Talk:David Bowie discography

Re-releases

I'm proposing we remove the list of re-releases from the page, that infomation is better suited to the album's page and rather than to make an already lenghty page longer it would be better gone. I thought I'd open it up for discussion, I am currently trying to make the page more in-line with other discography pages and tidy it up in general, becuase as is the page is kind of an eye sore. OBLIVIUS (talk) 19:27, 9 September 2020 (UTC)

And here's the second vote to remove the re-releases. Not needed. YouCanDoBetter (talk) 01:51, 10 September 2020 (UTC)

B-sides in single section and notes

I don't see the point in losting the b-sides to the singles especially when the majority of the a-sides have their own page, it gives the illusion most these early singles where double a-sides (or at least it did for me). I proporse they are removed but once agian wanted to see if anyone is opposed, also their seems to be a lot of notes on the page. I haven't had the time to check them all out but I assume some of could be trimmed down it seems excessive. OBLIVIUS (talk) 12:39, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

27 or 25 studio albums?

The intro and the stats box on this article say that there were 27 studio albums by David Bowie, but only 25 are listed on the Studio albums table. Presumably the discrepancy is down to the omission of the two Tin Machine albums. However I think this contradiction should be sorted out, one way or the other. Either correct the number of albums to 25 or include the Tin Machine albums in the studio album table. (Perhaps someone has blanked them off without discussing it on this talkpage in the past? ) Romomusicfan (talk) 08:30, 14 November 2020 (UTC)

• Seconded. Live albums also has a disparity, 21 vs 17. Dhalamh (talk) 20:11, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

  Dhalamh, I've found that sometimes Buddha of Suburbia is counted and sometimes it's not. I've always counted it personally, and not others like Labyrinth, because Bowie composed the entire thing. I'm not sure where the extra one is coming from though. – zmbro _(talk) 23:12, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

Canada

Since when is this not valid? It has been used for years in many articles with no problem. The software knows what it is. AMCKen (talk) 05:17, 8 February 2021 (UTC)

Unreleased studio albums

Horseman16 Why is Never Let Me Down 2018 included in this section? – zmbro _(talk) 14:22, 30 September 2021 (UTC)

zmbro That's a fair question. Thank you for it and for your contribution! I had several reasons to put it there.

1. All the re-recorded singles have been listed as new singles in the discography (i.e. "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)" is a re-recorded version of "John, I'm Only Dancing", "Fame '90" is a remixed/remade version of "Fame", "Sound and Vision 2013" is a re-recorded version of "Sound and Vision", etc.).
2. Other unreleased albums have either early versions of songs that were later remade into another songs (i.e. "Somebody Up There Likes Me", "Can You Hear Me?" and "Right" from The Gouster were all re-recorded and remade for Young Americans), either later re-recordings of songs that were released early (i.e. most of the songs from Toy album).
3. There's basically the same concept behind Never Let Me Down (Reimagined version) and Toy: re-recording of previously released songs.
4. Some artists consider their re-recorded albums as new albums (sometimes this could have been made in commercial reasons, anyways these albums are in the same list as the rest studio albums) (i.e. the studio album of Sting My Songs is basically a collection of re-recorded hit singles).
5. If there would ever be released a post-Blackstar album (and we can hope it'll happen! why else Warner Bros. acquired rights for that time period and shifted the release of the final box set for 2023?), it could also be considered as a re-recorded album, because there are 5 demo recordings of songs were made, not the complete versions, and to make them complete, the Blackstar band needs to record new music for it in the studio, in other words to re-record it.

P.S. Two The Beatles mid-90s singles "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" are also re-recorded versions of late 70s - early 80s Lennon demo songs. – Horseman16 (talk) 05:01, 16 October 2021 (UTC)

Horseman16 I find flaws in your logic here.

1. I'm fully aware there was re-recorded material

2. You could also count half of Scary Monsters as adapted versions of early stuff

3. Bowie had ideas of redoing Never Let Me Down over the years, but the only thing he ever did was the iSelect remix of "Time Will Crawl". Imo having The Gousterin this section is fine, but why would we include 2018? Even what's stated is contradictory (i.e. how can a "slated release date" be unspecified but literally below it "came out in 2018"?)?

4. I am also aware of that, i.e. what Taylor Swift is currently doing.

5. How can we "only hope" there will be a post-Blackstar album? He's dead. It's been almost six years. Other Blackstar material was released on No Plan. On top of that, stating "Slated release date: 2016" for something like this just can't be true as there's no possible way of knowing.

IMO the only things that should be in this section are Gouster and Toy. NLMD 2018 is not an "unreleased album", because there were ideas but literally no plans to actually do it while he was alive; only after he died did the concept arise again, so having it here is plain wrong. Lastly, Bowie obviously wanted to continue making music all the way to the end (which he did). If he was alive today he'd still be making albums because that's who he was. But, we can't put here that there was an official post-Blackstar album slated for release, because that's a lie and if it hasn't happened yet, I doubt it ever will. If anything these supposed "demos" would appear on a compilation album or EP. P.S. I don't get how that Beatles stuff is relevant here. – zmbro _(talk) 15:28, 16 October 2021 (UTC)

zmbro Sorry for not getting back to you sooner! I was need some time to think everything over.

First of all, I got your point.

The main issue with the Never Let Me Down 2018 album for me is that it's a typical re-recorded album: it has the same track listing in the same order as the original version (minus "Too Dizzy", but since it wasn't released on the digital 2007 re-issue, we can pass it). I must admit you've made a good comparison with recent Taylor Swift's (re-)recordings. Fearless (Taylor's Version) and Red (Taylor's Version) have also the same track listing in the same order as the original versions. So let's designate Never Let Me Down 2018 the way Taylor's re-recorded albums were designated. Agree?

Now let's talk about a post-Blackstar album (later PBA), you wrote: "How can we "only hope" there will be a post-Blackstar album? He's dead. It's been almost six years." Actually I made a comparison with mid 1990s Beatles singles in purpose. Lennon was dead for about one and a half decade when McCartney, Harrison, Starr and Lynne took his demos and made "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" out of them.

I mentioned 2016 as a slatted release date for it, because it was the most obvious choice as a year of release. According to Tony Visconti (check this article: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/david-bowie-planned-post-blackstar-album-thought-he-had-few-more-months-37095/), when Bowie was writing and recording demo material for a PBA, he didn't know how long he could last: he did know he was dying, but he was hoping he had a few more months. Pay attention to the "Lazarus" music video. He is writting on a paper, than the paper ends and he is continuing to write, but now on a desk. And the song "I Can't Give Everything Away" continues this idea, in my opinion. But I agree with you, we can't be 100% sure that a PBA was slated for a 2016 release, all we know that it was about to be released some time after Blackstar, so I think this should be mentioned the same way.

Here's my vision of the situation with a post-Blackstar album. It hasn't been released yet just because it is slated for release within the final "Era" box set. And that would be a jewel of that release. I absolutely love Blackstar and I'm eagerly waiting for the last box set to come. Five songs aren't much for an album, I agree, so I suppose it could come together with three No Plan EP songs (but that's just my guess). A post-Blackstar material has been shelfed for a later release, because on one hand, they was need time to finish those demos with the Blackstar band, on the other hand, if they release this album within the final "Era" box set (and not separately), they could generate more money. So that makes sence from a commercial stand point. I assume it could have a separate album release later (just like Toy are going to), but initially it would be a boxed set release, in my opinion. Most importantly, they need to have something special for a final "Era" box set to make people buy it. So what more could they have? By the way, all unreleased Bowie albums were issued within the "Era" box set series, so that also makes sence. On top of that, Warner Bros. made a deal to release this final box set in 2023, so there should be something special in it. Most likely Bowie's estate were in search for such kind of a deal, that's why there was a three year gap between Loving the Alien (1983–1988) and Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001) box sets.

So let's keep this mention of a post-Blackstar album in the table until the announcement of a final "Era" box set. This would be some kind of a fans' claim for that album to the Bowie's estate. I really want to listen to that stuff! For me it is the most anticipated Bowie release since Blackstar! And it's not too long for this announcement, a little bit more than a year and a half. So I offer to keep it as it is until the announcement, ok? – Horseman16 (talk) 10:58, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

Proposal to move music videos

I'm thinking about the size of this page in its current state and believe the best course of action would be to move the music video section into David Bowie filmography or a new videography page. The reason I bring this up is that Bowie's music videos were just as innovative as his music. I mean, "Ashes to Ashes" alone was the most expensive video ever made at the time. Currently, music videos aren't mentioned at all in the lead section, which I think does a bit of a disservice. On top of that, are music videos really considered a part of someone's discography? Imo that makes no sense. I'd love to know what others think, as once I start making additional improvements to sourcing and whatnot in the near future I see the page increasing to about 200k bytes. There doesn't appear to warrant enough info for separate albums and singles pages like other artists have so I believe moving music videos would be the best course of action. – zmbro _(talk) 17:20, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

Late reply, but I have split the music videos into a separate article - David Bowie videography --InPursuitOfAMorePerfectUnion (talk) 08:51, 27 January 2022 (UTC)

David Bowie studioalbum listing

The Buddha of Suburbia is not a studioalbum, neither a soundtrack contribution. I thought everyone should know that. It's a soundtrack contribution, since the show only took one track out of the album. Also where is Toy? This should've been in the list since November 2021.

See my response here. Also Toy is listed, under posthumous albums (where it belongs). – zmbro _{(talk) (cont)} 17:29, 6 March 2022 (UTC)

Isayhellogoodbye77200 Stop vandalizing – zmbro _{(talk) (cont)} 20:03, 31 August 2022 (UTC)

Some unlisted songs

I was wondering where to list Bowie's version of "All the Young Dudes". It was certified silver in 2022. While I'm at it, I notice there is also no mention of "Ziggy Stardust" nor of "Moonage Daydream" (which also certified). --Muhandes (talk) 19:09, 30 April 2022 (UTC)

Muhandes Maybe a new "other charted songs" section? – zmbro _{(talk) (cont)} 19:51, 30 April 2022 (UTC)

@Zmbro: Yup, that sounds like the right idea. --Muhandes (talk) 22:16, 30 April 2022 (UTC)