Consisting almost entirely of re-arranged originals that dated to the mid-‘60s and his late teens, the album was recorded relatively quickly in early 2000 with his touring band, but was mostly shelved when the label couldn’t release it quickly enough and he moved on to writing new songs. (Plus, his daughter was born in August, so that was another distraction.) Having become old news, some of the tracks were doled out as B-sides or web exclusives until the legend of the “lost Bowie album” took over.
Over twenty years later, it’s finally been added to the canon. The sequence here is different from that which had been leaked ten years before, both in sequence and content. That leak lacked “Karma Man” and “Can’t Help Thinking About Me” but included “Liza Jane” and “In The Heat Of The Morning”, plus “Afraid” and “Uncle Floyd”, both of which would be revised for Heathen (the latter as “Slip Away”; hopefully the original mix will get wide release someday).
Most songs are longer and taken at a different pace than the originals—many of which were well below the standard for which he’d become legendary—with varying success. Beginning with a riff that predicts “I’d Rather Be High” twelve years away, “I Dig Everything” rocks with welcome guitars, also setting the pace with cooing vocals from Holly Palmer and Emm Gryner. “You’ve Got A Habit Of Leaving Me” is even stronger, and possibly the best demonstration of transforming this music. An astute harbinger of the mod angst personified in Quadrophenia, “The London Boys” is delivered in his trademark Cockney, which isn’t always convincing, and the lecture is gender-neutral. “Karma Man” sports a prominent harpsichord, the album’s only real nod to the vintage of the songs. “Conversation Piece” was already the wonderful B-side to the first version of “The Prettiest Star”, familiar from multiple reissues of Space Oddity, and just as melancholy here, but the real find is “Shadow Man”. A previously unreleased outtake from the Hunky Dory/Ziggy era, the yearning vocal and melody inject much more emotion into whatever the lyrics mean. (The original 1971 version was made available on a digital streaming alongside Toy’s release.)
Pinned to a twangy 12-string, “Let Me Sleep Beside You” was also widely previewed on the Nothing Has Changed set, and a favorite of producer Tony Visconti. It starts out ordinary, but Bowie makes it work. “Hole In The Ground” is curious, as the only known version was a very primitive demo with John Hutchinson from 1969; here it’s a groovy stomper with little concern for lyrics or plot. The lyrics for “Baby Loves That Way” have not aged well, but the slowed-down plod is a good showcase for Mike Garson’s simple piano and a mountain fiddle sawed by Lisa Germano. The Cockney returns on “Can’t Help Thinking About Me”, and despite his opinion of it, it’s a great track. “Silly Boy Blue” is closest to its original recording, only a tad slower and with the recorder from “Hole In The Ground” on the choruses and “I Am The Walrus”-style “whoo!” interjections on one of the middle ones. Finally, “Your Turn To Drive” becomes the subtitle for what is now the title track, and a fresh way to sum up the project.
Had it come out when it did, Toy would have likely washed away the confusion of ‘hours…’, but likely not lessen Heathen in the slightest. But if that’s the cover art he fully intended to use? He would have scared the crap out of people.
Including it in the Brilliant Adventure box set was nice enough, but the estate went further with a special release designed to commemorate his 75th birthday. Toy:Box added two further discs of material related to the project. A wise idea might have been to include the original recordings for comparison, but instead, disc two offered negligibly alternate mixes of all the 2000 versions save “Karma Man”. Here, “London Boys” sports an even more unfortunate string arrangement that quotes two of the opening chords of “Changes”, while the “Tibet version” of “Silly Boy Blue” is supposedly a re-recording with Moby on guitar and Philip Glass on piano for a 2001 benefit concert. Two additional songs from the sessions are included on this disc, said to have been considered as potential B-sides. “Liza Jane” (which had been his first recorded single, back in 1964) is now delivered in a dirty strut with distorted vocal, while a wisely abandoned “In The Heat Of The Morning” taken an octave down is thoroughly unconvincing. (Its placement taints the alternate mix of “Conversation Piece” that follows, delivered in the same tone.)
The similarly extraneous third disc is part of a continuing trend wherein modern technology is used to transform Bowie tracks that didn’t need it. These “Unplugged & Somewhat Slightly Electric” mixes of the album boost the acoustic guitars added to each track during the mixing process, with much of the other instrumentation stripped away, led by one of “In The Heat Of The Morning”. (They must have known there was no point to deconstructing “Liza Jane”.) These mixes are occasionally nice, but a little indulgent, and considering how incredible Sterling Campbell’s drums sound on the first disc, they’re sorely missed when they’re not there. That said, “Shadow Man” remains gorgeous, and “Baby Loves That Way” includes some dialogue from Lisa Germano asking for more volume for her overdub.
David Bowie Toy (2022)—3
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