David Bowie - Bowie - The Best Of 1980/1987 (+DVD) (CD 2007)

Bowie's "Cat People" is probably the only song that exists in versions produced by both top disco producers Nile Rodgers and Giorgio Moroder. The former is on the album Let's Dance, the latter (the original soundtrack version) finally on this album, one of the main reasons for me to buy this. Also "When the wind blows" from the Raymond Briggs film. From the beautiful Baal EP it includes "Drowned Girl" rather than Baal's Hymn, sadly. Finally, also "Underground" (from the film Labyrinth) which was a top 10 hit in Netherlands but not as highly rated elsewhere or by Bowie himself. Bowie had highly successful collaborative singles in this period (4 of them reaching #1 in the Netherlands and many other places). Of those, "This is not America", and "Under pressure" with Queen are included, but missing are "Dancing in the street" (both on the 1993 Singles Collection) and "Tonight" (with Tina Turner).

Nice to have a DVD of most of these to go with them. Of the rarer items, Drowned Girl is Bowie with a small ensemble - looking a lot like my idol David Sylvian a few years earlier. When the wind blows is mostly excerpts from the film, whereas Underground doesn't even show Bowie as the evil gnome king of Labyrinth. Sadly, Blue Jean is only the short film, starting with the song itself. At the time, the full clip was considered a serious competitor for Jackson's Thriller as the best longest video clip ... Cat people is live, from the Serious Moonlight tour. When I saw him on that tour in Rotterdam in 1983, it was hard to imagine that I was watching David Bowie during the first half of his career!