Album Score: 11
Here's a little trivia. This is the very first album that I ever reviewed. ...Well, not this album specifically, but it was the 1967 album titled David Bowie. All throughout that review I said that it was pretty dumb to own that album since you can own The Deram Anthology instead, which contains all of David Bowie plus a bunch of singles released at the time. So now, here I am finally rectifying my own hypocrisy and actually reviewing the Deram Anthology! Finally, the world can rest easy.
Truth be told, the best concentration of material on this collection is actually the stuff that appeared in David Bowie, so you're not missing out on that much. On the other hand, while you're out there collecting obscure David Bowie albums,
you'd might as well be complete about it. At the very least, The Deram Anthology allows you to own a copy of 揕ondon Boys,� and you deserve a copy of that song. It is a true rarity in David Bowie's discography in that it's not only well-written with smart instrumentation, but he gives a truly gut-wrenching vocal performance through it. I think most of the world agrees that one of Bowie's greatest weaknesses was and how little he seemed to believe in the music he was singing. 揕ondon Boys� is an exception.
I think it's also safe to say that David Bowie finally figured out how to write consistently good songs. I already mentioned, at length, about how generally mediocre his songs were in Early On, but his songwriting skills have greatly improved by the time he was recording music for the Deram label. That said, he still couldn't come out with a hit to save his life! But he was making some noble stabs at it. And, truthfully, there's not a lot here that could legitimately overshadow the songs that were hits at the time. David Bowie was simply not cut-out to be a superstar in the 1960s.
He seemed to be very influenced by The Kinks at this point in his career, since most of this stuff fits comfortably in the brit-pop music-hall school, which was making the rounds in England at the time. 揜ubber Band� is one of the more memorable songs here, a very goofy ditty featuring an intentionally melodramatic vocal performance, silly lyrics, and oompah tubas that keep a steady, marching beat. It's hardly a masterpiece or anything, but I enjoy the hell out of it all the same! 揢ncle Arthur� is a very obvious stab at a quirky, Kinksian character study, but this is tons goofier than The Kinks ever were. (Poor Uncle Arthur is a man who keeps on trying to move out of his mother's house, but she keeps dragging him back!) Again, it's not a very 搒ubstantial� song, but it doesn't try to be. Really, if you've never heard these early Bowie songs you might be surprised at these attempts to turn himself into a novelty act!
揕ove You Till Tuesday� is a surprisingly solid and engaging pop song where Bowie delivers a cute vocal melody and surprisingly sardonic lyrics. It sounds very dated; the instrumentation is quite cheesy. But I don't mind that at all. It's just a sweet little song. 揟here is a Happy Land� and 揝ell Me a Coat� are both engaging ballads with sweet, child-like lyrics. 揥e are Hungry Men� is a toe-tapping song about a futuristic world where cities are so overpopulated that people have started to eat each other. (Ew!) 揝he Got Medals� is an enjoyable rip-off of 揌ey Joe.� You can't go wrong ripping off that song.
And none of this stuff even vaguely resembles the stuff that he is most famous for. The obvious exception to that is an early version of 揟he Space Oddity,� which of course would eventually turn into his first big super-smash! He improved it much when he rerecorded it for a different label, but it's really cool to hear this earlier, and invariably dorkier, incarnation of it! I should also mention that The Deram Anthology also has a very silly children's song on it called 揟he Laughing Gnome,� which features a sped-up Chipmunk-style voice talking throughout it. It's a little bit annoying, but the song itself conjures a pretty cool '60s groove!
I had some pretty negative words to say about this release when I originally reviewed it. Needless to say, this cute album grew on me quite a lot over the years. I think a lot of my original distaste toward the album sprung from the fact that I hadn't listened to a whole lot of other cheesy '60s music music at the time, and so I couldn't quite appreciate where Bowie was coming from. Also, I thought that hating this album would make me 揷ool� across the Internet. But I have since realized that I can never be cool. I am the antithesis of David Bowie in that respect, since he looks cool no matter what he does.
Read the track reviews:
The Deram Anthology (1966-1968)
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