Bowie Mercury Demos LP box on 28th June 2019

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Markyp, Apr 25, 2019.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Markyp

    Markyp Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louth
    The ‘Mercury’ Demos LP box due in June
    I can’t see a thread on this yet but another Bowie demos set. This time a single LP



    “I recall how we lived on the corner of a bed”

    DAVID BOWIE (WITH JOHN ‘HUTCH’ HUTCHINSON)

    THE 'MERCURY’ DEMOS 1 LP BOX SET FEATURING PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED DAVID BOWIE RECORDINGS

    RELEASED ON PARLOPHONE 28th JUNE 2019

    As part of the ongoing celebrations marking 50 years since David Bowie’s first hit, Space Oddity, 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.

    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 accompaniment from John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson on guitar and vocals.

    The version of ‘Space Oddity’ from the Demos, originally released with edits on the Sound & Vision boxset, is presented here in its true context for the first time. The other nine recordings on the album are all previously unreleased. In addition to Bowie originals, the session also includes the Roger Bunn composition 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 nineteen second section sung to the melody of The Beatles’ Hey Jude.

    The session was a basic recording of the ‘Bowie & Hutch’ duo’s 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. Both Calvin and Bob are referenced during the 41-minute recording, and the demos were key in securing David his recording deal with Mercury Records.

    The ‘Mercury’ Demos set will come in a replica of the original tape box and will feature 1 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.

    LP Tracklisting

    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

    Musicians

    David Bowie – vocals, guitar and Stylophone

    John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson – vocals and guitar



    The ‘Mercury’ Demos LP is mono and plays at 33 1/3 rpm. It is released on Parlophone on 28th June 2019.
     
    jfeldt, gomen ne and phillyal1 like this.
  2. phillyal1

    phillyal1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    philadelphia, pa.
  3. Daniel Plainview

    Daniel Plainview God's Lonely Man

  4. Daniel Plainview

    Daniel Plainview God's Lonely Man

    I'm a little more enthusiastic about this one as at least it's an LP and no more of this box of 45s crap. As long as the "box" doesn't make the price unreasonable I'll be on board this time.

    Getting Bowie stuff at a breakneck pace now! Hopefully the 50th anniversary of anything will lead to a release of some sort!
     
  5. phillyal1

    phillyal1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    philadelphia, pa.
    I was thinking of two songs "When I'm 5" and ' Ching -a ling' . I always thought they were demos in the possession of his first manager ken Pitt on that particular lp.
     
  6. Phillip Walch

    Phillip Walch Forum Resident

    Hopefully this means that Parlophone had awful sales for the 7" boxes and have reverted to a more demo friendly format.
     
    DTK likes this.
  7. aphexj

    aphexj Sound mind & body

    Unlikely, since only one of them is even out and it was just shipped a few weeks ago. They probably just wanted to group them in three sets — I expect we'll see more after this, the Hunky Dory/Ziggy era demos would be a treat
     
  8. Colocally

    Colocally One Of The New Wave Boys

    Location:
    Surrey BC.
    When I'm 5 was actually a BBC session recording that they then used for the Love You Til Tuesday movie, Ching a Ling on LYTT is also not a demo but a fully recorded track. Both songs were filmed for inclusion in that so with Bowie's intent.


    I have waited over 30 years to get this recording officially, it has always been one of my favourite boots, I just love listening to Bowie and Hutch perform as a duo.
     
    phillyal1 likes this.
  9. Phillip Walch

    Phillip Walch Forum Resident

    That's a fair point. I like the content, just not the delivery. I will be in for this new offering.
     
  10. footprintsinthesand

    footprintsinthesand Reasons to be cheerful part 1

    Location:
    Dutch mountains
    They probably ran out of the fake acetate 7" labels, or just wanna test if they can charge just about the same for one 12" with one print, two contact sheets and the inevitable box.
     
    Phillip Walch, TonyCzar and gomen ne like this.
  11. RobCooper

    RobCooper Cobwebs & Strange

    Location:
    Essex, UK
    I was enthusiastic till I saw the £85.99 pre-order price on Amazon.co.uk
     
    RAZORMADE, Ludger, Jmac1979 and 3 others like this.
  12. Colocally

    Colocally One Of The New Wave Boys

    Location:
    Surrey BC.
    I can't even find it on Amazon
     
  13. MHP

    MHP Lover of Rock ‘n Roll

    Location:
    DK
    Why are people always taking the pre-order price in the beginning for granted? 99% of the time, the price will come down to normal when it gets closer to the release date. Patience, please. Or maybe people are just enjoying to complain?
     
    davenav, Mazzy and joeislive like this.
  14. RobCooper

    RobCooper Cobwebs & Strange

    Location:
    Essex, UK
    I think I’m one person, rather than the voice of the people... I was merely expressing that the current pre-order price was a little dampener on my excitement for something that I hope will be an upgrade of the bootleg recordings I’ve loved for some time!
     
    FourWalledWorld likes this.
  15. RobCooper

    RobCooper Cobwebs & Strange

    Location:
    Essex, UK
  16. Daniel Plainview

    Daniel Plainview God's Lonely Man

  17. FourWalledWorld

    FourWalledWorld Forum Resident

    I have little to no interest in yet another demos cash-in but £86 surely has to be a mistake?
     
    RobCooper likes this.
  18. Jmac1979

    Jmac1979 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    The whole copyright extension law was an unintended godsend to us fans. Think of how much we're going to be blessed with in the next twenty years with not just Bowie but so many other artists as well.
     
    RobCooper likes this.
  19. onlyconnect

    onlyconnect The prose and the passion

    Location:
    Winchester, UK
    We don't have to buy it. I certainly won't (at that price).

    Tim
     
  20. gomen ne

    gomen ne -

    Location:
    London
    FourWalledWorld and RobCooper like this.
  21. RobCooper

    RobCooper Cobwebs & Strange

    Location:
    Essex, UK
    £89.99 on Rough Trade too.... looks like that’s the RRP. Interesting to see what this comes up when it appears in Europe/US stores!
     
    gomen ne and FourWalledWorld like this.
  22. TonyCzar

    TonyCzar Forum Resident

    Location:
    PhIladelphia, PA
    I'm guessing these are copyright-preservation exercises.
     
    FourWalledWorld likes this.
  23. Colocally

    Colocally One Of The New Wave Boys

    Location:
    Surrey BC.
    The price of this is so disappointing. :(
     
    gomen ne likes this.
  24. TonyCzar

    TonyCzar Forum Resident

    Location:
    PhIladelphia, PA
    Doesn't the "fun" stop in 1972? (Been a while since I kept up with copyright law changes...)
     
  25. Colocally

    Colocally One Of The New Wave Boys

    Location:
    Surrey BC.
    As The Beach Boys show, they can be done without gouging fans like this.
     
    aphexj likes this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine