Hear David Bowie cover The Who (differently) on track from ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Star!’ box set

Parlophone Records

For his 1973 album Pin Ups, David Bowie recorded his version of The Who‘s “I Can’t Explain.” But a different take from Bowie on the Who classic has been released ahead of an upcoming box set.

This previously unheard version, called “I Can’t Explain (Trident Studios Version – Take 2),” was recorded in London in 1972, and it’s much faster than the slowed-down version that Bowie eventually put on Pin Ups. It’s included on the five-CD/Blue-ray audio box set Rock ‘N’ Roll Star!, due out June 14.

As previously reported, the box set features 29 unreleased tracks that show Bowie’s musical journey from February 1971 to the release of 1972’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Those tracks include early songwriting demos, rehearsals from Bowie’s home, BBC sessions, live performances, outtakes and alternative versions.

The Blu-ray adds the 2012 remaster of the original Ziggy Stardust album, additional mixes from 2003 and an alternate version of the album, Waiting in the Sky (Before the Starman Came to Earth), featuring recordings made at Trident Studios in December 1971. Two books are also included in the package, including a 36-page reproduction of Bowie’s personal Ziggy Stardust-era notebooks.

Rock ‘N’ Roll Star! is available for preorder now.

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