The fifth in a series of box sets that break down
David Bowie
's discography into cohesively thematic eras,
Brilliant Adventure (1992-2001)
covers the most years of any of the sets to date: nearly a full decade, almost twice as long as the period chronicled on 2018's
Loving the Alien (1983-1988)
. Eagle-eyed observers will note that there's a gap of four years separating the material on
Loving the Alien
and
Brilliant Adventure
: that would be when
Bowie
led
Tin Machine
, the noisy guitar outfit whose discography operates under a different contract than his solo work. That means
picks up with
Black Tie White Noise
, an artful blue-eyed soul excursion from 1993, then runs through
The Buddha of Suburbia
-- an excellent, adventurous album that flew under the radar in 1993 -- the 1995
Brian Eno
reunion
1. Outside
, 1997's
Earthling
, and 1999's
Hours
, adding an expanded version of the BBC concert from 2000 originally released as part of 2000's
Bowie at the Beeb
, a three-disc collection of remixes, edits, and B-sides called
ReCall 5
Toy
, an unreleased album from 2001. Heavily bootlegged over the years,
features
revisiting a bunch of songs he wrote in the '60s, most written and recorded prior to "Space Oddity." Hearing
apply
aesthetics to swinging, mod-ish material is odd but mildly appealing; it's a slight record but it's nice to have it as part of the official discography. The rest of the box follows a familiar and comforting pattern, confirming that the '90s were a bit of a creative resurgence for
. The pair of 1993 albums are complementary in their strengths, the period affectations of
wind up giving the album complexity that
further explores on
. Given that stretch, it's little wonder that he sounds a bit spent on
, but the BBC Live show is quite good and it's fun to sort through the grab-bag of
ReCall
. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine