David Bowie The Shel Talmy Recordings (2026)

DAVID BOWIE – THE SHEL TALMY RECORDINGS brings together the most complete collection of recordings made in 1965 by the young David Bowie, then still known as Davie Jones, with legendary producer Shel Talmy. Best known for his groundbreaking work with The Kinks and The Who, Talmy played an important role during this formative period of Bowie’s recording career.

The collection features ten previously unreleased tracks on CD and digital, with six previously unreleased tracks appearing on the vinyl edition. The sessions include contributions from guitarist Jimmy Page, then a highly sought-after session musician before his later work with The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin, and pianist Nicky Hopkins, whose remarkable career included recordings with The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Who, The Kinks and Jeff Beck.

Bowie, Shel Talmy and the 1965 Sessions

Bowie and Shel Talmy first encountered each other around London’s Denmark Street, then one of the centres of the British music industry. Songwriters, publishers, musicians and producers all operated in and around the street, making it an important meeting place for emerging talent during the 1960s.

The American-born Talmy had already achieved major success in Britain through his work with The Kinks and was also closely associated with the early recordings of The Who. In December 1964, Talmy signed Davie Jones and The Manish Boys and began working with the young singer at a point when Bowie’s musical direction was changing rapidly.

By 1965, Bowie was moving on from The Manish Boys and working with Davie Jones & The Lower Third. Much of the material collected on The Shel Talmy Recordings comes from sessions involving The Lower Third, alongside recordings with The Manish Boys and solo demos made by Davie Jones.

IBC Studios, Jimmy Page and Nicky Hopkins

Many of the recordings were made at IBC Studios in Portland Place, London, one of Shel Talmy’s preferred recording locations. The studio was among the leading London facilities of the period and would later become closely associated with numerous important British recordings.

Engineer Glyn Johns, then at an early stage of a career that would eventually include work with The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Beatles and many other major artists, was involved in the sessions.

Talmy also brought in guitarist Jimmy Page for recordings with The Manish Boys. At the time, Page was one of London’s busiest young session guitarists, several years before his membership of The Yardbirds and the formation of Led Zeppelin. His involvement places these Bowie recordings within the remarkable network of musicians working in London’s mid-1960s recording scene.

For The Lower Third sessions at IBC, acclaimed session pianist Nicky Hopkins contributed keyboards. Hopkins would become one of the most respected keyboard players of his generation, recording with artists including The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, Jeff Beck and many others.

From 1965 to Pin-Ups and Toy

The music of 1965 remained important to Bowie long after these early sessions. When he recorded Pin-Ups in 1973, Bowie looked back to the British groups and songs that had influenced him during his formative years. Several songs represented on Pin-Ups were associated with artists whose original recordings had been produced by Shel Talmy.

Bowie would also return directly to his own 1965 material decades later. You’ve Got A Habit Of Leaving and Baby Loves That Way, originally recorded during the Lower Third period, were re-recorded in 2000 during the sessions that became Toy. The project was eventually officially released in 2021.

These connections make The Shel Talmy Recordings more than simply a collection of early recordings. They document music that remained part of Bowie’s own understanding of his beginnings and that he would revisit much later in his career.

From Davie Jones to David Bowie

The recordings capture Bowie at a particularly important transitional moment. During 1965 he was still recording and performing as Davie Jones, moving between The Manish Boys, The Lower Third and his own developing songwriting.

By September 1965 he had adopted the name David Bowie, distinguishing himself from Davy Jones of The Monkees. The recordings collected here therefore belong to the final period immediately before the name David Bowie became his permanent professional identity.

He was still several years away from the breakthrough of Space Oddity and even further removed from Ziggy Stardust, but these recordings reveal the young musician experimenting with rhythm and blues, beat music, songwriting and studio recording while searching for a musical identity of his own.

CD Tracklisting

1. You've Got A Habit Of Leaving (2026 Remaster)^
2. I Want Your Love *^
3. Cupid *^
4. I Pity The Fool (2026 Remaster)+
5. Baby Loves That Way (2026 Remaster)^
6. Keep Up With The Jones (Instrumental) *^
7. Leave Her To Me *^
8. I’ll Follow You^
9. You Gotta Tell Her *^
10. Take My Tip (2026 Remaster)+
11. Certain Woman *^
12. Glad I've Got Nobody^
13. Today (Demo) *-
14. I Want My Baby Back (Demo) (2026 Remaster)-
15. I Live In Dreams (Demo) *-
16. Bars Of The County Jail (Demo)-
17. That’s Where My Heart Is (Demo) (2026 Remaster)-
18. I Do Believe I Love You (Demo) *-
19. You’ve Got A Habit Of Leaving (Alternative overdub/vocal) (2026 Remaster)^
20. I Pity The Fool (Alternative vocal take) (2026 Remaster)+
21. Baby Loves That Way (Alternative vocal take) *^
22. Take My Tip (Alternative vocal take) (2026 Remaster)+

* Previously Unreleased
^ Davie Jones & The Lower Third
+ The Manish Boys
- Davie Jones

Vinyl Tracklisting

Side One

1. You've Got A Habit Of Leaving (2026 Remaster)^
2. I Pity The Fool (2026 Remaster)+
3. Baby Loves That Way (2026 Remaster)^
4. I’ll Follow You^
5. Take My Tip (2026 Remaster)+
6. Glad I've Got Nobody^

Side Two

1. I Want Your Love *^
2. Cupid *^
3. Keep Up With The Jones (Instrumental) *^
4. Certain Woman *^
5. Leave Her To Me *^
6. You Gotta Tell Her (2026 Remaster) *^

* Previously Unreleased
^ Davie Jones & The Lower Third
+ The Manish Boys
- Davie Jones

Davie Jones & The Lower Third

David Bowie – Vocals & Harmonica
Denis Taylor – Guitar
Graham Rivens – Bass
Phil Lancaster – Drums
Les Mighall – Drums

The Manish Boys

David Bowie – Vocals
Johnny Flux – Guitar
John Watson – Bass
Bob Solly – Organ
Mick White – Drums

A Crucial Chapter in Bowie’s Early Career

The Shel Talmy Recordings provides an unusually detailed picture of David Bowie before the musical transformations that would make him one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century.

The collection brings together his work with The Manish Boys, Davie Jones & The Lower Third and his solo demos, while documenting his association with Shel Talmy and musicians including Jimmy Page and Nicky Hopkins.

Taken together, these recordings capture London in 1965 and a young artist still searching for his direction. They preserve the period immediately before Davie Jones became David Bowie and began the extraordinary sequence of musical reinventions that would define the rest of his career.