“I’ll be your King Volcano”
In the very same week that David Bowie achieved his first ever #1 US single with Fame (September 20th, 1975), RCA issued the Space Oddity EP. Though the original 1969 Philips issue furnished Bowie with his first top five hit in the UK, it was the 1975 reissue that gave him his first #1 UK single.
The 3-track EP was released forty years ago today (September 26th, 1975), and that's the original 1975 UK press advert in our montage, along with Steve Schapiro's beautiful shot and the Yugoslavian sleeve, possibly the only country to utilise the full colour version of the shot, albeit reversed.
It’s easy to see why the single was such a success in the UK and other European territories. Space Oddity was already well-known and loved by even the most casual appreciator of Bowie’s back catalogue, as was one of the bonus tracks, Changes.
However, for the long-term fan, the previously unreleased Ziggy-era song, Velvet Goldmine (from where today’s lyric quotation was lifted), was too hard to resist. Originally recorded in November 1971, Bowie was a little peeved that the recording had been issued without his consent, complaining that it hadn’t even been mixed properly.
David’s reservations aside, the fans weren’t complaining at this 59 new pence, picture sleeve bargain.
#SpaceOddity45