Bowie at the Beeb

Bowie at the Beeb is a compilation album by David Bowie, first released 26 September 2000. Originally, it came in a three-CD set, the third, bonus CD being a live recording made on 27 June 2000 at the Portland BBC Radio Theatre

Recorded 13 May 1968-23 May 1972, various BBC Radio studios, London
& 27 June 2000, London (3 CD version)

The first pressing mistakenly included the second (disc 2, track 12) version of the song ”Ziggy Stardust” twice on disc two, missing the first (disc 2, track 4) version. EMI declined to issue corrected replacement discs to customers, instead mailing out one-song CDs of the first version. NB FIXED: by substituting the duplicate track with the correct performance from the bootleg The Year of The Spiders. Also contains an extra track from the same bootleg, a 23 May 1972 performance of White Light/White Heat, inserted into disc 2 as track 19

This compilation also features a previously unreleased song, ”Looking for a Friend” (disc 1, track 15), which John Peel said would be released as a single by Arnold Corns as a follow-up to the Arnold Corns versions of ”Moonage Daydream” and ”Hang On to Yourself”, but it was never released, thus making this the only performance of ”Looking for a Friend”.

All tracks written by David Bowie except as noted.

Notes

Disc One
Tracks 1 to 4 recorded for John Peel in Top Gear as ”David Bowie and the Tony Visconti Orchestra”, 13 May 1968, tracks 1-3 broadcast 26 May 1968.
Tracks 5 and 6 recorded for D.L.T. (Dave Lee Travis Show) as ”David Bowie and Junior’s Eyes”, 20 October 1969, but neither track appeared in program broadcast 26 October 1969.
Tracks 7 to 12 recorded for The Sunday Show introduced by John Peel as ”David Bowie and the Tony Visconti Trio (aka The Hype)”, 5 February 1970, broadcast date 8 February 1970.
Track 13 recorded for Sounds of the 70s: Andy Ferris as ”David Bowie and the Tony Visconti Trio”, 25 March 1970, broadcast date 6 April 1970.
Tracks 14 to 18 recorded for In Concert: John Peel as ”David Bowie and friends”, 3 June 1971, broadcast date 20 June 1971.

Disc Two
Tracks 1, 2 recorded for Sounds of the 70s: Bob Harris by David Bowie with Mick Ronson, 21 September 1971, broadcast date 4 October 1971.
Tracks 3 to 7 recorded for Sounds of the 70s: Bob Harris as ”David Bowie and The Spiders from Mars”, 18 January 1972, broadcast date 7 February 1972.
Tracks 8 to 12 recorded for Sounds of the 70s: John Peel as ”David Bowie and The Spiders from Mars”, 16 May 1972, broadcast date 23 May 1972.
Tracks 13 to 16 recorded for Johnnie Walker Lunchtime Show as ”David Bowie and The Spiders from Mars”, 22 May 1972, broadcast date 5 June 1972-9 June 1972.
Tracks 17 to 20 recorded for Sounds of the 70s: Bob Harris as ”David Bowie and The Spiders from Mars”, 23 May 1972, broadcast date 19 June 1972.

Bowie At The Beeb contained various rarities and unusual performances, with a handful of tracks unavailable elsewhere.
In The Heat Of The Morning was rejected as a potential single by Deram, which led to Bowie’s departure from the label. The song remained unreleased until 1970, although Bowie had recorded versions for Top Gear in 1967 and 1968. The second of these was included on Bowie At The Beeb.
Karma Man was another failed Deram contender. It was written as a potential b-side for the rejected singles Let Me Sleep Beside You and When I Live My Dream and, as with In The Heat Of The Night, remained unreleased until the 1970 compilation The World Of David Bowie. Bowie recorded it twice for the BBC; the first, with backing vocals by Tony Visconti and Tyrannosaurus Rex’s Steve Peregrine Took, can be heard on Bowie At The Beeb.
Bowie recorded Silly Boy Blue during his first two BBC sessions. The second of these was arranged by Tony Visconti for strings, keyboards and percussion, and featured Tibetan cymbals and gongs, and a chant of Chime Chime Chime in tribute to Bowie’s Buddhist mentor Chime Youngdong Rimpoche.
The earliest known version of The Width Of A Circle was recorded for the BBC’s The Sunday Show on 5 February 1970, and included on Bowie At The Beeb. This was an embryonic version, significantly different from the one heard on The Man Who Sold The World, and omitted some of the song’s lengthy instrumental passages and the second half of the lyrics.
Almost Grown was a 1959 Chuck Berry song which Bowie recorded for the BBC on 3 June 1971. Performing with the Spiders From Mars, Bowie shared vocals with his former schoolmate Geoff MacCormack, here using the pseudonym Geoffrey Alexander.
The song was an early contender for the Ziggy Stardust sessions, but was dropped in favour of Berry’s Round And Round.
Recorded at the same session was Looking for a Friend, which found Bowie sharing vocals with guitarist Mark Carr-Pritchard. Looking For A Friend was intended as a follow-up to the Arnold Corns’ versions of Moonage Daydream and Hang On To Yourself. It was never released by the short-lived band, making it exclusive to the Beeb collection.
A better-known track is Eight Line Poem, which appeared on the Hunky Dory album. However, Bowie never performed it live, making the 21 September 1971 recording the only known non-RCA version.
The Hunky Dory outtake Bombers was recorded for the BBC on 3 June 1971. This version contained a slightly different ending from the album recording, with the lines Except a man, dear Lord, who looked like you/Used to look in my holy book, in place of Floating high up in the sky.

The cover of Bowie At The Beeb featured a painting of David Bowie by Guy Peellaert.
This was Bowie’s final collaboration with Peellaert, who had previously illustrated the sleeve of 1974’s Diamond Dogs. The artist died of cancer in November 2008

.

BBC - David Bowie

2002

724352862924

United Kingdom

CD

N/A

Art Rock

528629 2

4.5

bbc

37

Album

N/A

2

Yes

2018-06-28 16:53:00

Jewel Case

~€7.32

2026-02-18

2018-06-28 16:53:00