https://www.youtube.com/w ... PZj4OPDtZg

Is this real? I don't recall a TOTP performance of this song.

Most likely taped by holding a tape recorder in front of the TV at the time. Several of these performances have survived in a similar way (Starman on Lift Off with Ayshea, My Death from Russell Harty Plus). Sounds authentic to me, didn't know this existed!

The drums are different for sure from the UK single version.
All the way through but easy to spot just before the vocals start.
The two little "fills" there are separate on the TOTP version but rolled together on the single.

But lots of the instrumentation is the same.
So perhaps the orchestral sections of the backing tape were used and the studio band added some elements to make sure the Musician's Union was happy.

Also the vocal tracks almost perfectly with the studio version but there's a definite difference as he sings "tell my wife I love her very much".
That would back up him singing to a version of the backing track he knew well to match the studio vocal so closely.

Will keep digging.

Another obvious difference is the middle instrumental section.
Something is happening on top of the studio version and the drum just before the vocals start are very different.

I synced them up in cool edit by the way.
It's not 100% perfect, I didn't obsess over it, but I sped the BBC version up slightly.
100.359277798455 for those that care.

What's kind of odd is that they are using the album version on TOTP.

Wikipedia says this "This was followed by his first appearance on the BBC's Top of the Pops on 2 October for which Bowie was filmed in a separate studio so his image could be interspersed with NASA space footage. He played Stylophone and guitar over backing tracks prepared by Dudgeon, who was in charge of synchronising the BBC Orchestra to the backing track. According to Dudgeon in 1991, it was a "nightmare": they were given enough time for only two takes, the second of which had a tighter orchestra but sloppy cohesion between the space footage and Bowie. Dudgeon stated, "If we had had the chance of a third take it would have been brilliant".

The acoustic guitar seems almost too perfectly synced to me so i'm unsure if that's Bowie playing that live.
Comparing it to the 40th anniversary stems, it looks like a live vocal sung along with the studio backing vocal which also includes the countdown and handclaps.

There's an odd opening bass note on the TOTP version which doesn't make any of the released versions but which syncs perfectly with the bass line stem.

So in short it's the album version with a different lead vocal and drummer, and something happening during the instrumental passages.

Nice work Christian.

This is the IDBD doing one of the things it does very well.

Great find!
Some more proof of it being the real thing - here are all the introductions from the episode. The uploader had to edit out the music for copyright reasons, but it is surely the same source:
https://www.youtube.com/w ... ReRoXKnXSU