My old David Bowie RCA CDs - the only ones of value

Probably the only CDs I have of any monetary value are the five David Bowie albums from the batch released in the mid 1980s, and then withdrawn by RCA after they lost the rights to the Bowie catalogue.

I haven't played them for years, since my born-again vinyl conversion. Well I've just played the Ziggy CD and blow me, it sounds great!

That got me thinking: I wonder if their stock has risen, or whether they are just worthless bits of plastic, like most CDs.

I searched online and discovered there is no end of discussion on the relative merits of the German and Japanese RCA Bowies (Nerd fact: mine are the German versions ). Also, it turns out the RCAs have stood the test of time in terms of being faithful to the original vinyl, because subsequent versions messed with the formula.

As one reviewer on Amazon commented, "the original RCA Bowie CDs from the 1980s were lambasted at the time as sub-par, but actually did a pretty good job of staying faithful to the sound of the original LPs. 

Oh gawd !

They have held up very well in light of the reissues that followed: the anemic and overly bright Ryko reissues of the late 1980s and the bloated, heavily compressed Virgin/EMI remasters of the late `90s, which remain the standard versions available today.

"However, it was the 30th Anniversary edition of Ziggy Stardust that represented the nadir of all Bowie remasters: it sounded worse than even the '90s EMI remaster; worse yet, it actually removed portions of the music and reversed the stereo channels."  Bowie himself said the CD remaster sounded 'weedy'.

OK, so while that makes the case for the original vinyl even stronger, it should at least make these RCA CDs more collectible.

From a quick scan of various blogs and online resellers, it appears each of the CDs is worth at least $100 (US) and perhaps more given they are in good condition.

But hey, it's not about the money! What pleases me the most is they actually sound really good.

And then there's my vinyl copies of these two classic Bowie albums. 

Early pressings are worth a fortune. These two are currently worth around $200 each. Crazy, considering what I paid for them. 

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Also On This Blog:

The Day David Bowie Died - 10 Years Gone

February 1970 - Bowie in obscurity - Mick Ronson joins Michael Chapman

Bowie 1973 - It's A Drive-In Saturday

Bowie 1974 - NME Interview

Bowie - "It's a Drive-In Saturday"

 

Other-worldly. In the early 1970s, David Bowie really was that rock hero from another planet, the starman waiting in the sky. His words and music sparked the imagination of a new generation of pop fans. The images from the Ziggy Stardust period in 1972 and '73 show an artist taking the early stylings of Glam Rock established by T. Rex and Slade to a whole different level. The front cover of the Ziggy Stardust album plays up the other-worldliness perfectly, as if Bowie had just fallen to earth. And this advert for his 1973 single 'Drive-in Saturday' plays on the other-worldly persona; a cleverly cultivated image and a perfect complement to the music. Drive-in Saturday  is one of the stand-out tracks on the 'Aladdin Sane' album and, for some fans it is one of Bowie's greatest songs. Its setting is a futuristic world where people have forgotten how to make love. When he played the song live soon after he wrote it, Bowie said, "This is after a catastrophe of some kind, and some people are living on the streets and some people are living in domes, and they borrow from one another and try to learn how to pick up the pieces."

 

David Bowie interview with the NME, 1974

This interview is featured in the anthology "Greatest Hits - The Best of the NME" published to hit the Christmas market in 1974. The book also features interviews with Mick Jagger, Slade, Ray Davies, Lou Reed, Sly Stone, Syd Barrett and the New York Dolls, among others. But since it is one year today since we lost David Bowie, I thought I would share the interview he did with Charles Shaar Murray. In it, Bowie reflects on his 'rock star experiment' with Ziggy and what drives him to keep the whole thing fresh and interesting.

Bowie was always open and honest with good interviewers and CSM gets him to open up on his feelings about stardom and success. He also reveals his feelings about certain bands and, in particular, remembers how The Who were not really Mods, in the sense that he was a Mod, right on top of the latest fashions, rather than five months behind like The Who.

So I hope you can read it. Click on each page to enlarge it. Enjoy. Love on ya!

 

 

 

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THANKS

Rediscovering old CDs - RCA's Bowie releases

Due to a change of living arrangements (working in Hong Kong for an extended period) I am revisiting my CD collection. Have to say these old David Bowie CDs sound much better than I thought they would.

Probably the only CDs I have of any monetary value are the five Bowie albums from the batch released in the mid 1980s, and then withdrawn by RCA after they lost the rights to the Bowie catalogue. I haven't played them for years, preferring the vinyl experience. Well I've just played the Ziggy CD and blow me, it sounds great!

That got me thinking: I wonder if their stock has risen, or whether they are just worthless bits of plastic, like most CDs. So I searched online and discovered there is no end of discussion on the relative merits of the German and Japanese RCA Bowies (Nerd fact: mine are the German versions ). Also, it turns out the RCAs have stood the test of time because subsequent versions have messed with the formula.

As one reviewer on Amazon commented, "the original RCA Bowie CDs from the 1980s were lambasted at the time as subpar, but actually did a pretty good job of staying faithful to the sound of the original LPs. They have held up very well in light of the reissues that followed: the anemic and overly bright Ryko reissues of the late `80s and the bloated, heavily compressed Virgin/EMI remasters of the late `90s, which remain the standard versions available today. 

Oh Gawd!

However, it was the 30th Anniversary edition of Ziggy Stardust that represented the nadir of all Bowie remasters: it sounded worse than even the '90s EMI remaster; worse yet, it actually removed portions of the music and reversed the stereo channels." Bowie himelf is on record as having said the recent CD remaster sounded 'weedy'.

OK, so while that makes the case for the original vinyl even stronger, it should at least make these RCA CDs more collectible.  From a quick scan of various blogs and online resellers, it appears each of the CDs is worth at least $100 (US) and perhaps more given they are in good condition.

But hey, it's not about the money! What pleases me the most is they actually sound really good. So until I can get back to using my record deck, it's time to rediscover the joys of CD.

Also on this blog:

The Day David Bowie Died - 10 Years Gone