📰 I Pity The Fool Single: Mar. 1979
- David Bowie
- Mar 17, 1979
- 3 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Writer: Uncredited (Sounds Magazine)
Date: March 17, 1979
Length: ~4 min read
A sharp, retrospective look at Bowie’s earliest recordings, resurfacing in EMI’s Nut EP reissue series during the height of his late‑’70s artistic reinvention.
Sounds revisits Bowie’s pre‑fame incarnations with a mix of critique, curiosity, and historical fascination.
In 1979, as David Bowie was redefining modern music with Lodger and the tail‑end of the Berlin era, Sounds magazine turned back the clock to his teenage years. The Nut EP reissues brought the Manish Boys and Davy Jones & The Lower Third back into circulation, offering a rare chance to reassess the raw beginnings of an artist who had since become a cultural force.
📰 Key Highlights
• EMI’s Nut EP series resurrects Bowie’s 1964–65 singles
• Sounds frames the releases as early curios rather than essential works
• Praise for the psychedelic Merseybeat of “You’ve Got a Habit of Leaving”
• “Baby Loves That Way” noted for its bubblegum pop charm
• Packaging highlighted for its Rocking Russian sleeve design
📰 Overview
By early 1979, David Bowie was an established icon — a shape‑shifting visionary whose influence stretched across rock, art, fashion, and film. Yet the reissue market was beginning to excavate his earliest recordings, long overshadowed by the Ziggy Stardust explosion and the experimental brilliance of the Berlin trilogy.
EMI’s Nut EP series capitalised on this renewed interest, pairing the Manish Boys and Davy Jones & The Lower Third tracks into a compact, collectible format. Sounds magazine approached the releases with a mixture of amusement and genuine archival curiosity, acknowledging their historical value while critiquing the uneven quality of the material.
The review captures a moment when Bowie’s past and present briefly collided — the teenage hopeful and the avant‑garde superstar sharing space in the same cultural conversation.
📰 Source Details
Publication / Venue: Sounds (UK)
Date: March 17, 1979
Format: Review / Reissue Coverage
Provenance Notes:
• Verified via period clippings
• Part of the “Reissues of the Week” column
• Covers both the Manish Boys and Davy Jones & The Lower Third Nut EPs
📰 The Story
The Sounds review opens with a wry acknowledgment: these are Bowie recordings “by any other name,” dating back to 1965 — fourteen years before the article’s publication. The critic frames the EPs as historical artefacts rather than lost masterpieces, noting the stylistic patchwork of early‑sixties R&B, pop, and proto‑psychedelia.
The Manish Boys tracks are dismissed as “forgettable white R&B dreck,” a blunt but not uncommon assessment of Bowie’s earliest attempts to find his voice. Yet the flip side earns genuine praise: “You’ve Got a Habit of Leaving” is highlighted for its psychedelic Merseybeat energy, while “Baby Loves That Way” is described as a charming nod to bubblegum pop.
The article also commends the packaging — the Rocking Russian‑designed sleeves, bold and graphic, elevate the reissues beyond mere curios. In an era when Bowie was pushing boundaries with Lodger, these EPs offered a glimpse of the young artist still searching for direction, long before Ziggy, Berlin, or the global acclaim that followed.
Sounds ultimately recommends the releases, not for their musical brilliance, but for their place in the Bowie mythos — the earliest sparks of a career that would reshape modern music.
📰 Visual Archive
Black‑and‑white promotional images of Davy Jones & The Lower Third, featuring the young Bowie in a mod‑era ensemble. Additional clippings include review excerpts, EP artwork, and the “Reissues of the Week” column layout.
Sounds magazine — “Reissues of the Week,” featuring Bowie’s early Manish Boys and Lower Third EPs (March 17, 1979).
📰 Related Material
• David Bowie — Early Singles (1964–66)
• The Deram Anthology
• Bowie in the 1970s: Berlin to Lodger
📰 Closing Notes
These reissues remind us that even legends begin somewhere — often in the rough, restless experiments of youth. Sounds’ 1979 coverage captures Bowie’s earliest steps with affectionate skepticism, offering a rare snapshot of the pre‑stardom artist at a moment when his influence was already reshaping the world.
📰 Sources
• Sounds magazine, March 17, 1979
• EMI Nut EP Series documentation
• Collector‑verified clippings
📝 Copyright Notice
All magazine scans, photographs, and original text excerpts referenced in this entry remain the property of their respective copyright holders. This Chronicle entry is a transformative, non‑commercial archival summary created for historical documentation and educational reference. No ownership of the original material is claimed or implied.
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