January 7, 2022

Parlophone

6x10"

Toy, the album-proper portion of the 10-disc boxset released on what would have been Bowie's 75th birthday (yesterday January 7th) was lost for over two decades due to Virgin Records' financial and scheduling complications in the early aughts. It was recorded immediately after his legendary Glastonbury set, in a period where he eschewed the industrial sensibilities of much of his 90's output, instead returning to his more pop-oriented 60's period, though this time around with a modern band. The result is a curio somewhat lost in time, the musings of a burgeoning artist through the lens of a wizened statesmen. There's earned grey in his beard, a stark contrast to previous iterations where there was ample, ahem, white.