DAVID BOWIE
SPACE ODDITY 50th ANNIVERSARY 2 x 7" BOXED SET
FEATURING BRAND NEW TONY VISCONTI MIXES
SPACE ODDITY (2019 MIX - SINGLE EDIT) 1 TRACK DIGITAL SINGLE)
BOTH SET FOR RELEASE ON PARLOPHONE JULY 12
As part of the ongoing celebrations marking 50 years since David Bowie’s first hit, and following the recent Spying Through A Keyhole, Clareville Grove Demos, and The “Mercury" Demos’ collections, Parlophone is releasing a very special double 7” single of “Space Oddity” featuring brand new mixes by Tony Visconti. The vinyl set and a one-track digital release of the single edit of the 2019 mix of “Space Oddity” for streaming and download will be released by Parlophone on July 12, the day after the original single’s 50th anniversary.
The “Space Oddity” 50th anniversary double 7” set will come in a boxed set including a double-sided poster featuring an original “Space Oddity” print advertisement and a Ray Stevenson shot of Bowie taken on stage at the “Save Rave ‘69” concert at the London Palladium on November 30, 1969, the backdrop featuring a N.A.S.A. astronaut. The set also includes an information card and a print featuring an alternative shot by Jojanneke Claassen from the “Space Oddity” promo single cover session.
The cover of the original mono single is the rare U.K. promotional picture sleeve which, along with the label, features the original Philips trademark specifically cleared for this 50th anniversary release. The single itself has been cut from the original analog single master tape. The jacket housing the 2019 mixes by Tony Visconti is a new design featuring an alternative Ray Stevenson shot from the “Save Rave ‘69” concert to that on the poster.
First released as a 7-inch single on July 11, 1969, “Space Oddity” was also the opening track of David Bowie’s self-titled second studio album David Bowie. Initially inspired by Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the song gained a huge popularity when it was adopted as the unofficial theme of the Apollo 11 moon landing mission that launched five days after the single’s release.
Over the past 50 years, “Space Oddity” has been on a journey as endless as that of its main character Major Tom. Originally written and demoed in November 1968, the song has gone through many guises from appearing in the television film special Love You Til Tuesday in an earlier recorded incarnation with John “Hutch” Hutchinson, to being recorded in Italian ("Ragazzo solo, Ragazza sola”), winning an Ivor Novello Special Award for Originality in May 1970. The song was Bowie’s first hit on both sides of the Atlantic: #5 in the U.K. in 1969, #1 in the U.K. in 1975, and #15 in the U.S. in 1973. In 2013, it became the first music video shot in space when it was performed by Canadian astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield, while aboard the International Space Station. Major Tom continued to be a motif for Bowie throughout his career, revisiting the character in the songs “Ashes to Ashes,” “Hallo Spaceboy,” and in the music video for "★”.
Further news of moments and events celebrating the anniversary of this very special song will follow.
SPACE ODDITY (ONE TRACK DIGITAL SINGLE)
“Space Oddity” (2019 Mix - Single Edit)
2019 mix by Tony Visconti, March 2019
DAVID BOWIE
SPACE ODDITY (2 x 7” SINGLE BOXED SET)
Track List
Single 1
Side A
“Space Oddity” (Original Mono Single Edit)
Side B
“Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud” (Original Mono Single Version)
Single 2
Side A
“Space Oddity” (2019 Mix - Single Edit)
2019 mix by Tony Visconti, March 2019
Side B
“Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud” (2019 Mix - Single Version)
2019 mix by Tony Visconti, March 2019
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