(hennemusic) David Bowie's lost 2001 album, "Toy", will finally see the light of day as part of the release of a pair of box sets in the coming months and a song from the record is being streamed online.
Following a legendary 2000 performance at the Glastonbury Festival, Bowie took his live band into the studio to capture new interpretations of songs he'd first recorded from 1964-1971.
Bowie's inspiration for the project came after adding a new arrangement of his 1966 track, "Can't Help Thinking About Me", to his appearance on VH1's "Storytellers" series, marking its first performance in three decades; the rocker kept the song in the setlist for the short promotional tour for the "hours..." album, and in early 2000 David and producer Mark Plati compiled a list of some of Bowie's earliest songs to re-record.
After recording "Toy" live in studio with his band, Bowie's plan was to deliver an instant, surprise release of the album as soon as it was completed, but the technology to do that was still several years away and he decided the shelve the set, instead moving on to create new music for the "Heathen" record.
"Toy is like a moment in time captured in an amber of joy, fire and energy," says Plati. "It's the sound of people happy to be playing music. David revisited and re-examined his work from decades prior through prisms of experience and fresh perspective - a parallel not lost on me as I now revisit it twenty years later. From time to time, he used to say 'Mark, this is our album' - I think because he knew I was so deeply in the trenches with him on that journey. I'm happy to finally be able to say it now belongs to all of us."
Due January 7, "Toy" will be released as "Toy (Toy:Box)", in 3CD or 6x10" vinyl editions; the package will feature the original album alongside a collection of alternative mixes and versions, and a set of stripped-down, acoustic-based mixes.
"Toy" is being previewed with the radio mix of the reimagined version of Bowie's 1965 song, "You've Got a Habit of Leaving." Watch the lyric video here.
David Bowie Documentary Moonage Daydream Announced
David Bowie Figure Unveiled At Madame Tussauds London
Previously Unreleased David Bowie Performance Video Shared
Singled Out: Pierce Turner's Terrible Good (with Bowie's Gerry Leonard)
Hot In The City: Concert Season Heats Up In AZ
Root 66: Dale Watson, Graeme James, The Waymores, Brock Davis
Caught In The Act: John 5 Live In Illinois
Live: Bruce Cockburn In Phoenix
On The Record: Electric Light Orchestra Audiophile Edition
Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band Announce World Tour
Stone Temple Pilots Pull Out Of Final Dates Of Halestorm Tour
Former Mnemic Frontman Guillaume Bideau Dead At 44
The Airborne Toxic Event Go Retro With 'Faithless' Video
The Revivalists Announce Made In Muscle Shoals Vol. 2
Nile's Karl Sanders Gets Animated For 'The Sun Has Set on the Age of Man'
Beauty School Dropout, Mark Hoppus, Pete Wentz Launch Verswire With 'Assassin' Video
Singled Out: A Rising Force's Believe