David Bowie: Toy (Parlophone)
Score: 
Verdict: Properly price a play
Marina: Historical Goals In A Fashionable Land (Deluxe Version) (Atlantic)
Score: 
Verdict: Provides extra sparkle
Six years on from his loss of life in January 2016, David Bowie’s sense of timing stays impeccable.
On the eve of what would have been his seventy fifth birthday tomorrow, the late singer’s property this week introduced the sale of his songwriting catalogue to Warner Chappell for an estimated £185 million.
The sale, which follows a deal final September for his recorded repertoire, provides the writer the rights to hits resembling Heroes, Let’s Dance, Ashes To Ashes and others — greater than 400 songs which, because the writer says, are ‘milestones which have modified the course of recent music’.
Six years on from his loss of life in January 2016, David Bowie’s sense of timing stays impeccable
However this week’s Bowie-mania doesn’t finish there. As we speak sees the arrival of Toy, an album recorded in 2000. There’s additionally a brand new vinyl imprint of 1971’s Hunky Dory, out right now on image disc, plus a reside stream organised by pianist Mike Garson on Sunday. From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads, Bowie goes to be arduous to keep away from this weekend.
Delight of place goes to Toy. Recorded ‘as reside’ in a New York studio after his triumphant Glastonbury look in 2000, it noticed him revisiting songs he wrote between 1964 and 1971, earlier than he turned a star.
The thought, initially advised to him by Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott, was to revamp misplaced gems along with his touring band.
When plans for an immediate ‘shock drop’ of the album had been scuppered, Bowie moved on to make 2002’s Heathen, and Toy was mothballed. It was included within the expensive Sensible Journey field set final November, however is now out in its personal proper, with two new bonus discs of acoustic tracks and outtakes thrown in.
Probably the most hanging factor is the sheer verve of the performances. Toy was made within the weeks earlier than Bowie’s spouse, Iman, gave beginning to their daughter, Lexi, and the singer, on a roll, is the energetic hub of a band that includes Garson, guitarists Earl Slick and Mark Plati, bassist Gail Ann Dorsey and drummer Sterling Campbell.
Just a few tracks, such because the light-weight Karma Man, fail to transcend their origins as Nineteen Sixties interval items. On Can’t Assist Pondering About Me, David nonetheless seems like a younger mod looking for his place on the earth.
Singer-songwriter Marina Diamandis — a solo act who as soon as traded below the alias Marina & The Diamonds — noticed her fifth album, final yr’s Historical Goals In A Fashionable Land, hampered by her incapacity to tour through the pandemic. With UK dates set for Might, she’s hoping a ‘deluxe version’ will give it a second likelihood
Elsewhere, he brings a playful authority to songs that had been as soon as gauche and earnest. I Dig The whole lot, from 1966, is revamped with actual panache. You’ve Received A Behavior Of Leaving is pushed by a Insurgent Insurgent-like groove. With clarinet and trumpet to the fore, The London Boys evokes the smoky atmosphere of a Soho jazz membership.
There are two sensible ballads. The theatrical Foolish Boy Blue is lifted by Tony Visconti’s strings, and the very good, Ziggy-era cast-off Shadow Man is a basic lastly getting due recognition. ‘Look to the celebrities and see his eyes, he’ll present you tomorrow,’ sings Bowie in an echo of 1972’s Starman.
The primary bonus disc comprises various mixes plus two unreleased tracks — a brand new model of the singer’s debut single Liza Jane (an American jazz commonplace), and the psychedelic pop quantity In The Warmth Of The Morning. There’s additionally a unique model of Foolish Boy Blue with Moby and pianist Philip Glass.
The opposite disc — billed as an ‘unplugged and considerably barely electrical combine’ — is basically an acoustic model of the LP, with the guitars of Slick and Plati augmented by horns, harmonica and violin. This isn’t Bowie at his most modern. However, by way of efficiency, Toy captures him in his prime.
Singer-songwriter Marina Diamandis — a solo act who as soon as traded below the alias Marina & The Diamonds — noticed her fifth album, final yr’s Historical Goals In A Fashionable Land, hampered by her incapacity to tour through the pandemic. With UK dates set for Might, she’s hoping a ‘deluxe version’ will give it a second likelihood.
The Welsh musician has added 5 new tracks, reiterating her standing as a unusual, forthright artist on the fringes of the mainstream. Having as soon as aspired to be Britney Spears, Diamandis, 36, topped the charts with 2012’s Electra Coronary heart, however has since distanced herself from shiny pop.
The additional songs right here intensify her transfer in the direction of a strand of choral, digital music someplace between Kate Bush and Lana Del Rey. Completely satisfied Loner is a breathless piano ballad in regards to the significance of charting your personal course. Pink Convertible is an eco-anthem set in Hollywood, and Free Girl a straight-talking tackle the ageing course of. It provides further sparkle to considered one of final yr’s ignored diamonds.
Marina begins a tour on Might 17 on the Corn Trade, Edinburgh (marinaofficial.co.uk).
Monitor of the week
Once I’m Gone: Alesso & Katy Perry
Perry’s ear for a superb hook returned on 2020 album Smile, and she or he’s on high type once more on this collaboration with Swedish DJ Alesso. Coinciding along with her reside residency in Las Vegas, Once I’m Gone is a bouncy dance anthem punctuated with house-style piano