David Bowie: David Bowie - Space Oddity [PARLOPHONE]

Why you'll love it

This 180g Parlophone pressing uses the 2015 remaster and comes in a matte gatefold jacket with a replica of the original die-cut inner sleeve. The title track was Bowie's first hit, reaching the UK top five.

This edition

• Remastered
• 180g vinyl
• Gatefold jacket
• Replica die-cut inner sleeve
• Pressed in the EU
• Stereo mix

About the album

Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey sent a lot of people out of the cinema thinking about space. David Bowie came out with a song about a fictional astronaut, and Mercury signed him on the strength of it, giving him the money for a whole new album at Trident Studios in London in the summer of 1969. Bowie had demoed several of these songs that spring with guitarist John Hutchinson, including early versions of "Janine" and "An Occasional Dream."

Gus Dudgeon produced "Space Oddity" itself, while Tony Visconti took on the rest, and the sessions brought in Rick Wakeman, Herbie Flowers and the band Junior's Eyes. Leaving the music hall style of his 1967 debut behind, Bowie went for folk rock and psychedelia: "Letter to Hermione" is a gentle note to a former love, "Cygnet Committee" sprawls for nearly ten minutes, and "Memory of a Free Festival" turns a day out in Beckenham into a sing-along finale.

After Ziggy Stardust made him a star, RCA reissued the album as Space Oddity and it charted on both sides of the Atlantic. Major Tom, for his part, has been floating about ever since and shows no sign of wanting to come home.

Also at Kops: more David Bowie on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Parlophone (cat# DB69731), a reissue of the 1969 album.