Recording: The Man Who Sold The World

The eighth recording session for David Bowie’s third album The Man Who Sold The World took place on 4 May 1970.

Prior to the session, Bowie was interviewed by Bosse Hansson, a Swedish journalist. Photographs were taken by Rolf Adlercreutz.

The session began at 6pm and ended at 1pm. It took place at London’s Trident Studios, with Tony Visconti producing.

On this day two songs were recorded: ‘Running Gun Blues’ and ‘Saviour Machine’. The overdubs included Moog synthesizer parts performed by Ralph Mace.

It was creation in the studio. They began with a basic idea from one instrument or one vocal line. They would start adding and then they would change according to their whims. They got a core of the sound and then they started overdubbing and if it worked they kept it and if it didn’t they would do it again, and it was a creative build-up, a synthesis. David would bounce ideas off people. There was a lot of creative interplay with all the people there.