David Bowie - Man Of Words/Man Of Music [12", LP]

Today it's been exactly five months since DAVID BOWIE passed away.

MAN OF WORDS/MAN OF MUSIC was how the 1969 solo debut album, that was released as s/t ("David Bowie") in Europe, was commonly called in the USA because it had these words written above his name on top of the sleeve on that version. The album would be called "Space Oddity" worldwide from its reissue in 1972 on, when it got another sleeve. This particular edition on blue coloured vinyl was released exclusively for  the Groninger Museum when the David Bowie Is exhibition was there a few months ago. Only 1500 copies were made, just like there were of the other exclusive release for that exhibition: the Amsterdam 7". It's a brilliant album, and of course this limited edition is pretty dear to me. I'm happy that a reissue of the 1969 version with the european artwork was included in the recent Five Years vinyl boxset, and not this one. So now i have all 3 versions of the sleeve, since i already had the 1972 one :)

Label: Parlophone

Cat.nr.: DBISHLP 2015

Year of release: 2015

SIDE A:

01. Space Oddity

02. Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed

03. Letter To Hermione

04. Cygnet Committee

SIDE B:

01. Janine

02. An Occasional Dream

03. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud

04. God Knows I'm Good

05. Memory Of A Free Festival

David Bowie - Amsterdam [7"]

Today it's been exactly a month since DAVID BOWIE passed away.

This particular 7" on clear orange vinyl was exclusively made for the David Bowie Is exhibition in Groningen. AMSTERDAM on the A-side (originally a B-side to the Sorrow single in 1973) was appropriately chosen, since it's the capital of the Netherlands where the exhibition's final stop takes place. Although it remains to be seen if it won't continue travelling the world after the recent developments, of course.

And i have no idea if Bowie himself was involved in choosing the song on the other side, but also MY DEATH turns out to be more or less appropriately chosen, with today's knowledge. The version on this 7" is from the Carnegie Hall concert on September 28th, 1972. It was previously only released on a compilation CD from 1995 called RarestOneBowie. Apparently RCA recorded the show for a Ziggy Stardust live album that was never released. It's funny by the way how the name Bowie is spelled in typical RCA logo letters on the labels, while the release is on Parlophone. Both songs on this single are covers of Jacques Brel songs, and both were frequently played during the Ziggy Stardust tour.

When i was in Groningen in December last year, when the exhibition had just started a week before, both this 7" and the other exclusive release (the Man Of Words, Man Of Music a.k.a. David Bowie a.k.a. Space Oddity album) had already sold out for the first time. That was a huge disappointment. There were 1500 copies made of each, and apparently they would arrive in batches of 500. I heard stories that people had bought 4 or 5 copies each at the time, and flipped them on eBay for up to 10 times the price they paid for them. The thing is that you don't need to have an entrance ticket to enter the shop, so some locals got smart and scored a whole bunch. Luckily when further copies were supplied, the museum shop at least decided to limit them to 1 copy per person. So when a friend of mine (who's actually not even a Bowie fan and certainly not a vinyl collector) visited the exhibition recently, she managed to buy a copy of each release for me.

Unlike many other collectors i'm not keeping these releases sealed for investment. I enjoy looking at them and even playing them at least once or twice. You only live once, you know. Life is too short to not enjoy the records you have standing on the shelves. And with Bowie records, there's simply a lot to enjoy.

Label: Parlophone

Cat.nr.: DBISH 2015

Year of release: 2015

SIDE A:

01. Amsterdam

SIDE B:

01. My Death (live)