David Bowie ‘lost’ album to be included in next box set: Who Can I Be Now?

The follow-up to Parlophone’s David Bowie box set, Five Years, will be announced next week, but the label have revealed that, exclusive to the new set, which will be called Who Can I Be Now?, will be a previously unreleased complete album…

The Gouster is the name of the album and it is, in effect, an embryonic version of Young Americans. The album begins with John, I’m Only Dancing (Again), David’s reworking of his 1972 single. Tony Visconti, who has written sleeve notes for the new box, describes the reworking as sounding like “it was played live in a loft party in Harlem”.

It’s Gonna Be Me and Who Can I Be Now? were both unreleased until their appearance on the Rykodisc/EMI reissues of Young Americans in 1991. An alternate version of the former was also included in the 2007 CD+DVD reissue of the same album.

The other four tracks on The Gouster – Somebody Up There Likes Me, Can You Hear Me, Young Americans and Right – all ended up on the finished Young Americans, although hopefully, these will be alternative mixes.

There is no sign of Across The Universe and Fame, of course. Visconti had flown back to England and in his autobiography describes being “deflated” when Bowie calls to tell him that they’d written “a new song based on a riff that Carlos Alomar has been doodling with; we’ve called it Fame.” Visconti’s response was to say “I would’ve happily paid to fly over on Concorde just to be at that session.”

The sleeve for this box set version features a previously unpublished picture from the original photo session for the album. Stay tuned to SDE for full details of the new box set.

The Gouster

Side 1

• 1. John, I’m Only Dancing (Again)
• 2. Somebody Up There Likes Me
• 3. It’s Gonna Be Me

Side 2

• 1. Who Can I Be Now?
• 2. Can You Hear Me
• 3. Young Americans
• 4. Right