#changesonebowie

[vinylfromthevault]

David Bowie “Changesonebowie” released 45 years ago today, May 20th, 1976, or possibly tomorrow, May 21st. Regardless, Changesonebowie is one of the top comps ever released; it includes singles and albums tracks Bowie recorded from ‘69-’76 and it holds a particularly dear spot in my heart as I got really into Bowie for the first time with about a million repeated listens when I was a teen. The only song to not appear on a Bowie LP is “John, I’m Only Dancing” which he released as a UK single-only in ‘72 and then again with the “sax version” in ‘73; the sax version appeared on the first Changesonebowie pressings and then was replaced with the original. And though “Suffragette City” is on The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust (1972) and was the b-side to “Starman,” Bowie released it as a single from Changesone in the summer of ‘76 to promote the comp. (“Suffragette City” was a big fave of mine and my friends in high school, mainly for the line “Wham bam thank you ma’am” because of course it was.) I love each and every song but also really love “Ziggy Stardust,” “Rebel Rebel” (Diamond Dogs, ‘74) and “Fame” (Young Americans ‘75). 

[speakspeak]

CHANGESONEBOWIE

Chris Ashworth on Instagram: “‘Turn and face the strange’. _ _ ChangesOneBowie / David Bowie. Cassette released by RCA, 1984. #changes #cassette #graphicdesign #design…”

[cuddlebreak]

[dysenterry]

[checkitout-checkitout]

Some people want to put down compilation albums as being "against an artist's vision" or "commercial slop for normies" or whatever, but I'm sorry: if I can hear "Diamond Dogs" and "Rebel Rebel" without having to sit through "Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing" between, that is automatically a better album than Diamond Dogs.

[top100countdown]

BEST ALBUMS OF ALL-TIME

100. CHANGESONEBOWIE

David Bowie

1976

Changesonebowie is a compilation album by English musician David Bowie, issued through RCA Records in 1976. It collected songs from the 1969–1976 period, including the first LP appearance of "John, I'm Only Dancing".

#changesonebowie#changesonebowiedavidbowie#davidbowie

[krispyweiss]

Rewind: David Bowie: ChangesOneBowie (1976) and ChangesTwoBowie (1981)

In retrospect, ChangesTwoBowie holds up better than ChangesOneBowie, if only because One’s songs - including “Ziggy Stardust,” “Rebel Rebel,” “Suffragette City,” the title track and others - have mostly been played to death.

That said, the argument could be made One is the superior best-of collection, though both versions of “John, I’m Only Dancing” - one on One and another on Two - are head-scratchers.

Be that as it is, 1976’s ChangesOne and 1981’s ChangesTwo remain highly effective introductions to Bowie’s first decade-plus and what are inarguably some of his most-important recordings.

These compilation albums served that getting-to-know-you purpose for young Sound Bites and upon revisiting them and hearing these songs in this order - from “Space Oddity” to “Young Americans” to “Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?)” to “1984” to “Sound and Vision” to “DJ” - the blog was transported back more than four decades in time and technology where he spun fresh vinyl on a turntable funded by paper-route money.

For the modern Sound Bites, these collections are more about nostalgia than essential listening as the blog long ago familiarized himself with the albums - David Bowie through Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) - that funneled songs to them. But for young folks looking up introduce themselves to the eclectic Bowie, there are no better places to begin.

Grade card: David Bowie: ChangesOneBowie and ChangesTwoBowie - A/A-

3/10/24

[musicandoldmovies]

David Bowie - Changesonebowie