David Bowie’s passing back in January may sadly leave us without his brilliant presence, but there is still more unreleased Bowie music to come. His longtime producer Tony Visconti says that there are many recordings that have yet to see the light of day.
“I’m in talks with his management and his label – there’s going to be some great Bowie stuff coming out,” reports Visconti, who first worked with the artist in 1969 and produced such key Bowie albums as The Man Who Sold the World, Young Americans, Low, Heroes, Lodger and the final LP release of Bowie’s lifetime, Blackstar, which came out two days before his death.
Related: Read our review of Blackstar.
Visconti says that Bowie had told him that he’d already tracked five new numbers for an album to follow that album. “I haven’t heard those songs yet,” he told England’s Evening Standard. “I might actually have to help his managerial company to find them. I have an idea where he might have recorded them, but there is also a lot of unreleased material from many albums.”
Related: Read fellow artist tributes to Bowie.
Visconti – whose other credits include albums with T. Rex, Thin Lizzy, Gentle Giant, The Moody Blues and most recently Esperanza Spalding, among many – has a wry view of today’s popular music game and its “manufactured” stars. “If this formula was working, you’d see that the record business would be a billion-dollar industry, but it’s not any more.
“This ‘manufactured’ stuff is selling less and less. A person like Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill sold 45 million copies worldwide.
“Nowadays if you sell three million, which would put you in the Taylor Swift bracket, the record business people start jumping up and down. These aren’t sales to congratulate yourself on.
“In the ’60s up to the ’90s, what sold records was quality. Virtuosity was respected. People like that aren’t respected any more. But they still exist – they walk among us!”
Plus there’s more Bowie brilliance to be enjoyed in the future. “I think it’s logical that over the next few years, you’re going to hear a lot of stuff that you haven’t heard before.”
