After performing his second-to-last selection, "White Light/White
Heat," a tune by Lou Reed, the songwriter who most influenced Bowie's
enduring and indelible persona — "Ziggy Stardust" — Bowie
drops this little nugget on his bandmates and fans: "Not only is it the
last show of the tour, but it's the last show that we'll ever do. Thank
you." He then goes into a magnificent version of "Rock & Roll
Suicide," a song that gives a glimpse of where Bowie could have gone,
not to suicide, but to the style of rock & roll that a long-term
band can provide. Had David Bowie kept the Spiders from Mars together,
unique flashes like the version of "Let's Spend the Night Together" or
the striking "All the Young Dudes would have continued, a tight little
rock & roll band providing a balance that dissipated when the
artist branched out on his own. The other unnerving thing about this
double-LP soundtrack of a concert taped in 1973 released in 1982 is
that there are bootlegs which have more to offer sonically. The thin
recording is shameful — don't expect Pink Floyd's Delicate Sound
of Thunder or even the Rolling Stones' wonderfully sludgy "Get Your Ya
Ya's Out." The remix of this only official live album from the Ziggy
Stardust shows is dreadful. Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture doesn't
have the electric excitement of the Santa Monica Live, 1972 boot, and
that's the fault of the remix by Mike Moran, Bruce Tergeson, Tony
Visconti, and Bowie. Another bootleg, David Bowie With the Spiders From
Mars, London, July 3, 1973, is the exact same Ziggy performance, but it
comes across better, much better. According to Pimm Jal de la Parra's
book David Bowie: The Concert Tapes, the bootleg was issued from the
ABC TV 1974 broadcast. The bootleg also has "Jean Genie and "Love Me
Do," which feature Jeff Beck on guitar, Beck's performances being
absent from the official RCA soundtrack release. The shame of it all is
that this double disc was released after David Live and Stage, and
while the upside is it makes for a rare three double-live sets from one
performer, the downside is that the best of those three albums has the
worst mix on official record. Also, had RCA released the October 1,
1972 Boston Music Hall show — which was brilliant, despite Bowie
having a cold that night — or this July 3, 1973 London
Hammersmith Odeon program back in the day, it could have had an
enormous effect on Bowie's career. The fans cultivated at that point in
time wanted more Ziggy, and the timing of this release only shows how
important it is to get the material out while it's hot. Just ask Peter
Frampton, Bob Seger, and the J. Geils Band, who solidified their
audiences with double live sets at crucial points in their careers.
Nonetheless, everything here is essential David Bowie, and it IS a
great performance, and you definitely need it for your Bowie
collection. The only thing better would be Lou Reed himself finally
releasing the September 1973 first gig of his Rock 'n' Roll Animal Band
— that was, as they say, the real thing.
After flirting with heavy guitar rock ("The Man Who Sold the World")
and lighter pop ("Hunky Dory"), Bowie found middle ground on Ziggy
Stardust. The creation of the Ziggy Stardust persona would live on well
after Bowie shed the alien skin, marking the first rock concept album
by a sexually ambiguous, artistically bent musician who confounded
critics at every turn. A blend of dramatic strings, swaggering
saxophones, jagged guitars, and theatrical arrangements, the album's
darker rock numbers like "It Ain't Easy," "Moonage Daydream," "Ziggy
Stardust," and the irresistible "Suffragette City," still serve as
solid excursions into the future (then and now) of rock. The buoyant
"Hang on to Yourself" and the dreamy "Star" offer hints of optimism in
Ziggy's bleak world. The dramatic "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" and the
image-heavy "Star Man" ("he'd like to come and meet us but thinks he'd
blow our minds!") no doubt provided plenty of stage-worthy moments when
Ziggy toured in the '70s, but years later they still thrill. Bowie blew
our minds!
Lorry Fleming, Amazon.com
Of all David Bowie's many distinctive personae, none have done more to
lodge this most ingenious of British artists in the world's
consciousness than his 1972 amalgam of the alien visitor and
Christ-like rock star: Ziggy Stardust. Cheap glamour, spacemen and
ambiguous sexuality surface throughout the loosely conceptualised
collection that is The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders
From Mars. If its premise sounds faintly ludicrous, then inspired and
dramatic songs such as "Starman" and "Five Years" dispel all doubts
about Bowie's genius, and the theatrically tragic "Rock 'n' Roll
Suicide" brings the album and it's fictional protagonist to a close. As
a cultural and musical signpost, Ziggy Stardust points simultaneously
backwards to early rock & roll and forward to the simpler, tougher
inclinations of late 1970's punk and New Wave rock. As one of the
defining rock albums of the 20th century, its influence is immeasurable.
James Littlewood - Amazon.co.uk Review
Borrowing heavily from Marc Bolan's glam rock and the future shock of A
Clockwork Orange, David Bowie reached back to the heavy rock of The Man
Who Sold the World for The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the
Spiders From Mars. Constructed as a loose concept album about an
androgynous alien rock star named Ziggy Stardust, the story falls apart
quickly, yet Bowie's fractured, paranoid lyrics are evocative of a
decadent, decaying future, and the music echoes an apocalyptic, nuclear
dread. Fleshing out the off-kilter metallic mix with fatter guitars,
genuine pop songs, string sections, keyboards, and a cinematic
flourish, Ziggy Stardust is a glitzy array of riffs, hooks, melodrama,
and style and the logical culmination of glam. Mick Ronson plays with a
maverick flair that invigorates rockers like "Suffragette City,"
"Moonage Daydream," and "Hang Onto Yourself," while "Lady Stardust,"
"Five Years," and "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" have a grand sense of staged
drama previously unheard of in rock & roll. And that self-conscious
sense of theater is part of the reason why Ziggy Stardust sounds so
foreign. Bowie succeeds not in spite of his pretensions but because of
them, and Ziggy Stardust - familiar in structure, but alien in
performance - is the first time his vision and execution met in such a
grand, sweeping fashion.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All-Music Guide
In retrospect, it's a little odd that an album so seemingly ephemeral
on its surface could stand the test of time. After all, it's a loose
concept album based on the now-quaintly-ridiculous idea of a space
alien alighting to Earth as a messianic rock star and preaching about
the end of the world. And unlike most great rock albums - which are
more realistically grounded in the stuff of life - this one was heavily
hyped in 1972 on its outlandish sense of style and David Bowie's P.T.
Barnum-like knack for publicity stunts - hardly the basis of a
masterwork. Ah, but here's the rub: Beneath all the surface absurdity -
which, in fact, was a kick to fans anyway - lay a classic foundation:
well-written songs, innovative production, and a soulful core that
draws you into the album's hidden layers and thematic mysteries. Like
all great albums, this one's a world unto itself.
Prior to 1972, Bowie had been following a variety of muses, searching
for the key. Along the way, he was a mime, a commercial artist, a
sideman sax player, the head of an experimental art troupe, and even a
Buddhist monk. After the surprising success of his "Space Oddity"
single in 1970 - which evolved out of his art troupe - he realized
music was that key, and became, for a time, the folkish
singer-songwriter of Hunky Dory. But he quickly realized he could make
a greater impact by indulging music with his eclectic, outsider-art
flair, incorporating bits of all those other projects into his approach.
So he took musical style cues from his friend Marc Bolan (founder of T.
Rex and godfather of glam rock), including his guitarist, Mick Ronson;
reversed the idea of "Space Oddity" so that this time the subject has
fallen from the sky; and dressed up the package with acute visual style.
Still, Ziggy Stardust is a classic because of its songs. There's a
deliciousness to the twists and turns of the pop melodies of "Starman,"
"Rock 'n' Roll Suicide," the famous title track, and the inspired cover
of Ray Davies' "It Ain't Easy," among others. Interspersed are chugging
rockers - "Hang Onto Yourself," the AOR staple "Suffragette City" -
that showcase Ronson's unique guitar sounds. And even Bowie's lyrics
are intriguing. Ostensibly, they communicate Ziggy's mythical messages
but, over time, they've demonstrated surprising resilience because
they're not really about that. Credit Kurt Cobain's cover of "The Man
Who Sold the World" for showing the masses that there are deeper truths
resonating in Bowie's glam-rock words. "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide," for
instance, is not so much about an alien as it is a dead-on portrait of
any tired, desperate, aging figure of idolatry.
Ziggy Stardust was the manifestation of Bowie's most fertile period of
musical creativity - within a year, he not only recorded the follow-up,
Aladdin Sane, he also produced Mott the Hoople's breakthrough All the
Young Dudes (and wrote its title hit), Lou Reed's Transformer (which
included his signature hit "Walk on the Wild Side") and, as if that
weren't enough, Iggy and the Stooges' seminal masterpiece Raw Power.
Clearly, Bowie was on a roll - he was the focal point of a stylistic
movement and the spearhead of a creative juggernaut, and this album
catches him at the height of those powers.
To commemorate the 30th anniversary of this seminal masterpiece, in
2002 EMI issued a two-CD edition that included a bonus disc of
rarities, most of which were recorded during the Ziggy Stardust
sessions. Though nearly all this material was available previously on
the (now out-of-print) 1990 Rykodisc reissues, gathering them here
serves to emphasize just how fertile a period this was for Bowie.
While the two demos and the "Arnold Corns" material are of passing
interest only, the remaining eight bonus tracks stand up well alongside
the best of Ziggy. In addition to embodying the essence of glam, such
tracks as "John, I'm Only Dancing" and "Holy Holy" unleash the
explosive power of Bowie's backing band, the Spiders from Mars.
Interestingly, however, the best is saved for last. On an alternate-mix
version of "Moonage Daydream," Mick Ronson's guitar is pushed front and
center, showcasing a talent as otherworldly as the doomed space alien
Bowie conceived. Indeed, it's hard to think of a more dazzling
symbiosis between songwriter and sideman.
"I'm going to be huge," David Bowie told a reporter toward the end of
1971. It was a typically outrageous comment by the former David Jones,
who had been making records since 1964 but had only just released his
fourth album, "Hunky Dory." The follow-up to that LP, however, was
already in the can - and his fifth album was the one that would break
his career wide open, turning him over night into the international pop
presence he has managed to remain to this day.
"Ziggy Stardust" presented to the world rock's first completely
prepackaged persona. It also defined the glitter-rock moment of the
early Seventies and took rock theatrics and pan-sexuality to a new
peak. Most of all, despite the calculated feyness of its presentation,
"Ziggy Stardust," packed an exhilarating sonic wallop.
The keys to "Ziggy's" success were several: eleven excellent songs, all
but one composed, down to the last reverberating riff, by Bowie (the
exception was Ron Davie's much-covered "It Ain't Easy"); an immaculate
and unmannered production by Ken Scott; and explosive backup by the
Spiders from Mars - in retrospect, clearly the most exciting band Bowie
has ever had. Bowie met guitarist Mick Ronson in late 1969 and quickly
recruited him to play in a short-lived group called Hype, which also
included his then producer, Tony Visconti, on bass. Before long, Ronson
brought in drummer Mick Woodmansey to help Bowie record a single
version of "Memory of a free Festival," a popular song from David's
second album. Ronson and Woodmansey had worked together in their native
Hull, in the north of England, in a blues band called the Rats, which
had released two obscure singles. By the spring of 1971, Ronson and
Woodmansey had been joined in London by yet another Rat, bassist Trevor
Bolder, and the soon to be Spiders from mars were complete.
The Spiders made their vinyl debut backing Bowie on a single, credited
to Arnold Corns (a Bowie side project), that paired "Hang On to
Yourself" and "Moonage Daydream," two songs that would later be recut
for the "Ziggy" LP> For the "Hunky Dory" sessions they were joined
by the future Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman. Then, in June, Bowie took
his trio into London's Trident Studios to being work on "Ziggy
Stardust." Behind the board (a simple eight-track) was Ken Scott, who
had started out as an engineer on two earlier Bowie LPs and had become
his producer with "Hunky Dory." Bowie, who had previously been a bit of
a hippie, told Scott that "Ziggy" was going to be a real rock &
roll album. Several of the songs he had written for it had already been
tested before concert audiences, and on LP they were to be connected
within a concept - the prefab legend of Ziggy Stardust, a dissolute,
ambi-sexual "plastic rocker" who fictive saga was loosely based on the
career of an obscure American singer named Vince Taylor, whom Bowie had
encountered on the streets of London some years earlier. The
character's concocted surname was borrowed from the Legendary Stardust
Cowboy, one of Bowie's label mates when he was with mercury Records.
And Ziggy, as Bowie later told ROLLING STONE, "was one of the few
Christian names I could find beginning with the letter 'Z'."
Ziggy was a very shrewd move: it presented Bowie, the fledgling
artiste, as an established rock star. In early January 1972 he created
an image to match the character, cropping his Garbo-length hair and
dying drop-dead yellow for the album cover, which was photographed in
rain-soaked Heddon Street, just off London's Regent Street. He put the
finishing touch on his new persona in the January 22nd edition of
"Melody Maker," telling writer Michael Watts, "I'm gay, and always have
been." (Later Bowie would characterized that remark as "probably the
best thing I've ever said."
If Bowie's Ziggy character provided the album's unifying concept -
aligning apprehensions of personal doom ("Rock 'n' Roll Suicide") with
more universal forebodings ("Five Years") - the music itself derived
much of its startling power from Ronson's howling, Jeff Beck-influenced
guitar: a Les Paul run through a 100-watt Marshall amp and, rather
anachronistically, a wah-wah pedal. "I only used the wah-wah pedal for
the tone," says Ronson, a classically trained musician who also wrote
the album's string arrangements. "That's how come it had a very
honkin', Midlands sort of sound, you know? And then I had a rotten
little fuzz box that never used to work. But basically it was just
guitar straight through an amp." The result, especially on "Suffragette
City," the album's most ferocious track, was a whole new level of
guitar-rock aggression.
Released on June 6th, 1972, "Ziggy" was immediately acclaimed a hit. "I
wasn't at all surprised "Ziggy Stardust" made my career," Bowie
subsequently said.
Pushing thru the market square, so many mothers sighing
News had just come over, we had five years left to cry in
News guy wept and told us, earth was really dying
Cried so much his face was wet, then I knew he was not lying
I heard telephones, opera house, favourite melodies
I saw boys, toys electric irons and T.V.'s
My brain hurt like a warehouse, it had no room to spare
I had to cram so many things to store everything in there
And all the fat-skinny people, and all the tall-short people
And all the nobody people, and all the somebody people
I never thought I'd need so many people
A girl my age went off her head, hit some tiny children
If the black hadn't a-pulled her off, I think she would have killed them
A soldier with a broken arm, fixed his stare to the wheels of a Cadillac
A cop knelt and kissed the feet of a priest, and a queer
threw up at the sight of that
I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour, drinking milk shakes cold and long
Smiling and waving and looking so fine, don't think
you knew you were in this song
And it was cold and it rained so I felt like an actor
And I thought of Ma and I wanted to get back there
Your face, your race, the way that you talk
I kiss you, you're beautiful, I want you to walk
We've got five years, stuck on my eyes
We've got five years, what a surprise
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
We've got five years, that's all we've got
SOUL LOVE
Stone love - she kneels before the grave
A brave son - who gave his life to see the slogan
That hovers between the headstone and her eyes
For they penetrate her grieving
New love - a boy and girl are talking
New words - that only they can share in
New words - a love so strong it tears their hearts
To sleep - through the fleeting hours of morning
Love is careless in its choosing - sweeping over cross a baby
Love descends on those defenseless
Idiot love will spark the fusion
Inspirations have I none - just to touch the flaming dove
All I have is my love of love - and love is not loving
Soul love - the priest that tastes the word and
Told of love - and how my God on high is
All love - though reaching up my loneliness evolves
By the blindness that surrounds him
Love is careless in its choosing - sweeping over cross a baby
Love descends on those defenseless
Idiot love will spark the fusion
Inspirations have I none - just to touch the flaming dove
All I have is my love of love - and love is not loving
MOONAGE DAYDREAM
I'm an alligator, I'm a mama-papa coming for you
I'm the space invader, I'll be a rock 'n' rollin' bitch for you
Keep your mouth shut, you're squawking like a pink monkey bird
And I'm busting up my brains for the words
Keep your 'lectric eye on me babe
Put your ray gun to my head
Press your space face close to mine, love
Freak out in a moonage daydream oh yeah!
Don't fake it baby, lay the real thing on me
The church of man, love, is such a holy place to be
Make me baby, make me know you really care
Make me jump into the air
Keep your 'lectric eye on me babe
Put your ray gun to my head
Press your space face close to mine, love
Freak out in a moonage daydream oh yeah!
[repeat x3]
Freak out, far out, in out
STARMAN
Didn't know what time it was and the lights were low
I leaned back on my radio
Some cat was layin' down some rock 'n' roll 'lotta soul, he said
Then the loud sound did seem to fade
Came back like a slow voice on a wave of phase
That weren't no D.J. that was hazy cosmic jive
[CHORUS]
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He's told us not to blow it
Cause he knows it's all worthwhile
He told me:
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie
I had to phone someone so I picked on you
Hey, that's far out so you heard him too!
Switch on the TV we may pick him up on channel two
Look out your window I can see his light
If we can sparkle he may land tonight
Don't tell your poppa or he'll get us locked up in fright
[CHORUS x2]
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la [repeat]
IT AIN'T EASY
When you climb to the top of the mountain
Look out over the sea
Think about the places perhaps, where a young man could be
Then you jump back down to the rooftops
Look out over the town
Think about all of the strange things circulating round
[CHORUS]
It ain't easy, it ain't easy
It ain't easy to get to heaven when you're going down
Well all the people have got their problems
That ain't nothing new
With the help of the good Lord
We can all pull on through
We can all pull on through
Get there in the end
Sometimes it'll take you right up and sometimes down again
[CHORUS]
Satisfaction, satisfaction
Keep me satisfied
I've got the love of a Hoochie Koochie woman
She calling from inside
She's a-calling from inside
Trying to get to you
All the woman really wants you can give her something too
[CHORUS x2]
LADY STARDUST
People stared at the makeup on his face
Laughed at his long black hair, his animal grace
The boy in the bright blue jeans
Jumped up on the stage
And lady stardust sang his songs
Of darkness and disgrace
[CHORUS]
And he was alright, the band was altogether
Yes he was alright, the song went on forever
And he was awful nice
Really quite out of sight (second time: really quite paradise)
And he sang all night long
Femme fatales emerged from shadows
To watch this creature fair
Boys stood upon their chairs
To make their point of view
I smiled sadly for a love I could not obey
Lady stardust sang his songs
Of darkness and dismay
[CHORUS]
Oh how I sighed when they asked if I knew his name
[CHORUS]
STAR
Tony went to fight in Belfast
Rudi stayed at home to starve
I could make it all worthwhile as a rock & roll star
Bevan tried to change the nation
Sonny wants to turn the world, well he can tell you that he tried
[CHORUS x2]
I could make a transformation as a rock & roll star
So inviting - so enticing to play the part
I could play the wild mutation as a rock & roll star
(second time: Get it all yeah!)
I could do with the money
I'm so wiped out with things as they are
I'd send my photograph to my honey - and I'd c'mon like a regular superstar
I could fall asleep at night as a rock & roll star
I could fall in love all right as a rock & roll star
HANG ON TO YOURSELF
Well she's a tongue twisting storm, she will come to the show tonight
Praying to the light machine
She wants my honey not my money she's a funky-thigh collector
Layin' on 'lectric dreams
CHORUS
So come on, come on, we've really got a good thing going
Well come on, well come on, if you think we're gonna make it
You better hang on to yourself
We can't dance, we don't talk much, we just ball and play
But then we move like tigers on vaseline
Well the bitter comes out better on a stolen guitar
You're the blessed, we're the spiders from Mars
[CHORUS x3]
Come on, ah, come on, ah [repeat ad inf.]
ZIGGY STARDUST
Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with Weird and Gilly
The spiders from Mars. He played it left hand
But made it too far
Became the special man, then we were Ziggy's band
Ziggy really sang, screwed up eyes and screwed down hairdo
Like some cat from Japan, he could lick 'em by smiling
He could leave 'em to hang
Came on so loaded man, well hung and snow white tan.
So where were the spiders while the fly tried to break our balls
Just the beer light to guide us,
So we bitched about his fans and should we crush his sweet hands?
Ziggy played for time, jiving us that we were voodoo
The kids were just crass, he was the nazz
With God given ass
He took it all too far but boy could he play guitar
Making love with his ego Ziggy sucked up into his mind
Like a leper messiah
When the kids had killed the man I had to break up the band.
Oh yeah
Ooooooo
Ziggy played guitaarrrrrr
SUFFRAGETTE CITY
Hey man, oh leave me alone you know
Hey man, oh Henry, get off the phone, I gotta
Hey man, I gotta straighten my face
This mellow thighed chick just put my spine out of place
Hey man, my schooldays insane
Hey man, my work's down the drain
Hey man, well she's a total blam-blam
She said she had to squeeze it but she... then she...
(CHORUS)
Oh don't lean on me man, cause you can't afford the ticket
I'm back on Suffragette City
Oh don't lean on me man
Cause you ain't got time to check it
You know my Suffragette City
Is outta sight...she's all right
Hey man, Henry, don't be unkind, go away
Hey man, I can't take you this time, no way
Hey man, droogie don't crash here
There's only room for one and here she comes, here she comes
[CHORUS]
Oh hit me!
[CHORUS]
A Suffragette City, a Suffragette City
I'm back on Suffragette City, I'm back on Suffragette City
Ooo, Sufraggete city, ooo, Suffragette City
Oooh-how, Sufragette City, oooh-how, Sufragette City, oooh-how
Sufragette
Ohhh, Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am!
A Suffragette City, a Suffragette City
Quite all right
A Suffragette City
Too fine
A Suffragette City, ooh, a Sufragette City
Oh, my Sufragette City, oh my Suffragette City
Oh, Suffragette
Suffragette!
ROCK 'N' ROLL SUICIDE
Time takes a cigarette, puts it in your mouth
You pull on your finger, then another finger, then your cigarette
The wall-to-wall is calling, it lingers, then you forget
Ohhh, you're a rock 'n' roll suicide
You're too old to lose it, too young to choose it
And the clocks waits so patiently on your song
You walk past a cafe but you don't eat when you've lived too long
Oh, no, no, no, you're a rock 'n' roll suciide
Chev brakes are snarling as you stumble across the road
But the day breaks instead so you hurry home
Don't let the sun blast your shadow
Don't let the milk float ride your mind
They're so natural - religiously unkind
Oh no love! you're not alone
You're watching yourself but you're too unfair
You got your head all tangled up but if I could only make you care
Oh no love! you're not alone
No matter what or who you've been
No matter when or where you've seen
All the knives seem to lacerate your brain
I've had my share, I'll help you with the pain
You're not alone
Just turn on with me and you're not alone
Let's turn on with me and you're not alone
Let's turn on and be not alone
Gimme your hands cause you're wonderful
Gimme your hands cause you're wonderful
Oh gimme your hands.