David Bowie: esce ‘The Mercury Demos’, ovvero le demo inedite del 1969

Le demo del 1969 di David Bowie, registrate nell’appartamento di Bowie nel tentativo di assicurarsi un contratto discografico con la Mercury Records, saranno pubblicate con il nome di The Mercury Demos il 28 giugno.

La pubblicazione in vinile sarà composta da dieci canzoni, di cui nove inedite, tra cui le prime versioni di brani che finiranno su Space Oddity come Janine, An Occasional Dream, Letter to Hermione e la stessa Space Oddity. Questa versione è l’unica traccia già pubblicata, perché presente nel cofanetto Sound & Vision.

The Mercury Demos, che Bowie ha registrato insieme al chitarrista John Hutchison, contiene anche una cover di Life Is a Circus di Roger Bunn e di Love Song di Lesley Duncan, poi resa famosa da Elton John.

The Mercury Demos, già disponibili per il preordine sul sito web di Bowie, sarà disponibile in una replica della confezione originale del 1969 – completa della lista di brani scritti a mano (e pieni di errori) di Bowie – e contiene un LP in vinile mono, foto e note varie.

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MERCURY DEMOS LP BOX DUE IN JUNE “I recall how we lived on the corner of a bed…” As part of the ongoing Space Oddity 50 celebrations and following the recent Spying Through A Keyhole and Clareville Grove Demos collections, Parlophone is releasing a further set of recordings known as The ‘Mercury’ Demos on 28th June 2019. The ‘Mercury’ Demos are 10 early Bowie recordings captured live in one take to a Revox reel to reel tape machine in David’s flat in spring 1969, with Bowie on vocals, guitar and Stylophone and with accompaniment from John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson on guitar and vocals. The version of ‘Space Oddity’ from the Demos, originally released with edits on the S&V box, is presented here in its true context for the first time. The other recordings on the album are all previously unreleased. In addition to Bowie originals, the session also includes the Roger Bunn’s Life Is A Circus (which features as an earlier demo version on the Clareville Grove Demos set) and the Lesley Duncan composition, Love Song, later recorded by Elton John for his Tumbleweed Connection album. David’s own Conversation Piece is announced as ‘a new song’ and Janine features a short section sung to the melody of The Beatles’ Hey Jude. The session was a document of the ‘Bowie & Hutch’ duo’s set of the time recorded at the request of Mercury Records A&R man Calvin Mark Lee for his boss Bob Reno. Both Calvin and Bob are referenced during the 41-minute recording which was key in securing David his deal with Mercury Records. The ‘Mercury’ Demos comes in a replica of the original tape box and will feature 1 mono 33 1/3 rpm vinyl LP, a print, two photo contact sheets and sleeve notes by Mark Adams. The labels of the LP feature the same EMIDISC acetate styling as Spying Through A Keyhole and Clareville Grove Demos with the song titles in David’s own handwriting. Side 1 Space Oddity Janine An Occasional Dream Conversation Piece Ching-a-Ling I’m Not Quite (aka Letter To Hermione) Side 2 Lover To The Dawn Love Song When I’m Five Life Is A Circus #BowieTheMercuryDemos

Un post condiviso da David Bowie (@davidbowie) in data: Apr 25, 2019 at 4:58 PDT

The Mercury Demos Track List

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