David Bowie – David Bowie

From 1967 to 2016 the English musician David Bowie released twenty-six studio albums.

David Bowie, also known as Space Oddity, is the second studio album by British rock musician David Bowie. It was recorded from June to September 1969 and was released on November 4, 1969 on Phillips Records, England label. This album has been released and re-released with various titles and various cover-designs over time. It's generally considered Bowie's first rock album.

The 1969 original versions were released on Philips and titled "David Bowie" while the concurrent North American (US and Canada) releases on Mercury had a strap line "Man Of Words / Man Of Music" at the top of the album. Although Mercury still cataloged it as "David Bowie" it was commonly called by the strap line, and when RCA repackaged and re-released it in 1972, they erroneously referred to this advertising title. Both Philips and Mercury releases use images from the same 1969 portrait photo-shoot on the front cover, but as the Mercury image is a different frame and enlarged the artwork surrounding the portrait was not included.

The 1969 North American Mercury release removes a short hidden track, between "Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed" and 3 "Letter to Hermione". On the UK Philips edition, this piece of music was, as indicated by the groove rills, at the beginning of "Letter to Hermione", yet was timed as being part of "Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed".

In 1972, following Bowie's commercial breakthrough in the United Kingdom, RCA reissued the North American version, without the hidden track. This version was retitled "Space Oddity", after the album's opening track and big hit, and sported a new cover depicting Bowie as Ziggy Stardust. Rear cover art, when including timings, still included the hidden track, even though it was not present on any RCA issue. The altered title and cover art also carried over to RCA's CD reissues of the album in 1984-1985.

In 1990, using the same front cover as the 1972 RCA issue, the album was remastered and re-released by Rykodisc in North America and EMI internationally. This edition not only restored the hidden track, but also named it for the first time - "Don't Sit Down". Most later official editions contain the music as presented on the original 1969 UK Philips album. Since 1997, most do not name the hidden track.

In 1999, EMI and Virgin remastered the album again as part of the David Bowie Series, using the 1969 cover and the 1972 title. Like the other albums in the series, this edition used heavy no-noising to remove tape hiss. In 2009, for the 40th Anniversary edition, it was remastered a third time by EMI and Virgin with title and cover art exactly as the original UK release. In 2015, the album saw a fourth remaster for the boxset [Five Years 1969 - 1973], the inaugural release of Bowie's incumbent remastering campaign by Parlophone Records, who inherited the rights to Bowie's catalog following the dissolution of EMI in 2012. It would later receive a standalone release across formats the following year. This remaster is notorious for its numerous technical issues, and Parlophone later admitted that it wasn't adequately cross-referenced with the original 1969 LP.

In 2019, the album was remixed by Tony Visconti for the 50th anniversary box set Conversation Piece. The remixed version was also issued as a standalone LP and CD edition under the name "Space Oddity". This edition restored the track "Conversation Piece" to the album's running order for the first time, but removed "Don't Sit Down".

The musicians on the album were hired for the sessions and included among others Herbie Flowers, Rick Wakeman, Tony Visconti and members of the band Junior's Eyes, who would act as Bowie's band promoting the album. While the album didn't chart in 1969 and was considered a commercial failure, the 1972 re-release charted in 17th position on the UK charts.