Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Space oddity
2. Man who sold the world
3. Oh you pretty things
4. Changes
5. Life on Mars
6. Starman
7. Ziggy Stardust
8. Suffragette city
9. John I'm only dancing
10. Jean genie
11. Drive in Saturday
12. Sorrow
13. Diamond dogs
14. Rebel rebel
15. Young Americans (single version)
16. Fame
17. Golden years (single version)
18. TVC15
19. Wild is the wind

Disc 2:

1. Sound and vision
2. Heroes (single version)
3. Boys keep swinging
4. Under pressure
5. Ashes to ashes (single version)
6. Fashion (single version)
7. Scary monsters (and super creeps) (single version)
8. Let's dance (single version)
9. China girl (single version)
10. Modern love (single version)
11. Blue jean
12. This is not America
13. Loving the alien (single version)
14. Dancing in the street
15. Absolute beginners (single version)
16. Jump they say (radio edit)
17. Hallo spaceboy (Pet Shop Boys remix)
18. Little wonder (edit)
19. I'm afraid of Americans (Trent Reznor mix)
20. Slow burn (radio edit)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #255 in Music
• Released on: 2002-11-04
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .27 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Pretty self-explanatory stuff, this, since Best of Bowie collects most of Bowie's hits and a few of his more fetishised songs onto two CDs, rendering previous compilations--notably 1990's ChangesBowie--redundant. Of course, it's fantastic. For this is Bowie's pop genius shrink-wrapped: music notable for both its pretension and its accessibility, brimming with unignorable power and bespangled absurdity. Racing through these 39 songs from "Space Oddity" to "Slow Burn" (from 2002's relative return-to-form Heathen), the surprise is how coherent they sound next to each other. For someone so often portrayed as an artistic shape-shifter, it's the consistency of Bowie's vision that's most apparent, how he stamps his identity on every trend he comes across.

Like the Rolling Stones' similarly enjoyable 40 Licks, things do get a bit sticky towards the end of Disc Two, though there's mercifully nothing from the two Tin Machine albums. Obsessives should note, too, that the tracklisting of Best of Bowie varies from country to country: the albums have been compiled according to the most popular songs in each territory. Wonder which lucky place got "The Laughing Gnome" included on their version? --John Mulvey

CD Description
'Best Of Bowie' is a collection of tracks which chronicle David Bowie's career to date. It comes in twenty three different editions, each one having been compiled to suit that country or region with the tracklisting reflecting that area's favourite Bowie songs.

Customer Reviews

The hardest task would have been deciding what to leave out
In general terms, this chock-a-block 2CD compilation does exactly what it says on the tin: compiles the vast majority of the best-known works from the back catalogue of one of the world's most prolific and defiantly original songwriters. Inevitably, not everything can fit on here, and there must have been some hearty arguments in the production room about what to put on and what to leave out. Not everything on this compilation was a hit; but then, not all of Bowie's hits were among his best work, and some representation of the "cult" material is clearly necessary.

CD1 equates more or less to "the legendary years" as we're introduced to Major Tom floating in his tin can, Ziggy Stardust playing guitar, and all the most familiar songs. The order is clearly intended to be chronological, but actually isn't ("Starman" is bizarrely out of sequence), although it holds up well, presenting Bowie's own artistic progression from guitar-strumming troubadour through his mastery of glam rock and electronica. His capacity to straddle genres is abundantly clear by about five tracks in, as is his skill as a chronicler of the changing fashions of the age, from glam rock ("You Pretty Things" and "Life on Mars") through the androgynous disco era ("John, I'm Only Dancing") to punk ("Rebel Rebel"). The first half of the CD contains all-time greats as well as some less familiar classics ("Drive-In Saturday" is my personal favourite). Personally, I find everything after "Diamond Dogs" a bit painful to listen to; "Fame" and "Golden Years" may be classics of their kind but they do represent Bowie in the throes of his musical wanderlust, and the quality of the melodies and the poignancy of the lyrics take a back seat. The last few tracks are, frankly, a let-down, and not a patch on "Space Oddity" or "Life on Mars".

CD2 redeems all that, picking up at the tail end of the 70s with the glorious instrumental of "Sound and Vision". "Heroes", following it, is over-familiar now thanks to car adverts and too much Radio 2 airplay, but gives a foretaste of what was to lie in store in the 1980s. There may be fewer all-time greats on CD2 ("Ashes to Ashes", "China Girl" and "Let's Dance" being pre-eminent), but a more melodic Bowie is showcased here: still an auditory experimenter, as shown in the deranged Mockney vocals of "Scary Monsters" and the thumping cacophony of "Little Wonder", but one with a deeply soulful side, best exemplified in the glorious "Absolute Beginners". This is also the collaborative Bowie, appearing here with Queen ("Under Pressure"), Mick Jagger ("Dancing in the Street") and the Pet Shop Boys ("Hallo Spaceboy"), tracks more usually omitted from traditional compilations. The late 80s are ignored altogether, and the selection of more recent tracks seems rather arbitrary, with only "Hallo Spaceboy" really seeming to work to justify its inclusion; consequently, CD2 also seems to end on a weak note. But so much brilliance has gone before that it's hard to complain, really!

It's unlikely that any listener will like *every* track on this CD. Bowie's musical repertoire was so wide-ranging that he will never please all the people all the time. Everyone will have their own ideas about what should have been left off (for me most of the "Fame"-era stuff could have happily been ditched) and what should have been included, but wasn't (I'd have had "Time Will Crawl" and "Never Let Me Down", not to mention "The Laughing Gnome"...). Perhaps that's the strength of this collection. Listen and decide for yourself!

I love this cookie compilation album it's far out man!
If you want Bowie's hits then this is for you, and it is a good introduction to the rest of David Bowie's music. The second disc is not as good as the first, but that is not the fault of the CD, it's just that Bowie's career didn't have as much success in later years as it did in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Make sure that you do not buy this album assuming it contains all of the best songs Bowie ever released, these are only the ones that were the most commercially successful. Bowie's albums are another topic altogether and you are advised to check out his albums since many of them are classics in their own right. Some of the most creative and experimental music that Bowie recorded is not to be found on this compilation but in the filler between the tracks found on this CD when they are on their original albums.

Overall, this CD is a good introduction to Bowie, but don't be afraid to dig deeper, there's a lot more gold down there.

Box Sets Go Double CD...It Works!
Over a decade ago, every major artist (and some minors) produced a box set. Now the trend is a double "best of" CD (Bowie, Rolling Stones, Bee Gees, Fleetwood Mac...) This is not bad, but severely limits the tracks to the biggest hits, and even then leaves out some gems.

Bowie's selections sticks to the singles and if you never bought "ChangesOne" or "ChangesTwo" or "The Singles", then this is your best choice. "All The Young Dudes" is a nice surprise here, but where is "Strangers When We Meet" or "Starman"? See what I mean? Plus, what are the tracks on the bonus CD that was originally available? That was a major selling point, if I only knew what was included. Regardless, this is the best of Bowie and you can't really complain too much. Liner notes - Okay.