David Bowie

I'm trying to complete my collection of David Bowie CDs. This isn't as simple as you might think.

In 1990/91 most of Bowie's albums (from Space Oddity to Tin Machine) were re-released with extra tracks. These are generally singles and B-sides which were released at the same time as the album in question and many of them are unavailable elsewhere. In the mid 1990s I decided to replace my Bowie vinyl collection with CDs so these were the versions that I was buying.

Unfortunately I dod'nt get through buying them all before this release was withdrawn. The albums were all released again in 1999 in 24-bit remastered versions but without these extra tracks. Being a little compulsive about these things it's really these 1990s versions that I want.

So I did a stock-take over the weekend and found that I'm only missing a small number of these versions on CD. There are also a number of early 90s Bowie albums that seem to have vanished from the shops completely - Tin Machine II, Oy Vey Baby (the live Tin Machine album) and Black Tie, White Noise.

So this is my mission for the next few months. Pick up as many as possible of these albums from places like Ebay. I've alredy made a start, with bids on seven albums. They all seem reasonable cheap so far - with the exception of a copy of Oy Vey Baby which went to £23 before I backed out. I know it's rare, but it's really not very good.

Oh, and on the way I've discovered the Illustrated David Bowie Discography which is a great site.