Ten years after a music historian discovered an archival acetate in an old collection, 10 unreleased tracks recorded by a teenage David Bowie in 1965 under his birth name, Davie Jones, are finally available to buy and stream for the first time.
Alec Palao was casually flicking through a collection of old records when faint pencil markings reading Davie Jones
caught his eye. What he had uncovered was musical gold: five unreleased songs recorded by a young Bowie during his formative years in London. Now, those initial tracks plus another five unreleased songs that came Palao’s way after the initial discovery are available to the public for streaming and purchase.
The Shel Talmy Recordings and the 1965 London Scene
The newly released material forms part of a posthumous album titled The Shel Talmy Recordings. The collection brings together the original 12-inch acetate found within the material of Shel Talmy—Bowie’s first professional producer, who also worked with iconic 1960s acts like The Kinks, The Who, Manfred Mann, and The Easybeats—alongside demos, remastered tracks, and five additional unheard tunes.
For music fans, the release offers a rare glimpse into the artist’s earliest creative days. Palao described the collection as probably the most visceral, raw you’ll ever hear the man
while noting that the project serves as just a fascinating window into London in 1965 and its possibilities.
Dana Gillespie on the Young Davie Jones
Among those welcoming the release is early collaborator and close friend Dana Gillespie, who met Bowie after a performance at the Marquee Club in London when he was just 17 years old. Gillespie recalled how hungry the future icon was for success during a visit to his parents’ house in Bromley, where Bowie pulled her aside and declared, Whatever it takes, I want to get out of here.
They’re songs that don’t really sound like David but it’s him trying to find his voice. He was experimenting.
Dana Gillespie, early collaborator of Bowie’s
Gillespie also reminisced about hanging out with Bowie at the famous Gioconda café in Denmark Street, the center of London’s musical life in the 1960s. She recalled the day he rushed into the cafe, grabbed her by the hand, and dragged her around the corner to squeeze into a small listening booth so they could share a pair of speakers and listen to I Pity The Fool,
a remastered version of which appears on the new album.
Licensing, Vinyl Release, and Warner Music Group
The path from discovery to commercial release took a full decade. Palao, working alongside Talmy Enterprises Incorporated, licensed the album to Warner Music Group, with the release handled through the company’s subsidiary, Parlophone. Royalties from the project will be paid directly to David Bowie’s estate, which previously sold the publishing rights to decades of the singer’s catalog to Warner Music Group in 2022.
The distribution strategy leans heavily into physical media formats that honor the era. Six of the previously unreleased tracks will see a physical release on vinyl, capitalizing on Bowie’s enduring strength in that medium. In 2022, Music Week named David Bowie the best-selling vinyl artist of the 21st century, placing him ahead of The Beatles. Limited-edition vinyl copies of the new record will be available at Record Store Day and HMV outlets.
Musical Importance and Looking Back at an Icon
While the tracks capture a teenager finding his footing before achieving mainstream breakthrough with his 1969 single Space Oddity and going on to amass 11 number-one albums, archivists urge listeners to appreciate the material on its own terms rather than searching exclusively for foreshadowing of his later personas.
If you’re looking for clues as to what he was to become, there’s maybe less of that, but objectively speaking, I feel it’s important stuff.
Alec Palao, music historian and archivist
Gillespie, who is still touring and making music at the age of 77, expressed joy that the material has finally reached the light of day. David always wanted to be a big star, she noted, adding that she is thrilled his earliest artistic steps have not been lost to time.