Space Oddity is a 1969 album by rock musician David Bowie. Originally
released by Philips in the UK as David
Bowie and by Mercury in the U.S. as Man of
Words/Man of Music, it was reissued by RCA Records in 1972 under the title Space
Oddity, the name by which it is still commonly known. Regarding its mix of folk, balladry
and prog rock, NME editors Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray have said, "Some of it belonged
in '67 and some of it in '72, but in 1969 it all seemed vastly incongruous. Basically, David Bowie can be viewed in
retrospect as all that Bowie had been and a little of what he would become, all jumbled up and fighting for control..."[1]
Held to be "the first Bowie album proper",[2] and his first deemed worthy by record companies of regular reissue, Space
Oddity featured a notable list of collaborators, including session players Herbie
Flowers, Tim Renwick, Terry Cox, and
Rick Wakeman, as well as cellist Paul Buckmaster, multi-instrumentalist and producer
Tony Visconti, and Moody Blues bassist John Lodge. Before recording for the album commenced,
"Space Oddity" had been selected as the lead single based on an earlier demo.[3] Tony Visconti saw it as a "novelty record" and passed the
production responsibility on to Gus Dudgeon.[2] Visconti thus produced all the songs on the album bar what
would become, from its 1972 reissue onwards, the title track.
Still considered one of Bowie's best-known songs, "Space Oddity" was a largely acoustic number augmented by the eerie tones of
the composer's Stylophone, a pocket electronic
organ. The title and subject matter were inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s
2001: A Space Odyssey and introduced the character of
Major Tom. Some commentators have also seen the song as a metaphor for heroin use, citing the opening countdown as analogous to the
drug's passage down the needle prior to the euphoric 'hit', and noting Bowie's admission of a "silly flirtation with smack" in
1968.[4]
His 1980 hit "Ashes to Ashes" declared "We know Major Tom's a junkie".
"Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed" reflected a strong
Bob Dylan influence,[5]
with its harmonica, edgy guitar sound and snarling vocal.
"Letter to Hermione" was a farewell ballad to Bowie's former girlfriend, Hermione
Farthingale, who was also the object of "An Occasional Dream",[1] a
gentle folk tune reminiscent of the singer's 1967 debut album. "God Knows I'm Good", Bowie's observational tale of a shoplifter's plight, also recalled his earlier style.[1]
"Cygnet Committee", has been called Bowie’s "first true masterpiece".[6]
Commonly regarded as the album track most indicative of the composer's future direction, its lead character is a messianic figure
"who breaks down barriers for his younger followers, but finds that he has only provided them with the means to reject and
destroy him".[1] Bowie himself described it at the time as a put down of hippies who seemed ready to follow any charismatic leader.[6] Another track cited as foreshadowing themes to
which Bowie would return in 1970s, in this case the fracturing of personality, was "Janine", which featured the words "But if you took an axe to me, you’d kill another man not me at
all".[2]
The Buddhism-influenced "Wild Eyed Boy From
Freecloud" was presented in a heavily-expanded form compared to the original guitar-and-cello version on the B-side of the "Space Oddity" single; the album cut featured a 50-piece orchestra and was also notable for Mick Ronson's debut on a Bowie record,
playing uncredited guitar and handclaps midway through the song.[2] "Memory of a Free
Festival" was Bowie's reminiscence of an arts festival he had organised in August 1969. Its drawn-out fade/chorus ("The
Sun Machine is coming down / And we're gonna have a party") was compared to The Beatles'
"Hey Jude";[7] the song has also been interpreted as a derisive comment on the counterculture it was ostensibly celebrating.[8] In 1970 Bowie cut the tune in half for the A- and B-sides of a more rock-orientated version featuring the band that would accompany him on The Man Who Sold the World later that year: Mick Ronson, Tony Visconti and
Mick Woodmansey - an embryonic form of Ziggy Stardust's Spiders From Mars.
Although the opening song had given Bowie a #5 hit in the UK earlier in the year, the remainder of the material bore little
resemblance to it and the album was a commercial failure on its initial release, despite some decent reviews.[7] However the November 1972
reissue, released in the wake of Bowie's breakthrough The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from
Mars and featuring a contemporary Ziggy photo on the cover, made #17 in the UK charts and #16 in the United
States.
Track listing
All songs written by David Bowie.
Side one
- "Space Oddity" – 5:15
- "Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed" – 6:55
- "(Don't Sit Down)" – 0:39
- "Letter to Hermione" – 2:28
- "Cygnet Committee" – 9:33
Side two
- "Janine" – 3:18
- "An Occasional Dream" – 2:51
- "Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud" – 4:45
- "God Knows I'm Good" – 3:13
- "Memory of a Free Festival" – 7:05
"(Don't Sit Down)" was deleted from the album when it was rereleased in 1972 as Space Oddity.
CD releases
Space Oddity was first released on CD by RCA in 1984. In keeping with the 1972 RCA LP release, the track "Don't Sit
Down" remained missing. The German (for the European market) and Japanese (for the United States market) masters were sourced
from different tapes and are not identical for each region.
In 1990, the album was rereleased by Rykodisc with an expanded track listing including a
restored "Don't Sit Down" as well as "Conversation Piece" and the two-part
re-recording of "Memory of a Free Festival" that had been released as a single in 1970.
1990 rerelease bonus tracks
- "Conversation Piece" (1970 B-side of "The Prettiest Star") – 3:05
- "Memory of a Free Festival Part 1" (1970 single version A-side) – 3:59
- "Memory of a Free Festival Part 2" (1970 single version B-side) – 3:31
The album was reissued again in 1999 by EMI, without bonus tracks but with 24-bit digitally
remastered sound and retaining the original "Don't Sit Down". The Japanese mini LP replicates the cover of the original Philips
LP.
Personnel
Album cover variations
1969 Mercury issue (U.S.)
|
|
|
Charts
Album
| Year |
Chart |
Position |
| 1972 |
UK Albums chart |
17 |
| 1973 |
Billboard Pop Albums |
16 |
Single
| Year |
Single |
Chart |
Position |
| 1969 |
"Space Oddity" |
UK Singles Chart |
5 |
| 1973 |
"Space Oddity" |
Billboard Pop Singles |
15 |
| 1975 |
"Space Oddity" |
UK Singles Chart |
1 |
Notes
- ^ a
b c d Roy Carr &
Charles Shaar Murray (1981). Bowie: An Illustrated Record: pp.28-29
- ^ a b c d David Buckley (1999). Strange Fascination - David Bowie: The
Definitive Story: pp.36-79
- ^ Nicholas Pegg (2000). The
Complete David Bowie: p.257
- ^
- ^ Nicholas Pegg (2000). Ibid: p.227
- ^ a b Nicholas Pegg (2000). Ibid: p.57
- ^ a b Christopher Sandford (1996, 1997). Loving the Alien:
p.60
- ^ Nicholas Pegg (2000). Op Cit: pp.141-2
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