DIVINE SYMMETRY

Another archival box set, focusing on 1971 and the lead up to Hunky Dory - this time there are 4 CDs, plus a Blu-Ray audio disc (which I haven't checked out yet), plus two booklets (one of which, a reproduction of one of his notebooks, will probably be amazing for serious collectors but pointless for people like me who just want to hear the music).

The first disc is all demo recordings, including of several songs that never made it to an album (although two were reworked and retitled for the Scary Monsters album 9 years later). The second two discs are live recordings, two from radio broadcasts, and one from a show at Friars Aylesbury. The final disc is alternative mixes of the tracks from Hunky Dory (or recorded during those sessions, such as Bombers and Amsterdam).

My main takeaway from hearing all these early versions? It really becomes clear that Rick Wakeman was crucial to the musical success of Hunky Dory, once you hear what many of these songs sounded like without him - it is Wakeman's piano that lifts songs like Kooks, Fill Your Heart and Song For Bob Dylan out of the ordinary, it is Wakeman's piano (and Mick Ronson's string arrangement) that lifts Quicksand from nice to sublime. Life On Mars would have been an extraordinary song whoever played on it, but again it's Wakeman who makes the biggest contribution.

One of the unfamiliar songs (Looking For A Friend) was apparently written for the Arnold Corns project, which makes one wonder where the rest of the Arnold Corns recordings are - unless they're saving them for a future Ziggy-focused box set?

Really a collectors/fans release that should be two stars, but because this is by far and away my favourite era of Bowie, I can't rate it less than three.