01	Five Years						04:43
	02	Soul Love						03:33
	03	Moonage Daydream						04:37
	04	Starman						04:16
	05	It Ain't Easy						02:59
	06	Lady Stardust						03:21
	07	Star						02:47
	08	Hang Onto Yourself						02:38
	09	Ziggy Stardust						03:13
	10	Suffragette City						03:25
	11	Rock 'N' Roll Suicide						03:02
	12	John, I'm Only Dancing						02:46
	13	Velvet Goldmine						03:12
	14	Sweet Head						04:17
	15	Ziggy Stardust						03:39
	16	Lady Stardust						03:33

The musicians are:
David Bowie: guitar, sax, and vocals
Mick Ronson: guitar, piano and vocals
Trevor Bolder: bass
Mick Woodmansey: drumsExcept

Except on tracks 15 and 16: David Bowie: guitar, piano and vocals

Arrangements: David Bowie and Mick Ronson

Album production: David Bowie and Ken Scott at Trident studios London

"Sweet Head" mixed by Jonathan Wyner





David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust- 30th Anniversary

Released: 1972/2002
Label: EMI
Cat. No.: 39826
Total Time: 36:26 / 37:73


Reviewed by: Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck, July 2002
There have been several reissues of David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust with bonus tracks and previously unreleased material. This set has the same to offer and more. This is a special 30th Anniversary issue in a Book/CD format with sleeves in the front and the back to house the CDs. The sound is superb, the music extraordinary, and the packaging outstanding. What makes it so much more interesting than ever before is not only the songs we have never heard, it's all the commentary from the artists that have been so tremendously influenced by this classic rock album. Ziggy has weathered very well through the ages, and listening to it now with the remastered sound brings the reality of its enormous impact front and center. This wasn't only music, it was history and rock 'n' roll culture in the making. The character he created he transformed into, and the music was the vehicle that delivered the goods.

I have heard so much of his music over the years, and have loved just about all of it. I have also purchased a lot of the rarities, such as the limited edition sets from Ryko (Au20 24 kt Gold boxed set 1997), which put Bowie's critical albums into the hands of a new audience, just as this release will. Most recently, the phenomenal Bowie At The Beeb, which comes with bonus disc of a show attended by subscribers of his member's only website, is a great view of early Bowie.

I am certain that those that haven't found Ziggy will be floored at what a great rock and roll album this is. The futuristic "Five Years" is truly visionary and sounds like it's right around the corner, just waiting to happen, while "Suffragette City" still rings out as the ultimate bisexual glam rocker. And, in the end, the leper messiah is just another "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide." Mick Ronson, god rest his soul, was the perfect sidekick, a flashy guitar slinger to help David pull off the sequined character adorned with glitter and makeup. This could have easily become a full blown rock opera on the level of Tommy or Jesus Christ Superstar if he had decided to take it all one step further. From Ziggy to Major Tom to the Thin White Duke, Bowie has portrayed every musical character that you could possibly imagine. There hasn't been anyone like him since he started in the 60s.

Bowie has not only been a musical genius of our life and times, his marketing and strategic planning for releases with labels, in conjunction with his web presence, has been nothing short of brilliant. Bowie has been the accomplished rock chameleon, always changing and inventing new styles in sound and vision with each passing decade. As the years have piled up his legacy continues to grow with cutting edge music that is found on his latest release The Heathen, which is a combination of all of his characters wrapped into one reflecting our current times. I urge you to listen to this Ziggy edition then his latest release in succession; you may find that Ziggy wasn't just another rock 'n' suicide after all.

The bonus CD had some tracks that I hadn't heard before. "Holy Holy" and "Round And Round" were new to these ears and absolutely wonderful as well. So don't think for a moment that these extras are throwaways brought back to life, they are legitimately Bowie and quite good actually. Of course it's always very cool to witness the birth and maturation of a song such as "Hang On To Yourself" and "Ziggy Stardust."

Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars would surely make it into any rock and roll lover's top ten albums of all time. If not, then a huge piece of music history is missing and I can't think of any artist or release that could possibly fill that gap. Bowie has been one of the most influential and emulated artists for the last three decades. How many people can reflect upon their careers in that light? When this man looks in the mirror he must see so many different faces and moods, only he knows what's really inside though. We can only speculate what he is about while listening to his music.

This is an absolute must have piece for your collection, even if you have all the other issues of this album, you really must consider getting this, it's the best yet, and for far too many reasons to cover in one review.

Rating: 5/5

More about Ziggy Stardust- 30th Anniversary:

Track Listing: Disc One: Five Years (4:42) / Soul Love (3:33) / Moonage Daydream (4:37) / Starman (4:16) / It Ain't Easy (2:57) / Lady Stardust (3:21) / Star (2:47) / Hang Onto Yourself (2:38) / Ziggy Stardust (3:13) / Suffragette City (3:25) / Rock 'N' Roll Suicide (2:57)

Disc Two: Moonage Daydream (3:53) / Hang Onto Yourself (2:54) / Lady Stardust (demo) (3:33) / Ziggy Stardust (demo) (3:38) / John, I'm Only Dancing (2:49) / Velvet Goldmine (3:13) / Holy Holy (2:25) / Port Of Amsterdam (3:24) / The Supermen (2:43) / Round And Round (2:43) ) / Sweet Head [Take 4] (4:52) / Moonage / Daydream New Mix (4:46)

Musicians:
David Bowie - guitar, arranger, keyboards, saxophone, vocals, producer
Rick Wakeman - keyboards
Dana Gillespie - backing vocals
Mick Ronson - guitar, piano, arranger, vocals
Trevor Bolder - bass
Mick "Woody" Woodmansey - drums

Contact:

Website: www.davidbowie.com
Note: will open new browser window

Discography

Space Oddity (1969)
The Man Who Sold The World (1970)
Honky Dory (1972)
The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust (1972/2002)
Aladdin Sane (1973)
Pin-Ups (1973)
Images 1966-1967 (1973)
Diamond Dogs (1974)
David Live (1974)
Young Americans (1975)
Station To Station (1976)
Low (1977)
Heroes (1977)
Stage (1978)
Lodger (1979)
Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) (1980)
Let's Dance (1983)
Love You 'Til Tuesday (1984)
Tonight (1984)
Never Let Me Down (1987)
Sound + Vision (1989)
Changesbowie (1990)
Early On (1964-1966) (1991)
Black Tie White Noise (1993)
Singles 1969 - 1993 (1993)
Rarest One Bowie (1995)
Santa Monica '72 (1995)
Outside (1995)
Buddha Of Suburbia (1995)
Earthling (1997)
All Saints - Collected Instrumentals 1977-1999 (2001)
Heathen (2002)
Best Of Bowie (2002)



The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust
Date of Release 1972

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 and 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

1. Five Years (Bowie/Bowie) - 4:42
2. Soul Love (Bowie) - 3:34
3. Moonage Daydream (Bowie/Bowie) - 4:39
4. Starman (Bowie) - 4:13
5. It Ain't Easy (Davies) - 2:57
6. Lady Stardust (Bowie) - 3:19
7. Star (Bowie) - 2:47
8. Hang on to Yourself (Bowie) - 2:38
9. Ziggy Stardust (Bowie) - 3:13
10. Suffragette City (Bowie) - 3:24
11. Rock & Roll Suicide (Bowie) - 2:58

Rick Wakeman - Keyboards
David Bowie - Guitar, Arranger, Keyboards, Saxophone, Vocals, Producer
Dana Gillespie - Vocals (bckgr)
Mick Ronson - Guitar, Piano, Arranger, Vocals
Ken Scott - Producer
Trevor Bolder - Bass
Peter Mew - Remastering
Mick "Woody" Woodmansey - Drums
Mick Rock - Photography
Brian Ward - Photography
Nigel Reeve - Remastering
Terry Pastor - Artwork

1999 CD Virgin 21900
CD Rykodisc 90134
1972 CD Rykodisc RCD-10134
CD Rykodisc 10134
1972 LP RCA 14702
1999 CD EMI 794400
CD Rykodisc 90134
LP Rykodisc RALP-10134
CS Rykodisc RACS-10134



Five Years

AMG REVIEW: Not merely one of David Bowie's best songs but easily one of the greatest album-opening songs ever, "Five Years" introduces Ziggy Stardust with a dramatic, powerful air, both musically and lyrically. Starting only with Woody Woodmansey's steady drums before Bowie starts to sing, backed by piano and bass, "Five Years" feels just like the start of a film or a stage production, the introduction to a larger piece. Given the quasi-concept album nature of the Ziggy Stardust album as a whole, that makes excellent sense, but it can work just as well on its own. Bowie's description of a world starting to crack at the seams, a series of fragmentary, apocalyptic images transforming into a search for connection while doom steadily draws nearer. His singing is among his best performances, in particular the line "I never thought there'd be so many people," delivered in the elegant demi-croon he would later make more prominent. The introduction of Mick Ronson's string arrangement adds to the cinematic edge of the song, as does some squalling guitar from Ronson, even as Bowie sounds more desperate and on the brink. - Ned Raggett



Soul Love

AMG REVIEW: Ziggy Stardust's second song, "Soul Love" is a bit of respite between "Five Years" and "Moonage Daydream," not quite connected to the general concept of David Bowie's breakthrough album but an enjoyable listen nonetheless. It has the same gentle pace of "Five Years" itself, starting effortlessly after the other song finally fades out, and in ways could almost be an outtake from Hunky Dory, featuring Bowie's sax playing throughout (including a not-bad solo or two) over a straightforward acoustic strum carefully backed by his band. Bowie's singing is defiantly arch throughout (made even more so by the high-pitched backing singing), all the more noticeable on the quiet verses, but it's the suddenly storming choruses that really make the song stand out. Mick Ronson turns up the volume with some great riffing, while his concluding solo is as perfect an example of glam-god glory as anything. Woody Woodmansey's drumming and Trevor Bolder's bass is, as usual, just fine for the task at hand. - Ned Raggett



Moonage Daydream

AMG REVIEW: If the conceit of David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust album revolved around an alien rock star coming down from the heavens to blow everyone's minds, then "Moonage Daydream" is and remains that particular statement of purpose come to life. It's no surprise the song remains one of the most popular from that record; as a standard to aim at, what Bowie-influenced band or act hasn't taken that as a goal at one time or another? Certainly it doesn't hurt that the track is one of Bowie's fiercest rockers ever, on which the genius performance of guitarist Mick Ronson clearly takes the stage front and center. The song itself begins with a massive overdub of feedback and riffs, acoustic and electric both, cutting between that and Bowie's bizarre but somehow in context perfect claim: "I'm an alligator/I'm a mama-papa coming for you/I'm the space invader!/I'll be a rock and rollin' bitch for you!" As a prototype of glam rock's still-influential formula - descending, slow chords; high singing; sexually charged if not exploded imagery; thick, fat feedback; and more - it nails it on every level. Bowie's challenging claims throughout are at once pure fantasy and pure daring courage, tackling the presumed "'manliness" of rock with vision upon vision of anything but. Ronson's keyboards and final, swirling string arrangement, matched with a brilliant guitar solo, prove the icing on the cake, sealing "Moonage Daydream" forever as a rock classic. - Ned Raggett



Starman

AMG REVIEW: The first single drawn from David Bowie's then newly released ^Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders rom Mars album, "Starman" is arguably the single most influential song in his entire catalog. At the time of its release, after all, he was still a one-hit wonder, creaking around the club circuit with a critically acclaimed, but publicly ignored live show, while his "Space Oddity" signature theme sank ever further back into the mists of time. And then he appeared on British television's Top of the Pops, cocky, camp, and colorful, with one arm draped languorously over guitarist Mick Ronson's shoulder, and giving the come-on to every man, woman, and child in the land. Two weeks later, "Starman" was in the Top Ten, and Bowie was a superstar.
The song itself is sweet and simple - "the story of a little spaceman who comes to earth," explained his publicist of the time, Cherry Vanilla. Of course it is a little more involved than that, all the more so if one believes some of Bowie's own explanations of its place in the Ziggy song cycle; he told Rolling Stone, " Ziggy is advised in a dream, by the infinites, to write the coming of a starman" - the infinites being a race of aliens who travel through black holes, but apparently have an excellent grasp of contemporary earthling slang. "Let the children boogie" indeed.

Despite its popularity and importance, "Starman" has never truly taken to the concert environment - a regular during Bowie's 1972 tours, it made only a handful of appearances even on the 1990 Sound and Vision greatest-hits tour, and one was more likely to encounter it being performed by the likes of Culture Club and 10,000 Maniacs, both of whom have enacted reasonable covers of the song. - Dave Thompson


It Ain't Easy

AMG REVIEW: The one cover version on David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust album, "It Ain't Easy" was originally written by Ron Davies, who was often assumed to be the role model for the Ziggy Stardust character ( Bowie himself has said otherwise). As performed by Bowie, the song is both a cabaret confection and a blasting rock apocalypse - a strange combination, perhaps, but he and his band perfectly balance out the schizophrenia at play, with Ken Scott's able production the killer touch to keep everything tied together. The verses are the quieter parts, with what sounds like harpischord added to a basic and very low key rhythm section, while Bowie's extremely high-flying singing almost sounding like it's coming from some great height. The choruses suddenly let everything loose - overdubbed backing vocals, Woody Woodmansey's drumming turning into a bigger punch and most especially Mick Ronson's brilliantly triumphant guitar. He gets a last little bit of flair on the concluding instrumental part as well, helping tie together the song's two parts just so. - Ned Raggett



Lady Stardust

AMG REVIEW: Originally written as a tribute to David Bowie's sometimes-friend sometimes-foe Marc Bolan of T. Rex - during his Ziggy days Bowie would perform the song with a picture of Bolan on-stage - "Lady Stardust" serves as an appropriately nostalgia-touched, gentle late-night anthem to him and glam as a whole. Acknowledging Bolan's role as the unintentional pioneer of glam, but cryptic enough to be a story of Bowie himself, it succeeds because of the lovely music and Mick Ronson's piano played excellently, carrying the lead melody as well as the introduction. With the Trevor Bolder/ Woody Woodmansey rhythm section matching the very glam descending chords of the song, verse and chorus both, Bowie takes the metaphorical spotlight to sing of "the boy in the bright blue jeans (who) jumped up on the stage (and) sang all night long." He smartly references the Velvet Underground via mentions of "femme fatales," while glam's sexual transgressions get hinted throughout: "I smiled sadly for a love I could not obey." His high-register vocals suit the lovely flow of the piece just right and it's perfectly easy to imagine a crowd swaying and singing note for note this lovely, memorable effort. - Ned Raggett


Star

AMG REVIEW: One of the many songs on Ziggy Stardust that references the 'star' concept in one way or another, "Star" is the most bluntly titled of the bunch, with David Bowie tackling the desire to be such a thing in a series of quick character sketches. In ways it's him updating his earlier song "Join the Gang," though the various Swinging London misfits and scenesters are now figures for his narrator to contrast himself to, all the while dreaming of escape. The occasional references to then-current UK life ("Tony went to fight in Belfast") makes the dream to "come on like a regular superstar" all the more inviting. Musically the song is quick and a reasonable enough bit of driving rock bravado, with Mick Ronson pulling off some unexpectedly fine riffs and arrangements. Perhaps the nuttiest part of the performance is the slightly gabbled "sha-ya-ya" bits on the chorus, but that's made up for with the concluding part where everything slows down, first letting Bowie stand out with piano on lead, then the whole band in one last climactic bow. - Ned Raggett



Ziggy Stardust

AMG REVIEW: The height of David Bowie's astonishing reinvention as a mythical rock & roll messiah, "Ziggy Stardust," taken from his still famous 1972 breakthrough album, has been cloned, redone, borrowed from, and revisited so many times now that trying to describe its impact becomes nearly impossible. What's interesting, though, in comparison to later efforts from others - notably Bauhaus' nuclear-strength take on it ten years later - is how relatively restrained it is in ways. Rather than being one of the album's quick, stone-cold rockers, it's measured, takes its time, is as acoustic as it is electric. The band's performance itself, though, is nothing less than crisp and explosive, Mick Ronson's distorted guitar work and interpretation of the weird, jerky riffs that make up the song as much a signal for where rock could go as any of Hendrix's big hits. Bowie himself subverts and transcends the whole thing brilliantly, bitchily high-pitched singing and a searing series of lyrics touching on everything from sex and death to grubby egomania just so. All it takes is that concluding "Ziggy played...guitar!" and the final notes to put the seal on a total classic. - Ned Raggett



Suffragette City

AMG REVIEW: David Bowie's love for Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground had already been well established by the time the Ziggy Stardust album came out in 1972 - the previous year, on Hunky Dory, "Queen Bitch" was openly listed as a homage. "Suffragette City" revisited similar inspirational ground, arguably to even finer results. The traded-off "hey man!" backing vocals clearly clone the Velvets' "White Light White Heat," and Bowie himself doesn't bother to hide his own aggressively camp sass, derived in part from Reed's lead on the same track. The chug and crunch of the music almost marks the exact turning point where the open-ended explorations of Reed's bunch turned into the groundwork for glam's own sheer rampage. Mick Ronson's guitar work takes everything to the heights, its snarling, fat explosiveness as much a glam trademark and rock trademark as anything else the era served up, platform boots or not. Keyboards that sound like a distorted horn section add to the thick, meaty blast, while persistent, driving piano increases the nervous energy. Some of the lyrics seem like bad ideas, but Bowie's inspired "Wham, bam, thank you ma'am!" after the fake ending and before the final climax makes up for it all. - Ned Raggett




Rock & Roll Suicide

AMG REVIEW: Although it is easy to dismiss the song as a more or less straightforward recanting of Jacques Brel's "Jef," the closing song on Bowie's 1972 ^Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders rom Mars album possesses a power which raises it far above such honorable origins, into the very pantheon of great pop anthems. Part of its impact, of course, comes from Bowie's own decision to close his 1972-1973 concerts with the song, crying "give me your hands" to an audience which could not ask for anything more catch the final minutes of the Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture movie, as "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" crystallizes the retirement speech which Ziggy has just delivered, and it is impossible not to get caught up in the emotion of the moment.
Equally effective, if not quite so heart-stopping, is the version which ends 1974's David - Live album...one English critic went so far as to describe this as the most powerful version of the song he'd ever witnessed. However, attempts to revive the song once again, during the tour which spawned 1978's Stage album, were so unsuccessful that it was dropped after just a handful of shows, and it faltered, too, during the 1990 Sound and Vision hits routine.

Somewhat inconceivably, the stately, rolling (but decidedly not rocking) "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" also made it out as a British single in 1974, limping to number 22 - proof that even magic has a time and a place in which it is most effective. Cover versions have, therefore, been mercifully few and far between, although former Spandau Ballet frontman Tony Hadley did chance his arm on one in 1993. It wasn't the greatest idea he ever had. - Dave Thompson