David Bowie’s “Legacy (Deluxe Edition)” is a solid compilation greatest hits album. Sure, it may not feature every awesome song which was released by David Bowie but you do get a lot his more recognizable hit songs through his long musical career. And also one where people can listen to David Bowie’s changing music through different years of his life for an amazing price. Highly recommended!
Click here to purchase David Bowie – Legacy (Deluxe Edition) on Amazon
ARTIST: David Bowie
ALBUM: Legacy (Deluxe Edition)
DURATION: 40 Songs (2 Hours, 36 Minutes)
RELEASE DATE: September 28, 2016
Disc: 1
1 Space Oddity
2 The Man Who Sold the World
3 Changes
4 Oh! You Pretty Things
5 Life On Mars?
6 Starman
7 Ziggy Stardust
8 Moonage Daydream
9 The Jean Genie
10 All the Young Dudes
11 Drive-In Saturday
12 Sorrow
13 Rebel Rebel
14 Young Americans
15 Fame
16 Golden Years
17 Sound and Vision
18 Heroes
19 Boys Keep Swinging
20 Fashion
21 Ashes to Ashes
Disc: 2
1 Under Pressure – Queen & David Bowie
2 Let’s Dance
3 China Girl
4 Modern Love
5 Blue Jean
6 This Is Not America – David Bowie with Pat Metheny Group
7 Dancing in the Street – David Bowie & Mick Jagger
8 Absolute Beginners
9 Jump They Say
10 Hallo Spaceboy – David Bowie with Pet Shop Boys
11 Little Wonder
12 I’m Afraid of Americans (V1)
13 Thursday’s Child
14 Slow Burn
15 Everyone Says ‘Hi’
16 New Killer Star
17 Where Are We Now?
18 Lazarus
19 I Can’t Give Everything Away
The music legend David Bowie passed away on January 10, 2016.
Despite suffering from liver cancer, he kept only a few in his private circle aware of his condition and even continued to work on what would become his final studio album “Blackstar”.
But there was many fans who wanted to listen to David Bowie, many unfamiliar with David Bowie’s musical oeuvre wanting to experience his music and suffice to say, with years having passed since Bowie’s death, we have received a lot of releases, from unreleased demos, live albums, box sets, needless to say, not surprising considering David Bowie has created a lot of music since he became a professional musician in 1963.
But with the release of “Legacy (Deluxe Edition)”, it will satisfy those who were familiar or unfamiliar with David Bowie’s music and to get a good number of his hit songs from “Space Oddity” in 1969 to “I Can’t Give Everything Away” from his final album “Blackstar” in 2016.
Now with 40 songs included in this Deluxe Edition, you do get a lot of Bowie hits, so one can be satisfied with this collection. This is not meant for the hardcore David Bowie fans and let me explain why.
Once thing when it comes to David Bowie’s music, one would have to know David Bowie and his mindset of the era.
When David Bowie (real name: David Jones) first began his first foray in his music career as the guitarist for the band, the Konrads, at the age of 15, He then joined another band called David Jones with the King Bees, and released their debut single “Liza Jane”. But dissatisfied, Bowie then joined a blues band known as The Manish Boys. He then would make his transition to become a solo artist.
David Jones would take on the stage name David Bowie (inspired by 19th century American pioneer James Bowie) and released his first solo single titled “Can’t Help Thinking About Me” with the Lower Third. But David Bowie would release numerous singles that didn’t chart until he released “Space Oddity” in 1969 which would earn David Bowie his first no. 1 single on the UK Charts and would reach no. 15 in the US.
For the song, Bowie would take on his first major persona, as the astronaut Major Tom. The character would be revisited a few times in future Bowie songs.
And in 1970, Bowie released his third album “The Man Who Sold the World” (aka “Metrobolist”) which led to a more shift to hard rock but didn’t do well. But it would feature a few important things for Bowie, this would lead to his collaboration with guitarist Mick Ronson.
While Bowie would release more singles that didn’t chart, by 1971, David Bowie would go towards a more art-pop style with his album “Hunky Dory” which received little promotion and didn’t do well in sales. But the album would feature songs such as “Changes”, “Andy Warhol”, “Life on Mars?” and retrospectively, the album is now considered possibly his greatest work ever made.
But the album would become Bowie starting his band with Mick Ronson, bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Woody Woodmansey dubbed The Spiders.
But the biggest change would come into 1972 when David Bowie would reinvent himself as his alter ego Ziggy Stardust. A character which he was inspired by The Stooges vocalist, Iggy Pop (note: this would become important in the mid-70s as the collaboration between Iggy Pop and David Bowie would become important).
His fifth album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” was a concept album about an androgynous and bisexual rock star who was sent to Earth before an impending apocalyptic disaster. Ziggy won the hearts of his fans but succumbed to his ego and fell from grace. Bowie would perform on the popular UK music show “Top of the Pops” in July 1972 and he became a recognized rock star.
The album would feature songs such as “Starman”, “Suffrage City”, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide”.
But it’s important to note, with David Bowie also coming out as gay, it fed on the media frenzy and brought attention to homosexuality towards the forefront. It’s important to note that former Velvet Underground’s Lou Reed (who also collaborated with Bowie) did the same with his album “Transformer” and it was an era where both men would be known in the media (Note: It’s up to debate if the declaration of being gay was true, or was said for media sake, as part of their onstage Glam Rock persona, as both men had relationships with women and married women). But both Bowie and Ronson would work on “Transformer”.
And to this day, the album is considered one of the greatest albums of all time. In fact, in 2017, it was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry, being deemed “culturally, historically, or artistically significant” by the Library of Congress.
As David Bowie received recognition as Ziggy Stardust and became one of the more popular and iconic Glam Rock superstars, there was no doubt a lot of pressure on Bowie to produce another as “Aladdin Sane”, which Bowie described as “Ziggy Stardust Goes to America” and would produce hit songs “The Jean Genie”, “Drive-In Saturday”, “Time” and “Let’s Spend the Night Together”.
The relationship with his publicist at the time, Cyrinda Foxe (who would later have a brief marriage to Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler is featured in the “Jean Genie” music video) was well known.
But David Bowie playing on onstage persona’s would become too much and has said it was impossible for him to separate himself from his onstage persona.
But what was considered as David Bowie’s most popular musical era, he was ready to leave it and embark on a new era, David Bowie in the USA.
This era featured David Bowie wanting to separate himself from Ziggy Stardust and the release of his eighth album “Diamond Dogs” were creative ideas of wanting to make musicals of “Ziggy Stardust” and even an adaptation of George Orwell’s novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four”. Which still had a little Ziggy Stardust but would be considered an album that anticipated the punk revolution which would become popular in the UK years later.
By 1975, David Bowie went from glam rock icon to creating an album titled “Young Americans” in soul and R&B. His album featured singer Ava Cherry and even an unknown, Luther Vandross.
And the album would produce the popular song “Young Americans” and “Fame”, which became Bowie’s first no. 1 hit in the US.
But by then, David Bowie was consumed by cocaine and dependent on drugs. While inspired by electronic music and Krautrock, he would release “Station to Station” which would feature a new direction for Bowie once again.
But being consumed by drugs, Bowie and former The Stooges singer Iggy Pop would move to Europe to sober up and both men would collaborate with each other for their albums. For David Bowie fans, this would be known as “The Berlin Trilogy” era.
Iggy Pop would release his debut album “The Idiot” (featuring music composed by David Bowie who also did the instruments) which featured “China Girl”, which David Bowie would cover in the ’80s.
While month’s earlier, Bowie would release his album “Low”. Influenced by Krafterwerk, Tangerine Dream and Neu!, this would be David Bowie’s first foray into electronic and ambient music.
Another album would be released months later titled “Heroes” (Bowie’s 12th album) which featured a collaboration with Brian Eno and longtime producer, Tony Visconti. RCA had no faith in the album, so the label and even David Bowie, did hardly any promotion for it. In fact, Bowie decided to focus touring with Iggy Pop as his keyboardist and work on Iggy Pop’s second solo album “Lust for Life”.
But many credit this album for Bowie’s growth as an artist and escaping drug addiction. But one can listen to “Heroes” today and people would think it’s a modern rock album just released.
And by 1979, the final album of “The Berlin Trilogy” was released titled “Lodger”, Bowie’s 13th album featuring “Boys Keep Swinging” and while the album is probably not as successful as the first two in the trilogy, it is regarded as an influence to Britpop bands, Blur and Oasis.
By 1980, David Bowie would revisit his Major Tom astronaut persona for the song “Ashes to Ashes” featured in Bowie’s 14th studio album “Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)”. By this time, as the Berlin Trilogy was a major success, Bowie wanted to try to be more commercial than artistic for this album.
And this longing to be more commercial would lead to Bowie leaving RCA and signing with EMI for a fresh new start and being tired of the label’s practices and thus led to David Bowie’s collaboration with Nile Rodgers of the popular rock/disco band Chic.
Needless to say, David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance”, his 15th album became a massive commercial success producing hit songs “Let’s Dance”, “China Girl” (a remake of the song he made for Iggy Pop) and “Modern Love”. But despite the massive success of the album, David Bowie knew that his older fans would be upset, as successfully attracting a new audience (ala the MTV Generation) and called the album his “Phil Collins years”.
By 1984, David Bowie was in a difficult place because while he had his massive success with the album “Let’s Dance”, he no longer knew who his core audience was, because now he became a huge commercial star. So, he once again collaborated with a friend that he had gone to, to end his drug addiction, Iggy Pop. But this time, both men wanted to collaborate but also knowing he need to release an album for his new fans who loved the songs from “Let’s Dance”.
But by 1987, Bowie wanted to return back to rock music and he did so with his 17th album “Never Let Me Down” but the album wasn’t well-received and David Bowie would take part in a rock band known as Tin Machine for the next few years until 1983 for his 18th album “Black Tie White Noise”.
By this time, David Bowie was now with Savage Records/Arista Records and this is post-Tin Machine, now married to supermodel Iman and the title and numerous songs on the album was inspired by his marriage to his wife.
The album would also feature a new collaboration with Nile Rodgers who had gained in popularity with his work with Duran Duran’s “Notorious” and The B-52’s “Cosmic Thing” and “Good Stuff”. The album also featured a reunion with guitarist, Mick Ronson.
And this time, was to create an album featuring a variety of musical styles.
And what followed was his experimental 19th album “The Buddha of Suburbia” which was released with barely received any promotion, followed by his “Twin Peaks” inspired album with a collaboration with Brian Eno titled “1. Outside: The Nathan Adler Diaries: A Hyper-Cycle” which featured a collaboration with the Pet Shop boys for the song “Hallo Spaceboy”.
David Bowie would self-produce his 21st studio album “Earthling” which was focused on a more electronic style and featured “I’m Afraid of Americans” remixed by Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor. And in 1999, Bowie would release “Hours”, his 22nd album that would be sold on his website, BowieNet weeks before it hit retail and a return to a pop rock/art pop style that he was known for in the ’70s.
By 2002, Bowie would release his 23rd studio album “Heathen” which reunited him with longtime producer Tony Visconti (their first collaboration since 1980) and featured collaborations with Dave Grohl and Pete Townshend. The album would be his first through ISO Records and would feature songs such as “Slow Burn”.
While he would release his 24th album “Reality” which would be a rock album with “New Killer Star” released from the album and the 2003 album. Unfortunately, Bowie would suffer from a heart attack while on tour in 2004 and it would be his final album until his 25th album “The Next Day”, released in 2013.
Many people assumed that David Bowie had retired form music but on his 65th birthday, he announced his new album and the song “Where Are We Now?” would be the first song. The long awaited album which took many by surprise would reach No. 1 in the UK and many countries, while reaching no. 2 in the US.
By 2016, David Bowie knew that he was dying from liver cancer and he had his musicians sign an NDA to never tell anyone that he was suffering from it. He would work on his final album, as his final gift to his fans and it would be released on his 69th birthday, January 8, 2016.
The album was an experimental album combining art rock and different styles of jazz, inspired by hip hop artists Kendrick Lamar and also the Death Grips. David Bowie would pass away two days later, and would feature his final three singles, “Blackstar”, “Lazarus” and “I Can’t Give Everything Away”.
Which brings me to David Bowie’s post-humous greatest hits album “Legacy (Deluxe Edition)”. You are getting a lot of songs from his long musical career, including songs used on two films such as “This is Not America” (on “The Falcon and the Snowman” soundtrack) and “Absolute Beginners” (from the “Absolute Beginners” soundtrack). You also get the wonderful “Dancing in the Street” which is his collaboration with Mick Jagger.
But you can only include so many songs on a two disc album from a man who released a lot of studio albums and that means choosing a few songs featuring hit singles from those albums.
And what’s interesting about David Bowie, is that although his singles are well-known, his non-released songs were just as magnificent.
I grew up listening to David Bowie and I think “Fame” was a song that I grew up with and I gravitated more to his music during the early music video years, so technically the songs from “Let’s Dance” was when I became a fan of his musical work and “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” to his work as an actor.
I literally worked my self backwards to his earlier music and then later to his ’90s-2000s music.
And like many people, I started to get more into the Ziggy Stardust era and I thought “Legacy (Deluxe Edition)” was enough for me but it wasn’t. I started to appreciate David Bowie as a musical artist that I wanted more.
I think that for many people David Bowie’s “Legacy (Deluxe Edition)” is an album that would satisfy those who want to listen to David Bowie, without being fully invested in his music. But the more you start listening and appreciating it, you start wanting to get into his other albums and you are instantly hooked.
I think that is the mystique and attraction of David Bowie’s music, the fact that he delved into so many musical styles that one can appreciate him as a musical genius but also you crave for more, which I did.
David Bowie’s “Legacy (Deluxe Edition)” is a solid compilation greatest hits album. Sure, it may not feature every awesome song which was released by David Bowie but you do get a lot his more recognizable hit songs through his long musical career. And also one where people can listen to David Bowie’s changing music through different years of his life for an amazing price.
Highly recommended!
Click here to purchase David Bowie – Legacy (Deluxe Edition) on Amazon
