Albums I’d Rather have than the Shel Talmy Recordings, Part 3: Millennial Bonus Tracks and B-Sides

This is the third of three posts in which I am proposing Bowie albums I’d have rather had released than the recently announced The Shel Talmy Recordings. The Shel Talmy Recordings promises to include ten previously unreleased tracks along with others that we originally released in 1965, but not well remembered. While I’ve ordered the album, my hopes are not high that these songs will actually be very good. On the other hand, there are plenty of recordings that are out there but never pulled together on one album, that could be. The first in my fantasy series featured Bowie covering other musicians’ songs live that he did not include on studio albums, and the second was a compendium of his later guest-appearances on other artists’ albums. This one, which is the longest, includes bonus tracks and b-sides from the years around 2000.

I should mention that there actually exists an album that’s kinda sorta like this, which is Re: Play 5, a two-disc collection included in the 2021 box set, Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001). I’m not satisfied with that because, first of all, the Re: Play series is only available through the box sets, which include Bowie’s studio albums from the time. I’m not going to buy an expensive box set that includes albums I already own to get bonus discs, but sadly, the bonus discs are not available on their own. My second problem with 5 is that it appears to include alternative versions of songs that appear elsewhere, mixed in with some of these bonus tracks and b-sides (and frankly, a few I don’t have here). I think the value of a hypothetical collection, which would make it more likely that I’d actually listen to it more than once, would be if all the songs have the feel of being new, in the sense that they don’t appear on a Bowie studio album, even if in a different form.

OK, so, do ya got the idea? Here it goes, and, even though I left out some songs that could fit this description, this is a long one:

1. “Hallo Spaceboy (Pet Shop Boys Mix)” (1995). The version of “Hall Spaceboy” that appears on 1. Outside was never released as a single. This mashup, which includes elements of “Space Oddity,” essentially was the official single, or at least official video of the song.

2. “Get Real” (1995). 1. Outside era B-side that doesn’t sound like anything from 1. Outside.

3. “Nuts” (1997). Earthling outtake that appeared on the posthumous EP, Is It Any Wonder. Is It Any Wonder suffers from the same problem as the Re: Play series in that it includes two songs, including this one, that really don’t appear elsewhere along with alternate versions of songs we already know. Maybe an “alternate versions” disc would have value, too, but keep the two types of songs apart.

4. “Fun” (1997). This is the other “new” song from Is It Any Wonder.

5. “Tryin’ To Get To Heaven” (1998). This Bob Dylan cover was eventually released in 2021 on a disc that also included the next song. The hand on the cover art is that of baby Lexi Jones.

6. “Mother” (1998) This John Lennon cover was also recorded in 1998 but released in 2021.

7. “1917” (1999). Originally an hours… era B-side… actually that’s not true— like some other songs from that album, this one got its start as part of the Omikron: The Nomad Soul video game. Listen for the riff inspired by Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir.”

8. “We Shall Go to Town” (1999). This one nearly made it onto hours… but ended up as an obscure b-side.

9. “We All Go Through” (1999). Another hours… b-side that also appeared in Omikron: The Nomad Soul.

10. “Pictures of Lily” (2000). This Who cover was recorded for a planned Pete Townshen tribute album, Substitute: The Songs of The Who. Combined with “I Can’t Explain” and “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere,” which appeared on PinUps, this is Bowie’s third recorded Who cover.

11. “Safe” (2001). The origin of this song traces to Bowie being asked to make a contribution to, of all things, the soundtrack of The Rugrats movie. The Bowie song didn’t make the cut, but he adapted it into this bonus track from the Heathen era.

12. “When the Boys Come Marching Home”(2002). Heathen-era b-side.

13. “Wood Jackson” (2002). Another Heathen-era b-side. Unlike most of the YouTube links in this collection, this one is an “official revisualiser”. “Wood Jackson” is my go-to example when someone asks me for an obscure Bowie song.

14. “Rebel Never Gets Old” (2003). Bowie didn’t so much make this mashup as sanction it, originally for use in a commercial. It was eventually released as a single.

15. “Love Missile F1-11” (2003). Reality-era b-side. This is one of my favorite on this list. To me, though this is a cover of a Sigue Sigue Sputnik song, it sounds like a throwback to Bowie’s glam period.

16. “Queen of all the Tarts” (2003). Reality bonus track.

17. “Fly” (2003). Another Reality-era bonus track. This one had its beginnings during the Heathen sessions.

18. “Waterloo Sunset” (2003). Released as a Reality b-side or bonus track, depending on what you bought where. This Kinks cover was later re-released, as reflected by this video…I forget the story, but its a very good cover…