(This is probably the longest post and the highest numbers images of the entire blog).
already split with Dram, in early 1969 he auditioned for the Philips Bowie, singing with his friend John Hutchinson (guitar and vocals), among other things, "Space Oddity." It's probably the song that convinced the label executives and sign the contract by an LP with the option of a second if the first does appear in the rankings.
A Bowie this summer filming the movie "Love you till Tuesday" with Dram and where material includes a first version of "Space Oddity" sound closer to Dram and where you can see what it would be a their first "music."
The single is released the same day the Apollo 11 mission landed on 11 July 1969, and is accompanied by "The wild eyed boy from freecloud" on side B, a ballad with Bowie on vocals and guitar, Paul Buckmaster on cello. U.S. and Canadian distribution label was in charge of Mercury and the single reached the place # 124 in the U.S. ranking at # 8 in Holland, # 13 in Ireland, Sweden # 15 and # 54 in Italy. The original versions were all mono English, although some 7 "did not leave specified. In the Netherlands some promo copies were printed in stereo and were imported to England.
LP was being produced by Tony Visconti, who had worked with Bowie in some presentations at the BBC , but Visconti does not like "Space Oddity" and decides that Gus Dudgeon is in charge of producing this single in advance. It is even rumored to be thought of George Martin (producer of The Beatles) for the production of LP . The musicians who participated in this historic recording session at Trident Studios in London on June 20, 1969, were Herbie Flowers on bass, Terry Cox on drums and Rick Wakeman on piano and mellotron, as well as session musicians unspecified by the strings. Bowie took over the vocals, guitars and the "Stylophone" an electronic instrument created in 1967 by Brian Jarvis and has been used by groups like Kraftwerk, Erasure, Pulp, Orbital, Marilyn Manson and The Racounters.
The single title is similar to the novel by Arthur C. Clark and Stanley Kubrick's film 1968: "2001 a Space Oddisey" whose main character curiously named David Bowman. Is said to be inspired by the plight of the astronauts who lived through the Apollo 8 mission, but the issue actually tells the adventures of Major Tom, a fictional astronaut who becomes depressed during his mission to space.
Versions of the 7 "are edited from the version due out in November in the LP of 5'14". In England "Space oddity" lasts 4'33 "and in the U.S. and Canada only lasts 3'23", basically making the issue to finish sooner. In the U.S. the B side is also edited, making it start from the second verse and being in 3'14''.
's success in England makes The single is edited throughout the world, is published in September in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands (in the latter includes a spoken introduction to "The wild eyed boy from freecloud" from an audition for the Philips). On October 7 "is released in France (launched two versions with slightly different covers) and Australia (Oceania was slightly different issue, leaving the side A of 4'30"). In December, published in Norway, Portugal, Belgium (some copies were imported from Holland and then printed mono and stereo versions Belgium), New Zealand, Turkey, Brazil and Lebanon. In January 1970 in Japan and Spain, and in February in Greece and Brazil (where the 7 "should be played at 33rpm, probably to avoid problems with the 4:33, a somewhat lengthy period for singles). At the end of 1969 "Space oddity" is released on a promo single under the label Phonogram in Italy, together with other artists (also in Italy in 1970 he published an Italian version theme Bowie recorded for the same, but that deserves its own post.)
some versions were also launched promotional single in July 1969 released a 7 "with the edited version (3'23") monaural sides A and B in the U.S., also in the U.S., December 69, released a 7 "version of 3'23''on both sides, but this time in stereo.
In New Zealand released a promotional LP called "The Philips Revolutionaries Sampler," which included "Space Oddity" and other twelve songs by other artists on the label, which highlighted Manfred Mann.
There are very few records of live performances of the item prior to 1972, only remain in the program presentations TV show "Hits A Go Go" of November 2, 1969 (where he playback) and the live performance at the ceremony of awarding prizes "Ivor Novello" of May 10, 1970, where "Space Oddity" was awarded for its originality (both can be found on youtube.) But from 1972 to 1997 the theme was played on all the tours that Bowie began. Commemorating its 50 years (in 1997) Bowie decided not to play more the issue, but there are records of two performances later in the concert for the liberation of Tibet from February 22, 2002, held at Carnegie Hall in New York and a show in the German city of Lunden on 5 July of that year.
buy RCA In 1972 Bowie recordings for Philips and published in June that year a 7 "promo in the U.S. with" Space Oddity, "" Moonage Daydream "," Life on Mars "and" It Is not Easy. " On May 22, Bowie had played the theme on the BBC, with Mick Ronson on guitar, Trevor Bolder on bass, Mick Woodmansey on drums and Roger Pusey production, but was not transmitted. In December of that year and Bowie's fame through the roof, the RCA funds a video for the track, which is directed by Mick Rock while Bowie was recording the album "Aladdin Sane." In January 1973, the RCA decided to exploit "Space Oddity", accompanied by promotional clip is released around the world (There are 7 records in England, USA, Canada, Spain, South Africa, Turkey and even Chile) with " The man who sold the world " on the B side In Mexico, made an exception and the 7 "is accompanied by" Starman "and in Thailand" Space oddity "is accompanied by" Fool "Elvis Presley (7" semi-legal Records distributed by Thai Nakorn). In Japan, 7 "was released in March along with" It Is not Easy "as a face B. In Portugal 7" also has " The man who sold the world " on side B, but it launched only in May. And Peru is "The jean genie" the issue of the B-side There is also a promotional edition released in the U.S. and Spain, where the LP version of 5'14 "is on side A and a new edition of 3'53" on the face accompanying B. A second promotional version is distributed in September in Italy, with "Life on Mars?" As the B-side With regard to figuration in the rankings, in England reached number 15.
In September 1974 the magazine "Record Mirror" comes accompanied by a flexidisc (under the label Lynton) with a selection of greatest hits of Bowie which includes an excerpt from "Space Oddity" on track 2.
RCA returns to the fray in September 1975, this time with more success, makes it to No. 1-ranked English, getting the first top one in the history of the career of David Bowie. This time "Space oddity" is accompanied by "Changes" and "Velvet Goldmine" on side B, although some variations, such as the 7 "Yugoslav, who was only a" Velvet Goldmine "on the back and 7" promo featured English repeated in December that a " The man who sold the world " on the B side The 1975 edition was reissued in December 1982 as 7 "1 picture discs boxset of "Fashions" and individually in June 1983.
In June 1976 the 7 "with" The man who sold the world "the reverse is reprinted in Germany and Canada, and re-released in 1982 only in Germany, on the cover of the issues appeared incorrectly German subtitle "Recorded 1972" on both sides of the single, fixed error in the labeling of both sides, which specifies the correct recording year, 1969 for side A and 1970 for B. Also in Germany is published in 1980 "Space oddity" with "Alabama Song" and "Amsterdam" on the B side
In 1979, RCA released "Space Oddity" to "Fame" and side B in Italy, and later that same year, Bowie recorded a new version of the theme for the TV New Year Kenneth Everett. RCA next year editing the single "The cointinuing history of Major Tom", where "Space oddity" is accompanied by "Ashes to ashes" in versions of the single and the LP, as a way to connect the stories of both songs.
In 1984 appears for the first time in audio music included in the film "Love you till Tuesday" in the LP of the same name under the label Dram, there can be heard first initial version of the topic, published at 3:45. The LP is reissued on CD in 1992 and there "Space oddity" lasts 4:31. In January 1997, the Dram launches a promotional CD single with the Greek magazine "Zoo", which includes the original version of "Space Oddity" accompanied by "The laughing gnome ", "Rubber band " and " Love you till Tuesday. "
The acoustic demo recorded in the audition for the Philips label is rescued and included in the compilation of 1989 "Sound + Vision" of the Rykodisc label.
In December 1993 he launched another Rykodisc compilation called The Singles 1969 to 1993 "which includes an edit of 3'31" of the item, which is not the same, but try to resemble the July edition of the "original USA.
"Space oddity" has been covered among many other artists: David Matthews (1977), The London Symphony Orchestra (1978), The Flying Pickets (1985), Space Girls (in tribute " Ashes to Ashes ", 1998), Natalie Merchant (1999), Halloween (1999), Pitch Black Dream (in the tribute" Spiders from Venus ", 2003), Seu Jorge (2005), Def Leppard (2006) and Cat Power (2008)
* The audio file is the English edited version, followed by the edited version of the U.S. and after the B-side
0 comments:
Post a Comment