Early Bowie music available to stream for first time

Alec Palao, a music historian and archivist, discovered a 12-inch acetate in producer Shel Talmy’s collection marked "Davie Jones" that contained five unreleased 1965 recordings by the young David Bowie; five more unheard tracks he later acquired, along with demos and remastered material, have been assembled into a posthumous release titled The Shel Talmy Recordings. The project, a decade in the making, is licensed to Warner Music Group and will be released via Parlophone, with royalties to Bowie’s estate; a limited-edition vinyl pressing - including six of the previously unreleased tracks - will appear for Record Store Day and at HMV outlets.

The recordings capture Bowie as a teenager performing in 1960s London and are presented as raw, visceral rock ’n’ roll rather than clear foreshadowings of his later personas. Early collaborator Dana Gillespie recalls Bowie’s drive and experimentation and highlights a remastered version of "I Pity The Fool" among the finds. Palao and those who knew him frame the collection as an important historical window into Bowie’s formative years and the London music scene of 1965, offering scholars and fans rare audio evidence of his search for a singing identity.