"Don't tell your poppa..."
As if it wasn't rare enough already, the Record Store Day (RSD) 40th anniversary picture disc pressing of Starman already has an even more collectable version than the one that will be made available on April 21st. As you know, the song couples the original version of Starman on the A-side, with the 1972 TOTP version on the flip. The picture disc has a shot of Bowie from Lift Off With Ayshea on the A and, obviously, a still from Starman on TOTP to match the audio on the reverse...except it doesn't!As you can see from the image here, the A-side is all present and correct and while the audio on the B-side is right, as some eagle-eyed EMI employee spotted before the records were distributed, the B-side is not. Somehow a still from the recently unearthed 1973 TOTP Jean Genie illustrates the misspress instead of the intended Ziggy/Ronno still that had been prepared.
Alas, it's unlikely you'll ever see one of these priceless discs on the open market, as all but a handful of copies which were set aside for archive have been destroyed. Don't forget, you can still purchase the correct version on April 21st from any store you know that is participating in RSD and that has agreed to stock copies. It may be worth ringing around the day before to check that your favoured vinyl stockist has ordered copies.