THE “MERCURY” DEMOS: le demo inedite di David Bowie

Registrazioni inedite di 10 brani di David Bowie, ecco cosa contiene THE “MERCURY” DEMOS

Dopo SPYING e CLAREVILLE, ecco informa di Lp vinilico il 3° e ultimo episodio di questa sorta di serie sul tortuoso percorso di avvicinamento di Bowie alla prima hit Space Oddity. Nulla che gli habitué del mondo dei bootleg non conoscano già, senonché qui la qualità audio è nettamente superiore per via della fonte usata, il master tape da un quarto di pollice originale.

Di poco successivi ai CLAREVILLE GROVE DEMOS – primavera del 1969 – i MERCURY DEMOS tornano a mostrarci Bowie in modalità “folk duo”, intento a imbastire un provino per la Mercury insieme al socio “Hutch” Hutchinson: 10 brani tra cui una Space Oddity ormai definita, versioni acustiche di canzoni vecchie e nuove e due cover incantevoli (Love Song di Lesley Duncan e Life Is A Circus dei Djinn).

 

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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: 25 Apr 2019 alle ore 4:58 PDT

Il fascino di queste incisioni è che è tutto “live”, in presa diretta, con tanto di motteggi tra Hutch e Bowie, il quale non dà l’impressione di prendersi troppo sul serio. Peccato per il prezzo salatissimo, ma non disperate: queste chicche sono già state rese disponibili anche via streaming.

Ecco la tracklist:

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