David Bowie streams rare version of The Man Who Sold The World

Bruce Henne | 02-15-2020

Photo by antiMusic's Rob Grabowski

(hennemusic) David Bowie's team are streaming a rare version of the late rocker's 1970 classic, "The Man Who Sold The World." Previously-issued as part of a double-sided single in 1995, the "Live Eno Mix" marks the sixth and final track streamed over the past six weeks that make up a new EP entitled "Is It Any Wonder?", which will arrive on March 20.

The Brian Eno mix version of the song is based on the fairly radical trip-hop reworking performed on the Outside World Tour; the producer reshaped, overdubbed and mixed this live recording of the song at Westside Studios in London on October 30, 1995, recalling the session in his diaries: "I added some backing vocals and a sonar blip and sculpted the piece a little so that there was more contour to it."

A recently-streamed 1997 live version of the Bowie classic will be featured on the "ChangesNowBowie" album - set for release on Record Store Day April 18 - and will be replaced on the EP by the track, "Fun (Clownboy Mix)", which originated as a modern revamp of the Bowie hit "Fame", and was performed under the name "Is It Any Wonder?' during David's 'club set' on the Earthling tour.

The basic backing and sequencer tracks for the song were worked on at the Factory in Dublin docklands during pre-tour rehearsals in early 1997. A live version of 'Fame,' recorded at the Amsterdam Paradiso on June 10, 1997, was further worked on by Mark Plati and Reeves Gabrels at Looking Glass Studios in New York and mixed at Sony Music Studios in New York in February 1998. At one point the live version of "Fun", as it was now being called, was considered for inclusion on the BowieNet exclusive Liveandwell.com album and appeared on early reference masters.

Referenced in interviews by Reeves as 'Funhouse', the song further developed lyrically and musically and, by the time Danny Saber created the Clownboy mix in May 1998, it was a completely new piece of work written by David and Reeves and featuring no elements of "Fame." The Clownboy mix has previously only appeared on a BowieNet subscriber exclusive CD-ROM in 1998 and on Virgin Records in-house CDR's along with four other Clownboy mix variants.

"Is It Any Wonder?" will be available on CD, digital and 12" vinyl. Stream the song here.

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