David Bowie: the collection "The Shel Talmy Recordings" is coming – Listen to the unreleased "I Want Your Love"

More than sixty years after David Bowie's first recordings comes "The Shel Talmy Recordings", the most comprehensive collection dedicated to the sessions recorded in 1965 with producer Shel Talmy, a key figure in British rock thanks to his work with The Who and The Kinks. The box set will be released on September 18 by Parlophone, while the previously unreleased "I Want Your Love" is available to stream from today, giving a first taste of the album (listen below).

The collection, available on CD, LP and digital format, documents the period when the future Bowie was still going by the name Davie Jones. The CD includes 21 recordings, many of them previously unreleased, ranging from finished versions to demos and alternate takes. The vinyl instead offers a selection of eleven tracks. The musicians involved also include Jimmy Page, at the time a highly sought-after session player before his stint with Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin, and pianist Nicky Hopkins, who would go on to collaborate with Rolling Stones, Beatles, The Who and Jeff Beck.
Among the standout tracks are "You've Got A Habit Of Leaving" and "Baby Loves That Way", two singles to which Bowie remained particularly attached, so much so that he re-recorded them decades later during the sessions for "Toy", released posthumously in 2021. An exclusive red vinyl edition is also planned, available on the artist's official website.

The liner notes

In the liner notes, music historian Alec Palao urges listeners to approach these recordings without the filter of Bowie's future greatness: "David Bowie the artist is a book made of chapters: turn each page and you find something completely different and unexpected compared to the one before." According to Palao, these recordings should be viewed in the context of London's thriving 1965 scene, rather than dismissed as mere youthful curiosities: "The sounds here shouldn't be judged by the standards of his later career, but by the standards of what was happening in Britain at that precise moment in time."
Bowie and Talmy's paths crossed on the famous Denmark Street, then the beating heart of the British music industry. After signing Davie Jones and the Manish Boys in December 1964, Talmy continued working with the artist in his subsequent outfit, Davie Jones & The Lower Third, recording both tracks with the band and solo demos. The sessions took place mainly at IBC Studios in London, with Glyn Johns serving as sound engineer and Jimmy Page brought in to beef up the recordings with his guitar, often enhanced by an innovative custom-built fuzz pedal.
That period would go on to hold a strong fascination for Bowie in the years that followed. It's no coincidence that in 1973 he dedicated the album "Pin Ups" precisely to the British beat scene that had shaped him, reinterpreting four tracks originally produced by Shel Talmy among them. By the end of September 1965, Davie Jones had definitively adopted the name David Bowie, ready to open a new chapter of his career - but these recordings capture the exact moment the legend was about to be born.

The full tracklist of "The Shel Talmy Recordings"

CD
You’ve Got A Habit Of Leaving (2026 Remaster)^
I Want Your Love *^
Cupid *^
I Pity The Fool (2026 Remaster)+
Baby Loves That Way (2026 Remaster)^
Keep Up With The Jones (Instrumental) *^
Leave Her To Me *^
I’ll Follow You^
You Gotta Tell Her (2026 Remaster)*^
Take My Tip (2026 Remaster)+
Certain Woman *^
Today (Demo) *-
I Want My Baby Back (Demo) (2026 Remaster)-
I Live In Dreams (Demo) *-
Bars Of The County Jail (Demo)-
That’s Where My Heart Is (Demo) (2026 Remaster)-
I Do Believe I Love You (Demo) *-
You’ve Got A Habit Of Leaving (Alternative overdub/vocal) (2026 Remaster)^
I Pity The Fool (Alternative vocal take) (2026 Remaster)+
Baby Loves That Way (Alternative vocal take) *^
Take My Tip (Alternative vocal take) (2026 Remaster)+

VINILE
Side One
You’ve Got A Habit Of Leaving (2026 Remaster) ^
I Pity The Fool (2026 Remaster) +
Baby Loves That Way (2026 Remaster) ^
I’ll Follow You^
Take My Tip (2026 Remaster) +

Side Two
I Want Your Love *^
Cupid *^
Keep Up With The Jones (Instrumental) *^
Certain Woman *^
Leave Her To Me *^
You Gotta Tell Her (2026 Remaster) *^

* Previously Unreleased
^ Davie Jones & The Lower Third
+The Manish Boys
-Davie Jones

The bands

Davie Jones & The Lower Third 

Phil Lancaster – Drums
Graham Rivens – Bass
Denis Taylor – Guitar
Les Mighall – Drums
David Bowie – Vocals & Harmonica 

The Manish Boys 

Mick White – Drums
John Watson – Bass
Johnny Flux – Guitar
Bob Solly – Organ
David Bowie – Vocals 

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