David Bowie Ashes To Ashes - Move on (1980 USA) estimated value € 10,00.
Label: RCA Victor – PB 9575
Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single
Recorded at: The Power Station, New York & Good Earth Studios in London
Recorded date: February 1980: Initial backing tracks ,April 1980: Vocals and final overdubs were recorded at Good Earth Studios in London
Released: September 12, 1980
Country: USA
“Ashes to Ashes” is a follow-up to “Space Oddity”, and in this song Major Tom is revealed to be a drug addict. The song is also about David Bowie’s own experiences with drug addiction. In 1977, Bowie’s friend and producer Brian Eno brought Bowie to Berlin to help him overcome his addiction. This journey resulted in three seminal David Bowie albums: Low, “Heroes”, and Lodger. Together they are known as the Berlin Trilogy, also referred to as Bowie’s “Berlin Period”.
Tracklist
Side A – Ashes to Ashes – 3:34
Written-By – David Bowie
Side B – Move On – 3:16
Written-By – David Bowie
Description
Media Condition
Media: Very Good (EX)
Sleeve: Good (EX)
Ring wear: No
All three seams looking perfect: Yes
Picture sleeve looks near mint: Yes
Creases or folds: No
Stamps or writing: No
The lyrics revisit Bowie’s Major Tom character from 1969’s “Space Oddity” in a much darker context, which he would later reference again in 1995 with “Hallo Spaceboy”. The song’s original working title was “People Are Turning to Gold”.
Interviewed in 1980, Bowie described the song as “very much a 1980s nursery rhyme,” explaining that many such rhymes echo the darker themes of their 19th-century counterparts. Years later, Bowie said that with “Ashes to Ashes” he was “wrapping up the seventies really” for himself, which felt like an appropriate epitaph for the decade.
AllMusic critic Dave Thompson described the track and its accompanying video as “a very deliberate acknowledgement of the then-burgeoning new romantic scene.” Musically, “Ashes to Ashes” has been described as art rock and new wave, notable for its delicate synthetic string textures, hard-edged funk bass and complex vocal layering. The choir-like textures were created by Chuck Hammer using four multi-tracked guitar synthesizers, underpinning Bowie’s dead-pan background chants.
Melancholic and introspective, the song re-imagines Major Tom not as a carefree astronaut but as a “junkie, strung out in heaven’s high, hitting an all-time low” — a reversal that echoed Bowie’s own withdrawal inward following his excesses in America and played on the title of his 1977 album Low.
Release
“Ashes to Ashes” entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 4 before reaching No. 1 a week later, becoming Bowie’s fastest-selling single to that date. It was issued in three different sleeves, with the first 100,000 copies including one of four stamp sets featuring Bowie in the Pierrot costume from the video. The B-side “Move On” was taken from Lodger (1979). In the US, the single featured “It’s No Game (No. 1)” as the B-side and peaked at No. 101.
Production credits
Producers:
Tony Visconti
David Bowie
Musicians:
David Bowie – vocals, keyboards
Chuck Hammer – Roland GR-500 guitar synthesizer
Carlos Alomar – guitar
Andy Clark – synthesiser
Roy Bittan – piano
George Murray – bass
Dennis Davis – drums
Live versions
“Ashes to Ashes” was performed on several Bowie tours, including the Serious Moonlight, Sound+Vision, Heathen and A Reality tours. A live performance filmed on 12 September 1983 appeared in the Serious Moonlight concert film, while later recordings were released on Bowie at the Beeb and A Reality Tour.
Other releases
The song has appeared on numerous Bowie compilations, including Changestwobowie, Sound + Vision, Best of Bowie, The Platinum Collection and Nothing Has Changed, in both album and single-edit forms.