Key Takeaways
- Release Date: The Shel Talmy Recordings will be available on September 18.
- Track Count: The album features 21 tracks, including 10 unreleased songs.
- Notable Collaborators: Early contributions include guitarist Jimmy Page and keyboardist Nicky Hopkins.
- Historical Context: The recordings were made before Bowie’s rise to fame in the late 1960s.
A collection of David Bowie recordings, made before his 1967 self-titled debut and his 1969 breakthrough album, also titled David Bowie but better known as Space Oddity, will be released later this summer.
The Shel Talmy Recordings features 21 tracks, including 10 previously unreleased songs recorded in 1965 by Bowie and by the producer of the Who and the Kinks, when Bowie was still recording under his birth name, David Jones.
You can hear Davie Jones & the Lower Third’s “I Want Your Love” below.
Listen to Davie Jones & the Lower Third’s ‘I Want Your Love’
The Shel Talmy Recordings, due on Sept. 18, also features early contributions by guitarist Jimmy Page, then a session musician, and keyboardist Nicky Hopkins, who’d go on to perform with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, among many others.
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The upcoming set features songs Bowie recorded both as a budding solo artist and with his early bands, Davie Jones & the Lower Third and the Manish Boys.
The album will be available in CD, LP, and digital formats, as well as a vinyl edition with an alternative cover limited to 1,965 copies.
When Did David Bowie First Record?
Following the release of Bowie’s 1964 debut single, “Liza Jane,” credited to Davie Jones with the King Bees, he joined the Manish Boys for a single before moving to the Lower Third in 1965.
Talmy recorded a handful of tracks with Bowie during the year, including the single “You’ve Got a Habit of Leaving” with the Lower Third. By 1966, to avoid confusion with the Monkees’ Davy Jones, he changed his name to David Bowie.
A few more singles with the Lower Third followed before Bowie, encouraged to perform his own songs, went solo with his 1967 debut album.
What’s on David Bowie’s ‘The Shel Talmy Recordings’?
The songs on The Shel Talmy Recordings come from Bowie’s 1965 studio sessions with producer Talmy.
They include new remasters of previously released material (“I Pity the Fool,” “Baby Loves That Way”), demos (“Today,” I Live in Dreams”) and previously unreleased tracks (“I Want Your Love,” “Certain Woman”).
You can see the track listing for Bowie’s The Shel Talmy Recordings below.
David Bowie, ‘The Shel Talmy Recordings’ Track Listing
You’ve Got A Habit Of Leaving (2026 Remaster)^
I Want Your Love *^
Cupid *^
I Pity The Fool (2026 Remaster)+
Baby Loves That Way (2026 Remaster)^
Keep Up With The Jones (Instrumental) *^
Leave Her To Me *^
I’ll Follow You^
You Gotta Tell Her (2026 Remaster)*^
Take My Tip (2026 Remaster)+
Certain Woman *^
Today (Demo) *-
I Want My Baby Back (Demo) (2026 Remaster)-
I Live In Dreams (Demo) *-
Bars Of The County Jail (Demo)-
That’s Where My Heart Is (Demo) (2026 Remaster)-
I Do Believe I Love You (Demo) *-
You’ve Got A Habit Of Leaving (Alternative overdub/vocal) (2026 Remaster)^
I Pity The Fool (Alternative vocal take) (2026 Remaster)+
Baby Loves That Way (Alternative vocal take) *^
Take My Tip (Alternative vocal take) (2026 Remaster)+
*Previously Unreleased
^ Davie Jones & The Lower Third
+ The Manish Boys
– Davie Jones
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