SPACE ODDITY was originally released as MAN OF WORDS, MAN OF MUSIC on Mercury in 1969.

SPACE ODDITY is an Enhanced audio CD which contains regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.

Personnel: David Bowie (vocals, 12-string guitar, organ, stylophone, kalimba); Keith Christmas (acoustic guitar); Tim Renwick, Mick Wayne (guitar); Paul Buckmaster (cello); Tony Visconti (flute, recorder, bass); Benny Marshall and Friends (harmonica); Rick Wakeman (electric harpsichord, Mellotron); John Lodge, Herbie Flowers (bass); Terry Cox, John Cambridge (drums).

Producers: Gus Dudgeon, Tony Visconti.

Engineers: Ken Scott, Malcolm Toft, Barry Sheffield.

Digitally remastered by Peter Mew & Nigel Reeve (1999, Abbey Road Studios, London, England).

Personnel: David Bowie (vocals, 12-string guitar, kalimba); Tim Renwick (guitar, flute, recorder); Mick Wayne (guitar); Keith Christmas (acoustic guitar); Paul Buckmaster (cello); Tony Visconti (flute, recorder); Rick Wakeman (electric harpsichord, Mellotron); Terry Cox, John Cambridge (drums).

Arrangers: David Bowie; Tony Visconti.

Originally released as Man of Words/Man of Music, Space Oddity was David Bowie's first successful reinvention of himself. Abandoning both the mod and Anthony Newley fascinations that marked his earlier recordings, Bowie delves into a lightly psychedelic folk-rock, exemplified by the album's soaring title track. Bowie actually attempts a variety of styles on Space Oddity, as if he were trying to find the ones that suited him best. As such, the record isn't very cohesive, but it is charming, especially in light of his later records. Nevertheless, only "Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud" and "Memory of a Free Festival" rank as Bowie classics, and even those lack the hooks or purpose of "Space Oddity." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

SPACE ODDITY was the first record on which David Bowie looked and sounded like the Bowie whom the world has come to know. One glance at the spooky, androgynous face that adorns the record was enough to signal that the Anthony Newley-influenced, light-pop singer who sang the novelty number "The Laughing Gnome" a few years earlier was a thing of the past. Leaving behind the mannered, English music hall-isms of his initial recordings, Bowie roughened up the sound, creating a ragged, eclectic mix of folk and rock tinged with electronic sounds. The record yielded his first American hit, and began the singer's soon-to-be meteoric rise to international rock icon-hood.

The title track, a sci-fi mini-epic, is an enduring classic in which Bowie squeezes every bit of drama from both his dour low range and the soaring upper reaches of his voice. Even after decades of continued airplay, "Space Oddity" is surprising for its intricate arrangement, nifty guitar playing, and palpable sense of interplanetary estrangement. Other fine and lesser-known musical moments include the sublimely subdued "Letter to Hermione," and the sprawling and strange "Memory of a Free Festival."

Mojo (Publisher) (3/00, p.122) - "Bowie's second album, the one on which he finally ditched all iontentions of becoming a second Anthony Newley..." n

Record Collector (magazine) (p.91) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t's mish-mash of styles and strummy experiments suggest he was still trying to settle on an identity."