David Bowie fans have been waiting with bated breath to discover what would comprise the next in the series of annual box sets dedicated to the late superstar’s remarkable career. Yet rather than directly follow up last year’s Loving the Alien (1983-1988), Parlophone has announced a trip back in time to the late 1960s.

Conversation Piece, a 5-CD box set (also available digitally), will be released on November 15. The collection traces Bowie’s development as a songwriter and performer throughout 1968-1969 with home demos, BBC sessions, and studio recordings with his friend and collaborator John “Hutch” Hutchinson and the mime group Feathers. The box also marks the 50th anniversary of the “Space Oddity” single and Bowie’s eponymous sophomore album also known as Space Oddity. The box premieres 12 previously unreleased tracks as well as a new mix of the album by producer Tony Visconti which incorporates “Conversation Piece,” originally dropped for length reasons, into the track listing.

The first CD’s 23 tracks include all of the music originally released on this year’s Spying Through a Keyhole: Demos and Unreleased Songs and The Clareville Grove Demos vinyl box sets plus eight additional tracks, while CD 2 replicates the track listing of The Mercury Demos collection. CD 3’s sixteen tracks include live radio performances, alternative and mono mixes, and more. The fourth disc has the original David Bowie album plus five bonus cuts (three previously unissued) and the fifth disc premieres the 2019 mix with a pair of bonuses.  (For those keeping score, the Space Oddity: 50th Anniversary vinyl singles box had the original mono single versions of “Space Oddity” and “Wild-Eyed Boy from Freecloud” along with single versions of the 2019 mixes which will premiere in full on the CD box.)

Tony Visconti is quoted in Parlophone’s press release: “It was so much fun to find hidden gems of musicianship with more time to mix the second time around, a guitar twiddle here, a trombone blast there, Marc Bolan’s voice in a group choir and more detail in general that we overlooked all those years ago when the label gave us a week at the most to mix this album. And in the details you will find 22 year old David Bowie, who would soon take the world by storm.”

A 120-page hardback book is included within the box set, boasting exclusive memorabilia from the personal collection of David’s former manager, the late Ken Pitt, as well as from the David Bowie Archive. Rare photos by Ray Stevenson, Vernon Dewhurst, David Bebbington, Ken Pitt, Alec Byrne, Tony Visconti, and Jojanneke Claasen are also featured. Liner notes have been penned by Mark Adams, Tris Penna, and Kevin Cann, along with contributions from Visconti, Bowie’s friend George Underwood, Vernon Dewhurst, Dana Gillespie, and John “Hutch” Hutchinson.

The 2019 mix of the Space Oddity album will also be released as a standalone title on CD, standard resolution digital, 96/24 digital, and vinyl. The vinyl configurations will be randomly distributed worldwide with a mixture of hand-numbered labels: numbers 1 to 1969 on silver vinyl numbers and 1970 to 2019 on gold vinyl, with the remainder being black vinyl.  The 2019 mix of “Conversation Piece” is now available as a streaming single.

You’ll find the complete track listing and pre-order links below!  Conversation Piece is due on November 15.

David Bowie, Conversation Piece (Parlophone, 2019) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada TBD)

CD 1 – Home Demos

1. April’s Tooth Of Gold (2.29) *
2. The Reverend Raymond Brown (Attends the Garden Fête on Thatchwick Green) (2.15) *
3. When I’m Five (3.18) *
4. Mother Grey (3.00)
5. In The Heat Of The Morning (2.59)
6. Goodbye 3d (Threepenny) Joe (3.19)
7. Love All Around (2.49)
8. London Bye, Ta-Ta (3.31)
9. Angel Angel Grubby Face (version 1) (2.31)
10. Angel Angel Grubby Face (version 2) (2.37)
11. Animal Farm (2.21) *
12. Space Oddity (solo demo fragment) (2.39)
13. Space Oddity (version 1) with John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson (4.02)
14. Space Oddity (version 2) with John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson (5.00) *
15. Space Oddity (version 3) with John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson (5.10)
16. Lover To The Dawn with John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson (3.50)
17. Ching-a-Ling with John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson (2.58)
18. An Occasional Dream with John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson (2.49)
19. Let Me Sleep Beside You with John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson (2.54)
20. Life Is a Circus with John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson (4.50)
21. Conversation Piece (3.47) *
22. Jerusalem (4.19) *
23. Hole In The Ground with George Underwood (3.29) *

CD2 – The Mercury Demos with John Hutch Hutchinson

1. Space Oddity (5.28)
2. Janine (3.53)
3. An Occasional Dream (3.18)
4. Conversation Piece (3.31)
5. Ching-a-Ling (3.35)
6. I’m Not Quite (aka Letter To Hermione) (4.00)
7. Lover To The Dawn (5.01)
8. Love Song (4.08)
9. When I’m Five (3.13)
10. Life Is a Circus (5.33)

CD3 – Conversation Pieces (Mono)

1. In The Heat Of The Morning (Decca mono version) (2.51)
2. London Bye, Ta-Ta (Decca alternative version) (2.36)

BBC Top Gear radio session with the Tony Visconti Orchestra, recorded 13th May, 1968

3. In The Heat Of The Morning (3.01)
4. London Bye, Ta-Ta (2.39)
5. Karma Man (3.07)
6. When I’m Five (3.14)
7. Silly Boy Blue (4.32)
8. Ching-a-Ling (2.51)

 

9. Space Oddity (Morgan Studios version – alternative take) (4.22)* with John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson
10. Space Oddity (U.K. single edit) (4.42)
11. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud (single B-side – mono mix) (4.54)
12. Janine (mono mix) (3.23)
13. Conversation Piece (3.06)

BBC Dave Lee Travis Show radio session, recorded 20th October, 1969

14. Let Me Sleep Beside You (3.20)
15. Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed (4.03)
16. Janine (3.03)

CD 4 – 1969 stereo mixes

David Bowie (aka Space Oddity)

1. Space Oddity (5.14)
2. Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed (inc. Don’t Sit Down) (6.51)
3. Letter To Hermione (2.32)
4. Cygnet Committee (9.31)
5. Janine (3.21)
6. An Occasional Dream (2.54)
7. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud (4.46)
8. God Knows I’m Good (3.17)
9. Memory Of A Free Festival (7.09)

The Extras

10. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud (single B-side stereo mix) (4.56)
11. Letter To Hermione (early mix) (2.32) *
12. Janine (early mix) (3.23) *
13. An Occasional Dream (early mix) (2.54) *
14. Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola (full length version) (5.14)

CD 5 – 2019 mixes (all previously unreleased)

Available on standalone CD (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada TBD) and vinyl (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada TBD)

David Bowie/Space Oddity (2019 Mix)

1. Space Oddity (5.20)
2. Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed (6.18)
3. Letter To Hermione (2.32)
4. Cygnet Committee (9.28)
5. Janine (3.21)
6. An Occasional Dream (2.57)
7. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud (4.50)
8. Conversation Piece (3.11)
9. God Knows I’m Good (3.16)
10. Memory Of A Free Festival (7.14)

The Extras

11. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud (single version) (4.59)
12. Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola (5.20)

Titles marked (*) are previously unreleased. The label promises that the two Decca tracks presented here to open CD 3 are released in superior quality to that released on the Deluxe Edition of Bowie’s self-titled debut album on Deram.