Episodes
Monday Dec 30, 2019
What to Expect from Bowie in 2020
Monday Dec 30, 2019
Monday Dec 30, 2019
I'm Charlie and I like Bowie.
Last year, I put together a post about my speculations for what the Bowie camp would release in 2019. It ended up being far and away the most popular article BOWIE VS. DYLAN ever published. Trying desperately to capture lightning in a bottle once again, I'm going to run the same drill for the upcoming and still fictional sounding year of 2020.
June 27, 2020 Update: If you want some newer info on all this 2020 business, check out my new post here.
Confirmed Releases
First of all, let's take a quick look at the only item that has been officially announced for 2020 so far.
Alabama Song 40th Anniversary Picture Disc
The latest in a long line of 40th anniversary picture discs, "Alabama Song" was Bowie's first release of the 80s and is a non-album single. It's coming out on February 14 and will be backed by two previously unreleased live tracks from mid-1978 (which makes sense considering the song was recorded in '78). Look below for my guesses on other items in the series coming out later in the year.
Safe Bets
Based on the last few years of Bowie releases, we can pretty safely guess what's to come in a few areas, even though they haven't been officially announced.
More 40th Anniversary Picture Discs
"Alabama Song" has already been announced (see immediately above) and we can almost definitely expect a couple others. Two mammoth singles from Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) came out in 1980. Expect "Ashes to Ashes" and "Fashion" before the end of the year. "Crystal Japan" was released as a single in Japan as well, but feels unlikely to make the cut.
1970/Man Who Sold the World World Releases
November saw the release of Conversation Piece, a very nearly comprehensive collection of all of Bowie's officially released tracks from 1968-1969, around half of which had never been released before 2019. Before that, Bowie fans were subjected to an absurd parade of crazily over-priced vinyl-only box sets (all except one edit of which ended up being included in Conversation Piece). According to this article by Steve Pafford, we can expect more of these sets going forward, which is truly exciting. Let's hope they won't be prefaced by ridiculous vinyl sets going forward.
Sound + Vision Live
Rumors around a live release taken from Bowie's 1990 greatest hits tour have been flying for awhile. The aforementioned Steve Pafford article suggests it's tentatively scheduled for Record Store Day this year. This would make sense considering it's the 30th anniversary and Parlophone loves Bowie's anniversaries. Sound + Vision is one of Bowie's few tours without any kind of official live release so this is welcome.
Unnecessary 45th Anniversary Colored Vinyl Release
Bowie release plans are filled with nods to silly anniversaries. A great example is the loose 45th anniversary colored vinyl campaign that included a red Diamond Dogs in 2019. I'm guessing we'll see 1975's Young Americans out on vinyl yet again at some point this year. It'll almost certainly be limited edition and probably be a 'brick & mortar' shop exclusive. Who knows? Maybe they'll do the same for The Gouster? After all, it's also the 5th anniversary of that officially seeing the light of day.
Wild Speculation
Finally, we've got our moonshots... our hopes and dreams... our certainly plausible, but not at all confirmed possibilities.
A Big Fat Box Set (Will It Happen?)
This one is a bit of a question mark at this point. From 2015-2018, big fat era-based box sets came out featuring remastered studio and live albums from specific time periods. A Tin Machine-era set (1989-1992 or so) was widely expected (and honestly, widely hinted at on the official Bowie site) but never materialized. Rumors abound that it is related to rights issues though nothing has been confirmed by anybody official. So... will the Tin Machine box set happen this year? Will they skip it and move on to Bowie's 1993-1998 electronic years? Is the era-based reissue campaign finished even though they didn't complete it? Paul Sinclair at Super Deluxe Edition has suggested that the sets will continue, but only time will tell.
More ridiculous anniversaries...
As mentioned multiple times in this post, round anniversaries are beloved by Parlophone and the Bowie camp. Last year we had at least one release celebrating a 10th, 20th, 30th, 40th, 45th, and 50th anniversary. I've already mentioned releases for the 30th, 40th, 45th, and 50th anniversaries so what's left? A 5th anniversary DVD release of Lazarus? I would absolutely love that. A 10th anniversary rerelease of A Reality Tour? I assume not because it's already been rereleased once. A 20th anniversary look at a couple of lackluster hours... singles? A 25th anniversary set dedicated to the hours and hours of unreleased material surrounding 1. Outside? Sign me up. A disc of remixes for the 35th anniversary of the atrocious Dancing in the Street? The possibilities boggle the mind.
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