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Parlophone announce David Bowie RSD release + streaming rarities

By Paul Sinclair

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102

David Bowie / CHANGESNOWBOWIE

1997 radio session to be released on CD and vinyl for RSD • Plus, six unreleased tracks issued over the next six weeks on streaming platforms

On what would have been David Bowie‘s 73 birthday, Parlophone have announced that a nine-track album called CHANGESNOWBOWIE will be issued on Record Store Day this year (18 April 2020).

This album features a radio session recorded for radio and broadcast by the BBC on David’s 50th birthday on 8 January 1997. This is a mostly acoustic session and it features an interesting collection of songs, including ‘The Supermen’ (from The Man Who Sold The World), ‘Repetition’ (from Lodger) and Tin Machine II album track ‘Shopping For Girls’. Earthling came out less than a month after this broadcast so that gives you a good feel for this era. The musicians accompanying Bowie are Gail Ann Dorsey (bass, vocals), Reeves Gabrels (guitars) and Mark Plati (keyboards and programming).

The ‘cover’ for streaming EP ‘Is It Any Wonder?’

CHANGESNOWBOWIE will be released in ‘limited quantities’ for Record Store Day on vinyl LP and (surprisingly) CD. While we wait for April to come around, Parlophone are also treating us to six previously unreleased rarities from David’s archive as a special streaming-only EP – called Is It Any Wonder? – which will be ‘assembled’ over six weeks, as one track per week is made available.

Slightly confusingly, the first track to be made available from Is It Any Wonder? is actually on the forthcoming CHANGESNOWBOWIE physical release. It’s ‘The Man Who Sold The World (ChangesNowBowie Version)’. The other five tracks will have nothing to do with CHANGESNOWBOWIE and will ‘drop’ (as the kids say) once a week, starting on Friday 17 January 2020.

Watch this space for more updates, particularly with regards to Is It Any Wonder? Meanwhile, have a listen to ‘The Man Who Sold The World (ChangesNowBowie Version),’ below.

CHANGESNOWBOWIE

01. The Man Who Sold The World
02. The Supermen
03. Andy Warhol
04. Repetition
05. Lady Stardust
06. White Light White Heat
07. Shopping For Girls
08. Quicksand
09. Aladdin Sane

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102 Comments

102 thoughts on “Parlophone announce David Bowie RSD release + streaming rarities”

  1. Pingback: David Bowie’s Tin Machine II to be reissued on coloured vinyl and CD | superdeluxeedition
  2. Pingback: David Bowie / Repetition ’97 | superdeluxeedition
  3. Pingback: New David Bowie Record Store Day release announced | superdeluxeedition
  4. Pingback: David Bowie / I Can’t Read ’97 | superdeluxeedition

  7. If nothing else this release has got me, who converted to CDs in the 90s, interested in RSD for the first time and I’ll try to get hold of the CD version of this.

    I’m wondering if there’ll be a ‘CDSD’ at some point in the future for folk like me…

    1. “I’m wondering if there’ll be a ‘CDSD’”

      Maybe even a Vinyl Store Day… I’ve been to plenty of record stores (shops), but never a vinyl shop.

  8. It may be only released on vinyl and cd for rsd, with other added tracks from the same session/ rehearsals etc as “streaming only” but I’m Sure once they’re struggling to sell the rest of the 150,000 or so “limited edition” cd copies a couple of months after rsd they’ll offer the whole sessions including ep tracks as a full download only album in flac or hi res audio, allowing us to “double dip” to get the bonus tracks.

  9. There is a bootleg version that amazon are taking pre orders on, released next friday, at £10.99. I wonder how much the scalpers at parlophone will rip us off for, when the official cd goes on sale, once the rsd hype machine is in full swing?

  10. Maybe if more rsd releases were on cd, And they gave the public what they wanted, there would be more demand for the event (or are the organisers worried about the vinyl bubble bursting?)

  11. Its nice to see a decent cd added to the rsd release list, instead of just vinyl. Does this mean we have to queue like idiots overnight outside a local participating retailer to buy it? (I queued up for the bowpromo box when that was released, and felt like a mug after buying it, along with the cracked actor album)

  14. Happy birthday David Bowie, regardless of what has/is happening to your recorded work we’re happy you were here. And since I only have a crap quality bootleg CD of this broadcast I for one will go to RSD this year to get the CD. I have to believe this is a teaser for an official release of the 50th birthday concert and other 90’s material, along with the streaming-only EP to eventually be released physically as well.

    1. I’ve got a really good factory pressed CD of this one – come to think of it, I have 3 different editions of this already and mug that I am I will buy these as well on vinyl & CD & streamers.
      The one that really irritates me are the “streaming only” releases that are inevitably shitty lossy files. Why this is being done is frankly beyond my understanding, even though I will seemingly have no bloody choice but to pay good money for throwaway quality files.
      I have seen better value on bootleg

      2. Expect these songs to be put on the 90 box. Remember: only songs that have previously been released are allowed in the boxes and this streaming makes those tracks “previously released”.

  15. I’ve got a brilliant copy that I taped back in the day. Stupidly I edited the tracks to CD and binned the tape with the interview….
    At least I can try and get a good updated version.
    Lots of negative feedback about RSD but it’s something I still look forward to.
    So my wish list would be Faith by The Cure. A 40th anniversary edition on double vinyl. That has a second disc of non album singles, 12” Primary and the Faith Peel session…. big I can only dream!

  17. Theres some other great 1997 US radio broadcasts they could have added to this to make it different. David & Reeves did a bunch of acoustic sessions

  18. Got to have this! Love the cover photo of DB and the “ChangesNowBowie” typography/title, that matches the “ChangesOne” and “ChangesTwo” albums. Even more splendid for me is that the song selections for this acoustic radio program, just happen to be some of my all-time favourite Bowie songs!

      1. It doesn’t really matter, artists can call it an EP if they want to regardless of chart rules – in the case they’re calling it an EP so that’s what we’ll call it. It just might chart as an album! Plenty of examples over time of this happening.

      2. and david being an english artist, let’s call a happy medium and say… go with Canada, where i can’t find any information on what constitutes an ep…

        so, it’s limitless

  21. Great to see Tin Machine represented with Shopping For Girls. Personally, I’d love to hear the Earthling version of Baby Universal which wasn’t included on the album in the end so in theory that’s unreleased right??

  23. Picked up ChangesTwoBowie the other day, it was, to my surprise, a lovely transparent red. I know people are cross when their preferred format isn’t included in a release – and I guess with such a vast catalogue released over such a long time David B is likely to be one who suffers from a lack of format consistency. But I just heard Yummy by Justin Bieber this week and it sounds like the death of music to my wars – so let’s celebrate this wondrous splendid man David Bowie and all his talented collaborators down the years. Happy Birthday the very missed David Bowie.

  24. Streaming only , makes it very easy to ignore.
    I am expected to purchase music but not physically own it , I for one am not being dictated to in this manner.

      1. Cosmo: No disrespect intended, but that’s a really strange point of view. Sure you can stream and not pay – but in place of that lack of payment you get ads. So basically, you destroy the experience. I appreciate *you* may not mind, but for some of us anything that gets in the way of the music is a retrograde step, and is not feasible.

  26. Now if it was the full ‘Ernie Johnson’ tape I might have been interested but this has been available for years,under the counter [but don’t tell anyone because home taping is killing music].

  27. I’m pretty much over RSD. I can never get the releases at my local shops.. so I always end up paying a premium on discogs/ebay (or I just wait a long time for prices to come down, etc).

  28. The future RSD release has been around for the last twenty years with remarkable high quality sound. So… there’s nothing really new as such.

    Someone mentioned the interview dialogue earlier. This dialogue actually adds to these specially recorded songs for this BBC broadcast with contributors such as Robert Smith and Scott Walker in that it was part of the 1997 birthday bash at Madison Square Gardens.

    So this RSD RELEASE – with words such as NOW and RARE – is redundant before it even gets off the ground.

    I tend to think that Parlophones accessibility to truly rare Bowie recordings has gone dry.

    As for the streaming…… bah humbug. I’ll wait until June or July when it will most likely be given a CD release.

    Paul… one more thing…. any news on Roxys For Your Pleasure deluxe set release.

  29. Streaming only is useless, so I’ll only concern myself with my preferred format – CD. What I’m seeing here is the tail wagging the dog. Why so few tracks? Why the short running time? Because of Vinyl. It’s RSD, so they want to keep it down to a single slab of Vinyl. We’ll get that on CD.

    Am I in? Yes. But the running time of this is a retrograde step, and amounts to little more than an EP. Sure, albums from the Vinyl-only days were shorter than CD releases, but that’s the point, there’s no need to be so restrictive in 2020. Except, this way, they can string out releases and make more money – since the tracks will be broken over more releases.

    I don’t know, if we’re getting a Man Who Sold the World box set this year, surely some of these tracks will be on there?

  30. Shame about the streaming-only package for Is It Any Wonder?, but for me the ChangesNowBowie release is welcome … hopefully the “limited quantities on LP and CD” means “limited quantities on LP ….. and [unlimited quantities on] CD” rather than “limited quantities on LP and limited quantities on CD” … at least then it will be more widely available …

  31. Surprised Parlophone titled this release ChangesNow as Changes is the title used for the RCA Bowie best of compilations series (ChangesOne and ChangesTwo).

    Anyway, just like the other Bowie RSD releases the previous years, most of them are pointless. They probably should release an expanded super deluxe edition of Bowie At The Beeb including all the BBC radio broadcasts instead of this one.

  33. I agree, the announcement of both releases at once with duplicate tracks does seem to muddy the waters a little.

    I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that the streaming EP will probably feature Fame and Little Wonder, possibly rehearsal/early versions or 50th Birthday Concert MSG tracks.

  35. Oh and @Electric Sydney I absolutely agree with your comment!!!
    Only Bowie (and maybe Queen?) is capable of this…
    He really was a creature fallen on earth from some place in outer space. And kept us great company for so much time.

  36. Release the unreleased RARITIES on CD / Vinyl instead of another compilation of songs that were already been released and re-released so many times. . Why is it only on Streaming?
    Bootleg guys – you have work to do…

      1. Pirating does, not so sure about bootlegging.
        The industry is still here, despite decades of both.

        I already have two boots of this show, but will of course buy the official version as well (would have done it years ago, if the industry had only released it).

          1. ‘ piracy and bootlegging are essentially the same thing’

            Bootlegging is usually seen as a sub-category of piracy dealing with music that has not been officially released. I’m very doubtful that bootlegging harms the industry, given that the market for bootlegs tends to be people who buy all the official stuff as well.

            If you think that bootlegging is harmful, consider The Grateful Dead, who encouraged it for decades, yet still have no problem selling official releases of concerts; some of which have been unofficially available for decades.

          2. Piracy and bootlegging – apart from both being illegal – are essentially totally different things

          3. totally different things? they are both unofficial releases. it’s a shame that people don’t understand the whole point of the original comment – RT60 is essentially urging people to copy the recordings and release them illegally

          4. Piracy is piracy, illegal copying and distribution of copyrighted goods.
            Bootlegging is recording and distribution of unreleased goods, mainly concert recordings.
            That distinction should be obvious, especially on a site like this.
            Piracy is rightfully illegal.
            Many artists don’t care much about bootlegging, they know people who buy it also buy everything else.

            So there is a difference.

            This is why I have already heard this. And this is why I will definitely buy this.

          5. Amazon is flooded with Bowie bootlegs, with some even being sold by amazon themselves. I looked on a certain legit streaming site too the other day and some are even on there. Maybe the srtists estate is being paid royalties from these unofficial releases?
            I don’t see how the sale of unreleased stuff affects official releases, the nassau 76 gig has been available unofficially for years, yet fans still bought the official release (which has less atmosphere than the bootleg versions).

      2. Tbf – the industry is busy harming itself. There’s no reason to hold the CD release until RSD. Come to think of it, RSD is a ridiculous concept these days, but I digress…. The labels could be doing a whole lot more, they choose not to. Where there’s a gap, piracy and bootlegging will flourish.

        1. I do not buy pirated music but do own a few boots, if an official version comes out I’ll buy it as well. Unfortunately labels sometimes fiddle around too much.
          Why does the cd version not contain the full session? Have they removed all the dialogue?
          Drives me mad! Even when ‘Santa Monica’ was finally released a few bits were cut out.
          Please let me buy ‘full’ versions, live stuff should be just that.

  37. I know that they are really invading the market with Bowie products, but love this announcement coming on the day of his birthday, and apparently no media knew about it in advance, at least for me it comes as a real surprise. The naive me sees it as a nice homage to the Duke.

    However after the initial enthusiasm I am depressed by the fact that as usual I will not be able to get hold of ChangesNowBowie owing to the well-known “parallel” RSD – ebay market (I DO NOT live in England where independent record shops abound and believe me living in Italy even if there WAS an i-shop in my city it would only have the few RSD Italian releases…), nor of Is It Any Wonder, it being only in streaming form.
    I hope the latter does come out some day also in physical format. Even though I would find myself again in the above described situation… Life’ s a loop.

    1. I sympathise with you, but should point out that independent record shops are few and far between in large parts of England ( and the rest of the UK)

  39. Whilst I rarely buy cds, its great there are 2 options for record store day! unlike last years RSD selection Im really looking forward to getting this one, though I may actually wait this year to get the vinyl as these are never that limited and I saw all of his RSD releases get reduced a few weeks later

    1. Yep, as someone who has and normally does queue for the items I want on the day in question for some but not all of the releases in previous years, Bowie included you can sometimes get a bargain if you bide your time as I got “The World Of David Bowie” via this very website’s shop on black Friday for at least £10 less and that was including postage.

  40. Shame they couldn’t have included ‘I Can’t Read’ from the session which wasnt broadcast but used elsewhere.

    It’s a brilliant session thou

  41. The title they’ve given this is a bit misleading but I really like the cover.

    We could work on the basis that the streaming “rarities” will give us an idea of what else we can expect from the Bowie estate this year but perhaps that way lies disappointment.

  42. Well, one could possibly assume that this is a curtain-raiser for a 1990s career box this year Hope so. This version of Man Who Sold The World is not very exciting though.

    Record Store Day eh? It gets earlier every year!

  43. It’s nice to get unreleased stuff, but feels like we are already at the bottom of the barrel, how about for record store day, some bowie product that never came out on vinyl, like the All Saints compilation

  44. The ChangesNowBowie recordings are all excellent and it’s a pleasant surprise that they are being released like this so looking forward to that. Not so sure about a streaming only EP as they tracks will, effectively, remain unreleased to anyone who actually wants to own them. Perhaps they will then all be released on individual vinyl box sets, 8-track cartridges, minidiscs and Betamax video tapes before finally appearing on a single CD?

  45. A good start to the new decade! Sounds great!! Very pleased this is on CD as not everyone decided to go back to vinyl! Would be nice to see the streaming digital EP come out as a physical release too.

    1. Not necessarily, keep your scanners peeled after the event as you do get the odd honest individual who’ll either be selling at cost or less than cost price if you bide your time.

  51. Still got this on tape from the time of broadcast, presumably there are none of the interviews included, the best of which is Bowie’s reaction to Scott Walkers message

  52. Holy holy, I just realized they literally named this after the recent (2017) bootleg CD From Wardour! Same recording, same title, better art direction. Wardour is renowned, but Parlophone likely had an easier time getting the master tape!

  53. That’s a handsome cover (handsome man, and handsome cover art).

    And I love that the Bowie camp chose to delve into the late ‘90s. Some fans prefer his later eras over the early ones and so this is most welcomed.

    And with their decision to make a CD, this may be the first Record Store Day release I’ll ever participate in. Seems they have done everything right this time.

    Later on when they release an expanded CD containing both this CD and the online tracks (pure speculation, mind you) then and only then can the grousing commence.

  55. While I’m pleased to see a CD release, I am frustrated by RSD-only and streaming-only. Anyone who can’t get to a record store on RSD (and there are quite a lot of us!) will either have to miss out altogether, or pay super-bigly to flippers on eBay. As much as I love Bowie, I shall be taking the miss-out-altogether option.

    I really can’t get my head around it. Record companies always bitch and moan about physical sales dropping, so why make physical product so difficult to buy? And at 15 tracks total (not counting the ‘double-up’) it could all fit on one CD.

    1. Like I’ve said to a couple of others if you bide your time, I’ve a feeling this will be one that you’ll be able to get a cost or less price as I’ve managed it with a few of his other RSD releases that despite being there on the day weren’t high on my list for purchase but when they were reduced I took the plunge and bought them, classic example being “The World of David Bowie” which came out in April of last year but I didn’t buy until black Friday this year when it was significantly reduced via this website.

    2. The Bowie RSD releases have been made in pretty big quantities. Cracked Actor, Black Out, The 2 Bowie Promos and world of we’re all still easy to get after recordstore day, Sister Ray still had some of them before Xmas last year and the uDiscover store had some on sale.
      Hopefully it’ll be the same with theses.

  56. It seems odd to me to use the “ChangesBowie” tag for the release of an acoustic radio gig. It is also not very “Now” since most of the setlist was 70s material, apart from a Tin Machine track.

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