Space Oddity - David Bowie

...theme of love/loss, the song Space oddity, being the one which went on to become David bowies days of Ziggy Stardust. However, the thing I love about the album, is that all of Bowies songs tell a story.

SPACE ODDITY

1. Space Oddity
2. Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed
3. (Don't Sit Down)
4. Letter to Hermione
5. Cygnet Committee
6. Janine
7. An Occasional Dream
8. Wild ...
...Part 2

Space Oddity was David Bowies first hit single and it was released at exactly the right time, when us lot in the western world dreamed of walking on the moon. The song is a ballad revolving around the astronaut Major Tom (who consequently re-featured in Bowies music over 10 years later). This is a legendary song, and the perfect opening to the album, although, by making this the first song in the album, it may seem that the ... more

I was given this album in 2001 by my uncle who said I would enjoy it.... he wasn't wrong!

This was David Bowies first successful album, and I believe it was the origination of glam rock in 1969. I wasn't even born then, but appreciate it even now. As the reign of the hippies declined, this saw David Bowie changing his original folk-pop style songs to those which saw a mixture of the acoustic and the electronic.

The album features songs, with rich lyrics, all along the theme of love/loss, the song Space oddity, being the one which went on to become David bowies days of Ziggy Stardust. However, the thing I love about the album, is that all of Bowies songs tell a story.

SPACE ODDITY

1. Space Oddity
2. Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed
3. (Don't Sit Down)
4. Letter to Hermione
5. Cygnet Committee
6. Janine
7. An Occasional Dream
8. Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud
9. God Knows I'm Good
10. Memory of a free festival
11. Conversation Piece
12. Memory of a free festival Part 1
13. Memory of a free festival Part 2

Space Oddity was David Bowies first hit single and it was released at exactly the right time, when us lot in the western world dreamed of walking on the moon. The song is a ballad revolving around the astronaut Major Tom (who consequently re-featured in Bowies music over 10 years later). This is a legendary song, and the perfect opening to the album, although, by making this the first song in the album, it may seem that the other songs are relatively poor in comparison.

The excellently titled Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed features next, which continues the folk-rock theme. Following that comes the strange interlude Don't Sit Down, which is quite comical to listen to as this is essentialy Bowies "messing around" for 40 seconds. A pointless addition, but fun nonetheless. Letter to Hermione, which apparently deals with a relationship break up offers a slightly harsher tone. This is picked up later in the contrastingly pleasant An Occasional Dream.

Bowies songs in general feature dubdued but powerful vocals, nowhere is this more apparent than in the song Cygnet Committee, which is the seconf best song on the album. This is a very long song at nine and a half minutes long, and throughout, the tone of the song never changes.However, during the second half of the song, it becomes more impassionate and seems to bring in a lot more instruments, which keeps the enjoyment at its peak.

With its addictive, Elvisesque chorus and fun guitar melody, Janine is a great track to follow, even managing to keep the thoughtful atmosphere that reaches its peak in An Occasional Dream. Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud and God Knows I'm Good are fun folk songs, the former featuring high keyboards adding a strange, artificially uplifting air to the tale and the latter being a simple, unimpressive but enjoyable Bowie ditty.

The last (main) song on the album, Memory of a Free Festival is a seven minute progressive song which features an accordian through the start of it, gradually brings in more and more singing voices until right at the end where it quietens down and then features a solo Bowie before close.

David began his musical career perorming folk tunes under his real name (David Jones). He changed his surname to Bowie to avoid becoming confused with the guy from the Monkees. His first album was released and was self-titled in 1967. However, the tunes on tis album, being mostly folk songs failed to catch on with an audience that was forever looking for new music styles. That was how Space Oddity became popular - he changed his style.

Between the great Summer of Love and the reign of Ziggy Stardust, the young man discussed earlier called David Jones was drifting away from stage-driven theatrical music and trying to change the image that had shrouded him for a number of years. In 1969, he finally hit, with a strangely naive but engrossing song entitled Space Oddity. The lyrics showed very little in the knowledge of space travel, but spoke volumes about the inherent loneliness of an age when such a thing was accomploshed and blithely accepted by the public at large.At the time, Space Oddity (the album, not the song) seemed to suffer a bit from its lack of timeliness.

The album betrayed Bowie's affinity toward Dylan, if not openly, then ceratinly in subtler ways. The wordplay of Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly dazed and Cygnet Comittee simply could not have existed without Dylan's influence. For fans of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, this was an anachronism of the worst kind, a songwriting foible that Bowie had yet to overcome. Seen from todays perspective, however, this album has managed to survive quite nicely. Besides the title track, songs like Janine and God knows I'm good hold up as pleasnat, if not particularly significatn pop music. Believe it or not, the album even contains a blues-based jam (the afore mentioned Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed) that sounds more contemporary now than it did then.

Throughout his career, Bowie has toyed with his image, thus forcing his audience to think, or at least react, to his changes. Space Oddity presents an opportunity for fans to hear Bowie as an "unwashed" young man, searching for his first truly successful identity. It might not appeal to everyone, but anybody who has an appreciation for Bowie's ability to morph himself into various shapes will certainly find themselves fascinated by his first attempts at becoming a rock star.

Audio CD (September 6, 1999)

Number of Discs:1
Label: Emi
ASIN: B00001OH7M
Catalogue Number: 5218980

Price: £6.99 from Play.com

you may also be interested in the following:

Young Americans - David Bowie
Scary Monsters - David Bowie
Heroes - David Bowie
Station to Station - David Bowie
Hunky Dory - David Bowie
Aladdin Sane - David Bowie
The Man who Sold the World - David Bowie
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie

Best Wishes.

Rob.x 

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