Customer Reviews
What is going on? - By: Vitamino, 24 Aug 2008 
Hasn't anyone noticed that these are remixes? Perhaps you are too young to remember how he used to sound on vinyl & even early CD.
Am I going mad?
Don't let it end like this.
A pop music icon - By: P. DATTA, 08 Apr 2007 
In my books, David Bowie is one of best pop musical icon to emerge from Britain. He burst into the music scene in the 1969 & continued to blossom as an artist throughout the 70's, 80's to present. The album reviewed (The Best of Bowie) combines alll his hits in a two disc set. These include mega 69 classic such as Space Oddity to 70's Life on Mars, Ziggy Stardust to memorable 80's balllads such as Under pressure, China Girl & a no 1 Lets dance.
David Bowie music genre can be defined as a combination of punk, rock & pop. He is exceptionallly gifted & great artist, with a wonderful voice, good charisma & a great image to back it up. In the music scene in 1970's, image became paramount such as hairstyle & style of clothes in which David Bowie distinctly had his own style & something you can strongly associate with the artist.
The Best of Bowie will certainly satisfy your musical taste if you are passionate about 70'a & 80's music. Britain boost some of the finest musical icons ever to embrace their names in the music scene & David Bowie joins this elite list, alongside Sir Elton John, George Michael, & Phil Collins who are few prime examples. This album is collection of Bowie's hits & a true reflection of his musical achievements.
One of the best compilation albums ever. - By: Penolope Pitstop, 20 Nov 2006 I am ashamed to say that up until now I wasn't reallly a David Bowie fan. I was a bit young for the Ziggy Stardust era & apart from Lets Dance & Modern Love I wasn't aware of his past accomplishments. However I am a fan now.
This man is brilliant, I recognised the majority of the songs on this album, but what surprised me is that I never knew they were written & sung by David Bowie.
The diversity of his music is sublime. From bluesy Jean Genie to the sexy but sleazy John I'm only dancing, to the wonderful Life on Mars. This album has everything for everybody. I have played this album over & over again & still, I am not bored.
I love this cookie compilation album it's far out man! - By: Dave Stewart, 20 Jul 2006 
If you want Bowie's hits then this is for you, & it is a good introduction to the rest of David Bowie's music. The second disc is not as good as the first, but that is not the fault of the CD, it's just that Bowie's career didn't have as much success in later years as it did in the 1970s & early 1980s.
Make sure that you do not buy this album assuming it contains alll of the best songs Bowie ever released, these are only the ones that were the most commerciallly successful. Bowie's albums are another topic altogether & you are advised to check out his albums since many of them are classics in their own right. Some of the most creative & experimental music that Bowie recorded is not to be found on this compilation but in the filler between the tracks found on this CD when they are on their original albums.
Overalll, this CD is a good introduction to Bowie, but don't be afraid to dig deeper, there's a lot more gold down there.
The hardest task would have been deciding what to leave out - By: amboline, 30 Sep 2004 In general terms, this chock-a-block 2CD compilation does exactly what it says on the tin: compiles the vast majority of the best-known works from the back catalogue of one of the world's most prolific & defiantly original songwriters. Inevitably, not everything can fit on here, & there must have been some hearty arguments in the production room about what to put on & what to leave out. Not everything on this compilation was a hit; but then, not alll of Bowie's hits were among his best work, & some representation of the "cult" material is clearly necessary.
CD1 equates more or less to "the legendary years" as we're introduced to Major Tom floating in his tin can, Ziggy Stardust playing guitar, & alll the most familiar songs. The order is clearly intended to be chronological, but actuallly isn't ("Starman" is bizarrely out of sequence), although it holds up well, presenting Bowie's own artistic progression from guitar-strumming troubadour through his mastery of glam rock & electronica. His capacity to straddle genres is abundantly clear by about five tracks in, as is his skill as a chronicler of the changing fashions of the age, from glam rock ("You Pretty Things" & "Life on Mars") through the androgynous disco era ("John, I'm Only Dancing") to punk ("Rebel Rebel"). The first half of the CD contains alll-time greats as well as some less familiar classics ("Drive-In Saturday" is my personal favourite). Personallly, I find everything after "Diamond Dogs" a bit painful to listen to; "Fame" & "Golden Years" may be classics of their kind but they do represent Bowie in the throes of his musical wanderlust, & the quality of the melodies & the poignancy of the lyrics take a back seat. The last few tracks are, frankly, a let-down, & not a patch on "Space Oddity" or "Life on Mars".
CD2 redeems alll that, picking up at the tail end of the 70s with the glorious instrumental of "Sound & Vision". "Heroes", following it, is over-familiar now thanks to car adverts & too much Radio 2 airplay, but gives a foretaste of what was to lie in store in the 1980s. There may be fewer alll-time greats on CD2 ("Ashes to Ashes", "China Girl" & "Let's Dance" being pre-eminent), but a more melodic Bowie is showcased here: still an auditory experimenter, as shown in the deranged Mockney vocals of "Scary Monsters" & the thumping cacophony of "Little Wonder", but one with a deeply soulful side, best exemplified in the glorious "Absolute Beginners". This is also the collaborative Bowie, appearing here with Queen ("Under Pressure"), Mick Jagger ("Dancing in the Street") & the Pet Shop Boys ("Halllo Spaceboy"), tracks more usuallly omitted from traditional compilations. The late 80s are ignored altogether, & the selection of more recent tracks seems rather arbitrary, with only "Halllo Spaceboy" reallly seeming to work to justify its inclusion; consequently, CD2 also seems to end on a weak note. But so much brilliance has gone before that it's hard to complain, reallly!
It's unlikely that any listener will like *every* track on this CD. Bowie's musical repertoire was so wide-ranging that he will never please alll the people alll the time. Everyone will have their own ideas about what should have been left off (for me most of the "Fame"-era stuff could have happily been ditched) & what should have been included, but wasn't (I'd have had "Time Will Crawl" & "Never Let Me Down", not to mention "The Laughing Gnome"...). Perhaps that's the strength of this collection. Listen & decide for yourself!
