Bowie box set to feature unreleased album 'The Gouster'

David Bowie's latest box set will feature in original form his unreleased album "The Gouster," recorded as the late rock icon started to experiment with soul.

The English artist, then known primarily for his pioneering glam rock, headed in 1974 to Philadelphia's Sigma Sound studio to pursue his love of the city's funk-infused soul scene.

The end result was his classic album "Young Americans." But the initial, seven-song record was "The Gouster," the title an allusion to a fashion at the time among young African Americans in Chicago.

The legendary artist's latest box set, "David Bowie -- Who Can I Be Now? (1974-1976)," will for the first time include "The Gouster" in its entirety with original artwork, label Parlophone said.

"David had a long infatuation with soul as did I. We were fans of the TV show 'Soul Train,'" Bowie's longtime producer Tony Visconti said in an excerpt from the liner notes.

"We weren't 'young, gifted and black,'" he wrote, alluding to the Nina Simone anthem, "but we sure as hell wanted to make a killer soul album."

"The Gouster" notably opens with an extended, funkier version of "John, I'm Only Dancing," his 1972 single that was then considered risque for its gay theme.

The release of "The Gouster" will be of interest primarily to the most passionate of Bowie's fans, as most of the songs made their way in the end to "Young Americans."

The three remaining tracks have all been released in the intervening years, including on a 1991 reissue of "Young Americans."

In 2009, two unreleased songs apparently from the recording sessions -- "I Am a Lazer" and "Shilling the Rubes" -- appeared on the bootleg market.

A seller, saying the tapes were found at a street sale in Philadelphia, offered them online for $15,000 and Bowie fans speculated that the rocker himself may have bought them to keep them private.

The tracks were not listed as part of the box set, whose release date was not announced. Bowie's estate said it would reveal further details on the box set next week.

The collection follows a box set from Bowie's early career, "Five Years (1969-1973)," that came out in September as a 12-CD or 13-LP edition.

Bowie died several months later from an undisclosed battle with cancer, two days after releasing his final album, "Blackstar," on his 69th birthday.