LONDON — A search for an alternate recording by the Kinks instead uncovered ten previously unheard performances by an 18- and 19-year-old David Bowie, then still recording under the name Davie Jones.
Music historian, producer and archivist Alec Palao found the material while examining the collection of producer Shel Talmy, whose work helped define the sound of mid-1960s British rock through recordings by the Kinks, the Who, Manfred Mann and other artists.
Palao told the San Francisco Chronicle that one of the last items he encountered was an unlabeled disc bearing a faint handwritten reference to “Davy Jones.” The recording opened a previously undocumented window into Bowie’s early development.
A young artist trying on musical identities
The recordings were made in 1965, four years before “Space Oddity” produced Bowie’s first major breakthrough. Some feature Davy Jones and the Lower Third; others are demos created as Bowie wrote for himself and other performers.
Engineer Glyn Johns, who later worked with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Who, handled several of the sessions. Among the previously unreleased titles are “Certain Woman” and “I Do Believe I Love You.” The collection also includes early recordings that appeared previously in other forms.
The significance is not that a fully formed superstar was hiding on every track. The recordings capture an ambitious young artist experimenting with blues, Merseybeat, pop and theatrical vocal styles while searching for an identity that audiences and record companies would recognize.
From a barely marked disc to a commercial release
David Bowie: The Shel Talmy Recordings will be released September 18 through Parlophone on vinyl, compact disc and digital formats. The official Bowie store describes it as the most complete collection of tracks Bowie recorded with Talmy in 1965 and is offering conventional and limited-edition versions.
The discovery also illustrates the difficult work behind archival releases. A record with little identifying information must be authenticated, connected to surviving session records, restored without erasing its historical character and cleared with the parties controlling the recording and performance rights.
Why the discovery matters now
Record companies increasingly treat older catalogs as active businesses. Previously unheard recordings can support physical products, digital releases, documentaries, exhibitions and renewed attention for an artist’s complete body of work.
There is also an artist-development lesson. Bowie did not immediately produce a hit under Talmy, but the experiments preserved in these sessions reveal the range and persistence that eventually made his work distinctive. One unsuccessful recording—or even several—does not necessarily settle the potential of the artist creating them.
Sources: San Francisco Chronicle and the official David Bowie release listing.