In 1972, at the height of
David Bowie's newly ignited fame, former label
Pye unlocked the vault and produced an EP, the aptly subtitled "For the Collector -- Early David Bowie," reprising four of the six songs
Bowie recorded during 1965-1966. Since that time, those four (plus their two companions) have established themselves among the most frequently revisited songs in his entire catalog, reissued so frequently, and in so many different formats, that there truly cannot be a single
Bowie fan left out there who doesn't own them at least three times over. And here they are again, half a dozen slices of the young
Bowie at his most endearing, mourning lost love and celebrating youthful promise, with his whole life ahead of him and fame still more than half a decade away.
They're great songs, as well, classic mid-'60s Britbeat, and though they're a world removed from all that he went on to, it's worth remembering that he would be looking at them again, for the late-'90s ultimately abandoned Toy project. ~ Dave Thompson