Hear a Previously Unheard Version of David Bowie’s ‘The Man Who Sold The World’ for Bowie’s 73rd Birthday

Today, January 8, marks the 73rd birthday of David Bowie, and while the iconic singer/songwriter/innovator may be gone, his legacy remains as strong as ever in his absence.

Via Rolling Stone, this unreleased version of the song was recorded in 1996 from the ChangesNowBowie session, which aired on the BBC a year later.

This version of the track is part of a new six-song EP titled Is It Any Wonder, and the remaining five songs from the collection will be released in consecutive weeks — with the next arriving on Jan. 17.

There will also be a second release coming from the David Bowie camp soon, as a nine-song collection bringing all of the ChangesNowBowie sessions together. Via Rolling Stone:

The sessions were recorded at Looking Glass Studios in New York City during rehearsals for Bowie’s 50th birthday concert at Madison Square Garden. The record features Gail Ann Dorsey, Reeves Gabrels and Mark Plati.

ChangesNowBowie will be released as part of Record Store Day 2020 on April 18 in limited-edition CD/LP format.

“The Man Who Sold The World” first appeared on Bowie’s third studio album, released in 1970. It would go on to reach a wider audience in the 1990s, when Nirvana performed the song at its MTV Unplugged performance — with Kurt Cobain’s rendition remaining one of Nirvana’s career highlights as well.