(Paris) It’s the story of an album like no other: Toy, unearthed in its entirety today, was first left in a drawer in 2001 by David Bowie following a quarrel with a record company.
Toy is not known to the general public. Fans of the Thin White Duke, one of the artist’s nicknames, on the other hand followed his footsteps with a magnifying glass. First, because a poor-quality pirate version leaked onto the web in 2011.
Then because some titles of Toy found themselves in Heathen (2002), failed on B-sides or on a compilation. “The fans still know two-thirds of the album”, clarifies for AFP Jérôme Soligny, author of David Bowie Rainbowman, reference work initially published in two volumes (Gallimard), subject of reissues and international translations.
Toy allows Bowie to give “a facelift”, as Soligny puts it, to little-known songs from his repertoire of the 1960s and 70s (only three originals in the initial batch). That a creator born like him looks back on his past already makes Toy a separate album.
The main explanation for Soligny is that “he adores the musicians with whom he played at that time (the turning point of the 2000s), and when they suggested a cover, he accepted”.
“Terrible people”
SCREENSHOT
January 7, 2022, the day before Bowie’s birthday, Toy (Toy: Box) this time will present the album accompanied by alternative and acoustic versions.
The germs of Toy are there with the reinterpretation, at the end of the 1990s, of Can’t help thinking about me (1966 title) on stage with his band. It was with this training that he gave one of the most significant concerts of his career in Glastonbury, England, in 2000.
This album is also notable in Bowie’s journey, as it was during his recording in New York that the artist reconciled with his historic producer, Tony Visconti. He hadn’t asked for it again in the studio from Let’s dance (1983, commercial card produced by Nile Rodgers, guitarist of Chic).
“Bowie wanted to work with him again, but at first in homeopathic doses, to see how it goes, because Tony and he are two strong personalities,” says Soligny. “Tony comes first to arrange the strings, and after that Bowie asks him to redo some mixes from Mark Plati (designated producer).” Visconti will then return to his role as producer until the last album. Blackstar (2016, year of death of the singer at 69).
But things got worse with the record company. “Virgin has become absolute shit. These people were appalling during the two years preceding my departure, ”Bowie said in 2002 in comments reported in Rainbowman. The artist tidies Toy on the shelf and move on on the way out Heathen (at Iso / Columbia / Sony).
Confusing pouch
Bowie’s legatees come out today Toy (at Parlophone / Iso / Warner) in two stages. The album first appears in its original version this Friday as part of the gargantuan retrospective David Bowie 5. Brilliant Adventure (1992-2001). This box set is full of other recordings, such as live on the BBC from 2000. On January 7, 2022, the day before Bowie’s birthday, Toy (Toy: Box) this time will present the album accompanied by alternative and acoustic versions.
Toy is an honest album, “missing link” as depicted by Soligny, between Hours… (1999) and Heathen. Bowie, who can no longer have the original tone – “the cigarette years weigh heavily” – sings like “Scott Walker, whom he adored, he goes towards a baritone voice”, analyzes Soligny.
There remains the question of the cover, never appeared before and puzzling if not ugly, with the features of an adult Bowie on a face of a simian child. Who does not surprise Soligny that much: “He always liked”freaks”As on the cover of Diamond dogs (Bowie is half man and half dog) or on the cover of Lodger where it appears broken nose. This did not prevent her from working alongside the best fashion photographers to appear as beautiful as possible ”.