“You’ve really made the grade”
Fifty years ago this week, Disc magazine’s long-time Bowie champion, Penny Valentine, made Space Oddity her record of the year in the Christmas 1969 issue of the weekly music mag. (Cover date December 27, 1969)
“Best commercial pop single of the year? Well without a shadow of a doubt that honour goes to David Bowie and “Space Oddity” — no matter what came before or after. It stood head and shoulders above the bunch. And it gritted its teeth and fought for three months to prove it.”
Penny had been praising the pre-success Bowie over the years and in fact she was responsible for David’s first ever cover feature/interview which we told you about recently. Her love of Space Oddity only cemented her belief that Bowie would amount to something special.
She had also previously praised the record upon its release:
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David Bowie Space Oddity single review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo. (Published July 10, 1969. Cover date July 12, 1969)
David Bowie – an amazing sound!
I have a bet on in the office that this is going to be a huge hit – and knock everyone senseless. There are disbelievers among us! David Bowie has always been talented but had a nasty knack of sounding like Tony Newley. Good records came from him but nothing to actually make you fall over. This does though. In fact I listened spellbound throughout, panting to know the outcome of poor Major Tom and his trip into the outer hemisphere. Apart from that – and some really clever lyrics – the sound is amazing. Mr. Bowie sounds like the Bee Gees on their best record – "New York Mining Disaster" – and has managed to arrange the backing to sound like a cross between the Moody Blues, Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel. It's obviously going to do well in America, which is nice. OUT TOMORROW
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So thanks for the support, Penny, and for seeing the value of David Bowie a long time before most.
Sadly, Penny died aged 59 on 9th January 2003, but not before she saw her predictions come true. Here’s the concluding paragraph from that first ever cover feature/interview:
““Space Oddity” is the first tenuous link in a long chain that will make David Bowie one of the biggest assets, and one of the most important people British music has produced in a long long time.”
#SpaceOddity50 #DBCP2019 #PennyValentine