Rocktrospectiva: The Remarkable Compilation "Changesbowie" Turns 35

Released on 12 March 1990, "Changesbowie" was  a compilation album by English rock musician David Bowie, released by Rykodisc in the US and by EMI in the UK. The compilation was part of Rykodisc's remastered Bowie reissue series, replacing the deleted RCA Records compilations Changesonebowie and Changestwobowie.  

 

The 1976 best-of Changesonebowie was the Thin White Duke's last major commercial hit of the decade. Collecting famed singles and album cuts from an amazingly fertile period, it clicked both with those who got into Bowie through his mainstream popularity and with the crowd who loved him for his challenge to it. 

 

Now this expanded edition goes forward from "Golden Years," the original closer, with a through later radio favorites like "Let's Dance." And a remixed "Fame '90" this remixed version of "Fame" was released by EMI in 1990 to coincide with the Sound+Vision Tour, the release of the Changesbowie compilation, and the Pretty Woman soundtrack. At the time, Bowie wanted to remix a successful US single for the tour and album release; of the two options ("Let's Dance" and "Fame"), "Let's Dance" was deemed to be too recent. Bowie liked the choice: "It covers a lot of ground, Fame; it stands up really well in time. It still sounds potent. It's quite a nasty, angry little song. I quite like that."

 

Unfortunately this compilation has an omission of almost all of Bowie's collaborations with Brian Eno. But despite of that, this is considered generally a smart update of a key compilation. An awesome CD greatest-hits collection that revamps the original Changesonebowie by adding selections from David Bowie's late-'70s and early-'80s albums. 

 

Consequently, it functions as a definitive single-disc introduction to Bowie, featuring all of his major hits from "Space Oddity," "Changes," "Ziggy Stardust," "Jean Genie," and "Rebel Rebel" to "Heroes," "Ashes to Ashes," "Let's Dance," "Modern Love," and "Blue Jean." 

 

The compilation was well-received and it was his seventh album to enter the chart at No. 1 another record for the White Duke, for some obvious reasons, many listeners and fans complained about "Fame '90" because they thought it wasn't necessary to substitute the "Fame '90" remix for the original to hook completists, since it was inferior and was already issued as a separate single, even thought I love the track when it was released back then. Now the greatest hits album incorporated all of the classic Changesonebowie, but extends it from the mid-seventies to the mid-eighties, covering Bowie's peak 15 years. 

 

This was the disk in chronological order to highlighted their most brilliant singles but the one problem is that by this time, Bowie had enough singles to make up three CDs. This was an excellent primer for the ininitiated

 

Changesbowie Track List: 

 

1. Space Oddity

2. Starman  

3. John, I'm Only Dancing

4. Changes

5. Ziggy Stardust

6. Suffragette City

7. Jean Genie

8. Life On Mars

9. Diamond Dogs

10. Rebel Rebel

11. Young Americans

12. Fame '90 (Remix)

13. Golden Years

14. Sound And Vision

15. Heroes

16. Ashes To Ashes

17. Fashion

18. Let's Dance

19. China Girl

20. Modern Love

21. Blue Jean