Rare recordings from David Bowie’s early years have been released on streaming, giving fans access to music recorded in London in 1965, before he became known by the name David Bowie.
The Shel Talmy Recordings arrives on 18 September 2026, a decade after music historian Alec Palao discovered a 12-inch acetate labelled “Davie Jones” while cataloguing the late producer Shel Talmy’s archive.
The acetate contained five previously unreleased recordings from 1965. Palao later uncovered another five tracks during further research, bringing together a collection of ten previously unheard songs from Bowie’s teenage years as a performer in London clubs.
A limited-edition vinyl release will also be made available through Record Store Day and HMV.
What’s on the Shel Talmy recordings?
The collection features demos and remastered material from a formative period in Bowie’s career, including “You’ve Got A Habit Of Leaving” and “Baby Loves That Way”.
Both songs were originally issued as singles before being re-recorded by Bowie and his Glastonbury band for TOY, the album eventually released posthumously in 2021.
Palao believes the newly surfaced recordings offer an unusually direct portrait of Bowie before his later musical identity had fully taken shape.
“They are probably the most visceral, raw you’ll ever hear the man.”
Palao also described the recordings as:
“a fascinating window into London in 1965 and its possibilities.”
Talmy, who produced major artists including The Kinks and The Who, had retained Bowie’s early sessions in his personal archive alongside material from his other recording projects.
Dana Gillespie remembers a young Bowie finding his voice
Singer Dana Gillespie, who met Bowie when she was 17 and worked with him during his early career, also features in the story behind the recordings.
She remembers Bowie experimenting with his sound as he searched for a musical identity.
“They’re songs that don’t really sound like David but it’s him trying to find his voice. He was experimenting.”
Gillespie also recalled how determined Bowie was to escape the limitations of his early circumstances.
“He was very driven… He turned to me and said: ‘Whatever it takes, I want to get out of here.’”
One particular memory centres on Gioconda café in London’s Denmark Street, where Gillespie remembers Bowie rushing in to share one of his new discoveries.
“He rushed in and took me by the hand. He said: ‘You have to hear this.’ He squeezed us into a small listening booth and played me I Pity The Fool.”
A remastered version of “I Pity The Fool” appears on The Shel Talmy Recordings.
Gillespie is pleased that the recordings have finally been brought back into circulation.
“I’m so happy that his early stuff hasn’t been forgotten.”
Bowie before Space Oddity
The collection offers a snapshot of Bowie years before “Space Oddity” and the international breakthrough that transformed him into one of Britain’s most recognisable cultural figures.
Bowie died in 2016 aged 69 following a private battle with cancer. He released 26 studio albums during his career, concluding with Blackstar, which arrived two days before his death on 10 January 2016.
Talmy died in 2024 aged 87 from complications following a stroke.
The newly released recordings now provide another piece of the story of Bowie’s development, capturing an artist still experimenting with songwriting and performance before the emergence of the distinctive sound and identity that would define his career.
