In 2012 somebody posted three songs to YouTube, purportedly by an obscure soul group from the early ’70s, Milky Edwards and the Chamberlings. All three were covers, soul arrangements of David Bowie songs from his Ziggy Stardust album. The videos showed needle drops onto a scratchy copy of an album called “Starman.”
It took a while for the videos to go viral, but once they did the speculation started. Various bands over the years have released records under different names so audiences would approach the music without prior bias, so early speculation was that someone famous might be behind it. The lead singer sounded like a soul belter in the Tom Jones mold, but his management said he had nothing to do with it.
Skeptics had doubts from the first. When people went looking for independent evidence of the group’s existence they came up empty. The arrangements sounded more like the ’60s than the early ’70s, and it turned out the typeface on the cover was computer-generated. It became clear the “lost album” was a hoax.
Bowie, for his part, didn’t care – his Facebook response called for more: “The three tracks available on YouTube are well worth a listen, and let’s hope that whoever is behind this deceit gets around to recording the rest of the album soon.”
Alas, it was not to be. Nobody ever stepped forward to claim credit for the music, and no other songs have been forthcoming. Like a true Starman, Milky Edwards flashed across the worldwide web for a bright and shining moment and was gone. But he left behind three bangin’ covers in a style Ziggy never would have sung them. As the original Starman said, they’re well worth a listen.
The best of the lot is “Soul Love,” hardly recognizable in an arrangement that’s worthy of the Four Tops.
Here’s what the original sounded like, or rather does after remastering.
Milky gives “Moonage Daydream” a Motown treatment.
On “Starman” the lead singer, whoever he is, sounds more like Edwin Starr than Tom Jones.
