David Bowie’s iSelect offers a personal route through his recordings. Start with one of its less familiar tracks, hear the album around it, and use his accompanying comments as another perspective on what you hear. You can explore the collection with ordinary headphones or speakers and a place to keep a few notes.
A selection with an individual point of view
The official 2008 release announcement lists twelve selections and explains that the commercial CD included Bowie’s song-by-song comments. Treat those comments as the artist’s reflections at that time. They enrich a listening session while leaving room for your own response.
Hear the collection once in order before turning it into separate album routes. Note which transition surprises you and which track you immediately want to repeat. A personally curated sequence can place very different kinds of performances next to one another; that contrast is part of the experience.
Choose a path by the sound that interests you
The official iSelect vinyl announcement identifies the source albums and special versions. Use the following pairings to make a first choice.
| Starting track | Continue with | Listening question |
|---|---|---|
| “Life on Mars?” / “The Bewlay Brothers” | Hunky Dory | How does the vocal delivery change between a strongly projected melody and a more elusive narrative? |
| “Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing” | Diamond Dogs | What connects the sections, and what makes each change feel like a new scene? |
| “Lady Grinning Soul” | Aladdin Sane | Follow the piano first, then hear how the voice moves against it. |
| “Win” | Young Americans | Where do the supporting voices blend with the lead, and where do they become a separate response? |
| “Repetition” / “Fantastic Voyage” | Lodger | How can contrasting vocal approaches change the effect of a song’s subject? |
| “Teenage Wildlife” | Scary Monsters | What sustains the track across its larger sections: an instrumental figure, vocal intensity, or both? |
Choose one row, then hear two neighboring tracks on the source album. This is enough to test whether the quality that interested you belongs to the whole record or to that particular song. Either answer gives you a useful next step.
Give the special versions their full names
The collection’s “Time Will Crawl” is labeled MM Remix. The official notes credit production to Bowie and recording and mixing to Mario J. McNulty, with specific string and drum contributions. Keep the suffix when searching: it identifies a particular treatment of the song.
“Hang On to Yourself” is identified as a performance from Live Santa Monica ’72. Hear it as a concert recording, with its own pace and ensemble balance. If you compare it with a studio performance, write down both release names so the differences remain attached to the right recordings.
“Some Are” also deserves an edition check. Historical announcements describe availability at the time they were written; use the full track listing of the release you are selecting today. A past claim of exclusivity cannot by itself establish present availability.
Three labels help keep comparisons clear: performance identifies the playing and singing; mix concerns how recorded elements are combined; mastering concerns the preparation of the mixed recording for release. A newly dated package can contain older performances.
A three-pass session with “Win”
- Hear the whole track. Note the moment that catches you, using a timestamp from your own edition.
- Follow the supporting voices. Hear when they enter, how long they remain, and whether they reinforce or answer the lead. You can describe the texture without naming every singer.
- Return to the lead vocal. Listen for how a line is stretched, held back, or emphasized against the accompaniment.
- Read the accompanying commentary. Keep a short paraphrase of anything that changes what you listen for. Then play the passage again.
- Move into Young Americans. Test whether another track gives you the same kind of vocal interaction or introduces a different attraction.
This is an exercise in attention, not a prescribed interpretation. A clear note might name an entrance or contrast; an interpretation might describe the feeling it creates. Keeping those two kinds of statement separate makes your observations easier to revisit.
For another artist-selected starting point, compare how a compilation leads you into Pink Floyd’s album sequences. If the development of a recording interests you more than catalog exploration, try The Beatles Anthology’s demos and alternate takes.
Keep your listening notes
Voice and ensemble listening notes (plain text) provides reusable prompts for identifying a recording, following its parts, and comparing versions. Save a copy and fill it in with any text editor.