Recommendations of the Editorial team
The David Bowie Center opened in the V&A East Storehouse in London in just two days. It gives the public access to a huge archive with 90,000 objects From the singer’s life and career. One of the most exciting finds is a list of Bowies 15 favorite songs, recorded in a document entitled “Memo for Radio Show – List of Favourite Records”.
Classic and covers
The list contains not surprising favorites such as Roxy Musics “Mother of Pearl”, Sonic Youth’s “Tom Violence” and Jeff Beck’s “Beck’s Bolero”. Also songs that Bowie himself covered in the course of his career can be found: The Beatles’ “Across the Universe”, Ronnie Spectors “Try some, buy some” and Legendary Stardust Cowboys “I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship”. (The first title was published in 1975 on “Young Americans”, the second in 2003 on “Reality”, the third in 2002 on “Heathen”.)
There are also rarities from the 1950s, which he remembered from his childhood, including Alan Freed and his Rock ‘N’ Roll Band with “Right Now Right Now” and Little Richard’s “True Fine Mama”.
Jazz and eclectic
Jazz numbers like Charles Mingus’ “Ecclusiastics” and Miles Davis “Some Day My Prince Will Come” also appear. In addition, there are eclectic titles from different eras, such as “Sho Know A Lot About Love” by the Hollywood Argiles, Edgar Froese “Epsilon in Malaysian Pale” and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis”.
If the David Bowie Center is accessible to the public, many other fascinating documents should come to light. In addition, the 12-disc box “David Bowie 6. I Can’t Give Everything Away (2002 to 2016)” will be released this week. It documents the last 14 years of Bowie’s career, contains unpublished material and recordings of his last live appearances in 2005 and 2006.
The complete list of Bowies 15 favorite songs
- Ralph Vaughan Williams – “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis”
- Richard Strauss – “Four last songs”
- Alan Freed and his Rock ‘N’ Roll Band – “Right Now Right Now”
- Little Richard – “True Fine Mama”
- The Hollywood Argys – “Sho Know a Lot About Love”
- Miles Davis – “Some Day My Prince Will Come”
- Charles Mingus – “Ecclusiastics”
- Jeff Beck – “Beck’s Bolero”
- Legendary Stardust Cowboy – “I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship”
- The Beatles – “Across the Universe”
- Ronnie Spector – “Try some, buy some”
- Roxy Music – “Mother of Pearl”
- Edgar Froese – “Epsilon in Malaysian Pale”
- The Walker Brothers – “The Electrician”
- Sonic Youth – “Tom Violence”