Bowie at the BBC

David Bowie's ninth BBC radio session was recorded on January 18, 1972, for Sounds of the 70s. Hosted by Bob Harris, this edition aired on February 7, 1972.

The recording was conducted at Studio 5 within the BBC's Maida Vale Studios in London, with production by Jeff Griffin and engineering by Chris Lycett and John Etchells.

Bowie sang and played guitar, accompanied by Mick Ronson on guitar, Trevor Bolder on bass, and Mick Woodmansey on drums.

Five songs were recorded: "Hang On To Yourself," "Ziggy Stardust," "Queen Bitch," "I'm Waiting For The Man," and "Five Years."

"I’m Waiting For The Man" was not broadcast. The full session was included in the 2000 release of Bowie At The Beeb, although the initial pressing contained "Ziggy Stardust" from the May 16th session, it came in a three-CD set, the third, bonus CD being a live recording made on 27 June 2000 at the Portland BBC Radio Theatre, part of his Mini Tour. Later editions contain only the first two CDs.

The initial pressing accidentally featured the second version of the song "Ziggy Stardust" (disc 2, track 13) twice on disc two, omitting the first version (disc 2, track 5). Rather than providing corrected replacement discs, EMI sent out single-song CDs containing the first version to customers.

This collection includes a previously unreleased track, "Looking for a Friend" (disc 1, track 15), which John Peel mentioned was intended to be released as a single by Arnold Corns. However, the single was eventually cancelled.

The live tracks from June 2000, featured on the bonus disc of this set, were re-mastered and re-released in 2021 as part of the box set Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001). This re-release was expanded to include the complete live set list across 2 CDs; the original version was a single disc containing an edited recording of the performance.