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)