{"id":485149,"date":"2019-04-26T12:28:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-26T18:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=827917"},"modified":"2019-04-26T12:28:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-26T18:28:00","slug":"david-bowies-unreleased-1969-mercury-demos-to-be-released-on-vinyl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/david-bowies-unreleased-1969-mercury-demos-to-be-released-on-vinyl\/","title":{"rendered":"David Bowie\u2019s Unreleased 1969 \u2018Mercury Demos\u2019 to Be Released on Vinyl"},"content":{"rendered":"
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David Bowie<\/a>\u2019s 1969 demo tape, recorded in an effort to secure a record contract with Mercury Records, will be released as The Mercury Demos<\/em> on June 28th.<\/p>\n

The 10-song vinyl release, featuring nine unreleased tracks, feature early versions of Space Oddity<\/em> tracks like \u201cJanine,\u201d \u201cAn Occasional Dream,\u201d \u201cLetter to Hermione\u201d and \u201cSpace Oddity\u201d; the version of \u201cSpace Oddity\u201d here previously featured on the Sound & Vision box set, the lone recording from The Mercury Demos that has been released.<\/p>\n

The Mercury Demos<\/em>, which Bowie recorded alongside guitarist John Hutchison, also features covers of Roger Bunn\u2019s \u201cLife Is a Circus\u201d and the Lesley Duncan-penned \u201cLove Song,\u201d later popularized by Elton John. Pre-Space Oddity<\/em> tracks like \u201cChing-a-Ling\u201d and \u201cLover to the Dawn\u201d are also included.<\/p>\n

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View this post on Instagram<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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MERCURY DEMOS LP BOX DUE IN JUNE \u201cI recall how we lived on the corner of a bed\u2026\u201d 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 \u2018Mercury\u2019 Demos on 28th June 2019. The \u2018Mercury\u2019 Demos are 10 early Bowie recordings captured live in one take to a Revox reel to reel tape machine in David\u2019s flat in spring 1969, with Bowie on vocals, guitar and Stylophone and with accompaniment from John \u2018Hutch\u2019 Hutchinson on guitar and vocals. The version of \u2018Space Oddity\u2019 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\u2019s 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\u2019s own Conversation Piece is announced as \u2018a new song\u2019 and Janine features a short section sung to the melody of The Beatles\u2019 Hey Jude. The session was a document of the \u2018Bowie & Hutch\u2019 duo\u2019s 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 \u2018Mercury\u2019 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\u2019s own handwriting. Side 1 Space Oddity Janine An Occasional Dream Conversation Piece Ching-a-Ling I\u2019m Not Quite (aka Letter To Hermione) Side 2 Lover To The Dawn Love Song When I\u2019m Five Life Is A Circus #BowieTheMercuryDemos<\/a><\/p>\n

A post shared by David Bowie<\/a> (@davidbowie) on

\u201cThe session was a basic recording of the \u2018Bowie & Hutch\u2019 duo\u2019s set list at the time and was committed to tape at the request of Mercury Records A&R man Calvin Mark Lee who wanted the tracks to send them to his boss Bob Reno,\u201d Bowie\u2019s site said of the release. \u201cBoth Calvin and Bob are referenced during the 41-minute recording, and the demos were key in securing David his recording deal with Mercury Records.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mercury Demos<\/em>, available to preorder now through Bowie\u2019s website<\/a>, comes in a replica of the original tape box \u2013 complete with Bowie\u2019s own handwritten (and error-filled) track list \u2013 and features a mono 33 1\/3 rpm vinyl LP, a print, two photo contact sheets and sleeve notes.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Parlophone released a collection of Bowie demo recordings made in 1968, Spying Through a Keyhole<\/em><\/a>. The Clareville Grove Demos<\/em>, a collection of six songs spread across three 7\u2033 singles, arrived earlier this year.<\/p>\n

The Mercury Demos<\/em> Track List<\/strong><\/p>\n

Space Oddity
Janine
An Occasional Dream
Conversation Piece
Ching-a-Ling
I\u2019m Not Quite (aka Letter To Hermione)
Lover To The Dawn
Love Song
When I\u2019m Five
Life Is A Circus<\/span><\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Bowie\u2019s 1969 demo tape, recorded in an effort to secure a record contract with Mercury Records, will be released as The Mercury Demos on June 28th. The 10-song vinyl release, featuring nine unreleased tracks, feature early versions of Space Oddity tracks like \u201cJanine,\u201d \u201cAn Occasional Dream,\u201d \u201cLetter to Hermione\u201d and \u201cSpace Oddity\u201d; the version […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-485149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 04:10:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KQZR - The Reel","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}