Product Description

SPACE ODDITY was the first record on which David Bowie looked and sounded like the Bowie whom the world has come to know. One glance at the spooky, androgynous face that adorns the record was enough to signal that the Anthony Newley-influenced, light-pop singer who sang the novelty number "The Laughing Gnome" a few years earlier was a thing of the past. Leaving behind the mannered, English music hall-isms of his initial recordings, Bowie roughened up the sound, creating a ragged, eclectic mix of folk and rock tinged with electronic sounds. The record yielded his first American hit, and began the singer's soon-to-be meteoric rise to international rock icon-hood.
The title track, a sci-fi mini-epic, is an enduring classic in which Bowie squeezes every bit of drama from both his dour low range and the soaring upper reaches of his voice. Even after decades of continued airplay, "Space Oddity" is surprising for its intricate arrangement, nifty guitar playing, and palpable sense of interplanetary estrangement. Other fine and lesser-known musical moments include the sublimely subdued "Letter to Hermione", and the sprawling and strange "Memory of a Free Festival".

Track Listing

1. Space Oddity
2. Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed
3. Don't Sit Down
4. Letter To Hermione
5. Cygnet Committee
6. Janine
7. Occasional Dream
8. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud
9. God Knows I'm Good
10. Memory Of A Free Festival

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1895 in Music
• Released on: 1999-09-06
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

Amazon.co.uk Review
This 1969 release features David Bowie's first hit single, "Space Oddity," and sets the tone for the spacey Ziggy Stardust to come. But other than the title track, Space Oddity isn't a glam-rock album. For that phase, one must move ahead to 1970's The Man Who Sold the World. These folk-based tracks largely present Bowie as a surrealist singer-songwriter. The uncharacteristically bitter and sarcastic "Letter to Hermione" is the most impassioned track here, presenting, as it does, the angry side of this master of cool. While still earlier recordings are noted for their Anthony Newley affectations, Space Oddity is where the Bowie myth begins to take shape. --Rob O'Connor

Customer Reviews

Bowie's most 'loved-up' album for sure
Having been a fan of his music since I was eight years old (Starman on Top Of The Pops in 1972!) I have now decided the time is right to do a little review of all his albums on Amazon. As a naive and impressionable child, I had no concept of the chronology of Bowie's work, and didnt actually hear this album until the summer of '77, by which time he was light years beyond it, and about to release 'Heroes' Fooled by the RCA reissue sleeve (with a Ziggy era photo on the cover) and not having read the countless Bowie biographies I have read since, it was easy to assume that this album was recorded by the superstar Bowie, not the 1969 Bowie who had been trying for years for a hit single without success, and whose first album had bombed. Of course the title track here was a hit, but tended to be written off as a Novelty Hit - besides, as any other 1970s kid knows, the song Space Oddity is far more 'Summer of 75' (when it was reissued and gave Bowie his first Number 1 hit) than 'Summer Of 69' The album built around it was not even called 'Space Oddity' at first, merely 'David Bowie', errmm, as was his first album. It was renamed Space Oddity by RCA when they acquired the rights and reissued it in the wake of Bowie's success.

Reviews on Amazon are basically a chance to give your own personal view, so here goes..... the 12 year old Me absolutely adored this album. Songs written in sadness at the demise of Bowie's love affair with Hermione Farthingale (Letter To Hermione, An Occasional Dream) are beautiful, achy and dreamlike - they were the very soundtrack to my own first ever crush I had on a girl at school at the time! There is great storybook narrative and some superb string arrangements on 'Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud'. The epic 'Cygent Committee' blew me away at the time, but now is a bit of a guilty pleasure (although I still love the 'I WANT TO LIVVVV-AAAH' at the climax!) as is the Hey Jude like chant at the end of the somewhat twee but still enjoyable 'Memory Of A Free Festival'. There is a genuinely sad tale of a poor old lady being reduced to shop lifting and being pinched for nicking a tin of 'stewing steak' (excellent, Bowie, excellent) probably from Wavy Line or Super VG, called 'God Know's I'm Good' and the brilliant 'Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed' which prompted me (again back in 1977) to wander into he kitchen and ask my Mum what a 'phallus in pigtails' was!

By no means Bowie's best album, but still pretty wonderful nevertheless, this album is probably best described by a lyric from 'Free Festival' ie it is 'rugged and naive' Buy this, play it a few times, and then find yourself singing 'The Sun Machine Is Coming Down and We're Gonna Have A Party, Uh Huh Huh' the next time you feel particularly positive about life!

We scanned the skies with rainbow eyes...
A wonderful piece of work - with Bowie still finding his way and producing some superb folky, hippie, Dylanesque (is that a word) masterpieces. Some great acoustic work, too. Letter to Hermione is concerned with David being ditched by Hermione Farthingale and is a gorgeous track. Cygnet committee is like nothing else you will ever hear and contains the chilling line, 'screw up your brother or he'll get you in the end.' Bowie screams out the words in such anguish. An occasional dream is peaceful, dreamy stuff, and God knows I'm Good an ingenious little song about an old lady caught shoplifting, again with some great guitar. Aside of the famous title track, there is another mini epic in The Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud where a doomed prisoner reflects on life the night before the gallows, and calls to the sky to save him. The climax of the album, though, come at the end, where it should be. Memory of a Free Festival is awesome, awesome. I would have it played at my funeral. If Bowie's lyrics are doubted, consider:
'We scanned the skies with rainbow eyes and saw machines of every shape and size,
We talked with tall Venusians passing through,
And Peter tried to climb aboard but the captain shook his head
And away they soared,
Climbing through the ivory vibrant cloud,
Someone passed some bliss (dope) among the crowd,
And we walked back to the road ..... unchained ...'

The song then plays out in a similar way to Hey Jude with 'the sun machine is coming down and we're goanna have a party.'

Buy this album and listen to it without distraction to really appreciate the true depth and genius of this man's work. And better was to come.

Another great Bowie album
In my opinion Space oddity is a great Bowie album but not the best of his career as I think this goes to Ziggy stardust followed by Hunky dory. I personally prefer Diamond Dogs to this album which may surprise a few Bowie fans out there but this album is great none the less. Standout tracks are the lead single itself as well as Memory of a free festival, Janine and Wild eyed boy from freecloud. Another top Bowie album as all of his early albums are.