When David Bowie's second album appeared in late 1969, he was riding high. His first ever hit single, the super-topical "Space Oddity," had scored on the back of the moon landing that summer, and so distinctive an air did it possess that, for a moment, its maker really did seem capable of soaring as high as Major Tom. Sadly, it was not to be. "Space Oddity" aside, Bowie possessed very little in the way of commercial songs, and the ensuing album (his second) emerged as a dense, even rambling, excursion through the folky strains that were the last glimmering of British psychedelia. Indeed, the album's most crucial cut, the lengthy "Cygnet Committee," was nothing less than a discourse on the death of hippiness, shot through with such bitterness and bile that it remains one of Bowie's all-time most important numbers -- not to mention his most prescient. The verse that unknowingly name-checks both the Sex Pistols ("the guns of love") and the Damned is nothing if not a distillation of everything that brought punk to its knees a full nine years later. The remainder of the album struggles to match the sheer vivacity of "Cygnet Committee," although "Unwashed and Slightly Dazed" comes close to packing a disheveled rock punch, all the more so as it bleeds into a half minute or so of Bowie wailing "Don't Sit Down" -- an element that, mystifyingly, was hacked from the 1972 reissue of the album. "Janine" and "An Occasional Dream" are pure '60s balladry, and "God Knows I'm Good" takes a well-meant but somewhat clumsy stab at social comment. Two final tracks, however, can be said to pinpoint elements of Bowie's own future. The folk epic "Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud" (substantially reworked from the B-side of the hit) would remain in Bowie's live set until as late as 1973, while a re-recorded version of the mantric "Memory of a Free Festival" would become a single the following year, and marked Bowie's first studio collaboration with guitarist Mick Ronson. The album itself however, proved another dead end in a career that was gradually piling up an awful lot of such things. by Dave Thompson
Tracklist
1 Space Oddity 5:14
Arranged By – David Bowie, Paul Buckmaster
Producer – Gus Dudgeon
2 Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed 6:11
3 (Don't Sit Down) 0:40
4 Letter To Hermione 2:31
5 Cygnet Committee 9:31
6 Janine 3:21
7 An Occasional Dream 2:55
8 Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud 4:47
9 God Knows I'm Good 3:16
10 Memory Of A Free Festival 7:08
Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Keith Christmas
Arranged By – David Bowie (tracks: 1 to 10), Paul Buckmaster (tracks: 1), Tony Visconti (tracks: 2 to 10)
Bass – Herbie Flowers, John Lodge, Tony Visconti
Cello – Paul Buckmaster
Drums – John Cambridge, Terry Cox
Flute – Tim Renwick, Tony Visconti
Guitar – Mick Wayne, Tim Renwick
Harmonica – Benny Marshall And Friends
Harpsichord [Electric Harpsichord] – Rick Wakeman
Kalimba – David Bowie
Organ [Rosedale Electric Chord Organ] – David Bowie
Stylophone – David Bowie
Twelve-String Guitar – David Bowie
Vocals – David Bowie
Written-By – David Bowie (tracks: 1 to 10)
Notes
This album has been released and re-released with various titles and various cover-designs over time. It's generally considered Bowie's first rock album.
The 1969 original versions were released on Philips and titled "David Bowie" while the concurrent North American (US and Canada) releases on Mercury had a strap line "Man of Words/Man of Music" at the top of the album. Although Mercury still cataloged it as "David Bowie" it was commonly called by the strap line and when RCA repackaged and re-released it in 1972, they erroneously referred to this advertising title. Both Philips and Mercury releases use images from the same 1969 portrait photo-shoot on the front cover, but as the Mercury image is a different frame and enlarged the artwork surrounding the portrait was not included.
The 1969 North American Mercury release removes a short hidden track, between track 2 and 3. On the UK Philips edition this piece of music was, as indicated by the groove rills, at the beginning of the third track "Letter to Hermione", yet was timed as being part of the second track.
In 1972 following Bowie's commercial breakthrough, the North American version, without the hidden track, was re-released by RCA titled after the album's hit, "Space Oddity", and with a then current facial portrait photo on the cover. Rear cover art, when including timings, still included the hidden track even though it was not present on any RCA issue. This title and cover art version had international re-releases in 1984 by RCA.
In 1990, using the same front cover as the 1972 RCA issue, the album was issued by RYKO and subsequently EMI with the hidden track subsequently restored and named for the first time - "Don't Sit Down".
All later official editions contain the music as presented on the original 1969 UK Philips album - and post 1997 most do not name the hidden track.
In 1999 EMI and Virgin re-released the album with the 30 year old 1969 cover but with the 1972 title.
Finally, in 2009 for the 40th Anniversary edition it was re-released by EMI and Virgin with title and cover art exactly as the original UK release.
The musicians on the album were hired for the sessions and included among others Herbie Flowers, Rick Wakeman, Tony Visconti and members of the band Junior's Eyes, who would act as Bowie's band promoting the album. While the album didn't chart in 1969 and was considered a commercial failure, the 1972 re-release charted in 17th position on the UK charts
DAVID BOWIE - Space Oddity
[1969] Philips / CBR320 / scans
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