David Bowie’s Massive ‘I Can’t Give Everything Away [2002–2016]’: Review
by Jeff Burger
Unless David Bowie returns to the land of the living (and anything’s possible where he’s concerned), a new boxed set will be the last in a series of massive compendiums devoted to phases of his career. The series began less than four months before his January 2016 death with Five Years [1969–1973]. Subsequently issued boxes have included Who Can I Be Now? [1974-1976], A New Career in a New Town [1977-1982], Loving the Alien [1983-1988] and Brilliant Adventure [1992-2001].
The latest anthology, I Can’t Give Everything Away [2002-2016], stands apart from the others in at least two ways. First, it covers a longer timespan than any of the previous collections. Second, it focuses on a period when Bowie released relatively few full-length studio LPs—just four in the 15 years covered by this anthology—though they include some of the best work of his career. All were co-produced by Tony Visconti, who also co-produced several of Bowie’s classic late-1970s LPs.
Despite the dearth of new material, the box’s compilers have managed to deliver a wealth of content by adding EPs, live tracks, alternate versions and more, for a total of 13 CDs (or, for you vinyl junkies, 18 LPs). Some of it was previously unreleased, and much of it has been remastered for the box. Like the earlier anthologies, this one, released on Sept. 12, 2025, comes with a hardcover book. It contains 128 pages in the CD edition and features extensive notes, discographic information, and photos.
There’s a lot to unpack here. Let’s take a look at each of the box’s components.
Heathen. Originally released in 2002, this album marks Bowie’s first collaboration with producer Visconti since they made Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) in 1980. It’s also arguably his best work since then. Redolent of Bowie’s 1970s albums, the set features strong melodies and vocals and artfully employed electronica. The program includes well-executed covers of Neil Young’s “I’ve Been Waiting for You,” which features guitar overdubs by Dave Grohl, the Pixies’ “Cactus” and the Legendary Stardust Cowboy’s “I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship.” There are also more than enough sterling originals here to show that Bowie hadn’t lost his creative spark. One standout is the anthemic ballad “Slip Away.” Another is the aptly named “Slow Burn,” where Pete Townshend guests on guitar.
Montreux Jazz Festival. Filling two CDs and clocking in at more than two-and-a-half hours, this previously unreleased 2002 concert culls its 31 compositions from throughout Bowie’s career. The energetically performed set embraces plenty of hits, including “China Girl,” a co-write with Iggy Pop; “Fame” and “Let’s Dance,” both of which topped U.S. charts in their original versions; and the propulsive “Heroes.” You’ll also find early compositions such as “Life on Mars?,” which first appeared on 1971’s Hunky Dory, and practically everything from 1977’s Low, a product of Bowie’s productive Berlin period.
Reality. This 2003 followup to Heathen is at least as strong as its predecessor. The set includes covers of George Harrison’s “Try Some, Buy Some” and Jonathan Richman’s “Pablo Picasso,” plus originals that address subjects ranging from mortality to 9/11. (“See the great white scar over Battery Park,” Bowie sings in “New Killer Star,” the rhythmic lead-off track.) The music is remarkably varied and consistently effective, and Bowie has rarely sounded better.
A Reality Tour. Recorded in Dublin in 2003 and first released in 2010, this 33-song, two-CD set features an excellent two-and-a-half-hour show. Bowie delivers stellar versions of songs from Reality and three numbers from Ziggy Stardust (the title track, “Five Years” and “Hang On to Yourself”). Also here is “Under Pressure,” in a version that’s as intense as the one he recorded with Queen, plus such fan favorites as “China Girl,” “Rebel Rebel,” “All the Young Dudes,” “Ashes to Ashes” and “Changes.” “We’ve had a brilliant time,” Bowie says before the last song, and judging by the enthusiastic performances, he and his band really did enjoy themselves.
The Next Day. Maybe this 2013 album should have been called The Next Decade, because its release followed a 10-year break from the recording studio. It was worth the wait, as Bowie crafted another gem. Lyrically, the songs here range from depressing to extremely abstruse—or sometimes both—with violence, murder and death permeating the frequently ghoulish verse. The music is another matter, though. It’s predominantly rhythmic and upbeat—danceable even. Consistently inventive, too.
The Next Day Extra. Since a 10-year silence preceded The Next Day, it’s not surprising that Bowie had accumulated more material than he could fit on that album. In addition to alternate mixes of two of its songs, this disc includes nine other leftovers from its sessions, among them “Like a Rocket Man,” a likable, relatively conventional pop rocker; “I’ll Take You There,” which recalls such earlier “plastic soul” creations as “Golden Years” and “Young Americans”; and the lovely, mid-tempo “So She.”
David Bowie’s Blackstar album cover
Blackstar. Like Leonard Cohen, Bowie did some of his best work shortly before his death. Like Cohen’s final creations, moreover, Bowie’s show an understandable preoccupation with mortality. “Look up here, I’m in heaven,” he sings on the foreboding “Lazarus.” “I’ve got scars that can’t be seen…I’m in danger/I’ve got nothing left to lose.” Bowie’s label released this mesmerizing, adventurous CD on Jan. 8, 2016, his 69th birthday. He died only two days later of liver cancer. The record, which finds the singer backed by a jazz quartet, is a million miles from “Suffragette City”—and pretty far from most of the rest of his work. If you can own one Bowie album, consider making it this one.
Related: Our review of Bowie’s Blackstar upon its release
The box set is available in the U.S. here, in Canada here and in the U.K. here.
Burger wrote one of the first interview-based profiles of Bruce Springsteen to be published in a national magazine. He has interviewed many other music-world luminaries as well, including Steve Van Zandt, Roger McGuinn, John Sebastian, Wolfman Jack, Tom Waits, Foreigner’s Mick Jones, Billy Joel, Steve Forbert, Tommy James, the Righteous Brothers, Gordon Lightfoot, Deep Purple’s Tommy Bolin, and members of Steely Dan and the Marshall Tucker Band. He has also interviewed many other public figures, such as Suze Orman, Daymond John, James Carville, Donald Trump, Sir Richard Branson, F. Lee Bailey, and Cliff Robertson.
His books include Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters, and Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters, all of which are published in the U.S. and Canada by Chicago Review Press. The books have been republished in numerous other countries.
Burger has been the editor of several periodicals, including Business Jet Traveler, from which he retired in 2024. During his 20 years at that
publication, it received more than 120 major editorial awards, including multiple wins for the world’s Best Consumer Travel Magazine in the annual Folio:Eddie competition.
Burger lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey. His wife, Madeleine Beresford, is a puppeteer and former preschool director and teacher. The couple have two grown children.
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