Lennon, Dylan Covered on Bowie Birthday Single

On what would have been David Bowie’s 74th birthday – January 8th – a new 7-inch limited to 8,147 copies (is there some significance to that number that I’m not aware of, or is it random?) will be released featuring previously unheard recordings of Bowie covering John Lennon’s “Mother” and Bob Dylan’s “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven.”

The former was recorded in 1997 and ’98 for a Lennon tribute album that never came out, and features Reeves Gabrels on guitar, producer Tony Visconti on bass and harmony vocals, veteran session drummer Andy Newmark, Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) on piano and Richard Barone (The Bongos) on harmony vocals.

The B-side, recorded in early 1998, is a cover of a song Dylan had only released the year before on his terrific album Time Out of Mind. Bowie’s rendition features guitarist Gabrels, synth player Mark Plati, drummer Zach Alford and Gail Ann Dorsey in her familiar role on bass and vocals.

Now to really get the Bowie geeks frothing: A thousand of those 8,147 numbered copies come on cream-colored vinyl. Oooh!!