Parlophone Records/ISO Records announced the release of KARMA MAN, a previously unheard track taken from the forthcoming DAVID BOWIE 5. BRILLIANT ADVENTURE (1992 – 2001) and TOY (TOY:BOX) boxsets. KARMA MAN is coupled with SILLY BOY BLUE (ALTERNATIVE ENDING MIX) which is exclusive to this single, the original mix also featuring on the album TOY.
Toy (Toy:Box) is available here: https://amzn.to/2YQ0Kjw
Karma Man is available here https://amzn.to/3aE3GSH
KARMA MAN was initially recorded by Bowie in September 1967 and debuted on John Peel’s BBC Radio 1 show in the Spring of 68, but it was not officially released until 1970 on The World Of David Bowie album. In 2000 the song was re-tracked by David, backed by his Glastonbury band for inclusion on the TOY album. SILLY BOY BLUE originally appeared on David’s 1967 self-titled debut album and along with KARMA MAN reflected his interest in Tibetan culture, a theme that continued into the ’90s with the song SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET from EARTHLING.
TOY co-producer Mark Plati “Karma Man is notable for Cuong Vu’s opening and closing lines, and especially the glorious backing vocals from Holly Palmer, Emm Gryner, and Lisa Germano – they had so much to do with the sound of Toy, and this is a prime example. When I re-listened to these tracks, the sound of fall 2000 came flooding out of the speakers, from a song I’d not heard since then. I’m not too proud to say I shed a bit of a tear, something that happened a few times while mixing it.”
DAVID BOWIE 5. BRILLIANT ADVENTURE (1992 – 2001) is the latest in an award-winning and critically acclaimed series of box sets including DAVID BOWIE 1. FIVE YEARS (1969 – 1973), DAVID BOWIE 2. WHO CAN I BE NOW? (1974 – 1976), DAVID BOWIE 3. A NEW CAREER IN A NEW TOWN (1977 – 1982) and DAVID BOWIE 4. LOVING THE ALIEN (1983-1988), DAVID BOWIE 5. BRILLIANT ADVENTURE (1992 – 2001) is an eleven CD box, eighteen-piece vinyl set and standard digital download box set. The collection is named after the Koto led instrumental penultimate track from the ‘hours…’ album. The box sets include newly remastered versions, with input from the original producers and collaborators, of some of Bowie’s most underrated and experimental material: BLACK TIE WHITE NOISE, THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA (available on vinyl for the first time in nearly 30 years), 1.OUTSIDE, EARTHLING and ‘hours…’ along with the expanded live album BBC RADIO THEATRE, LONDON, JUNE 27, 2000, the non-album / alternative version / B-sides and soundtrack music compilation RE:CALL 5 and the legendary previously unreleased TOY.
TOY was recorded following David’s triumphant Glastonbury 2000 performance. Bowie entered the studio with his band, Mark Plati, Sterling Campbell, Gail Ann Dorsey, Earl Slick, Mike Garson, Holly Palmer and Emm Gryner, to record new interpretations of songs he’d first recorded from 1964-1971. David planned to record the album ‘old school’ with the band playing live, choose the best takes and then release it as soon as humanly possible in a remarkably prescient manner. Unfortunately, in 2001 the concept of the ‘surprise drop’ album release and the technology to support it were still quite a few years off, making it impossible to release TOY, as the album was now named, out to fans as instantly as David wanted. In the interim, David did what he did best; he moved on to something new, which began with a handful of new songs from the same sessions and ultimately became the album HEATHEN, released in 2002 and now acknowledged as one of his finest moments.
Available in 3CD or 6×10” vinyl formats, TOY (TOY:BOX) is a special edition of the TOY album. The ‘capture the moment’ approach of the recording sessions are extended to the sleeve artwork designed by Bowie featuring a photo of him as a baby with a contemporary face. The package also contains a 16-page full-colour book featuring previously unseen photographs by Frank Ockenfels 3.
Included in TOY:BOX is a second CD/set of 10”s of alternative mixes and versions including proposed B-Sides (versions of David’s debut single ‘Liza Jane’ and 1967’s ‘In The Heat Of The Morning’), later mixes by Tony Visconti and the ‘Tibet Version’ of ‘Silly Boy Blue’ recorded at The Looking Glass Studio time at the of the 2001 Tibet House show in New York featuring Philip Glass on piano and Moby on guitar. The third CD/set of 10”s features ‘Unplugged & Somewhat Slightly Electric’ mixes of thirteen TOY tracks.
Exclusive to DAVID BOWIE 5. BRILLIANT ADVENTURE (1992 – 2001) box set are BBC RADIO THEATRE, LONDON, JUNE 27, 2000 and RE:CALL 5. The former was recorded two days after the famous Glastonbury performance in front of 500 lucky fans at the BBC’s art deco theatre in central London. Selections from the show were available as the third CD in a very limited 3CD edition of BOWIE AT THE BEEB in September 2000 but the full concert has never before been available on vinyl. RE:CALL 5 features 39 non-album / alternative version / b-sides and soundtrack songs over 3CDs and 4LPs.
The physical box set’s accompanying book, 84 pages in the CD box and 128 in the vinyl set, will feature rarely seen and previously unpublished photos by photographers including Frank W. Ockenfels 3, Nick Knight, John Scarisbrick and Nina Schultz Terner and others, as well as memorabilia, technical notes about the albums from producers/engineers Brian Eno, Nile Rodgers, Reeves Gabrels and Mark Plati as well as a new an interview with THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA collaborator Erdal Kizilçay.
DAVID BOWIE 5. BRILLIANT ADVENTURE (1992 – 2001) RELEASED ON PARLOPHONE/ISO RECORDS 26th NOVEMBER 2021
DAVID BOWIE TOY (TOY:BOX) RELEASED ON ISO RECORDS VIA PARLOPHONE 7th JANUARY 2022
KARMA MAN / SILLY BOY BLUE (ALTERNATIVE ENDING MIX) ARE AVAILABLE NOW AS A STREAMING SINGLE ON ISO VIA PARLOPHONE
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