David Bowie Narrates Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf

In 1982, David Bowie released In Bertolt Brecht's "Baal"; four years earlier, the prestigious RCA Red Seal classical label had Bowie narrating Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, and with his stint on Broadway as The Elephant Man, the artist stretched himself brilliantly. There is not enough spoken word by popular recording artists in today's world. Steven Tyler may show up on a Kerouac tribute performing one track; Grace Slick, Lou Reed, Peter Frampton, Marty Balin, and so many others have cut promotional interview discs for insiders, but it is surprising how the record industry has, for the most part, ignored this inexpensive and wonderful format to further endear artists to their fans. Jim Morrison's poetry, after all, was all that was left when Elektra published An American Prayer -- and that fans purchase low-quality bootlegs of many artists should have been a signal in the past to deliver this type of product to the marketplace. The scarcity of such projects makes Bowie's close to 30