''Golden Years'' is a 1983 compilation album by

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

issued by

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

. After 11 years with RCA Records, Bowie left the label and signed with

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

, releasing his highly successful album '' Let's Dance'' in 1983. Wishing to capitalize on Bowie's and the new album's popularity, RCA issued ''Golden Years'', a compilation of previously released Bowie tracks. The cover art featured a recent photo of Bowie, giving a false first impression the album was an all-new release. All the tracks on this album were performed live by Bowie during his 1983 '' Serious Moonlight'' tour. Bowie was angered by the release of this LP and other compilations RCA issued without his consultation or input and he eventually reclaimed the rights to his back catalogue, soon after RCA reissued most of his earlier albums on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

in 1984 without his permission. As a result, Bowie's original RCA CD catalogue was in print only briefly; the RCA CDs are highly collectible today. As this album, and the following compilation ''

Fame and Fashion ''Fame and Fashion'' is a compilation album by English musician David Bowie, issued in 1984 by RCA Records featuring songs recorded from 1969's ''David Bowie'' through 1980's '' Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps).'' It was released on LP, ca ...

(David Bowie's All-Time Greatest Hits)'' were issued without Bowie's authorization, neither album has been reissued in any form.

Track listing

All tracks written by

except where noted.

Side one

Fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

" – 4:51 #"Red Sails" (Bowie,

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

) – 3:47 #"

Look Back in Anger ''Look Back in Anger'' (1956) is a realist play written by John Osborne. It focuses on the life and marital struggles of an intelligent and educated but disaffected young man of working-class origin, Jimmy Porter, and his equally competent yet i ...

" (Bowie, Eno) – 3:07 #" I Can't Explain" (

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Townsh ...

) – 2:14 #" Ashes to Ashes" – 4:26

Side two

#" Golden Years" – 3:59 #"

Joe the Lion "Joe the Lion" is a song written by David Bowie in 1977 for the album '' "Heroes"''. It was produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti and features lead guitar by Robert Fripp. Like the album as a whole, the song demonstrates the influence of German Kra ...

" – 3:08 #" Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)" – 5:14 #"

Wild Is the Wind ''Wild is the Wind'' is a 1957 film directed by George Cukor and starring Anna Magnani, Anthony Quinn, and Anthony Franciosa. It tells the story of an American rancher who, after his wife dies, goes to Italy to marry her sister, but finds that s ...

" (

Dimitri Tiomkin Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (, ; May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979) was a Russian-born American film composer and conductor. Classically trained in St. Petersburg, Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution, he moved to Berlin and then New York City ...

Ned Washington Ned Washington (born Edward Michael Washington, August 15, 1901 – December 20, 1976) was an American lyricist born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Life and career Washington was nominated for eleven Academy Awards from 1940 to 1962. He won the Bes ...

) – 6:00

Chart performance

References

Sources

External links

* David Bowie compilation albums 1983 compilation albums RCA Records compilation albums {{1980s-rock-album-stub