New Parlophone release is what they are calling a ‘companion piece’ to Metrobolist, last year’s Tony Visconti remix of David Bowie‘s 1970 album The Man Who Sold The World. The new collection is a two-CD set called The Width of a Circle and features a combination of Ryko-era bonus tracks, BBC live recordings and new mixes, all from 1970.
The first CD features 14 tracks performed by David Bowie and The Tony Visconti Trio (a.k.a. The Hype) for John Peel’s The Sunday Show in February 1970 (the label are claiming that six of these are unreleased) while the second disc is very much an ‘odds and sods’ collection of material. It includes some bonus material first heard on CD back in 1989/1990 when Rykodisc began their Bowie reissue campaign.
Such tracks include 1970 single A-side ‘Holy Holy’, the single mix of ‘The Prettiest Star’ (although it’s included here in unreleased alternate mix form – “created for promotion in the US market”), both mono and stereo mixes of ‘London Bye Ta-Ta’ and the A and B-side mixes of ‘Memory of A Free Festival’.
In addition, this CD offers five tracks from a play (“The Looking Glass Murders aka Pierrot in Turquoise”) and five 2020 stereo mixes of some of the non-album material remixed by Tony Visconti. Four of those five are also available on a special 10-inch single (also called The Width of a Circle).
CD 1: The Sunday Show introduced by John Peel (5 Feb 1970)
- Amsterdam *
- God Knows I’m Good *
- Buzz The Fuzz
- Karma Man
- London Bye, Ta-Ta
- An Occasional Dream
- The Width Of A Circle*
- Janine
- Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud
- Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed*
- Fill Your Heart
- The Prettiest Star
- Cygnet Committee*
- Memory Of A Free Festival*
Performed by David Bowie and The Tony Visconti Trio (a.k.a. The Hype)
CD 2: Various live and studio cuts
- When I Live My Dream (from ‘The Looking Glass Murders aka Pierrot in Turquoise’)
- Columbine (from ‘The Looking Glass Murders aka Pierrot in Turquoise’)
- The Mirror (from ‘The Looking Glass Murders aka Pierrot in Turquoise’)
- Threepenny Pierrot (from ‘The Looking Glass Murders aka Pierrot in Turquoise’)
- When I Live My Dream (Reprise) (from ‘The Looking Glass Murders aka Pierrot in Turquoise’)
- The Prettiest Star (alternative single mix)
- London Bye, Ta-Ta (mono)*
- London Bye, Ta-Ta (1970 Stereo Mix)*
- Memory Of A Free Festival (Single Version Part 1)*
- Memory Of A Free Festival (Single Version Part 2)*
- Holy Holy*
- Waiting For The Man (Sounds of the 70s: Andy Ferris Show)
- The Width Of A Circle (Sounds of the 70s: Andy Ferris Show)
- The Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud* (Sounds of the 70s: Andy Ferris Show)
- The Supermen (Bowie At The Beeb vinyl only)* (Sounds of the 70s: Andy Ferris Show)
- The Prettiest Star (2020 Mix)
- London Bye, Ta-Ta (2020 Mix)
- Memory Of A Free Festival (Single Version – 2020 Mix)
- All The Madmen (Single Edit 2020 Mix)
- Holy Holy (2020 Mix)
*denotes previously released
