Bowie died two days after releasing his final album, Blackstar, on his 69th birthday. PHOTO: FILE
NEW YORK: David Bowie’s latest box set will feature in original form his unreleased album The Gouster, recorded as the late rock icon started to experiment with soul.
The English artist, then known primarily for his pioneering glam rock, headed in 1974 to Philadelphia’s Sigma Sound studio to pursue his love of the city’s funk-infused soul scene.
The end result was his classic album Young Americans. But the initial, seven-song record was The Gouster, the title an allusion to a fashion at the time among young African Americans in Chicago.
The legendary artist’s latest box set, David Bowie -- Who Can I Be Now? (1974-1976), will for the first time include The Gouster in its entirety with original artwork, label Parlophone said.
“David had a long infatuation with soul as did I. We were fans of the TV show Soul Train, “ Bowie’s long-time producer Tony Visconti said in an excerpt from the liner notes.
“We weren’t ‘young, gifted and black,’” he wrote, alluding to the Nina Simone anthem, “but we sure as hell wanted to make a killer soul album.”
The Gouster notably opens with an extended, funkier version of John, I’m Only Dancing, his 1972 single that was then considered risque for its gay theme.
The release of The Gouster will be of interest primarily to the most passionate of Bowie’s fans, as most of the songs made their way in the end to Young Americans.
The three remaining tracks have all been released in the intervening years, including on a 1991 reissue of Young Americans.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 25th, 2016.
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