David Bowie
Nothing Has Changed
(Columbia)

Few musicians can maintain a level of success and innovation over a decade, let alone a 50-year career. However, David Bowie is one of those exceptions and his new compilation, Nothing Has Changed, is more than a collection of hits, its an evolution of an artist. The album has been released fittingly along with the David Bowie Is exhibition of art, design, costumes, video, and sketches, which saw huge crowds at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and is currently at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

The collection comes in different configurations (3-disc deluxe, double vinyl, 2-disc, and single-disc), each with different related cover art, but the deluxe edition includes 59 songs in reverse chronological order. The collection also features new material, most notably “Sue (Or In a Season of Crime)” along with some previously unreleased songs from his abandoned album, Toy, such as “Your Turn To Drive” and “Let Me Sleep Beside You.”

The album isn’t simply a greatest hits collection, a point made by its title, Nothing Has Changed, which was taken from his song “Sunday,” a reversal of sorts from previous hits compilations, which referenced his song, “Changes.” The compilation includes all the expected classics from “Rebel Rebel” to “Let’s Dance,” along with great, deeper cuts like “Moonage Daydream” off Ziggy Stardust.

It’s an interesting and eclectic mix of tracks, ranging from his earliest songs such as “Liza Jane,” which was put out under the name Davie Jones with the King Bees to modern remixed tracks like the Hello Steve Reich mix of “Love Is Lost” by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem and the remix of “Hallo Spaceboy” with the Pet Shop Boys. What’s notable about the collection is how fresh the music remains without repeating itself.