Out Now: David Bowie, CHANGESTWO

Throughout the course of his life and career, David Bowie was nothing if not unpredictable, but there was at least one instance when he surprised people by thinking squarely inside the box: when the time came to deliver a sequel to his immortal best-of collection CHANGESONEBOWIE, he did so by releasing – wait for it – CHANGESTWOBOWIE.

It’s brilliant, really. For anyone else, it would’ve been the most predictable title in the world, which meant that when Bowie did it, it was, in fact, just another great moment of unpredictability, because nobody saw it coming.

If you’ve never had the opportunity to hear CHANGESTWOBOWIE, that’s because it hasn’t gotten nearly as much play as its predecessor. Indeed, although it was released in 1981 and received a brief CD release in 1985, it’s been unavailable since the late 1980s. The compilation features material from 1971’s HUNKY DORY to 1980’s SCARY MONSTERS (AND SUPER CREEPS), and it’s all been remastered on CD in a digipak sleeve. It’s also available digitally, of course, but here’s the cool thing about the vinyl release: there’s a 180gram vinyl edition that’s available randomly on its initial limited manufacturing run in black and blue vinyl. After that, though, it’ll be released strictly on black vinyl, so if you want the cooler version, buy it now!