A 4-disc anthology which contains 70 tracks, including a fair amount of rare or previously unreleased material, both studio and live. This set has a clear plastic cover with a silk screened image of Bowie and a 72 page booklet with an essay by Kurt Loder.

Personnel: David Bowie (vocals, guitar, harmonica, saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, piano, Mellotron, keyboards, synthesizer, ARP synthesizer, Moog synthesizer, drums, tambourine, percussion, background vocals); Mick Ronson (vocals, guitar, strings, piano); Hunt Sales (vocals, drums, percussion); Tony Sales (vocals, background vocals); Iggy Pop (vocals); Brian Eno (guitar, trumpet, piano, chamberlin, keyboards, synthesizer, mini-Moog synthesizer, background vocals); Erdal Kizilcay (guitar, trumpet, keyboards, drums, percussion, background vocals); Reeves Gabrels (guitar, organ, background vocals); Derek Bramble (guitar, synthesizer); Carlos Alomar (guitar, guitar synthesizer, tambourine, background vocals); Chuck Hammer, Earl Slick, Sid McGinnis, Adrian Belew, Marc Bolan, Nile Rodgers, Peter Frampton, Robert Fripp, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tim Renwick, Mick Wayne, Ricky Gardiner (guitar); Tony Visconti (acoustic guitar, strings, background vocals); Michael Reisman (harp, tubular bells); Simon House (violin, electric violin); Paul Buckmaster (cello); Stan Harrison (flute, saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Robert Arron (alto flute, tenor saxophone); Lenny Pickett (clarinet, saxophone, tenor saxophone, trumpet); Mark Pender (clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, flugelhorn); Michael Kamen (oboe, piano); Steve Elson, Ken Fordham (saxophone, baritone saxophone); David Sanborn, Brian Wilshaw, Richard Grando (saxophone); Lester Bowie, Mac Gollehon, Laurie Frink, Earl Gardner (trumpet); Mike Garson (piano, electric piano, harpsichord, organ, keyboards); Kevin Armstrong (piano, percussion); Roy Young Band, Rick Wakeman, Roy Bittan, Sean Mayes (piano); Ralph Mace (keyboards, synthesizer); David Richards , Gail Ann Dorsey, Richard Hilton, Richard Tee, Robert Sabino (keyboards); Giorgio Moroder (synthesizer); Guy St. Onge (marimba); Tony Thompson (drums, percussion); Dennis Davis, Andy Newark, Pugi Bell, Omar Hakim, Sterling Campbell, Aynsley Dunbar, Zachary Alford, John Cambridge, Mick "Woody" Woodmansey (drums); Crusher Bennett, Geraldo Velez, Sammy Figueroa, Pablo Rosario (percussion); Chris Porter, Mary Visconti, Anthony Hinton, Diane Sumler, Brenda White-King, Curtis King, Curtis Rance King, Jr., Dennis Collins, Diva Gray, Fonzi Thornton, Loni Groves, Frank Simms, Connie Petruk, David Spinner, Linda Lewis, Luther Vandross, Maryel Epps, Ava Cherry, Tawatha Agee, Geoffrey Alexander, G A MacCormack, Robin Clark, George Simms (background vocals).

Audio Mixers: David Bowie; David Richards ; Edwin H. Kramer; Harry Maslin; Hugh Padgham; Jason Corsaro; Justin Shirley-Smith; Mark Plati; Mick Ronson; Nile Rodgers; Tony Visconti; Bob Clearmountain.

Audio Remasterers: Steve Rooke; Peter Mew.

Audio Remixers: Jack Dangers; Moodswings; Tony Visconti.

Liner Note Author: Kurt Loder.

Recording information: A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Advision Studios, London, England (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Amsterdam, The Netherlands (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Chateau D'Herouville, Pontoise, France (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Cherokee Studios, Hollywood, CA (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Civic Center, Providence (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Germany (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); David's Bedroom (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Electric Lady Studios, NY (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Fresh Recording Studios (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Good Earth Studios, London, England (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Hammersmith Odeon (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Hansa Studios, Berlin, Germany (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Island Studios, London, England (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Le Studio, Morin Heights, Canada (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Mountain Studios, Montreux, Switzerland (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); New Boston Garden Arena, Boston, MA (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); O'Henry Sound, Burbank, CA (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Olympic Studios, London, England (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Philadelphia Spectrum (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Power Station, NY (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); RCA Studios, London, England (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); RCA Studios, Nashville, TN (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Record Plant Studios, NY (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Sigma Sound, PA (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Studio L Ludolf, Hilversum, The Netherlands (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Studios 301, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); The Forum, Montreal, Canada (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); the Hit Factory, NY (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Tower Theatre, PA (06/??/1969-06/10/1997); Trident Studio, London, England (06/??/1969-06/10/1997).

Photographers: David Bebbington; Frank W. 3 Ockenfels; Steve Schapiro; Brian Aris; Sally Hershberger; Nick Knight; Mick Rock ; Keith "Keef" MacMillan; Lee Black Childers; Brian Ward ; Sukita.

Unknown Contributor Role: Brian Eno.

Arrangers: David Bowie; Mick Ronson.

Rare is the artist who is more deserving of a box set than David Bowie. A true renaissance man in modern popular culture, Bowie has effortlessly hopped between the worlds of theatre, film, art and music and had a fair amount of success in all of these creative pursuits. But it is in music where he's made his greatest mark and the 4-CD SOUND + VISION collection does a fine job documenting the heard and unheard musical phases that this talented artist has gone through in the '70s, right up until the release of 1980's SCARY MONSTERS.

Beautifully designed and meticulously annotated, this collection provides detailed information about backing musicians and recording dates. Starting with a previously unreleased demo version of "Space Oddity," SOUND + VISION chronologically traces all the different personas Bowie adapted and cast aside, coming full circle by ending with "Ashes To Ashes" the sequel to Bowie's first hit. Space alien ("Ziggy Stardust,") paranoid futurist ("Big Brother,") blue-eyed soulster ("Young Americans") and new wave nihilist ("Kingdom Come") are all characters that Bowie played at one time or another, changing the face of pop.

Since Sound + Vision in its original 1989 incarnation was designed to introduce David Bowie's Rykodisc reissue series, it was hardly the ideal career retrospective: not only did it end before Let's Dance, but it was constructed to showcase Ryko's remastering expertise while showing off rarities lurking in Bowie's vaults. When the rights to the recordings reverted to Bowie, he took them over to EMI, where the albums were reissued yet again, this time without any of the much-lauded bonus tracks that graced the Ryko reissues. Those bonus tracks weren't the only casualty of the EMI conversion -- Sound + Vision was left behind, and it became a favorite of collectors, since the rarities on the box never showed up on other Bowie reissues. In 2003, a few years after the initial round of EMI reissues and into a sporadic reissue campaign of double-disc deluxe editions, Sound + Vision was re-released, expanded from three to four disc. Those who were hoping that this expansion would include Ryko rarities currently unavailable on CD -- such as the superb "Bombers," now stranded on the Hunky Dory Ryko issue -- will be disappointed that this is not the case. Instead, the 2003 Sound + Vision brings Bowie up to The Buddha of Suburbia, stopping short of 1995's Outside, but including cuts with Tin Machine. The new material follows the conceit of the original, favoring album tracks and rarities to hits (though both "China Girl" and "Blue Jean" are present), which is problematic for an era where even the good material is widely considered to be well below Bowie's high standards. So, it shouldn't come as a big surprise that new material pales considerably next to the original box set, where even curious inclusions still carried the spark of mad genius.