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Tuesday 14 June 2022

David Bowie Album • David Bowie • 1967

David Bowie is the debut studio album by English musician David Bowie. It was released in the United Kingdom on 1 June 1967 through Decca-subsidiary Deram Records. Following a string of singles that failed to chart and being dismissed from Pye Records in late 1966, Bowie was signed to Deram on the strength of "Rubber Band". After spending autumn of that year writing songs, David Bowie was recorded from November 1966 to March 1967 at Decca Studios in London with production by Mike Vernon, who hired numerous studio musicians. Bowie and his former Buzz bandmate Derek "Dek" Fearnley composed music charts for the orchestra using Freda Dinn's Observer's Guide to Music.

Musically, the album displays a baroque pop and music hall sound influenced by Anthony Newley and the Edwardian styles of contemporary British rock bands. The songs are primarily led by orchestral brass and woodwind instruments rather than traditional instruments in pop music at the time, although some tracks feature guitar. The lyrics are short-story narratives that range from lighthearted to dark, discussing themes from childhood innocence, to drug use and totalitarianism. Bowie utilised various ideologies on the record for his later works. The cover artwork is a headshot of Bowie in a mod haircut wearing a high-collared jacket.

Released in both mono and stereo, David Bowie received positive reviews from music journalists but was a commercial failure due to a lack of promotion from Deram. Two tracks were omitted for its release in the United States in August 1967. Bowie provided more tracks for Deram, all of which were rejected and led to his departure from the label. Retrospective reviews have unfavourably compared David Bowie to the artist's later works, but some have recognised it positively on its own terms. The album was reissued in a two-disc deluxe edition in 2010, which featured both mixes and other tracks from the period.

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