David Bowie’s 1965 Shel Talmy Sessions Get Boxed

Long before he became David Bowie, he was still Davie Jones — and a newly announced archival release will document one of the earliest chapters in his remarkable career. Parlophone will release David Bowie: The Shel Talmy Recordings on Sept. 18, bringing together the most comprehensive collection to date of the late future rock icon’s 1965 recordings with legendary producer Shel Talmy.

Available on CD, LP and digital formats, the set includes 22 tracks, highlighted by 10 previously unreleased recordings on the CD and digital editions and six previously unheard tunes on vinyl. A red vinyl pressing will be available exclusively through Bowie’s official web site. Coinciding with the announcement, the previously unheard “I Want Your Love Now” has been released as the first preview of the collection.

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Talmy, whose production work with the Who and the Kinks helped architect the sound of British rock in the mid-’60s, first crossed paths with Bowie on London’s Denmark Street, then the epicenter of the U.K. music business. After signing David and the Manish Boys in late 1964, Talmy began recording the young songwriter as Bowie quickly transitioned into a new group, Davie Jones & the Lower Third. Most of the material featured on the collection stems from those sessions, along with several solo demos.

The recordings also boast an impressive supporting cast. Future Led Zeppelin and Yardbirds guitarist Jimmy Page, then one of London’s busiest session musicians, contributed guitar to the Manish Boys sessions, while acclaimed keyboardist Nicky Hopkins, whose résumé would later include the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Who and Jeff Beck, played on recordings by the Lower Third. Engineering duties were handled by a young Glyn Johns, years before he would become one of rock’s most celebrated recording engineers through his work with Zeppelin and the Stones.

In newly commissioned liner notes, music historian Alec Palao argues that the recordings should be appreciated not as rough sketches of Bowie’s later brilliance but as vibrant snapshots of London’s rapidly evolving music scene in 1965, capturing an ambitious young artist still searching for the identity that would soon transform popular music.

The collection also reveals how deeply Bowie remained connected to this formative period. Two songs originally released from the Talmy sessions — “You’ve Got a Habit of Leaving” and “Baby Loves That Way” — were revisited decades later during the sessions for TOY, the long-shelved album finally released in 2021. Likewise, four of the songs Bowie chose to cover on his 1973 album Pin Ups were originally produced by Talmy, underscoring the producer’s lasting influence on the music that shaped Bowie’s early artistic vision.

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