There's an odd history to this release. Fans in 1996 were in excelsis at the promise of a 3CD set chronicling every single session Bowie recorded for the BBC from 1967 till 1972 (and, seeing as how the only sessions he's recorded since have been with Tin Machine or for his last couple of albums, they're all anyone really wants).
However, though promotional samplers were sent to DJs and journalists, the album itself never emerged. Rumours at the time suggested that Dave didn't want to focus on the past, particularly with his drum'n'bass tinged 'Earthling' on the way.
Since then, the few copies that snuck out (because some always do) have been bootlegged to buggery and back. Similar albums, such as Led Zeppelin's 'BBC Sessions', have been big hits. And Mr Bowie, thanks to his $55 million Bowie Bond stock market flotation, has been able to buy the rights to his back catalogue, including all those sessions. So perhaps it's not surprising that it's finally seeing the light of day.
Sadly for the completists, it's been pruned back from three CDs to two, losing many of its more abstract moments and repeated tracks. This is, however, a blessing for the less pathological fan, who is left instead with a revealing portrait of an artist unsure of his own voice, and trying out different ones to see which would suit.
From the heavily stylised Anthony Newley-isms of songs like 'London Bye Ta Ta', through the earnest folkiness of his debut album to the Beatley 'Kooks' everything is performed with an intensity and rawness that, often, the 'proper' albums failed to capture.
Nineteen Seventy Two, the last year covered by this compilation, was when Bowie realised that he didn't have to choose one sound and stick with it. He could be anything or anyone - he wanted to be. And so he created Ziggy Stardust.
The first public airing of that song is here with, in fact, all but two of the 'Ziggy' tracks alongside it and you can almost hear him crack it, from the uncertainty of late '71's 'It Ain't Easy' to the huge melodrama of 'Rock'n'Roll Suicide' a year later.
It's often said that the BBC have far more treasures than they've any right to, particularly considering their careless tendency to record over ageing radio and television programmes, and their archivist's nightmare of a storage system. And it's been proved here once again, with session information having to be provided by fans, and tapes being found in producers' lofts. But a treasure this is, all the same.
Oh, and if you rush, you'll get a limited edition third CD, containing highlights of a set recorded just three months ago, a couple of days after Glastonbury. Featuring the likes of 'Fame', 'Ashes To Ashes', 'Let's Dance' and 'Little Wonder', it's a crash course in what happened next.
