David Bowie - Space Oddity

Space Oddity is the second studio album by English musician David Bowie, originally released in November 1969 under the title David Bowie via Philips in the UK, and as Man of Words/Man of Music via Mercury in the US.

David Bowie was rereleased in 1972 via RCA Records as Space Oddity, the title of the opening track, which had reached No. 5 in the UK Singles Chart. 

In 1999 EMI and Virgin Records re-released the album with the 30-year old 1969 cover, but with the 1972 Space Oddity title.

In 2009 for the 40th Anniversary edition it was re-released by EMI and Virgin with title and cover art exactly the same as the original UK release. Finally, in 2019 for the 50^th Anniversary, the album was reissued as Space Oddity with a new mix by Tony Visconti.

The album came about after Bowie had made the transition from a cabaret/avant-garde-inspired musician to a hippie/folk-based sound and as such the album is a major turning point from his 1967 debut.

Space Oddity featured a notable list of collaborators, including session players Herbie Flowers, Tim Renwick, Terry Cox, and Rick Wakeman, as well as cellist Paul Buckmaster, multi-instrumentalist and producer Tony Visconti.

Before recording for the album commenced at Trident Studios, the song “Space Oddity” had been selected as the lead single based on an earlier demo.  “Space Oddity” was produced by Gus Dudgeon with a wonderful string arrangement by Paul Buckmaster. Tony Visconti produced all the remaining songs on the album.

On 17 April 2020 the album was released as a very special limited picture disc version of the 1972 edition of the David Bowie album retitled as Space Oddity. The picture disc features the iconic Ziggy Stardust era artwork and comes with a replica of the poster which was part of the package at that time. The November 1972 reissue of David Bowie was released in the wake of Bowie's breakthrough The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and in chart terms outstripped the original, #17 in the UK chart and #16 in the United States.

The picture disc features the 2009 40th anniversary remaster of the album which was undertaken to match as closely as possible the original vinyl issue.

This album is a 2020 reissue as a limited edition picture disc housed in a die cut sleeve with poster, pressed in Europe via Parlophone Records.