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Post by Brian Denton on Aug 15, 2003 20:25:05 GMT
I was disappointed to see on the TOTP database that none of the 1969 programmes featuring Space Oddity have survived, especially since I have at long last secured a copy of the single on the original Philips label. I am a bit confused by the fact that the database lists performances on 9th October and 16th October only, but describes them BOTH as 'Repeat Performances' - which rather begs the question when was the original performance?
Are there any 'bootleg' or substandard copies of the broadcast(s) in existence?
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Post by Laurence Piper on Aug 15, 2003 22:43:53 GMT
The first of the two is the original performance. It's a hiccup with the database that it has duplicated some info for some reason. It will be sorted in time.
That's one i'd like to see turn up too. No copies are known to have turned up in any quality, sadly.
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Post by Pete on Aug 16, 2003 7:25:45 GMT
on I love 1970..........
there is a stylophone bit and a (Jimmy Savile) intro for Bowie's Space Oddity (all in the wrong year but original)
can anyone date this as i have tried sorta
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Post by ASM on Aug 16, 2003 13:34:35 GMT
The bit Pete mentions on I love 1970 is from a film promo for a very early version of the song which can be found on the "Rock And Roll's Greatest Hits 1969" in many ways quite a different version. Mind you the song was quite a sleeper in 69 it was released in June but didn't make it untill Octpber. ASM
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Post by Derek on Aug 16, 2003 14:20:08 GMT
ASM .was this from the 'love you till tuesday' promo ?
if so was this used on TOTP 1975 when the tune was re-released?
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Post by Brian Denton on Aug 16, 2003 14:49:50 GMT
Yes, the 1975 one was from the Love You til Tuesday promo, I'm sure. Were the missing 1969 TOTP performances in the studio? Presumably he had his curly hair then as per the cover of the original Philips 'David Bowie' LP (rechristened 'Space Oddity' when RCA bought him up and re-released that one plus some TMWSTW LP).
My first term at secondary school 1969, hmmm
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Post by Ian West on Aug 16, 2003 15:33:36 GMT
if so was this used on TOTP 1975 when the tune was re-released? It would be more likely that in 1975 the Ziggy-era promo (Bowie with 12-string in recording studio) would be used, since the soundtrack of that video matches the single version of Space Oddity (The Love You Till Tuesday clip has a very different sounding version.) I'm just guessing though. (The Rock'n'Roll Greatest Years 1969 video *does* contain the LYTT version.) There's a still from the original 1969 TOTP appearance in Ken Pitt's book on Bowie IIRC. Not much of a subsitute for the real thing though  |
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Post by Unlogged in BrianD on Aug 16, 2003 17:04:03 GMT
No, the 1975 TOTP video was definitely young (though straight-haired) sixties Bowie, wearing a (silver? - we only had black and white tv!) space suity thing - no helmet - and floating about. I think from memory it is a different soundtrack - not as elaborate as the Gus Dudegeon/Paul Buckmaster arrangement on the actual disc.
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Post by Ian West on Aug 16, 2003 17:18:20 GMT
No, the 1975 TOTP video was definitely young (though straight-haired) sixties Bowie, wearing a (silver? - we only had black and white tv!) space suity thing - no helmet - and floating about. I think from memory it is a different soundtrack - not as elaborate as the Gus Dudegeon/Paul Buckmaster arrangement on the actual disc. That's definitely the Love You Till Tuesday version then. Seems a strange choice,since the Ziggy promo would have better represented the single that was supposedly being promoted, but that's TOTP for you... |
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Post by Pete on Aug 16, 2003 18:27:04 GMT
what i'm thinking of is a version of Love Sculptures sabre dance played on a Stylophone with all the groovy TOTP 1969 b/w effects and then Saville Jumps in and introduces Bowie........
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Post by Brian Denton on Aug 16, 2003 22:15:35 GMT
O/T - but why is it that the 'I Love 19- -' series so often puts things in the wrong year (as the example above with I Love 1970 featuring songs from 1969). I've seen lots of examples which make me cross, because presumably somebody was paid to do the research.
Going back to the original thread - can anybody actually REMEMBER the 1969 TOTP performances of Space Oddity? I confess that I can't, even though I regularly watched TOTP from about late 1967. All I can remember from that period of 1969 was Sugar Sugar, and, for some reason, Call Me Number One by The Tremeloes!
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Post by Ian West on Aug 17, 2003 10:18:26 GMT
For those interested, this is what Ken Pitt's book says about Space Oddity on TOTP: David was now using his father's car and on October 2 he drove his mother up from Bromley, collected me then took us to the BBC television studios in Lime Grove, Shepherds Bush, where in Studio G, he was to record his appearance on Top of the Pops. Lime Grove used to be a film studio and as we passed through the entrance and David was signing autographs I recalled in my mind the times when as a boy I had stood for hours at that door hoping to get the autograph of a favourite flm star. Penny Valentine was there and during an afternoon break she interviewed David for the October 11 issue of Disc, which also carried on its front cover a large picture taken in a park near the flat.
My great fear was that the director would plonk David amidst the studio audience, which always seemed to be less interested in seeing the artist than itself on the monitor sets. Intended to create atmosphere in which the artist could give of his best it often had the opposite effect, becoming nothing but a distraction for the artist and the viewing public. David deserved something better, and so did his song. I had a word with Johnny Stewart about this and he graciously arranged for David to perform in a small studio apart from the audience. It worked.
Gus Dudgeon, as producer of the single, was there to lend a helping hand in the recording of the studio accompaniment. Several run-throughs were made, but Gus felt that the one used on the transmission was not the best. Notwithstanding that, when the show had been transmitted on the 9th my telephone began to ring with people calling up to say how good they thought it was. Alan Mair, who was now working in the office and knew what it all meant to me, said: "David was marvellous, but I was particularly pleased for you." The segment was repeated in the programme on the 16th.And here's the picture:  The picture is a bit odd, obviously the stylophone image has been added in afterwards, but the chart rundown picture looks like that may have been superimposed too. Is this picture part of the BBC's library? If not, then maybe Ken Pitt has a copy of this (and other early TV appearances)? It's clear from his book how much detailed information he kept about Bowie's career, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that he may have held onto telerecordings or the like too? |
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Post by William Martin on Aug 18, 2003 15:35:08 GMT
the tv screen with 13 is also superimposed as there are no scan lines visible as there are with bowie this is perhaps a shot of the tv with his chart position shown, as were many before being faded into the live performance.
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Post by William Martin on Aug 18, 2003 16:31:01 GMT
what i'm thinking of is a version of Love Sculptures sabre dance played on a Stylophone with all the groovy TOTP 1969 b/w effects and then Saville Jumps in and introduces Bowie........ wouldn't this be Khachaturians' sabre dance rather than the love sculpture version?  |
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Post by William Martin on Aug 18, 2003 16:35:39 GMT
on I love 1970.......... there is a stylophone bit and a (Jimmy Savile) intro for Bowie's Space Oddity (all in the wrong year but original) can anyone date this as i have tried sorta the clip with rolf harris and the young generation with stylophones is from around march 69because they are playing the then current hit gentle on my mind by dean martin.  odd thing when i wen't back into the totp2 database it was different to normal, white background rather than the usual black, and an orange slider bar? |
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