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DIVINE SYMMETRY a 4 CD+1 Blu-Ray book set covering the development of the 1971 album Hunky Dory It will feature demos, new alternative mixes by original co-producer Ken Scott, the early mixes, a legendary live show from September 1971, a BBC Session and BBC In Concert from 1971 all on CD. The Blu-Ray features the definitive 2015 remaster of the original Hunky Dory album and an alternative journey through the album using the alternative mixes also featured is the September, 1971 BBC session in 96kHz/24bit stereo and a bonus of the ‘Life On Mars?’ 2016 mix in both 96kHz/24bit stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. DIVINE SYMMETRY book set will be a hardcover book housed in a hard slip case

Product details

Language ‏ : ‎ English
Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 2.17 x 11.81 x 13.98 inches; 5.92 Ounces
Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ WEA
Original Release Date ‏ : ‎ 2022
Date First Available ‏ : ‎ September 28, 2022
Label ‏ : ‎ WEA
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BGNH4KML
Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 5

Best Sellers Rank: #21,624 in CDs & Vinyl (See Top 100 in CDs & Vinyl)
- #10,515 in Rock (CDs & Vinyl)

Customer Reviews:
4.7 199 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5

199 global ratings

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K. Morrison

Important David Bowie History

Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2023

Verified Purchase

Such a pivotal time for David this volume has so much for the hard core fan. Beginning with a demo of Tired of My Life which evolved eventually to Its No Game from Scary Monsters (and eventually in Lazarus), a glorious Shadow Man which was reworked for Toy and Heathen. A great solo acoustic VU Waiting for the Man from a Holiday Inn in San Francisco. Along with all the great Hunky Dory songs, demoed, live, some different some same. I enjoyed the live band versions of Andy Warhol, Especially with Dana Gillespie. It was never played after that till the Outside tour. Some great live Mick “Ronno” Ronson. Yes repeats, I don’t get tired of any of it or that. I think the quality was preserved good especially for the time and some of the equipment. The 2021 mixes are good. I find updated mixes nice companions to my classic favorites. The packaging and books are perfect. The hard cover book is very handsome and informative on everything in this collection with great pictures the replica note book is history of what David wrote replicated. A lot to connect with. One of the best and I think one of the most important David Bowie collections and done right!

4 people found this helpful

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Jake M

The complete Hunky Dory experience

Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2022

Verified Purchase

Hunky Dory is one of my top ten favorite albums of all time, and this box set does not disappoint. The Blu-ray sounds amazing, as do the CDs. The book is comprehensive as well. But my favorite part is the recreation of his notebook, filled with scans of all his handwritten notes from these sessions. No context given, no accompanying footnotes or captions. Just the raw material bound in a thick booklet to give us a little look into how his mind worked. Amazing set!

5 people found this helpful

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Tacitus

Bowie fan

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2023

Verified Purchase

a must have for the collection of any Bowie superfan

2 people found this helpful

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Michael

The most satisfying posthumous Bowie release yet. THUMBS UP.

Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2022

Conversation Piece was excellent and absorbing. The Width of a Circle was ultimately disappointing and not even worth purchasing. I was wondering whether Conversation Piece could be topped. I'm pleased to report that Divine Symmetry is easily the most satisfying super deluxe Bowie release yet. Hunky Dory is considered by many (including myself) to be one of the highest peaks of David's career. This book and multi-disc set digs deep into anything/everything related to the album. The books are excellent, full of killer photographs, commentary and notes. It is unfortunate that none of the super deluxe Marc Bolan releases have been created with such genuine care and presented with such class and style. Maybe one day? Until then...David Bowie fans will have a field day with this release. Full of cool previously unreleased stuff. The packaging is beautiful. And yes, this one IS worth the money.

10 people found this helpful

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Andrea M Bernardi

j

Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2022

listinig too

One person found this helpful

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J. Hoffmann

Perfect package, except only ONE SONG is in 5.1, and no Atmos! WHAT???

Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2022

Verified Purchase

Beautiful package, and nice wealth of material; the alternate mixes, live content, early takes and demos are all revelatory in different ways, making this a very special release indeed! My one and only gripe was with the Blu Ray Audio disc - also a nice (even wonderful) addition to the set, with alternate mixes and some live material (along with the 2015 remaster), all presented in 96/24 high resolution, and sounds fantastic. So why the sour grapes? Well, because this was being touted as including a surround mix of the material, and yet ONLY ONE SINGLE TRACK IS IN SURROUND/5.1! Although it is a very fine track (Life on Mars), I felt somewhat shortchanged, as I was expecting AT LEAST the remaster to be presented in 5.1 also.
Even an Atmos mix would have been acceptable.
Oh well; I'm liking/loving it anyway.

18 people found this helpful

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AGB

A Gorgeous Coffee Table Book With Some Music Thrown in

Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2022

Verified Purchase

Overall, a real disappointment. It's almost like somebody put together a wonderful coffee table book and thought "I bet if we add some music, we can sell this for TWICE the price!"

The remaster of the album is good, but not a significant improvement over the previous remaster. None of the "new" material on this album is a must have and sadly, it appears that the bare minimum effort was put into the "extras. Almost like the Bowie folks just looked for what was lying around that would require the least effort to include. The demos are nothing special and don't expect a bunch of studio outtakes. As the liner notes admit, during recording, to save money, they would simply erase and re-use tapes if the take was bad, so there just isn't much available for the Bowie team to work with.
Maybe most egregiously, there are no ATMOS tracks and only a single track in 5.1, though the original, pre-order, marketing material was poorly (or deceptively) drafted and suggested that the entire album was in 5.1. That's an unforgivable omission, considering ATMOS and 5.1 are trending now. Notably, the sole 5.1 track, Life on Mars? was apparently created years ago. So once again, they just recycled old material for this set rather than spend a bit of time giving people something new. Notably, Grammy wining 5.1 remix specialists like Elliot Scheiner note it typically takes a few hours, at best, to create a 5.1 mix....so yah, no effort put in here. I'm left to wonder if this was purposefully omitted so that it can be sold separately in the future.

The final bit of frustration are the live tracks that have been included. The liner notes indicate that many of these tapes were damaged, so the quality goes in and out. Frankly, I could accept that. My issue is that these live tapes, which are meant to show Bowie's live show taking shape, contain very little of Mick Ronson's guitar. The recording mostly catches Bowie's mic and piano while Ronson's guitar is barely audible, even at parts where he's soloing (i.e. Waiting For the Man).

So in summary, buy this for the coffee table book or if you must have the absolute best recording of Hunky Dory via the 96/24 Hunky Dory remaster...though don't expect a vast sonic improvement. It's certainly not worth anywhere near the $100 price tag they are seeking.

25 people found this helpful

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L. Armbruster

Great music and extras but problem with the Blue Ray disc

Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2022

Verified Purchase

I have always loved this album and the extras on this collection are wonderful. My one gripe is that the remastered album along with several extras is on a blue ray audio disc. This doesn't play on my CD player so I have to get a blue ray player to listen to it.

3 people found this helpful

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Marcello

Excellent anthology of early Bowie sessions

Reviewed in Brazil on August 27, 2023

Verified Purchase

"Divine Simmetry" is a journey through Bowie's "Hunky Dory" sessions, and provides the listener with demos, alternative versions, alternative mixes, BBC sessions and a 1971 concert. With a lavish book with a treasure of pictures and essays and technical information about studios, recordings, production, and personnel involved, this box set is instrumental in clarifying the paths taken by David Bowie to record and release one of his earliest masterpieces. There's a notebook with handwritten lyrics and information by Bowie himself and an audio DVD. Highly recommended to every Bowie fan.

eric isaacson

The innermost thoughts by a super brain.

Reviewed in Canada on February 5, 2023

Verified Purchase

Great to witness the transformation of a classic.

One person found this helpful

Uendel

Excellent service

Reviewed in Spain on June 27, 2023

Verified Purchase

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AADF

Costoso ma molto interessante

Reviewed in Italy on February 24, 2023

Verified Purchase

Operazione filologicamente interessante, ricostruisce molto bene con testimonianze musicali l'evoluzione che porta alla svolta di Hunky Dory. Alcune tracce non sono di qualità ineccepibile ma consentono di avere la completezza della testimonianza sonora.

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