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/ News

Short Takes: Bowie Box, Covering '90s and Early '00s, Planned for 2021

September 28, 2020 By The Second Disc 10 Comments

Bowie97

David Bowie, 1997

David Bowie's official website has announced plans for a fifth epoch-covering box set to release next year, after delaying an alternate version of said collection for a 2020 release.

In a brief post, the late singer's website confirms that the follow-up to the four career-spanning album boxes - 2015's Five Years (1969-1973), 2016's Who Can I Be Now? (1974-1976), 2017's A New Career in a New Town (1977-1982) and 2018's Loving The Alien (1983-1988) - will cover the widest span of time yet: 1993 to 2001, considered by some to be his most "electronic" period.

"The amount of time between the last year covered by each era box and its release date is decreasing exponentially, if that makes sense," the post reads. (Stay with us here: the first box, six years ago, came out 42 years after the material it covered, while the latest box, two years ago, only followed its era by 30 years.) "So with the Era 5 box which was originally going to cover the years 1993 to 1999, the plan was to release last year.

"However, we then decided to increase the span of the box up to 2001," the post continues, "so to keep at least a 20 year gap between the last year covered and release date, it means the box won't now be released till next year."

With this span of time, fans can expect the next box to cover the following studio albums, after a yearslong sojourn fronting the band Tin Machine and revisiting his catalogue on the Sound + Vision tour and box set:

  • Black Tie White Noise, a 1993 reunion with Let's Dance producer Nile Rodgers and Ziggy Stardust guitarist Mick Ronson, who died just weeks after the album's release. "Jump They Say" became Bowie's first U.K. Top 10 single since 1987.
  • The Buddha of Suburbia, the soundtrack to the 1993 BBC2 series of the same name. (Bowie called it his favorite of his albums in 2003, despite its frequent falling out-of-print.)
  • 1995's 1. Outside, which saw Bowie reunite with producer Brian Eno for the first time since the "Berlin" era collected in Who Can I Be Now?
  • Earthling, 1997's aggressive drum-and-bass-inspired record. ("I'm Afraid of Americans," as remixed by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, reached the middle third of the Billboard Hot 100.)
  • 'hours...', released in 1999, unintentionally completing Bowie's tenure with EMI, because...
  • Toy, planned for release on Virgin in 2001, would have seen the singer revisiting more than a dozen songs written (and sometimes released on singles) in the years before Space Oddity. Its cancellation and the sessions to Heathen (2002) led to a new chapter on Columbia Records, though some of the tracks were released as B-sides or on the compilation Nothing Has Changed.

Bowie embarked on many other creative projects and tours during this time, which could well be anthologized herein. This year alone, four live sets have been made available digitally from this era: Ouvre le Chien (Live Dallas 95), from the Outside tour; the 1999 Internet-only album LiveAndWell.com, covering 1997's Earthling Tour; and Something in the Air (Live Paris 99), from the 'hours...' Tour. This year's Is It Any Wonder? EP and ChangesNowBowie (a 1997 BBC session released for Record Store Day's first drop on August 29) also cover these eras. The non-physical nature of most of these releases certainly inspire hope for fans of physical discs that all or some will be included in this set. (One thing likely to be excluded: Bowie's 2000 headlining set at the Glastonbury Festival, released in 2018.)

Of course, the Bowie estate has been exhaustive in celebrating other eras: last year, three separate collections of vinyl-only demos were compiled with a remix of Space Oddity as Conversation Piece, a review of the singer's 1969 output. And this year, Tony Visconti is remixing The Man Who Sold the World for a 50th anniversary reissue entitled Metrobolist (the album's purported original title).

And that doesn't appear to be it for 2020, either: the penultimate sentence of the post urges fans to "stay tuned for the announcement of another exciting project before the end of next week."

What are you looking forward to in the next era-spanning Bowie box? What do you think that next "exciting project" will be? Sound off below, and as always, keep it locked to The Second Disc when the news breaks.

Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Electronic, Pop, Rock Tags: Brian Eno, David Bowie, Nile Rodgers, Nine Inch Nails

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Comments

  1. wardo says

    September 28, 2020 at 9:06 am

    The fact that there's a four-year gap between Era 4 and Era 5 has me miffed. Even if it's only the three CDs, I want a Tin Machine box.

    Reply
  2. Duane says

    September 28, 2020 at 9:51 am

    Agreed!
    Tim Machine box!!!

    Reply
  3. Brian from Canada says

    September 28, 2020 at 10:12 am

    I hope the Tin Machine box materializes eventually: Tin Machine, Tin Machine II, and the two live albums. Plus, hopefully, a disc of outtakes and b-sides. If Conversation Piece can be small, so can that.

    In the meantime, this box may actually be much larger considering Black Tie White Noise, 1. Outside, Earthling and Hours all got a near-full extra disc in reissues — plus there's the Omnicrom soundtrack, Live And Well, and the BBC Theatre concerts… and Santa Monica 72 was released in this period too.

    Reply
  4. Ray Mitten says

    September 28, 2020 at 10:38 am

    I've heard that the TM box was delayed due to royalties issues with the Hunt Brothers. Hopefully this gets worked out. Very pleased this series is continuing -- the TM box can be a stand alone release when all the legalities have been worked out. (But I would like a 1990 live recording....and somewhere "Pretty Pink Rose" needs to be included. Although it was labelled a Belew release, its pure Bowie.

    Reply
    • SteveMTNO says

      September 28, 2020 at 11:37 am

      I would LOVE to see a live version of Pretty Pink Rose come out. That was one of the highlights of the Sound + Vision tour. Actually, I complete show from that tour would be even better!

      Reply
    • Harry Williams says

      September 29, 2020 at 1:42 am

      Ray, it's Sales Brothers... Hunt and Tony.... but whose quibbling! 🙂

      Reply
  5. SteveMTNO says

    September 28, 2020 at 11:38 am

    I would LOVE to see a live version of Pretty Pink Rose come out. That was one of the highlights of the Sound + Vision tour. Actually, a complete show from that tour would be even better!

    Reply
  6. Keith Brittain says

    September 29, 2020 at 3:39 pm

    I am still a bit miffed that some key 12 inches, so as "Magic Dance" were left off the "Loving the Alien" box set. So, I say, release a 12 inch collection or put some of these songs on the Fitfh box (fat chance!). I will also point out that the "Fame" single version on the "Who Can I be Now" box isn't really the single edit - not sure where they got this version from. The single edit is only avaible on the "Have a Nice Decade" Rhino 1970's box set.

    Reply
  7. Dean says

    December 6, 2020 at 5:50 pm

    Why o why is the sound and vision tour continually left out of any official releases?

    Reply
  8. Christophe says

    February 1, 2021 at 8:17 am

    Live at Loreley from 1996 in this box please 🙂

    Reply

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