A batch of David Bowie’s early-1960s recordings has been revived and released for streaming today (18.09.26).
The release follows a decade-long gap after music historian Alec Palao uncovered a 12-inch acetate marked “Davie Jones” while organizing the archive of late producer Shel Talmy. The disc contained five tracks from 1965 that had never been released, recorded before Bowie adopted his iconic stage name, and a further five songs surfaced during Palao’s subsequent research.
The material has been assembled into a fresh posthumous collection titled The Shel Talmy Recordings. A limited-edition vinyl version will be available through Record Store Day and HMV.
Palao notes that the recordings — which include You’ve Got A Habit Of Leaving and Baby Loves That Way, tracks originally issued as singles and later rerecorded by Bowie and his Glastonbury band for the album TOY, released posthumously in 2021 — reveal Bowie at his most direct.
He said: “They are probably the most visceral, raw you’ll ever hear the man.”
Palao added that they are “a fascinating window into London in 1965 and its possibilities.”
The tracks were originally kept by Talmy, who produced acts such as The Kinks and The Who, and stored Bowie’s early sessions alongside other projects. The release includes demos, remastered material and ten previously unheard songs from Bowie’s teenage years performing in London clubs.
Dana Gillespie, an early collaborator who met Bowie at 17, says the tracks capture him experimenting: “They’re songs that don’t really sound like David but it’s him trying to find his voice. He was experimenting.”
She added: “He was very driven… He turned to me and said: ‘Whatever it takes, I want to get out of here.’”
She recalls hearing one of the songs with Bowie in Denmark Street’s Gioconda café: “He rushed in and took me by the hand. He said: ‘You have to hear this.’ He squeezed us into a small listening booth and played me I Pity The Fool.” A remastered version appears on the new album.
The release offers fans and collectors a rare glimpse into Bowie’s earliest recordings, made before Space Oddity and his rise to becoming one of Britain’s most recognisable cultural figures.
Gillespie added: “I’m so happy that his early stuff hasn’t been forgotten.”
Bowie died in 2016, aged 69, after a private battle with cancer.
He left behind 26 studio albums, ending with his final release Blackstar, issued two days before his death on his last birthday.
Talmy died from complications from a stroke in 2024, aged 87.
