Bowie at the Beeb: The Best of the BBC Radio Sessions

Disc 1
1	In the Heat of the Morning 3:02
2	London Bye Ta Ta 2:36
3	Karma Man 3:00
4	Silly Boy Blue 6:08
5	Let Me Sleep Beside You 3:17
6	Janine 3:24
7	Amsterdam 3:18
8	God Knows I'm Good 3:35
9	The Width of a Circle 5:21
10	Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed 5:07
11	Cygnet Committee 9:07
12	Memory of a Free Festival 3:18
13	Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud 5:55
14	Bombers 3:19
15	Looking for a Friend 3:33
16	Almost Grown 2:43
17	Kooks 3:32
18	It Ain't Easy 2:51
Disc 2
1	The Supermen 2:51
2	Eight Line Poem 2:56
3	Hang on to Yourself 2:50
4	Ziggy Stardust 3:21
5	Queen Bitch 2:59
6	I'm Waiting for the Man 5:24
7	Five Years 4:24
8	White Light/White Heat 3:48
9	Moonage Daydream 4:58
10	Hang on to Yourself 2:50
11	Suffragette City 3:28
12	Ziggy Stardust 3:24
13	Starman 4:05
14	Space Oddity 4:16
15	Changes 3:29
16	Oh! You Pretty Things 2:57
17	Andy Warhol 3:14
18	Lady Stardust 3:25
19	Rock & Roll With Me 3:06

Barnes & Noble

David Bowie has always been one of rock's most unpredictable characters, and that mercurial nature was never more evident than at the onset of his solo career. Those early years -- before he made a full-on impact on this side of the pond -- are documented in terrific detail on this collection of rare recordings made expressly for broadcast on the BBC between 1968 and 1972. (Those from a February 1970 broadcast of "The Sunday Show" mark the first recordings with Bowie and his longtime guitarist Mick Ronson.) While some of the songs here will be familiar to casual fans -- e.g. "Ziggy Stardust," which appears twice, and "Suffragette City" -- each has its own set of nuances to differentiate from the radio-staple versions. The alternate "Hang On to Yourself" is far more subdued, while this version of "Space Oddity" has a delicacy more in keeping with Bowie's late-'60s folkie days. Those are fully explored on the collection's first disc, which juxtaposes hippie-styled plaints such as "Memory of a Free Festival" with early flowerings of decadence (a version of Jacques Brel's "Amsterdam") and proto-lounge silliness ("Kooks"). Likewise, his affection for the work of Lou Reed is in full evidence, thanks to quietly tense versions of the Velvet Underground's "White Light/White Heat" and "Waiting for the Man." The first edition of Bowie at the Beeb contains a bonus third CD of material Bowie recorded at the BBC on June 27, 2000. The 15-track set runs the gamut from the recently rediscovered early fave "Wild Is the Wind" to mid-period glam-o-ramas such as "Cracked Actor" to powerful newer material such as "I'm Afraid of Americans." It's an exhaustive look back, to be sure, but even at three-plus hours, there's nary a wasted note. David Sprague

New York Times

...The guitarist Mick Ronson enters dropping a Jimi Hendrix quotation halfway through Disc 1, and Mr. Bowie suddenly becomes a fighter, not a pixie. Ann Powers

Rolling Stone

From folksy pop to rock grandeur: The making of Ziggy Stardust. Greg Kot