OddityViz - Recording by Valentina D'Efilippo and Miriam Quick

2017

The second record in the OddityViz series deconstructs Bowie’s Space Oddity into its eight original master tracks, released in 2009 as part of a special edition marking the song’s 40th anniversary.

The instrumentation of Space Oddity is distinctive and complex. There are two string tracks, and two flutes (both in track C). Bowie’s 12-string acoustic guitar plays almost constantly, stopping only during the liftoff section (section 3). The song features two vintage synthesizers – a Mellotron and a Stylophone – whose breathy eccentricities give it a kind of broken-down, retro-futuristic sheen: ‘Here am I sitting in a tin can’.

Some of the song’s hallmarks are clearly visible, too. You can see the spoken countdown (‘ten, nine, eight…’) in the backing vocal (track B) in section 2 at around two o’clock on the record, the separate numbers marked with stars. The next section is the ‘liftoff’ interlude, where the string parts work up to a crescendo as the rocket takes off, before dropping right down again for the first verse: ‘This is Ground Control to Major Tom / You’re really made the grade’. You can also see Bowie’s distinctive handclaps in the two breaks at around six and nine o’clock, which the designers marked with two triangles.