While we wait for David Bowie’s collaborators to locate the previously unheard, supposedly excellent wealth of new material he planned to release before his death in January this year, the Starman has dropped a posthumous playlist of sorts. It’s really culled from a vintage interview Bowie did with Vanity Fair back in 2003, during which he rifled through his collection of “only” 2,500 records and pulled out his 25 most cherished. “There is really no way to do a list of my favorite albums with any rationality,” the musical chameleon warned before diving in. “I do only have about 2,500 vinyls.” Bowie also made himself some loose guidelines. “I’ll look through the albums and pull together a list of those I have re-bought or am in the process of re-buying on CD. I have little time, and there are just too many to sort through. So, I’ll keep pulling stuff out blindly, and if it’s too obvious (Sgt. Pepper, Nirvana) I’ll put it back again till I find something more interesting.”
As he extracted every record that made the cut, Bowie made observations that are often far more helpful than the original liner notes. The Last Poets’ debut spoken word album — “one of the fundamental building blocks of rap” — he suggests piggybacking with Gil Scott-Heron’s 1974 compilation The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. Robert Wyatt’s heartbreaking Shipbuilding “reduces men to blubbering girlies.” Some come with nostalgic backstories, such as the debut album by his Factory-days friends The Velvet Underground & Nico. Not only did Bowie cover Velvet’s “I’m Waiting for the Man” before anyone else in the world, but he actually did it before their own album came out. “I guarantee you evenings of listening pleasure, and you will encourage a new high-minded circle of friends, although one or two choices will lead some of your old pals to think you completely barmy,” he says before presenting the final selection. “So, without chronology, genre, or reason, herewith, in no particular order, 25 albums that could change your reputation.”
The Last Poets — The Last Poets
Shipbuilding — Robert Wyatt
The Fabulous Little Richard — Little Richard
Music for 18 Musicians — Steve Reich
The Velvet Underground & Nico — The Velvet Underground
Tupelo Blues — John Lee Hooker
Blues, Rags and Hollers — Koerner, Ray and Glover
The Apollo Theatre Presents: In Person! The James Brown Show — James Brown
Forces of Victory — Linton Kwesi Johnson
The Red Flower of Tachai Blossoms Everywhere: Music Played on National Instruments — Various Artists
Banana Moon — Daevid Allen
Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris — Cast Album
The Electrosoniks: Electronic Music — Tom Dissevelt
The 5000 Spirits of the Layers of the Onion — The Incredible String Band
Ten Songs by Tucker Zimmerman — Tucker Zimmerman
Four Last Songs (Strauss) — Gundula Janowitz
The Ascension — Glenn Branca
The Madcap Laughs — Syd Barrett
Black Angels — George Crumb
Funky Kingston — Toots & The Maytals
Delusion of the Fury — Harry Partch
Oh Yeah — Charles Mingus
Le Sacre du Printemps — Igor Stravinsky
The Fugs — The Fugs
The Glory (????) of the Human Voice — Florence Foster Jenkins
Credits
Text Hannah Ongley
Photography Jimmy King