This year marks the 40th anniversary of The Man Who Fell to Earth, the film that features David Bowie, in his first starring role, as an alien who crash lands on Earth. This year also, unfortunately, marked the end of Bowie’s life, as the iconic musician passed away in January. Now, to commemorate the film and Bowie’s memory, the film will come to theaters and the soundtrack to the movie will be made available for the first time in 40 years.
The film’s soundtrack contained original music from Japanese prog-rocker Stomu Yamash’ta and John Philips of The Mamas and the Papas. The master tapes for those recordings were lost, so the soundtrack has not been available since its original release in 1976. Fortunately, the tapes were discovered, and now the soundtrack can be re-released for the film’s anniversary, which will see a release in early September.
There will be a double-vinyl release that just includes the music from Yamash’ta and Philips, a two-CD set that also will includes songs from the likes of Louis Armstrong and The Kingston Trio, and a boxset featuring both the vinyl and the CD sets, plus a reproduction of the movie poster and a 48-page book. Basically, however much Man Who Fell to Earth material as you want, you can have.
What you won’t get, though, is Bowie music. Despite starring in the film, Bowie did not contribute any music to the soundtrack. So if you were hoping this would mean more Bowie music, you are out of luck. If you are interested in the music a Japanese prog artist and a Papa made for a movie about David Bowie as an alien, then this is probably the most exciting news you’ve heard in a good long while.
(Via NME)