NEWS: David Bowie’s 1969 Subject of Latest Box Set
Get all the raw details for this 5-CD set, Conversation Piece, due out November 15th
For all of us who thought clearly the next Bowie box would have been focused on his work between 1989 and 1993, which would have given us all three incredibly underrated Tin Machine albums plus 1993’s “return-to-form” LP Black Tie, White Noise, we were hit with quite the swerve when Parlophone recently announced their plans to make the late, great Duke’s early years the focus of this year’s set.
Here’s what we know: Conversation Piece is a five CD box set tracking David’s early development throughout 1968 and 1969, to include his home demos, BBC radio sessions, studio recordings with guitarist John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson and the experimental mime group, Feathers. The collection also serves double duty by celebrating the 50th anniversaries of the release of the Space Oddity single and David’s second album, David Bowie (aka Space Oddity), newly mixed by Bowie’s longtime producer Tony Visconti.
Meanwhile, the 120 page hardback book accompanying the box features exclusive memorabilia from the personal collection of David’s former manager, the late Ken Pitt, as well as from the David Bowie Archive®, and includes photos by Ray Stevenson, Vernon Dewhurst, David Bebbington, Ken Pitt, Alec Byrne, Tony Visconti and Jojanneke Claasen. The sleeve notes themselves have been written for the release by Bowie experts Mark Adams, Tris Penna and Kevin Cann along with contributions from David’s lifelong friend George Underwood, Tony Visconti, Vernon Dewhurst, Dana Gillespie and John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson.
“It was so much fun to find hidden gems of musicianship with more time to mix the second time around,” Visconti stated in the press release announcing the box, “a guitar twiddle here, a trombone blast there, Marc Bolan’s voice in a group choir and more detail in general that we overlooked all those years ago when the label gave us a week at the most to mix this album. And in the details you will find 22 year old David Bowie, who would soon take the world by storm.”
CD 1 – HOME DEMOS
“April’s Tooth Of Gold” *
“The Reverend Raymond Brown (Attends The Garden Fête On Thatchwick Green)”*
“When I’m Five” *
“Mother Grey”
“In The Heat Of The Morning”
“Goodbye 3d (Threepenny) Joe”
“Love All Around”
“London Bye, Ta-Ta”
“Angel Angel Grubby Face” (Version 1)
“Angel Angel Grubby Face” (Version 2)
“Animal Farm”*
“Space Oddity” (Solo Demo Fragment)
“Space Oddity” (Version 1) With John “Hutch” Hutchinson
“Space Oddity” (Version 2) With John “Hutch” Hutchinson *
“Space Oddity” (Version 3) With John “Hutch” Hutchinson
“Lover To The Dawn” With John “Hutch” Hutchinson
“Ching-a-Ling” With John “Hutch” Hutchinson
“An Occasional Dream” With John “Hutch” Hutchinson
“Let Me Sleep Beside Yo”u With John “Hutch” Hutchinson
“Life Is A Circus” With John “Hutch” Hutchinson
“Conversation Piece” *
“Jerusalem” *
“Hole In The Ground” With George Underwood *
CD 2 – The ‘Mercury’ Demos (With John “Hutch” Hutchinson)
“Space Oddity”
“Janine”
“An Occasional Dream”
“Conversation Piece”
“Ching-a-Ling”
“I’m Not Quite (aka Letter To Hermione)”
“Lover To The Dawn”
“Love Song”
“When I’m Five”
“Life Is A Circus”
CD 3 – Conversation Pieces (Mono)
“In The Heat Of The Morning” (Decca Mono Version)
“London Bye, Ta-Ta” (Decca Alternative Version)
BBC Top Gear Radio Session With The Tony Visconti Orchestra, Recorded 13th May, 1968
“In The Heat Of The Morning”
“London Bye, Ta-Ta”
“Karma Man”
“When I’m Five”
“Silly Boy Blue”
“Ching-a-Ling”
“Space Oddity” (Morgan Studios Version – Alternative Take) With John “Hutch” Hutchinson *
“Space Oddity” (U.K. Single Edit)
“Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud” (Single B-side – Mono Mix)
“Janine” (Mono Mix)
“Conversation Piece”
BBC Dave Lee Travis Show Radio Session, Recorded 20th October, 1969
“Let Me Sleep Beside You”
“Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed”
“Janine”
CD 4 – 1969 stereo mixes
The Original David Bowie (aka Space Oddity) Album
“Space Oddity”
“Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed (Inc. Don’t Sit Down)”
“Letter To Hermione”
“Cygnet Committee”
“Janine”
“An Occasional Dream”
“Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud”
“God Knows I’m Good”
“Memory Of A Free Festival”
The Extras
“Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud” (Single B-side Stereo Mix)
“Letter To Hermione” (Early Mix) *
“Janine” (Early Mix) *
“An Occasional Dream” (Early Mix) *
“Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola” (Full Length Version)
CD 5 – 2019 mixes (all previously unreleased)
The Space Oddity Album
“Space Oddity”
“Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed”
“Letter To Hermione”
“Cygnet Committee”
“Janine”
“An Occasional Dream”
“Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud”
“Conversation Piece”
“God Knows I’m Good”
“Memory Of A Free Festival”
The Extras
“Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud” (Single Version)
“Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola”
VIDEO: David Bowie “Space Oddity” (2019 mix)
Ron Hart is the Editor-in-Chief of Rock and Roll Globe. Reach him on Twitter @MisterTribune.
Latest posts by Ron Hart (see all)
- WATCH: Adam Birnbaum Digs Bach - September 26, 2023
- LISTEN: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Shares New Song “Terror’s Pillow” (Live) - September 23, 2023
- LISTEN: Saruna are Seattle’s Latest Soul Purveyors - September 21, 2023
You May Also Like
-
September 25, 2020 -
September 13, 2018 -
June 21, 2018
