David Bowie, the sound and vision of Ashes To Ashes hit me hard and left an indelible mark on this impressionable young boy.
These two decades marked a period when I fell in and out of love with David Bowie. On the one hand, it was my voyage of discovery into his back catalogue, starting with Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), and going back to Bowie's classic albums and cut price compilations of his early recordings.
It was also a time where I dismissed albums such as Tonight, Never Let Me Down, 1. Outside and Earthling as a Bowie emulating rather than innovating, with only the occasional gem of a song to other a ray of light.
It's fair to say that the passage of time - and the time since David's passing - has significantly altered my relationship with all of his albums, these included. Admittedly, I'm always going to reach for Ziggy Stardust... over Tonight, "Heroes" over 1. Outside, but I've found much to love in each and every one.
My dozen choices still include six singles from the twenty year span, though not perhaps the most obvious choices and not the versions that you may be most familiar with. Intersperse these with some album deep cuts and a couple of soundtrack contributions (again, not the obvious choice of Absolute Beginners, classic though it is) and I've come up with a 45-minute selection that I think works pretty well.
By the start of the 21st Century, I was deeply in love with David Bowie again, and he realised some of the best music of his career in this period. Let's hope I manage to do it justice...
1) New Angels Of Promise (Album Version) (1999)
2) Neighborhood Threat (Cover of Iggy Pop) (1984)
3) Black Tie White Noise (Waddell's Mix (Edit) By John Waddell ft. Al B. Sure!) (1993)
4) Telling Lies (Album Version) (1997)
5) Within You (1986)
6) Without You (1983)
7) Fashion (Edited Version) (1980)
8) Blue Jean (MTV Video Version) (1984)
9) Cameras In Brooklyn aka Up The Hill Backwards (Demo) (1980)
10) New York's In Love (Album Version) (1987)
11) I Have Not Been To Oxford Town (Album Version) (1995)
12) When The Wind Blows (Album Version) (1986)
1980: Fashion EP: 7
1983: Let's Dance: 6
1984: Tonight: 2
1986: Labyrinth OST: 5
1986: When The Wind Blows OST: 12
1987: Never Let Me Down: 10
1993: Black Tie White Noise EP: 3
1995: 1. Outside: 11
1997: Earthling: 4
1999: Hours...: 1
2002: Best Of Bowie (DVD): 8
2015: Scary Monsters Sessions (Japanese bootleg): 9
I'm convinced that the oft derided Tin Machine period gave Bowie a much needed kick up the artistic backside, clearing a path for the burst of solo creativity that followed. I saw the band at the Town & Country Club on their 1st album tour in 1989 (where 4 years later I'd see The Velvet Underground - surreal to think about these things now), though I actually preferred the Tin Machine II record.
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