Who can I be now?

With Bowie having spent the best part of fifteen years successfully killing the bullshit of Sound & Vision type stardom, it's disconcerting to see his legacy being systematically dismantled by commercial pressure. A seemingly endless run of pointless box-sets seem to be the order of the day.

I'm still waiting for the follow-up to the special edition of Station to Station (which I left on the shelf because it simply wasn't special).

There had been some nice editions (though not flawless) of Ziggy, Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs and the dvd-audio (5.1 surround) version of Young Americans. All had some redeeming features, such as unreleased tracks or new versions, all teasing a bright future, where substantial releases of quality material would see the light of day.

But, no. Mixes of different audio rates! 24 bit! 96/192 etc....Old bootlegs masquerading as brand new releases, many of which have been old-hat for decades! There was even a box set relating to the Young Americans period, including a special edition of ‘unreleased mixes’ from the sessions, titled ‘The Gouster.’ Of course, you had to fork out for the entire box (over £200 on amazon) to acquire these ‘new’ recordings. Most Bowie supporters have had these mixes for years, but what is truly galling and remarkable is that there are additional tracks circulating but not archived properly by the estate. The Gouster exists but is not even on the ‘Gouster’ album in the box! Here are the other missing tracks (which are very nice):

Shilling the Rubes

Lazer

After Today (different tempo).

Totally absurd. There’s enough for an outstanding double album from a much-maligned period of the Bowie canon.

And that's before you get into the RSD fiasco, which plays right into the hands of ebay exploiters. Cracked Actor, anyone?

Very sad. Completely unnecessary. Scandalous.

Money bashing artistic integrity.

Ironic the first package was called 'Legacy.'