Once again, the late great David Bowie will be honoured with a new box set this year. This time around the set is titled Spying Through a Keyhole (Demos and Unreleased Songs), and it will shine a light on his early Space Oddity era.
The set will contain a selection of 7-inch singles, gathering up a total of nine rare recordings. While the box set so far doesn't have a release date, it will arrive this spring via Parlophone Records.
A press release explains, the title Spying Through a Keyhole "is a lyric taken from the previously unknown song: 'Love All Around.'" And while most of the tracks on the box are known to fans, these versions — made up of solo vocal and acoustic home demo performances — have never been officially released on a physical format. However, the tracks on the box were previously available on streaming services in December for a limited time.
The press release adds the following:
Due to the nature of some of the solo home demos where Bowie accompanied himself on acoustic guitar, the recording quality isn't always of a usual studio fidelity. This is partly due to David's enthusiastic strumming hitting the red on a couple of the tracks, along with the limitations of the original recording equipment and tape degradation. However, the historical importance of these songs and the fact that the selections are from an archive of tracks cleared for release by Bowie, overrides this shortcoming.
Down below, you can see the tracklist, as well as some song notes provided by Parlophone. The box set will arrive as a limited vinyl-only package initially, though the recordings may appear on other formats in the future, according to the label.
You can learn more about the set here.
Spying Through a Keyhole (Demos and Unreleased Songs):
Mother Grey (demo)
This mid-tempo tale of a fledgling son fleeing the nest features multi-tracked vocals, guitars and harmonica from David.
In The Heat Of The Morning (demo)
A well-known early Bowie song but presented here in demo form with final lyrics.
Goodbye 3d (Threepenny) Joe (demo)
A charming demo from 1968.
Love All Around (demo)
A delightful love song from whence the title of this collection came: "I see a pop tune spying through a keyhole from the other room."
London Bye, Ta-Ta (demo)
An early demo version of the song with completely different lyrics in a couple of the verses compared to those of the later full band versions.
Angel, Angel, Grubby Face (demo version 1)
The first and only previously known demo of this song.
Angel, Angel, Grubby Face (demo version 2)
A later version of the same song with alternative lyrics.
Space Oddity (demo excerpt)
The lyric and arrangement variations lend weight to the theory that this is possibly the first ever recorded demo of one of Bowie's most famous songs.
Space Oddity (demo - alternative lyrics) (with Hutch)
Originally conceived as a song for a duo to perform, this is the first known version to feature John 'Hutch' Hutchinson again with lyric and arrangement variations.
The set will contain a selection of 7-inch singles, gathering up a total of nine rare recordings. While the box set so far doesn't have a release date, it will arrive this spring via Parlophone Records.
A press release explains, the title Spying Through a Keyhole "is a lyric taken from the previously unknown song: 'Love All Around.'" And while most of the tracks on the box are known to fans, these versions — made up of solo vocal and acoustic home demo performances — have never been officially released on a physical format. However, the tracks on the box were previously available on streaming services in December for a limited time.
The press release adds the following:
Due to the nature of some of the solo home demos where Bowie accompanied himself on acoustic guitar, the recording quality isn't always of a usual studio fidelity. This is partly due to David's enthusiastic strumming hitting the red on a couple of the tracks, along with the limitations of the original recording equipment and tape degradation. However, the historical importance of these songs and the fact that the selections are from an archive of tracks cleared for release by Bowie, overrides this shortcoming.
Down below, you can see the tracklist, as well as some song notes provided by Parlophone. The box set will arrive as a limited vinyl-only package initially, though the recordings may appear on other formats in the future, according to the label.
You can learn more about the set here.
Spying Through a Keyhole (Demos and Unreleased Songs):
Mother Grey (demo)
This mid-tempo tale of a fledgling son fleeing the nest features multi-tracked vocals, guitars and harmonica from David.
In The Heat Of The Morning (demo)
A well-known early Bowie song but presented here in demo form with final lyrics.
Goodbye 3d (Threepenny) Joe (demo)
A charming demo from 1968.
Love All Around (demo)
A delightful love song from whence the title of this collection came: "I see a pop tune spying through a keyhole from the other room."
London Bye, Ta-Ta (demo)
An early demo version of the song with completely different lyrics in a couple of the verses compared to those of the later full band versions.
Angel, Angel, Grubby Face (demo version 1)
The first and only previously known demo of this song.
Angel, Angel, Grubby Face (demo version 2)
A later version of the same song with alternative lyrics.
Space Oddity (demo excerpt)
The lyric and arrangement variations lend weight to the theory that this is possibly the first ever recorded demo of one of Bowie's most famous songs.
Space Oddity (demo - alternative lyrics) (with Hutch)
Originally conceived as a song for a duo to perform, this is the first known version to feature John 'Hutch' Hutchinson again with lyric and arrangement variations.
