"
Memory of a Free Festival" is a 1970 single by
David BowieDavid Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. Active in five decades of popular music and frequently reinventing his music and image, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
. The song had originally been recorded as a seven-minute opus for Bowie's second self-titled album (reissued as
Space OdditySpace Oddity is a 1969 album by rock musician David Bowie. Originally released by Philips in the UK as David Bowie and by Mercury in the U.S...
in 1972). It was reworked at the behest of
Mercury RecordsMercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Music Group in the US, and are both subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal Music...
, the label believing that the track had a better chance of success as a single than "
The Prettiest Star"The Prettiest Star" is a song by David Bowie, originally released as a single in 1970.Bowie had recently re-recorded an old Deram track, "London Bye Ta Ta", intended as a follow-up single to "Space Oddity" in early 1970. However, the same sessions had also spawned a new composition named "The...
", released earlier in the year.
Bowie and
Tony ViscontiAnthony Edward Visconti is an American record producer and sometimes a musician or singer.Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of notable performers, including the Moody Blues, as well as T.Rex, Mary Hopkin, Thin Lizzy, Ralph McTell, Sparks, Gentle Giant, Semi Precious Weapons, The...
roughly split the track in half, re-recording it so both halves could function as individual songs.
"
Memory of a Free Festival" is a 1970 single by
David BowieDavid Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. Active in five decades of popular music and frequently reinventing his music and image, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
. The song had originally been recorded as a seven-minute opus for Bowie's second self-titled album (reissued as
Space OdditySpace Oddity is a 1969 album by rock musician David Bowie. Originally released by Philips in the UK as David Bowie and by Mercury in the U.S...
in 1972). It was reworked at the behest of
Mercury RecordsMercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Music Group in the US, and are both subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal Music...
, the label believing that the track had a better chance of success as a single than "
The Prettiest Star"The Prettiest Star" is a song by David Bowie, originally released as a single in 1970.Bowie had recently re-recorded an old Deram track, "London Bye Ta Ta", intended as a follow-up single to "Space Oddity" in early 1970. However, the same sessions had also spawned a new composition named "The...
", released earlier in the year.
Bowie and
Tony ViscontiAnthony Edward Visconti is an American record producer and sometimes a musician or singer.Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of notable performers, including the Moody Blues, as well as T.Rex, Mary Hopkin, Thin Lizzy, Ralph McTell, Sparks, Gentle Giant, Semi Precious Weapons, The...
roughly split the track in half, re-recording it so both halves could function as individual songs. A more rock-orientated version than the earlier album cut, this rendition marked drummer
Mick WoodmanseyMick 'Woody' Woodmansey is an English rock drummer from Driffield, Yorkshire, best known for his work with David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars...
's studio debut with Bowie's band, bringing together the line-up that would shortly record
The Man Who Sold the WorldThe Man Who Sold the World is the third studio album by David Bowie. It was originally released on Mercury Records in November 1970 in the United States and in April 1971 in the UK. The album was Bowie's first with the nucleus of what would become the "Spiders from Mars", the backing band made...
.
Biographer David Buckley described "Memory of a Free Festival" as "a sort of trippy retake of
the StonesThe Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in 1962 in London when multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones and pianist Ian Stewart were joined by vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards. Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early lineup...
' '
Sympathy For The Devil"Sympathy for the Devil" is a song by The Rolling Stones which first appeared as the opening track on the band's 1968 album Beggars Banquet. It was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards...
' but with a smiley lyric". The track was written as a homage to the Free Festival, organised by the
BeckenhamBeckenham is a town in the London Borough of Bromley, England. It is located 8.4 miles south east of Charing Cross, and 1.75 miles west of Bromley town...
Arts Lab, which was held at Croydon Road Recreational Ground in Beckenham on August 16 1969.
The single was a commercial disaster on release in
AmericaThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in June 1970, with only a few hundred copies selling. It was also issued in the UK, but was similarly unsuccessful.
Track listing
- "Memory of a Free Festival Part 1" (Bowie) – 3:59
- "Memory of a Free Festival Part 2" (Bowie) – 3:31
Personnel
- David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. Active in five decades of popular music and frequently reinventing his music and image, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
– vocals, guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
- Mick Ronson
Michael "Mick" Ronson was an English guitarist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer. He is most well known for his work with David Bowie from 1970 to 1973, Bowie's glam rock period, including being part of The Spiders from Mars band.He also had a solo career, the most notable...
– guitar
- Tony Visconti
Anthony Edward Visconti is an American record producer and sometimes a musician or singer.Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of notable performers, including the Moody Blues, as well as T.Rex, Mary Hopkin, Thin Lizzy, Ralph McTell, Sparks, Gentle Giant, Semi Precious Weapons, The...
– bassThe electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum....
- Mick Woodmansey
Mick 'Woody' Woodmansey is an English rock drummer from Driffield, Yorkshire, best known for his work with David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars...
– drumThe drum is a member of the percussion group of music instruments, technically classified as a membranophone.. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with parts of a player's body, or with some sort of...
s
- Tony Visconti
Anthony Edward Visconti is an American record producer and sometimes a musician or singer.Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of notable performers, including the Moody Blues, as well as T.Rex, Mary Hopkin, Thin Lizzy, Ralph McTell, Sparks, Gentle Giant, Semi Precious Weapons, The...
– producerIn the music industry, a record producer has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes...
Other versions
- Bowie performed the show during a session for radio's The Sunday Show on 8 February, 1970. An edited take of this performance was included on the 2000 compilation, Bowie at the Beeb
Bowie at the Beeb is a compilation album by David Bowie, first released in 2000. Originally, it came in a three CD set, the third, bonus CD being a recording on the at the Portland BBC Radio Theatre...
.
- Bowie also performed the song during the 1973 Ziggy Stardust
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is a 1972 concept album by English rock musician David Bowie. It peaked at number five in the United Kingdom and number 75 in the United States on the Billboard Music Charts. A concert film of the same name directed by D.A...
tour, as the third part of a medley which began with "Quicksand"Quicksand" is a 1963 dance single by Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas. Built almost under the same gospel-inspired delivery of their previous hit " Heat Wave", this time lead singer Martha Reeves explains how her loved one brings her "closer" to him explaining that his love was like...
" and "Life on Mars?"Life on Mars?" is a song by David Bowie first released in 1971 on the album Hunky Dory. The song—which BBC Radio 2 later called "a cross between a Broadway musical and a Salvador Dalí painting"—featured guest piano work by keyboardist Rick Wakeman. When released as a single in 1973,...
" (one such performance, from the Glasgow ApolloThe Apollo, formerly known as the Green’s Playhouse, was opened by Unicorn Leisure in September 1973 after acquiring a lease from the owners George Green Ltd...
on 15 May 1973, has appeared on several bootleg albums).
- The Mike Garson
Mike Garson is an American pianist, most notable for his work with David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Billy Corgan and The Smashing Pumpkins.- Early career :...
Band, the name given to Bowie's backing group on his Philly DogsDiamond Dogs is a concept album by David Bowie, originally released by RCA Records in 1974. Thematically it was a marriage of the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell and Bowie's own glam-tinged vision of a post-apocalyptic world...
tour, closed their supporting set with a soulSoul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
-influenced version of the song on Bowie's 1974 US tour. The performance from the Radio City Music HallRadio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
, New YorkNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
on 28 October 1974 was included on the bootleg album Infected with Soul Love.
Cover versions
- E-Zee Posse released a dance song in 1990, called "The Sun Machine" which mentions Bowie in their credits. It was a minor house-rave success, released in many formats on Boy George's dance label called More Protein.
- Dario G
Dario G is the name of a dance music trio from Crewe, Cheshire, England. The act was named after the manager of Crewe Alexandra, Dario Gradi. Its founder members are Paul Spencer, Scott Rosser and Stephen Spencer , although Paul Spencer is the only remaining member of the trio.-History:In 1997...
sampled Bowie in 1998 for their UK #17 hit single "Sunmachine"
- Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev is an American rock music group, that formed in the late 1980s in Buffalo, New York. Original personnel were David Baker , Jonathan Donahue , Sean Mackowiak, a.k.a...
played a cover of the song on their 2006 compilation Stillness Breathes