UNBOXING CONVERSATION PIECE

Mark Adams has worked with the Bowie organisation for 20 years overseeing davidbowie.com. He has been involved with Parlophone on the reissue programme since Bowie’s death in 2016. Here are his revelations about this year’s Bowie boxset…

UNCUT: Can you tell us about the previously unreleased tracks included here?

ADAMS: Through the campaign that started with Spying Through A Keyhole earlier in the year and concluded with Conversation Piece, there are around 30 recordings that were previously unreleased. That’s not including

The ‘Mercury’ Demos which had their first official release in June and are now included in this set, along with the tracks from

Spying Through A Keyhole and the Clareville Grove Demos. There are notes on every song in the accompanying 120-page book. Fans will appreciate tracks they had heard of but hadn’t actually heard such as “April’s Tooth Of Gold”, “The Reverend Raymond Brown”, “Mother Grey”, “Goodbye 3d (Threepenny) Joe”, “Angel Angel Grubby Face” titles that were known about but in most instances had never even made it to bootleg. In addition there were songs like “Love

All Around”, “Jerusalem” and “Animal Farm” that had never even been heard of until this year. With the BBC sessions, they are a valuable part of the 1968/1969 story and the intention was to make this the definitive collection of those years so their inclusion was important to complete the picture.

How hard was it to get this material?

The content came from various sources in the David Bowie Archive, including masters in their original boxes with useful information including dates and personnel, right up to tapes that David had compiled with no information aside from the song titles. That made the task of identifying when the songs were recorded particularly tricky, but we think we’ve nailed them on the whole.

Who was David recording the home demos for?

Much of the stuff on the first disc was recorded as demos for the proposed second Deram album due in 1968, but which never got made. But in some cases it was just a question of David getting the songs down while the ideas were still fresh. After Deram let David go, his creativity didn’t stop, in fact it was a hugely prolific period despite the fact that he didn’t have a deal on the horizon.

What is the estate’s policy regarding unreleased songs do they need to meet a certain standard or tell something of David’s story?

Both of the above. There are things that are unlikely to see the light of day purely because the recording quality is inferior. Also, there is a list of unreleased tracks which David had expressed a desire to remain that way. And there are other tracks that were released latterly that he was perhaps not so keen on. The most well-known example of that is “Too Dizzy” from Never Let Me Down, which, at David’s request, never even made it to any of the reissues.

Do we know how much more is out there from this period?

Not everything David recorded during his career is a part of the David Bowie Archive. There are recordings in the hands of collectors. Sometimes the archive deems these tapes important enough to purchase, though invariably they are mixes of things already owned. So while this collection is pretty comprehensive, it’s likely there are songs that will surface one day that none of us had heard about previously.

Who was the intended listener for The ‘Mercury’ Demos?

This had been a bit of a mystery for a while. Through the dialogue on the tape it was clear that the recordings were made for Mercury Records’ A&R man Calvin Mark Lee to deliver to somebody at Mercury in America. The biggest clue on the tape was David speaking directly to Bob. I spoke with Calvin earlier this year and he revealed that Bob was in fact Mercury Records A&R head, Bob Reno.

Hutch and Bowie come across very much as a duo - do you think they saw themselves as equal partners?

Bowie and Hutch were equal partners in performance and were billed as such, to the point that Hutch took some of the lead vocals. However, the original compositions were David’s alone. They may appear nervous [on the demo], but their confidence as performers belies the fact that they were such a short-lived duo. Indeed, they sound so tight and well-rehearsed that you could be forgiven for thinking they had been honing their craft for at least for a couple of years, not just the few months they were actually together.

What do you most like about Tony Visconti’s remix of the album?

As usual Tony has done a remarkable job and he has given the whole album room to breathe. It’s like somebody has come along and cleaned the window of your favourite view. The album has a new clarity and it’s lovely to see the restoration of “Conversation Piece” to its rightful place in the track running order.