David Bowie Who Can I Be Now? (1974-1976), the second in a series of career-spanning box sets, will be released on September 23 and contain a previously unreleased album from 1974 called The Gouster. The 12-CD box and 13-LP vinyl set feature all of the material officially released by Bowie during the so-called "American" phase of his career from 1974 to 1976.
The boxed set, which is named after a track recorded in 1974 but not officially released until the 1990s, includes Diamond Dogs, David Live (in original and 2005 mixes), Young Americans, and Station To Station (in original and 2010 mixes) as well as The Gouster, Live Nassau Coliseum '76, and a new compilation entitled Re:Call 2, which is a collection of single versions and non-album b-sides. All of the formats include tracks that have never before appeared on CD/vinyl/digital as well as new remasters.
Exclusive to the boxed set is The Gouster. Previously unreleased as a complete album, it was recorded at Sigma Sound, Philadelphia in 1974 and produced by Tony Visconti. The album was mixed and mastered before David decamped to New York to work with John Lennon and Harry Maslin on what became the Young Americans album. The Gouster contains three previously unreleased mixes: "Right," "Can You Hear Me," and "Somebody Up There Likes Me."
For the 2016 release, Tony Visconti has overseen the mastering from the original tapes and photos taken by Eric Stephen Jacobs have been put together for the sleeve based around one of David's original concepts for the album.
Also exclusive to the CD and vinyl boxed sets will be the remastered David Live (Original Mix), the 2010 Harry Maslin mix of Station To Station (previously only available on an audio-only DVD in 5.1 and stereo as part of the Station To Station Deluxe boxed set in 2010), and Re:Call 2. The latter features the original single mix of "Rebel Rebel," which has only featured on a 40th anniversary picture disc in 2014 since its original release on single in 1974, and a previously unreleased on CD Australian single edit of "Diamond Dogs," the only place in the world that this edit was issued. Also appearing on CD for the first time is the single edit of the live version of "Rock 'n' Roll With Me," which was issued to radio stations in the U.S. to help promote the David Live album. Re:Call 2 features newly originated artwork with 1975 in-studio images from the Station To Station recording sessions by David's friend and backing vocalist Geoff MacCormack aka Warren Peace.
The alternative cover for the 2010 mix of Station To Station by Harry Maslin, features the originally intended color sleeve for the album that never got further than a few color proofs and was replaced by the more familiar black and white image.
The boxed sets' accompanying book, 128 pages in the CD box and 84 in the vinyl set, features rarely seen and previously unpublished photos by photographers including Eric Stephen Jacobs, Tom Kelley, Geoff MacCormack, Terry O'Neill, Steve Schapiro, and many others as well as historical press reviews and technical notes about the albums from producers Tony Visconti and Harry Maslin. The CD boxed set will include faithfully reproduced mini-vinyl versions of the original albums and the CDs will be gold coloured rather than the usual silver.
27th Jul 2016