David Bowie box set ‘Spying Through a Keyhole’ to feature nine unreleased recordings

Collection of seven-inch singles will mark 50th anniversary of Bowie’s self-titled 1969 album

A new David Bowie box set of seven-inch singles, called Spying Through a Keyhole, is set to feature nine previously unreleased demos.

Parlophone Records will release the box set to mark the 50th anniversary of Bowie’s second, self-titled 1969 album, which was later reissued using the name of its lead track, “Space Oddity”.

All nine unheard demos were recorded during the “Space Oddity” era and were previously released on streaming services in December, although this marks the first physical release of the songs.

Also included are early versions of “In the Heat of the Morning” and “London Bye, Ta-Ta,” alongside more obscure songs like “Mother Grey” and “Love All Around” and what’s believed to be the first ever recorded demo of “Space Oddity”.

A statement on the official Bowie website stresses that the audio quality of the early demos may not match studio levels.

It continues: “This is partly due to David’s enthusiastic strumming hitting the red on a couple of the tracks, along with the limitations of the original recording equipment and tape degradation.

“However, the historical importance of these songs and the fact that the selections are from an archive of tracks cleared for release by Bowie, overrides this shortcoming.”

The full track list for the box set is below.

1. “Mother Grey” (demo)
2. “In The Heat Of The Morning” (demo)
3. “Goodbye 3d (Threepenny) Joe” (demo)
4. “Love All Around” (demo)
5. “London Bye, Ta-Ta” (demo)
6. “Angel, Angel, Grubby Face” (demo version 1)
7. “Angel, Angel, Grubby Face” (demo version 2)
8. “Space Oddity” (demo excerpt)
9. “Space Oddity” (demo – alternative lyrics, with John Hutchinson)

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