Two previously-unreleased mixes of David Bowie’s Shadow Man have been made available across platforms.
The track dates back to the early 1970s and has been released as part of the lost 2001 album ‘Toy’, which saw its long-awaited commercial release this week.
Alongside the expanded ‘Toy:Box’ LP – featuring the full album of re-recorded versions of Bowie’s earliest work and alternate takes – new versions of the track have hit digital platforms.
According to producer Mark Plati, Bow commissioned the stripped-back mixes after hearing the track with isolated vocals and acoustic guitars.
“While we were recording the basic tracks Earl Slick suggested that he and I overdub acoustic guitars on all the songs,” he explained.
“He said this was Keith Richards’ trick: sometimes these guitars would be a featured part of the track, and at other times they’d be more subliminal.
“Later, while mixing, David heard one of the songs broken down to just vocals and acoustic guitars; this gave him the idea that we ought to do some stripped-down mixes like that and that maybe one day they’d be useful.”
In a review of the album, Retro Pop said the “brilliance” of ‘Toy:Box’ “is that he not only left behind an unreleased album, but also a full expanded edition to be enjoyed for years to come…”
‘Toy’ is available on CD and vinyl,
