Another vinyl box set of David Bowie demos has been announced by his estate, following the recent announcement of a first box, Spying Through a Keyhole, this spring.
Clareville Grove Demos will feature six additional 1969 home recordings (four previously unreleased), all performed with singer/guitarist John "Hutch" Hutchinson, his former cohort in the trio Feathers (alongside then-girlfriend Hermione Farthingale). Several of these tracks were heard in final form on Bowie's self-titled 1969 album, including "Space Oddity," "An Occasional Dream" and "Cygnet Committee" (known here as "Lover To The Dawn"). A different demo of "Ching-a-Ling" appeared on the 2010 deluxe edition of Bowie's 1967 self-titled album for Deram Records, while "Let Me Sleep Beside You" is well-known, particularly when it was dusted off at the turn of the 21st century for inclusion on the unissued Toy album (that version appears on the compilation Nothing Has Changed).
The six songs are pressed on three mono 45 RPM records with minimal sleeve and label design recalling the acetates Bowie himself would handle when these songs were pressed. His then-manager Ken Pitt took the cover photo as well as a print that appears in the box.
A release date has not yet been set and pre-order links have yet to appear, but the track list is below.
David Bowie with John "Hutch" Hutchinson, Clareville Grove Demos (Parlophone, 2019)
Single 1: Space Oddity b/w Lover To The Dawn
Single 2: Ching-a-Ling b/w An Occasional Dream
Single 3: Let Me Sleep Beside You b/w Life Is a Circus
All tracks previously unreleased except 1 and 4, from David Bowie: 40th Anniversary Edition, Virgin/EMI DBSOCD40, 2009. All tracks: David Bowie - vocals, guitar and Stylophone; John "Hutch" Hutchinson - vocals and guitar
Bill Janowski says
I will wait for a CD version. This vinyl will probably be overpriced for the Millennials. Unless I can WIN one...