You can now listen to David Bowie's famously "lost" 2001 album Toy — the follow-up to 1999's Hours... that was shelved following a dispute with then-label EMI/Virgin — for the first (official) time ever.
As the story goes, Bowie originally intended to surprise-release Toy back in 2001, but EMI/Virgin squashed the idea, and Bowie abandoned the record and began work on his 2002 record Heathen.
Made up of reimagined versions of songs from his back catalogue and a couple newbies, the record leaked back in 2011, and today, it's being officially released as part of a new box set called Brilliant Adventure (1992 – 2001).
"Toy is like a moment in time captured in an amber of joy, fire and energy," said Bowie producer Mark Plati in a statement about the release. "It's the sound of people happy to be playing music."
Plati continued: "David revisited and re-examined his work from decades prior through prisms of experience and fresh perspective — a parallel not lost on me as I now revisit it twenty years later. From time to time, he used to say 'Mark, this is our album' — I think because he knew I was so deeply in the trenches with him on that journey. I'm happy to finally be able to say it now belongs to all of us."
Toy will also be getting a standalone release as a multi-disc set called TOY:BOX on January 7.
Stream Brilliant Adventure (1992-2001) and read the tracklist for Toy below.
Toy:
1. I Dig Everything
2. You've Got a Habit of Leaving
3. The London Boys
4. Karma Man
5. Conversation Piece
6. Shadow Man
7. Let Me Sleep Beside You
8. Hole in the Ground
9. Baby Loves That Way
10. Can't Help Thinking About Me
11. Silly Boy Blue
As the story goes, Bowie originally intended to surprise-release Toy back in 2001, but EMI/Virgin squashed the idea, and Bowie abandoned the record and began work on his 2002 record Heathen.
Made up of reimagined versions of songs from his back catalogue and a couple newbies, the record leaked back in 2011, and today, it's being officially released as part of a new box set called Brilliant Adventure (1992 – 2001).
"Toy is like a moment in time captured in an amber of joy, fire and energy," said Bowie producer Mark Plati in a statement about the release. "It's the sound of people happy to be playing music."
Plati continued: "David revisited and re-examined his work from decades prior through prisms of experience and fresh perspective — a parallel not lost on me as I now revisit it twenty years later. From time to time, he used to say 'Mark, this is our album' — I think because he knew I was so deeply in the trenches with him on that journey. I'm happy to finally be able to say it now belongs to all of us."
Toy will also be getting a standalone release as a multi-disc set called TOY:BOX on January 7.
Stream Brilliant Adventure (1992-2001) and read the tracklist for Toy below.
Toy:
1. I Dig Everything
2. You've Got a Habit of Leaving
3. The London Boys
4. Karma Man
5. Conversation Piece
6. Shadow Man
7. Let Me Sleep Beside You
8. Hole in the Ground
9. Baby Loves That Way
10. Can't Help Thinking About Me
11. Silly Boy Blue
