1996 – Burning The Ground: DjPaulT's 80's and 90's Remixes

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1996

“Hallo Spaceboy” is a song by David Bowie from his 1995 album Outside and the third and final single from the album. The track was re-recorded in 1996 and issued as a remix featuring Pet Shop Boys as guest artists. Bowie and Brian Eno co-wrote the original album version of the song.

In late December 1995, Bowie was intending “Hallo Spaceboy” to be his next single after “Strangers When We Meet”, and recorded a video for the song at a concert in Birmingham. The song “Hallo Spaceboy” was performed twice at the venue, once as part of the regular set and once as the last encore, with that final performance intended to be the official music video for the song. Two live songs from the set, “Moonage Daydream” and “Under Pressure”, were used as b-sides to the single release as well. However, the Pet Shop Boys were approached to remix the song as well, and their remix was used as the official single version instead. Neil Tennant explained that since the original song had only a single verse, Lowe suggested using lyrical fragments from Bowie’s 1969 song “Space Oddity” to create a second verse. Bowie initially expressed reservation about the additions when Tennant initially told him during a telephone conversation, but later agreed that they worked well.

Tennant told NME in a 1997 interview that he and Lowe, working alongside Bowie, had completed what Tennant called the “Major Tom trilogy”, in reference to a fictional character who first appeared in Space Oddity and who had later recurred in Bowie’s 1980 song “Ashes to Ashes”. Tennant explained, “I said to David Bowie, ‘It’s like Major Tom is in one of those Russian spaceships they can’t afford to bring down,’ and he [Bowie] said, ‘Oh wow, is that where he is?'”

The final official music video for “Hallo Spaceboy” was directed by David Mallet, mixing shots of both Bowie and the Pet Shop Boys into a rapid-fire montage of Cold War era retro-footage of science fiction film clips, atomic bomb testing footage, and television advertising clips.

The remixes by Dave Ball (known as the instrumentalist of Soft Cell) and Ingo Vauk are based on the Pet Shop Boys Remix, but only Double Click Mix uses Neil Tennant’s vocals.

SIDE A:
Hallo Spaceboy (12″ Remix) 6:42
Remix –Pet Shop Boys
Vocals – Neil Tennant

Hallo Spaceboy (7″ Remix) 4:25
Remix –Pet Shop Boys
Vocals – Neil Tennant

SIDE B:
Hallo Spaceboy (Lost In Space Mix) 6:32
Remix, Producer [Additional] – Ball*, Vauk*

Hallo Spaceboy (Double Click Mix) 7:46
Remix, Producer [Additional] – Ball*, Vauk*
Vocals – Neil Tennant

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Virgin ‎– SPRO-11513
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM, Promo
Country: US
Released: 1996
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop, Progressive House

CREDITS:
Co-producer [Original Track], Engineer [Original Track] – David Richards
Engineer – Bob Kraushaar
Lyrics By – Bowie*
Mastered By – Kevin Metcalfe
Music By –Eno*, Bowie*
Producer –Pet Shop Boys
Producer [Original Track] – Brian Eno, David Bowie
Programmed By – Pete Gleadall

NOTES:
Mastered at The Townhouse Digital Mastering Studios, London.

Find the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL RESTORATION BY:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

THE GEAR:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge/Stylus: Ortofon 2M Bronze
Turntable Isolation Platform: ISO-Tone™ Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp: Pro-Jec Tube Box DS2
DAC: Alpha Design Labs GT40a USB DAC
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner

SOFTWARE:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling/Dither: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi