David Bowie: "Lady Stardust" Single (2024)

David Bowie’s "Lady Stardust (Take 1 Alternative Version)" backed with "Lady Stardust (Demo)", was released as a 7-inch vinyl single in the UK by Parlophone Records (catalog number DBLSTARDUST24) on May 3, 2024, as part of the upcoming box set Rock ‘n’ Roll Star! available on June 14, 2024.

The hitherto unknown LADY STARDUST (ALTERNATIVE VERSION – TAKE 1) took its original producer by surprise. Ken Scott recalls, “This was a shock when I first heard it. I pulled up the faders and suddenly, what the hell? I had no recollection of it being like that originally, but I guess it was just a guide vocal. But it sounds great, is really interesting and brings a totally different feeling to the song.”

The band line-up for LADY STARDUST (ALTERNATIVE VERSION – TAKE 1) is David Bowie on vocals, Mick Ronson on piano, Trevor Bolder on bass and Woody Woodmansey on drums. Scott singles out Ronson for praise, “Ronno on piano is very good indeed. The Trident Studio piano was just amazing, a Bechstein grand from around 1850 and I think the hammers had been treated with varnish or something – it was the best rock and roll piano in the whole world.”

LADY STARDUST (ALTERNATIVE VERSION – TAKE 1) was recorded at Trident Studios, St Anne’s Court, London on 12th November 1971, produced by David Bowie and Ken Scott and arranged by David Bowie and Mick Ronson.

Other unreleased highlights on ROCK ‘N’ ROLL STAR!, include an unheard version of the deep-cut classic ‘SHADOW MAN’, and an up-tempo take of The Who’s ‘I CAN’T EXPLAIN’, which Bowie would later slow down and cover for the PIN-UPS album