Rare, Original David Bowie 'Holy Holy' Recording Unearthed From 1971 [LISTEN]

The recent announcement of David Bowie's plan to release a 2-disc box set titled Five Years: 1969-1971 brings rare recordings, B sides and singles--all of which were compiled onto one disc called Re: Call 1. An extremely rare and original version of "Holy Holy" made the cut as Bowie expresses his desire to dance with the devil and yearns for solidarity.

The song was previously released just once in 1974 on a 45, trailing the debut of Bowie's LP, The Man Who Sold the World, never to be reissued again. The 68-year-old musician recorded an alternate rendition of the track for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, but put it to the side until it came out as a B side to 1974's "Diamond Dogs," notes the Guardian. That version in particular has found its way onto multiple reissues of Bowie's career-spanning catalog.

The Five Years box set compiles six studio albums including Space Oddity to Pin Ups, The Man Who Sold the World and Hunky Dory, complete with album remasters. Also incorporating two live albums and a 2003 mix of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, the CD box set includes a 128-page book while the vinyl box set contains an 84-page book, both chock-full of rare photos and notes from producers Ken Scott and Tony Visconti. The Kinks front man, Ray Davies, concludes with a personal foreword, reports Rolling Stone.

Although the singer's 1983 album, Let's Dance, missed the chronological box set cut-off, Annie Clark aka St. Vincent made a mixtape for one lucky fan,11-year old Piper, featuring the Bowie track of the same name. "Let's Dance" found itself among an array of tracks including Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime" and Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence."

Re: Call 1 contains the extraordinary UK single edit of "Space Oddity" and an "All the Madmen" unreleased single edit. The box set will see its CD and vinyl release and be available digitally on September 25.

Re:Call 1 Track List:

CD1:
1. "Space Oddity" (original UK mono single edit)
2. "Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud" (original UK mono single version)
3. "Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola"
4. "The Prettiest Star" (original mono single version)
5. "Conversation Piece"
6. "Memory of a Free Festival (Part 1)"
7. "Memory of a Free Festival (Part 2)"
8. "All the Madmen" (mono single edit)
9. "Janine"
10. "Holy Holy" (original mono single version)
11. "Moonage Daydream" (The Arnold Corns single version)
12. "Hang on to Yourself" (The Arnold Corns single version)

CD 2:
1. "Changes" (mono single version)
2. "Andy Warhol" (mono single version)
3. "Starman" (original single mix)
4. "John, I'm Only Dancing" (original single version)
5. "The Jean Genie" (original single mix)
6. "Drive-In Saturday" (German single edit)
7. "Round and Round"
8. "John, I'm Only Dancing" (sax version)
9. "Time" (U.S. single edit)
10. "Amsterdam"
11. "Holy Holy" (Spiders version)
12. "Velvet Goldmine"

Tags

David Bowie, The Kinks, Ray davies