On what would have been David Bowie’s 77th birthday, Parlophone have announced a special vinyl LP called “Waiting in the Sky (Before The Starman Came to Earth)”.
This record features the then provisional track-listing for what would become Bowie’s 1972 album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”. This early version is taken from the Trident Studio quarter-inch tapes dated 15th December 1971.
There are four songs on “Waiting in the Sky” that didn’t make the final album. On side one, in the place of ‘Starman’ (one of the last three tracks recorded for the album in February 1972, is the Chuck Berry cover ‘Round and Round‘ which was eventually found a home as the B-side to the “Aladdin Sane” single ‘Drive-in Staturday’, on 6 April 1973.
Also, Bowie’s version of Jacques Brel’s ‘Amsterdam’, ended side one (this was sat on for even longer and became the B-side of ‘Sorrow’ on 12th October, 1973. Side two of this RSD release includes both ‘Holy Holy‘ and ‘Velvet Goldmine‘. The former is the re-recording with The Spiders of David’s 1971 single and wasn’t released at the time until ‘Diamond Dogs’ was issued as a single when it became yet another B-side. ‘Velvet Goldmine’ was unreleased for nearly four years, but became the B-side to the 1975 reissue of ‘Space Oddity’.
As well as ‘Starman’, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide’ and ‘Suffragette City’ had not been recorded and are also missing from this early version of the album. Three great late additions, The Spiders’ from Mars line-up – guitarist Mick Ronson, bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Mick “Woody” Woodmansey – first came together on Bowie’s “Hunky Dory” a year before in 1971. But the album that would become “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars” would make them stars, as fronted by Bowie in a new, jaw-dropping alter ego that established him as an enduring trailblazer in pop and rock music. “Waiting in the Sky” offers a distinct spin on that era, and a special piece of history for Bowie vinyl collectors.
This vinyl was cut from digital and is a half-speed vinyl pressing. There is no CD version for Record Store Day .“Waiting in the Sky (Before The Starman Came to Earth)” will be released on 20th April 2024 (this year’s Record Store Day) via Parlophone
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