David Bowie: Birthday Gift for Us

David Bowie would have turned 73 today, and to mark the occasion, Parlophone Records is taking the wraps off of Is It Any Wonder? a six-track EP of unreleased and rare Bowie songs to be released over six weeks.

Out today (Wednesday) is a previously unreleased version of “The Man Who Sold the World.” It’s a streaming-only digital single in celebration of not only his birthday, but also the 50th anniversary of the writing and recording of the song.

This mostly acoustic version of “The Man Who Sold the World” is taken from the nine-track session ChangesNowBowie, recorded for radio and broadcast by the BBC on Bowie’s 50th birthday — January 8th, 1997. ChangesNowBowie was recorded and mixed at Looking Glass Studios in New York in November 1996 during rehearsals for Bowie’s 50th birthday concert at Madison Square Garden. It will be released in limited quantities on LP and CD for Record Store Day on April 18th.

Five more songs will be released on a weekly basis from January 17th.