David Bowie Space Oddity

Hello

according to the db, 2 CDs contain "the non-charting 1969 version recorded for Mercury Records." As a longtime Bowie fan, I can tell you all that there is no such version. The 1969 version is the exact same recording that was issued as a single by RCA in 1973. The 3'31" version that is called the "Mercury" version in the db is actually just an edit of the regular album version.

Now there are actually different versions of Space Oddity as at least 4 versions have been released. If you include the different edits, there are many more. There's the "Love You Till Tuesday" version which was never released commercially until 1984. There's the original 1969 version, re-issued as a hit single in 1973. There's a demo version released on the Sound + Vision box set, recorded in 1969 and there's Bowie's 1979 re-recording that was issued as a B-side and later showed up as a bonus track on Scary Monsters. The 4 versions are very easy to differentiate as they all sound very different.

Here's a list of the complete edits as taken from the DB Illustrated Discography...

    * Love You Till Tuesday version - 4'31" (a/o Love You Till Tuesday CD, London Boy)
    * Love You Till Tuesday version - 3'45" edit (a/o Love You Till Tuesday LP, The Deram Anthology)
    * Space Oddity demo #1 (Space Oddity 40th Anniversary Edition)
    * Space Oddity demo #2 (Sound + Vision; with longer spoken introduction)
    * Space Oddity demo - alternate take (bootlegs only)
    * Space Oddity version - 5'14" album version (Space Oddity)
    * Space Oddity version - 3'23" edit (mono version: 1969 US Mercury DJ-133 promo 7", 1969 US Mercury 72949 7", 1972 US RCA EP-45-103 promo 7", Space Oddity EP)
    * Space Oddity version - 3'23" edit (stereo version: 1969 US Mercury DJ-156 promo 7")
    * Space Oddity version - 3'31" edit (The Singles 1969 To 1993)
    * Space Oddity version - 3'53" edit (1973 US RCA 74-0876 promo 7", Space Oddity EP)
    * Space Oddity version - 4'33" edit (1969 Philips BF 1801 7", Space Oddity EP)
    * Italian version - 'Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola' (1969 Italian Philips 704208 BW 7", Space Oddity 40th Anniversary Edition)
    * 1979 remake (a/o 1980 UK RCA BOW 5 7", 1991 Scary Monsters Rykodisc reissue, Space Oddity EP)

If this is way too much info, I apologize :)

The phrase "recorded for Mercury records" could be replaced by "released by Mercury records" to make it completely clear that nothing different was recorded for Mercury.

Jimmy writes:
"according to the db, 2 CDs contain "the non-charting 1969 version recorded for Mercury Records." As a longtime Bowie fan, I can tell you all that there is no such version. The 1969 version is the exact same recording that was issued as a single by RCA in 1973. The 3'31" version that is called the "Mercury" version in the db is actually just an edit of the regular album version."

You're new to our chatroom, but Pat has always defined "version" as a recording that's either been edited or remixed (as opposed to being simply faded early for the 45.) So even though you say the 3:31 recording is an edit, it would still be labeled a 'version' here. All edits are "versions" by Pat's terminology.

BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, as far as I know, there is a 1969 recording of "Space Oddity" that's different from a 1973 recording (which was the hit everyone knows) - thus, the 1969 recording would even be labeled "version" by any sense of the word. I have a promo music video that Bowie made - it is known as the "1969 version" and it contains a completely different recording than the hit version, definitely not a longer unedited version of the recording we all know from the radio and CDs. It has a different vocal, different instrumentation - one recording is not a remix or an edit of the other, but completely different. I've heard this version occasionally and not just from the video I have. So if Bowie did a recording of this in 1969, and it's on an LP or 45 or EP (and not just this music video), then I really think there is a 1969 version, which is completely different from the more famous 1973 version. Does anyone else remember there being two completely different versions of this song, and not just an edit?

If my memory is correct, then I think the entry in Pat's database could be labeled:

"the non-charting original 1969 version released on Mercury Records"

-or simply-

"the non-charting original 1969 version"

Edited by EdisonLite

Just chiming in on the chat board that my 1973 RCA (74-0876) commercial 45's label states 5:05 but in fact runs the full 5:15 LP time. Both the beginning of the long fade-in and the ending of the fade-out are pretty quiet. With all the talk about the 1969 release, and the promo, I don't think that was mentioned here.