Release Date: 1/01/1980
Recording Date: 1/1980
Tracks: 16
Label: K-Tel
Type: LP
- Genre/Styles
- Singer/Songwriter, Hard Rock, Prog-Rock/Art Rock, Glam Rock, Pop/Rock, Proto-Punk, Blue-Eyed Soul, Experimental Rock, Album Rock
Album Tracks (16)
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What the Critics Say
Record collectors may easily dismiss K-Tel as the purveyor of pop chart snapshots, but The Best of Bowie paints a surprisingly effective portrait of the artist over the last ten years. No stranger to the sure bet of a Top 20 single, K-Tel draws the highest-charting U.K. singles from Bowie's career and places them in near-chronological order. (Though credited on the record sleeve, "Drive-In Saturday" is actually replaced by the live version of "Breaking Glass" on the French and U.K. releases, the studio version of "Breaking Glass" on the Italian release.) The result is a lot more satisfying than Changesonebowie or Changestwobowie, tracking the artist's career as he moved from the sci-chedelic "Space Oddity" to the aggrieved observer of "Boys Keep Swinging." In fact, at 16 tracks, The Best of Bowie goes well beyond the borders of most single LPs; ten years later, Rykodisc's Changesbowie barely ups the ante with 18 tracks despite the presumably broader confines of CD technology. K-Tel's efforts were obviously appreciated in the U.K., where the album charted at number three (the record was not released in the U.S.). A lot of companies were cashing in on David Bowie in the early '80s, but K-Tel at least gave fans their money's worth. Of interest, some versions of this record (e.g., those distributed in Italy, Australia, and the Netherlands) are purported to have slightly different edits and track selections. ~ Dave Connolly, All Music Guide
