Recorded: 1971
Producers: David Bowie, Ken Scott
Released: 25 November 2022
Personnel
David Bowie: vocals, guitar, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, piano
Mick Ronson: guitar, bass guitar, Mellotron, vocals
Rick Wakeman: piano
Trevor Bolder: bass guitar, trumpet
Mick ‘Woody’ Woodmansey: drums
Ken Scott: ARP synthesizer
George Underwood, Dana Gillespie, Geoff MacCormack: vocals
Mark Pritchett: guitar, vocals
Tom Parker: piano
Tracklisting
CD1: The Songwriting Demos Plus
- ‘Tired Of My Life’ (Demo)
- ‘How Lucky You Are’ (aka ‘Miss Peculiar’) (Demo)
- ‘Shadow Man’ (Demo)
- ‘Looking For A Friend’ (Demo)
- ‘Waiting For The Man’ (San Francisco hotel recording)
- ‘Quicksand’ (San Francisco hotel recording)
- ‘King Of The City’ (Demo)
- ‘Song For Bob Dylan’ (Demo)
- ‘Right On Mother’ (Demo)
- ‘Quicksand’ (Demo)
- ‘Queen Bitch’ (Demo)
- ‘Kooks’ (Demo)
- ‘Amsterdam’ (Demo)
- ‘Life On Mars?’ (Demo)
- ‘Changes’ (Demo)
- ‘Bombers’ (Demo)
CD2: BBC Radio In Concert: John Peel
- ‘Queen Bitch’ (mono)
- ‘Bombers’ (mono)
- ‘The Supermen’ (mono)
- ‘Looking For A Friend’ (mono)
- ‘Almost Grown’ (mono)
- ‘Kooks’ (mono)
- ‘Song For Bob Dylan’ (mono)
- ‘Andy Warhol’ (mono)
- ‘It Ain’t Easy’ (mono)
- ‘Queen Bitch’ (stereo)
- ‘The Supermen’ (stereo)
- ‘Looking For A Friend’ (stereo)
- ‘Kooks’ (stereo)
- ‘Song For Bob Dylan’ (stereo)
- ‘Andy Warhol’ (stereo)
- ‘It Ain’t Easy’ (stereo)
CD3: BBC Radio Session and Live
- ‘The Supermen’
- ‘Oh! You Pretty Things’
- ‘Eight Line Poem’
- ‘Kooks’
- ‘Fill Your Heart’
- ‘Amsterdam’
- ‘Andy Warhol’
- ‘Introduction’
- ‘Fill Your Heart’
- ‘Buzz The Fuzz’
- ‘Space Oddity’
- ‘Amsterdam’
- ‘The Supermen’
- ‘Oh! You Pretty Things’
- ‘Eight Line Poem’
- ‘Changes’
- ‘Song For Bob Dylan’
- ‘Andy Warhol’
- ‘Looking For A Friend’
- ‘Round And Round’
- ‘Waiting For The Man’
CD4: Alternative Mixes, Singles and Versions
- ‘Oh! You Pretty Things’ (BOWPROMO Mix)
- ‘Eight Line Poem’ (BOWPROMO Mix)
- ‘Kooks’ (BOWPROMO Mix)
- ‘Queen Bitch’ (BOWPROMO Mix)
- ‘Quicksand’ (BOWPROMO Mix)
- ‘Bombers’ – ‘Andy Warhol’ intro (BOWPROMO Mix)
- ‘Lightning Frightening’ (aka ‘The Man’)
- ‘Amsterdam’ (early mix)
- ‘Changes’ (mono single)
- ‘Andy Warhol’ (full length mono single)
- ‘Amsterdam’ (single b-side mix)
- ‘Life On Mars?’ (2016 mix)
- ‘Changes’ (2021 alternative mix)
- ‘Life On Mars?’ (original ending version)
- ‘Quicksand’ (2021 mix – early version)
- ‘Fill Your Heart’ (2021 alternative mix)
- ‘Bombers’ (2021 alternative mix)
- ‘Song For Bob Dylan’ (2021 alternative mix)
- ‘The Bewlay Brothers’ (2021 alternative mix)
Blu-ray: (PCM Stereo 96kHz/24bit except *)
- ‘Changes’ (2015 remaster)
- ‘Oh! You Pretty Things’ (2015 remaster)
- ‘Eight Line Poem’ (2015 remaster)
- ‘Life On Mars?’ (2015 remaster)
- ‘Kooks’ (2015 remaster)
- ‘Quicksand’ (2015 remaster)
- ‘Fill Your Heart’ (2015 remaster)
- ‘Andy Warhol’ (2015 remaster)
- ‘Song For Bob Dylan’ (2015 remaster)
- ‘Queen Bitch’ (2015 remaster)
- ‘The Bewlay Brothers’ (2015 remaster)
- ‘Changes’ (2021 alternative mix)
- ‘Oh! You Pretty Things’ (BOWPROMO mix)
- ‘Eight Line Poem’ (BOWPROMO mix)
- ‘Life On Mars?’ (original ending version)
- ‘Kooks’ (BOWPROMO mix)
- ‘Quicksand’ (2021 mix – early version)
- ‘Fill Your Heart’ (2021 alternative mix)
- ‘Bombers’ (2021 alternative mix)
- ‘Andy Warhol’ (original mix)
- ‘Song For Bob Dylan’ (2021 alternative mix)
- ‘Queen Bitch’ (BOWPROMO mix)
- ‘The Bewlay Brothers’ (2021 alternative mix)
- ‘Life On Mars?’ (2016 mix)*
- ‘The Supermen’ (BBC radio)
- ‘Oh! You Pretty Things’ (BBC radio)
- ‘Eight Line Poem’ (BBC radio)
- ‘Kooks’ (BBC radio)
- ‘Fill Your Heart’ (BBC radio)
- ‘Amsterdam’ (BBC radio)
- ‘Andy Warhol’ (BBC radio)
Divine Symmetry (An Alternative Journey Through Hunky Dory) is a 2020 box set which contains demos, studio outtakes, and radio sessions from 1971, charting the making of David Bowie’s fourth album Hunky Dory.
It contains 101 songs (plus a show introduction), 48 of which were previously unreleased, spread across four CDs and a Blu-ray disc.
The first CD contains 16 demos and hotel recordings, only two of which – ‘Shadow Man’ and ‘Quicksand’, had been issued previously. The rarities include the songs ‘Tired Of My Life’, ‘How Lucky You Are’, ‘King Of The City’, and ‘Right On Mother’, none of which made it onto Hunky Dory.
The second CD features a radio session recorded for In Concert presented by John Peel, at the BBC’s Paris Studio in London on 3 June 1971, presented with mono and stereo mixes
CD3 contains seven songs recorded for the BBC’s Sounds Of The 70s presented by Bob Harris. It took place at Kensington House, London, on 21 September 1971. The CD also has 13 songs taped live at the Friars in Aylesbury on 25 September 1971, and features the Spiders From Mars and pianist Tom Parker.
The fourth CD has the six early mixes previously issued on the Record Store Day release BOWPROMO, as well as a number of alternative mixes, single versions, and seven 2021 mixes by the album’s producer Ken Scott.
The Blu-ray disc contains just one song in surround sound – Scott’s 2016 remix of ‘Life On Mars?’. The rest is hi-res stereo, and features the 2015 remaster of Hunky Dory (previously available on the Five Years (1969–1973) box set), a version of the album containing alternative versions, and the Sounds Of The 70s session.
The box set also included two books: a 100-page hardback containing rare photographs and notes; and a 60-page replica of Bowie’s 1971 notebooks containing handwritten lyrics, costume sketches, recording notes, and set lists.
Divine Symmetry was also available as a vinyl edition, containing the alternative version of Hunky Dory from the Blu-ray. The vinyl version was released on 24 February 2023.
The release was announced on 28 September 2022. A recording of ‘Kooks’ from the September 1971 Sounds Of The 70s was made available to stream and download on the same day.