Item Description
Condition of the vinyl is excellent.
Condition of the sleeve can be clearly seen in the photos.
Reason for sale is that I recently bought a copy, for an extortionate amount of money, with GEM labels.
This copy is how it left the factory.
Below is a more detailed description and a background article.
Any questions do not hesitate to ask.
Full refund if not completely happy with this item.
You are more than welcome to collect in person if you so wish.
BOWPROMO GEM MATRIX 1: BOWPROMO 1A-1 MATRIX 2: BOWPROMO 1B-1 RELEASED: August 1971 David Bowie vocals, guitar, alto tenor sax, piano Mick Ronson guitar Rick Wakeman piano Trevor Bolder bass Mick Woodmansey drums SIDE ONE: 1.
Oh You Pretty Things 3:12 2.
Eight Line Poem 2:55 3.
Kooks 2:58 4.
It Ain t Easy 3:01 5.
Queen Bitch 3:17 6.
Quicksand 5:07 7.
Bombers / Andy Warhol intro 3:30 SIDE TWO: 1.
Mother Don t Be Frightened 4:15 2.
Andy Warhol 2:44 3.
Never Knew 3:32 4.
All Cut Up On You 3:23 5.
Lavender Hill 3:22 Such was the scarcity of this item, at one time, collectors believed it to be an acetate - a one-off promotional disc.
A number have now surfaced and it s reputed that, incredibly, somewhere in the region of 500 were originally pressed.
Due to the limited amount in circulation, the number, realistically, must be reckoned at closer to fifty.
The minimum amount a factory would be willing to press.
Why exactly were they pressed in the first place? The most popular supposition, put forward, is that the album was put together to secure a new record deal for Bowie.
Obviously, a lot easier if the artist already had half an album worth of material, in finished form.
50 copies they were going for the shotgun approach.
If we look at the content of the album it would suggest that this was certainly not a collection of tracks for other artists to choose from and record themselves.
A Bowie selection box.
If that was the case then why include It Ain t Easy ? But, if it was all about Bowie then why include Dana Gillespie? GEM was a relatively new company, in the music industry, at that time, trying to sell itself as much as Bowie.
Including Dana Gillespie would suggest that GEM had a growing stable of artists rather than a mere one horse wonder.
Why not a more economical promo cassette? From a marketing point of view, an album commands more respect and deserves to be taken more seriously.
As an introduction or leave-behind it s more substantial.
It s a physical display of commitment from artist and management.
It says we re serious.
A cassette by its very nature is much more disposable than an album - or maybe not.
One copy that came up for sale was accompanied by this intriguing tale of Adam Kinn, a sound engineer at RCA during this period and reputedly one time boyfriend of Dana Gillespie, says he remembers a stack of about fifty on a desk at RCA.
At some point an executive walked into the office, and said, Bin that lot ...
He of course, kept one for himself.
Why would RCA have a stack of these discs? If they were pressed to secure a recording deal with RCA, or other such labels, surely one or two copies, sent to key executives, would suffice.
Another substantive story though does offer us a genuine insight.
The seller tells us that he was given the disc, by Bowie himself, whilst visiting the GEM offices.
He informs us that David and Angie had set up a makeshift production line in a back room where they were preparing these items for distribution.
All the discs began life with plain white labels and sleeves.
Some have green GEM labels stuck on top of the white labels.
This is BOWPROMO in its original form how it left the factory.
SIDE ONE: 1.
Oh You Pretty Things Overall, very close to the version that finally ended up on Hunky Dory .
A couple of subtle differences though.
Bowie s vocal is slightly more upfront on the Hunky Dory version, while the piano on the BOWPROMO version has a much more spacial sound.
The most significant difference is the extra use of reverb, on the lead and backing vocals, during the chorus, on the BOWPROMO version.
The Hunky Dory album version uses a lot less, if any on the chorus lead and backing vocals.
2.
Eight Line Poem On Hunky Dory the guitar is more central during the intro before drifting to the left and then back to the centre towards the end.
The BOWPROMO version starts on the right then switches between left and right during the second half, before again ending in the centre.
On the BOWPROMO , the piano is natural sounding, whilst on Hunky Dory it has a flanging effect applied.
More notable are the vocal differences.
The tactful cactus by your window as opposed to simply Tactful..
and They ve opened shops...
rather than Opened...
.
Also the echo used on collision in the line Mobile spins to its collision is also missing on the BOWPROMO .
3.
Kooks BOWPROMO has a different stereo mix that fades two seconds later than the Hunky Dory version.
For example, during the intro, both acoustic guitars are centered for the Hunky Dory version whereas they are clearly present in the left and right channels in the BOWPROMO .
Also of note, the acoustic guitar present throughout the entire song on BOWPROMO is faded out in the verses on Hunky Dory .
4.
It Ain t Easy Identical to the version that appears on The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars .
5.
Queen Bitch The BOWPROMO version lacks any reverb on the vocals but is added to Mick Ronson s riff.
The BOWPROMO version also has a Hmmm at the very end.
6.
Quicksand The intro to the Hunky Dory version is in mono and only expands into stereo at 0:51 I m frightened by the total goal .
The intro on BOWPROMO is in full stereo from the beginning.
Furthermore, some additional strings have been added to the Hunky Dory version at 3:20 If I don t explain what you ought to know...
.
7.
Bombers /Andy Warhol intro Slightly different to the version that features as a bonus track on Rykodisc s edition of Hunky Dory .
The sound is thinner and lacks bass.
Besides, at 0:23 Seemed a good idea to drop a bomb on the wasteland here and 1:12 So the Pentagon sent a cable and the Queen a telegram into the Ryko mix, there are extra drum beats that sound out of sync - absent on the BOWPROMO album.
Also interesting is that Bombers develops into an alternate version of the intro to Andy Warhol , which runs slightly longer, as it includes a strum on the acoustic guitar and a few more Bowie laughs at the very end.
SIDE TWO: 1.
Mother Don t Be Frightened This track eventually appeared in on Dana Gillespie s Weren t Born A Man album.
A more complex mix with added instrumentation.
2.
Andy Warhol This is a quite different, shorter mix 2.45 than compared to the 3.02 version that appeared on the Weren t Born A Man .
The intro is faded in and the mix is more direct and less echoey than on that album.
The outro on the BOWPROMO is also shorter and less guitar-heavy.
3.
Never Knew Released on Dana Gillespie s Ain t Gonna Play No Second Fiddle and different to the version on BOWPROMO .
4.
All Cut Up On You A much shorter recording 3:23 than 4:12 on Weren t Born A Man .
5.
Lavender Hill Unreleased until the 1994 Andy Warhol CD.
The version on the latter is a different recording.
Hope to sell to good home.
