Don't you just love it when an amateurish sounding bootleg recording is replaced by the real thing?

David Bowie's 1972 performance at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium is a good case in point. Never before released, previously available only as a bootleg, David Bowie: Live Santa Monica ’72 will be released July 22. It will be available on CD, digital download, and as a double vinyl album.

This was Bowie's first live radio gig in the US (on 94.7 KMET - "The Mighty Met" to you early '70s L.A. denizens) and was recorded on his first US tour, promoting The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.

Oh, did you want to hear it by any chance? The not-a-bootleg version? Just tune into the About.com Classic Rock spot on your Internet radio dial:

Windows Media | Quicktime

If you like what you hear, you might also want to spend a few moments in Ziggy's space on MySpace.

^{Album cover image courtesy Virgin/EMI}