Sometimes hearing a familiar song can leave you speechless. A week ago I was driving and listening to Absolute Radio Seventies, a UK commercial radio station on my car stereo. The perennial Space Oddity by David Bowie and Paul Buckmaster started to air and I noticed something odd.
The song played in its entirety but it was not what you normally expect to hear. I knew it was not the graphic equaliser on my stereo as other songs, just as familiar to me as Space Oddity, were airing in their trusted way.
What happened was that the mix was reversed. In effect those instruments that are normally at the fore in a song, were now at the back. And those instruments and effects which are normally at the back and hardly noticeable were now at the front.
The led to me hearing Space Oddity in a totally different way. As you will know, legendary producer Gus Dudgeon produced not only for Elton John but for a host of artists in his multi-decade career. One of those artists was David Bowie. Although Gus always was modest about his contribution to the landmark Space Oddity, we know that in private he would often tells fans of his real and more involved role in the production.
So to hear Space Oddity in a new way really underlined that, despite a flook of the radio station, they had released upon our ears a fabulous reassessment of a famous song. And once again it only helped to enrich and make us marvel at just what a genius Gus really was.
