a corner of the morning in the past

howdy pop pickers

well, here we are, another month and another discussion of throwing money at, or in the general direction of, the David Bowie estate. actually, this was out last month, look you see, or for clarity May. i could only collect my copy in the early days of June, and here we are at the conclusion of the month. yes, pretty much that much enthusiasm to discuss it. 

in this instance, what they (the Bowie Estate) took the monthly £20 or so off of me for was The Width Of A Circle, a 2 (two) CD set released to ostensibly extend the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of The Man Who Sold The World. as the only other celebration of consequence was the frankly poor "new mix" of the album, released as Metrobolist or something, this was kind of welcome. but, ultimately, baffling that they should mass produce a set of average to poor quality recordings, many of which were already available, yet frustrate fans by making high quality, previously unreleased stuff all "limited edition".

there was much excitement from your humble narrator when they announced the title of this one, for it has always been so that The Width Of A Circle is one of my all time top tunes by Bowie. initially i had some hopes that it would mostly be a celebration of this epic track, but not so much. yes it features, twice, as it happens. well, one and half, kind of. this is not the most times one song is repeated across this set. 

essentially, or in practical terms, the bulk (or business end) of disc one is stuff that a significant number of the Bowie market would already have. i am not certain, and i really cannot be pedantic enough to check, but if not all then nearly all of these recordings were on that (good) Bowie At The Beeb set from the early 2000s, if not late 2000 itself. whereas i am not adverse, or against, buying the same music again and again, my feeling on playing the first disc for the first time was that, in all likelihood, this was to also be the last time i would play it. 

from a "collector", or of historical significance perspective, there is value here. should i recall right, in terms of what is written in the book and what was said during the radio show presented on the disc, this features Bowie playing in public with Mick Ronson for the first time, with the two of them meeting just days before it all. they would indeed go on to do somewhat better that the offerings here. 

mostly, or for the most part, what i took off of this listening to disc one was just how f*****g good the songs he (Bowie) did for his "second debut" or "debut proper" are. although one or two to feature here didn't turn up on records until a future date, of course. those with an ear, or interest, in the history of a song, or how it develops, may well enjoy hearing the early incarnation (incantation, even) of The Width Of A Circle, which is played with the confession that it is incomplete. glad they eventually finished it. 

just how many versions of London Bye Ta Ta they, the Bowie Estate, believes that the world wants, or even needs, is interesting. i mean, the first time i ever heard it was on the original SoundAndVision box set from, what, 89 or 90. that has done me fine, but now i have a wide range to choose from, if for some reason i ever wished to hear the song again. actually, that's being unfair. of all the material out there, or here, London Bye Ta Ta stands out a bit as "transitional". it's almost like it was during this song that Bowie can be heard transitioning from the "music hall" narrative he had for, say, When I'm Five and of course The Laughing Gnome to the sound and feel of his early "glam" incarnation. a compelling case suggests London Bye Ta Ta was, or is, the first step towards Ziggy Stardust, after some detours. 

the sound quality on disc two (2) is much, much better, thank you. but, outside of the oddity of the Looking Glass Murders which as a completest is nice to have on disc, again the good (great) songs on offer are ones which either don't vary from the already released versions, or don't bring all that much of difference to them. certainly a plus is Waiting For The Man, which was Bowie's staple Velvet Underground cover at any gig, until he dropped it and did White Light / White Heat instead. a great shame, as Waiting For The Man is the better song. 

one major triumph of this set is the lavish, extensive book what comes with, or rather in, it. wasn't sure what to expect, but this is amazing. actually genuinely not really often seen pictures, and really good material to read. sadly, though, this is the Bowie Estate, and they are ruthless in finding ways to perfectly f*** any good idea they have. due to the elaborate packaging, the book is welded into the case, making it awkward to read and appreciate it full. oh, well. 

going back to the music, and but of course we are treated to some more "2020 Mix" shenanigans off of Tony Visconti. whereas what he did with Space Oddity was brilliant, what he did with Man Who Sold The World as Metrobolist (or whatever) was not, and this is more of the latter. effectively what these new "mixes" are turns out to be softening the music, elevating the vocal track and making sound a trifle more crisp (hello, Faye). presuming that you are not simply streaming, these "mixes" are pretty much what you could fiddle with a decent stereo with and make yourself. but here, he has saved you the effort of fiddling with the knobs. 

any more complaints? of course. why record companies insist on using this kind of packaging i know not, but it is really infuriating. the discs get "jammed" in this kind of jewel case, and eventually you are going to either snap a disc or break the box getting one out. please stop it. 

i'd be quite interested to know how many copies of this they shifted, really. obviously one would hope a lot, but as a frantic, passionate Bowie fan that will throw money at anything with his name on it, even i can see and accept that this has superbly limited interest or appeal. should this end up selling less than the ludicrously limited Brilliant Live Adventures fiasco, where there was far more demand that there was supply, i do wonder if they will learn a lesson. probably not. 

looming large on the horizon are, of course, (quasi) significant anniversaries for Hunky Dory and the one shortened in name to Ziggy Stardust. goodness knows how badly battered my financial state shall be left by them, assuming they make something which is straightforward to buy. one, or we, can only hope that they take a "we all love these albums, let us celebrate them properly" approach, whilst accepting that some kind of "fiddled with by Tony Visconti" shall be included. 

should you rush off and purchase this, if you have not already done so? kind of yes, weirdly. the question is, does one get £20 (or so) value from this. the songs that you may listen to more than once added to the book conclude with an answer of yes, indeed. just. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!