Watch The Video For ‘Can’t Help Thinking About Me’ From David Bowie’s ‘Toy’
ISO Records/Parlophone Records have announced the release of Can’t Help Thinking About Me, a previously unheard re-recording of David Bowie’s 1966 single taken from the forthcoming album Toy which features in the David Bowie 5. Brilliant Adventure (1992 – 2001) and Toy (Toy:Box) boxsets. The studio recording is coupled with a live version recorded at Maida Vale Studios on 25th October 1999 for the Mark Radcliffe BBC Radio 1 Show, exclusive to this single.
Can’t Help Thinking About Me was David Bowie’s first single of three for the Pye label and was resurrected for the first time in over 30 years when David performed it on the VH-1 Storytellers show in August 1999. The song remained on the setlist for the short promotional tour for the Hours… album. The previously unseen video for the track was recorded at The Elysée Montmartre in Paris on 14 October that year. You can check that out below.
The live version of the Can’t Help Thinking About Me was recorded for the Mark Radcliffe BBC Radio 1 show. Mark and his co-presenter Marc Riley remember the day fondly; Mark Radcliffe “I’m so pleased that this track is being released as it was such a joy and surprise when he included it in his set at Maida Vale that day. I remember that occasion so fondly. David was wearing an excellent shirt and was on such great, twinkly form. I recall David dancing with Gail Ann Dorsey to I Try by Macy Gray which was playing on the radio. I interviewed Gail Ann a year or so ago, and she too remembered that moment vividly. It was one of the few cherished and special days I got to spend with him for which I remain ever grateful.”
Marc Riley “The thought of David Bowie doing a session for us was mind blowing to be frank. David said to us “One of you requested we do Drive In Saturday?” I gulped. How presumptuous of me! “Yes David” says I. “We can do that! Here’s the current live set list, what else do you fancy?” I don’t think I’ve ever moved so fast in my life. Before Mark could lift his hand from his pocket I’d taken the piece of paper from David and let my eyes drop from top to bottom. “You do Can’t Help Thinking About Me’!!!” “We do…do you want that one too?” “Yes!!!” The session was incredible and David even gave us an extra tune, a brilliant rendition of Repetition from Lodger.”
David Bowie 5. Brilliant Adventure (1992 – 2001) is the latest in an award-winning and critically acclaimed series of box sets including David Bowie 1. Five Years (1969 – 1973), David Bowie 2. Who Can I Be Now? (1974 – 1976), David Bowie 3. A New Career In A New Town (1977 – 1982) And David Bowie 4. Loving The Alien (1983-1988), David Bowie 5. Brilliant Adventure (1992 – 2001) is an eleven CD box, eighteen-piece vinyl set and standard digital download box set. The collection is named after the Koto led instrumental penultimate track from the ‘hours…’ album.
The box sets include newly remastered versions, with input from the original producers and collaborators, of some of Bowie’s most underrated and experimental material: Black Tie White Noise, The Buddha Of Suburbia (available on vinyl for the first time in nearly 30 years), 1.Outside, Earthling and ‘hours…’ along with the expanded live album BBC Radio Theatre, London, June 27, 2000, the non-album / alternative version / B-sides and soundtrack music compilation Re:Call 5 and the legendary previously unreleased Toy.
Toy was recorded following David’s triumphant Glastonbury 2000 performance. Bowie entered the studio with his band, Mark Plati, Sterling Campbell, Gail Ann Dorsey, Earl Slick, Mike Garson, Holly Palmer and Emm Gryner, to record new interpretations of songs he’d first recorded from 1964-1971. David planned to record the album ‘old school’ with the band playing live, choose the best takes and then release it as soon as humanly possible in a remarkably prescient manner.
Unfortunately, in 2001 the concept of the ‘surprise drop’ album release and the technology to support it were still quite a few years off, making it impossible to release Toy, as the album was now named, out to fans as instantly as David wanted. In the interim, David did what he did best; he moved on to something new, which began with a handful of new songs from the same sessions and ultimately became the album Heathen, released in 2002 and now acknowledged as one of his finest moments.
Available in 3CD or 6×10” vinyl formats, Toy (Toy:Box) is a special edition of the Toy album. The ‘capture the moment’ approach of the recording sessions are extended to the sleeve artwork designed by Bowie featuring a photo of him as a baby with a contemporary face. The package also contains a 16-page full-colour book featuring previously unseen photographs by Frank Ockenfels.
Included in Toy:Box is a second CD/set of 10”s of alternative mixes and versions including proposed B-Sides (versions of David’s debut single Liza Jane and 1967’s In The Heat Of The Morning), later mixes by Tony Visconti and the ‘Tibet Version’ of Silly Boy Blue recorded at The Looking Glass Studio time at the of the 2001 Tibet House show in New York featuring Philip Glass on piano and Moby on guitar. The third CD/set of 10”s features ‘Unplugged & Somewhat Slightly Electric’ mixes of thirteen Toy tracks.
Pre-order Brilliant Adventure (1992-2001) here.
Pre-order Toy (Toy: Box) here.