The 'Mercury' Demos Explained

The 'Mercury' Demos
Type:box set
Artist:David Bowie
Border:yes
Recorded:February – early April 1969
Studio:Bowie's Apartment, Clareville Grove, Kensington, London
Label:Parlophone
Prev Title:Clareville Grove Demos
Prev Year:2019
Next Title:Conversation Piece
Next Year:2019

The 'Mercury' Demos is a box set by English musician David Bowie, released as a vinyl album in May 2019. It features ten songs in mono, demo form performed by Bowie with his friend John Hutchinson in early 1969. In November 2019, the compilation was released on CD as part of the Conversation Piece box set.

Background

Like the box sets Spying Through a Keyhole and Clareville Grove Demos, the LP was released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Bowie's 1969 album David Bowie. The "Space Oddity" demo had already been released in an edited form as the first track of the 1989 box set Sound + Vision.[1]

The box sets liner notes suggest that the tapes were recorded at David's apartment at Clareville Grove, South Kensington, sometime between the first studio attempt at "Space Oddity" on February 2, 1969, and David's move to Beckham in mid-April.[2]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The ‘Mercury’ Demos LP box due in June . davidbowie.com . 27 July 2019 . 25 April 2019.
  2. Bowie – Mercury Demos Liner Notes, 2019, Parlophone