Classic reissues from July–December 2019

Released 11 October 2019

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  • David Bowie  VH1 Storytellers 
• On the 23rd of August 1999, David Bowie played an intimate set for invited guests at The Manhattan Centre’s Grand Ballroom in New York for the VH1 Storytellers series. Ten years later, in 2009, a recording of the evening was released on CD, DVD and download. Now, 20 years on, the performance will finally be available on vinyl, with the most complete version available being released as a strictly limited-edition double LP.
• This Bowie set has long been regarded as one of the most memorable episodes in VH1 Storytellers history, with David delving deep in to his catalogue to perform tracks such as ‘Can’t Help Thinking About Me’ for the first time in 33 years; ‘Drive-In Saturday’ from Aladdin Sane, which he had not performed since 1974; and ‘Word On A Wing’, which received its first outing in 23 years.

• • Gary Numan  The First Recordings
• The First Recordings catches the origins of Gary Numan’s breakthrough albums, Replicas and The Pleasure Principle.
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  • Replicas – The First Recordings  2-CD £15.99 / 2-LP £29.99
• In late 1978, just after Tubeway Army’s debut album was released, Gary Numan was booked into a small studio in London’s Chinatown. Two stereo master tapes were produced, containing eleven tracks. A month later they again went to Gooseberry Studio and recorded an additional three tracks, including ‘Are “Friends” Electric?’ and ‘Replicas’. At the same time, the band recorded a session for the BBC’s John Peel show, taping alternate versions of three songs from the December recordings. Finally Numan returned to an upgraded studio, Marthus Music, in February to overdub and remix the Gooseberry recordings into their released versions. Only one alternative out-take still exists (‘Down In The Park’), and it is included on Replicas – The First Recordings.
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  • The Pleasure Principle – The First Recordings  2-CD £15.99 / 2-LP £29.99
• Even before the single ‘Are “Friends” Electric?’ was released, Numan had recruited a permanent drummer and keyboard player and demoed an album’s worth of new material between April 9–12 1979 at Freerange Studio in London’s Covent Garden. This was supplemented by a second session, probably in June, that yielded four further songs and two re-recordings. Following the hectic schedule of promoting ‘AFE?’, Numan recorded a new session for John Peel the day after the single hit number 1 on the UK charts. Rather than record as Tubeway Army, the session was credited to Gary Numan and the group name abandoned at the peak of its success. As before, rather than promote the current album, Numan chose to record four new songs. While the album Replicas hit number 1, Numan was busy recording a follow-up in Marcus Music Studio. From the surviving tapes there are six mixes marked as out-takes and these have been included in the CD package of The Pleasure Principle – The First Recordings. The discs have been sequenced with the stronger, second Freerange demo preceding the first session but all tracks are in the order of the tapes.

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