Hunky Dory | The Bowie Bible

UK album release: Hunky Dory

Joe — Fri, 17 Dec 1971 09:00:56 +0000

David Bowie’s Hunky Dory album was released in the United Kingdom on 17 December 1971. It had issued in the USA on 4 December. With his strongest set of songs to date, a three-album record deal, and beautifully intricate production, Hunky Dory looked set to become Bowie’s commercial breakthrough. However, it was not to be. RCA’s marketing division was involved minimally in the cover selection and production, and were furthermore informed that Bowie was intending to make imminent changes to both his image and sound. This left the company unsure at to how to promote Hunky Dory, and there was

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US album release: Hunky Dory

Joe — Sat, 04 Dec 1971 09:00:51 +0000

David Bowie’s Hunky Dory album was released in the United States on 4 December 1971. It was been issued in the UK on 17 December. Also in December, RCA released ‘Changes’ as an American single. Although it wasn’t an immediate commercial success, it was critically praised. Billboard’s 28 November edition said in a review: The British composer-performer comes up with a heavy debut for RCA, loaded with the kind of Top 40 and FM appeal that should break him through big on the charts. Along with vocals, Bowie plays piano, sax and guitar. Strong material, his own, for programming include

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Recording: Life On Mars?, Song For Bob Dylan

Joe — Fri, 06 Aug 1971 11:00:08 +0000

David Bowie recorded one of his finest songs, ‘Life On Mars?’, on 6 August 1971. This was the final recording session for the Hunky Dory album. Also recorded on this day was the final version of ‘Song For Bob Dylan’. The master tape reel contains two complete takes of ‘Life On Mars?’ with vocals, and around ten incomplete instrumental versions. Although Hunky Dory was produced by Ken Scott, Mick Ronson took a leading role in the ‘Life On Mars?’ session. One of the things about recording back then was we made decisions very quickly and very easily. If I didn’t

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Recording: The Bewlay Brothers

Joe — Fri, 30 Jul 1971 11:00:25 +0000

David Bowie recorded the Hunky Dory finale ‘The Bewlay Brothers’ on 30 July 1971. It was the only song on the album not to have been demoed previously. Bowie recorded it at Trident Studios in London in two takes, the second of which appears on the album. The multitrack tape previously contained early versions of ‘Song For Bob Dylan’ and ‘Fill Your Heart’, which were wiped to make way for the new song. Let’s see, there’s a piano through a Leslie cabinet, some backwards guitar from Ronno and the end chorus is a multitude of vari-speeded voices, you can even

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Mixing: BOWPROMO

Joe — Mon, 26 Jul 1971 11:00:28 +0000

A fourth and final mixing session for BOWPROMO took place on 26 July 1971. BOWPROMO was a promotional album created by David Bowie’s then-manager Tony Defries in August 1971, in an attempt to secure record deals for Bowie and fellow singer Dana Gillespie. The album featured seven early mixes of songs recorded for Hunky Dory on side A, and five recordings by Gillespie on the other. This session lasted for seven hours. The BOWPROMO mixing sessions took place on 18, 21, 22, 24, and 26 July, after which the album was pressed.

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Mixing: BOWPROMO

Joe — Sat, 24 Jul 1971 11:00:14 +0000

A fourth mixing session for BOWPROMO took place on 24 July 1971. BOWPROMO was a promotional album created by David Bowie’s then-manager Tony Defries in August 1971, in an attempt to secure record deals for Bowie and fellow singer Dana Gillespie. The album featured seven early mixes of songs recorded for Hunky Dory on side A, and five recordings by Gillespie on the other. This session lasted for seven hours. The BOWPROMO mixing sessions took place on 18, 21, 22, 24 and 26 July, after which the album was pressed.

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Mixing: BOWPROMO

Joe — Thu, 22 Jul 1971 11:00:33 +0000

A third mixing session for BOWPROMO took place on 22 July 1971. BOWPROMO was a promotional album created by David Bowie’s then-manager Tony Defries in August 1971, in an attempt to secure record deals for Bowie and fellow singer Dana Gillespie. The album featured seven early mixes of songs recorded for Hunky Dory on side A, and five recordings by Gillespie on the other. This session lasted three hours. More followed on 24 and 26 July, after which BOWPROMO was pressed.

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Mixing: BOWPROMO

Joe — Wed, 21 Jul 1971 11:00:51 +0000

A second mixing session for BOWPROMO took place on 21 July 1971. BOWPROMO was a promotional album created by David Bowie’s then-manager Tony Defries in August 1971, in an attempt to secure record deals for Bowie and fellow singer Dana Gillespie. The album featured seven early mixes of songs recorded for Hunky Dory on side A, and five recordings by Gillespie on the other. This session lasted for three hours. The BOWPROMO mixing sessions took place on 18, 21, 22, 24 and 26 July, after which the album was pressed.

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Mixing: BOWPROMO

Joe — Sun, 18 Jul 1971 11:00:44 +0000

Although it was still unfinished, a six-hour mixing session for the completed Hunky Dory tracks took place on 18 July 1971. This was for BOWPROMO, a promotional album created by David Bowie’s then-manager Tony Defries in August 1971, in an attempt to secure record deals for Bowie and fellow singer Dana Gillespie. The album featured seven early mixes of songs recorded for Hunky Dory on side A, and five recordings by Gillespie on the other. Bowie was present for part of the session. More followed on 21, 22, 24, and 26 July, after which BOWPROMO was pressed. He also attended

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Recording: Quicksand

Joe — Wed, 14 Jul 1971 11:00:30 +0000

David Bowie recorded the Hunky Dory track ‘Quicksand’ on 14 June 1971. The session took place at London’s Trident Studios, with Bowie and Ken Scott producing. I really put David through the ringer on this one. Five complete acoustic guitar tracks, one after the other, and then I set about editing them for dramatic effect. Then there’s Rick Wakeman’s Mellotron recorded through a DI. Ken Scott, May 2015 Five Years (1969-1973) book The basic track was completed in four takes, the last of which was judged to be the best. Bowie then overdubbed a further five guitar parts. David put

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