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Product Details
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| 1. Five Years |
| 2. Soul Love |
| 3. Moonage Daydream |
| 4. Starman |
| 5. It Ain't Easy |
| 6. Lady Stardust |
| 7. Star |
| 8. Hang On To Yourself |
| 9. Ziggy Stardust |
| 10. Suffragette City |
| 11. Rock & Roll Suicide |
Ziggy Stardust has been reissued countless times on CD in the past 15 years. In fact, let's take an inventory. There was the original, from-second-generation-tapes-but-unprocessed RCA disc that's currently having something of a critical renaissance. There was the original Rykodisc issue which came with bonus tracks. There was the anniversary Ryko box, with the same disc but a great box/booklet (far nicer than the one in this 30th Anniversary volume, and packaged much better to boot). Then there was the gold, Au20 series disc issued by Rykodisc (remastered again), and then in 1999 the Virgin reissue of the disc, which deleted the bonus tracks. And then this. While not publicized quite as much, it seems as if David might be competing with Hendrix or Elvis for "most endlessly reissued album" in this particular case.
So, uh, what do we have here, then? Well, we've got a two-disc set, held together by some *very* fragile packaging (the booklet seems almost designed to fall apart!). The main set is remastered again (although not very well...we'll get to that in a moment), and is supplemented by a second disc of bonus tracks.
Unfortunately, the iteration of "Ziggy" here is, I dare to say, the worst version on CD. The sound is slightly muddier than the already-overcompressed Virgin CD, but that isn't the main problem. What *is* a problem is the fact that the stereo channels of the album are reversed and intros to two songs (the acoustic segue between Ziggy and Suffragette City and the count-in to Hang On To Yourself) are missing. Missing. Inexcusable, and it's unfathomable that of all issues of the album, it's the "milestone" 30th anniversary set that's botched.
And the bonus tracks? Not only could they fit on the first disc--which, in current record company logic, would probably knock the price down a few notches--they've almost all been released before, mostly on the Ryko edition. There's nothing revelatory here, and although it's certainly nice to have these selections in print again, one must wonder why more effort wasn't expended in getting some nice, *really* never-been-heard-before vault tracks.
The verdict? If you absolutely, positively have never heard Ziggy before...well, don't buy this, as it's the only version on disc to actually make mistakes representing the original work. Track down the Ryko editions if you want bonus tracks, or grab the single-disc version (which really isn't all that bad) or--gasp--the RCA if you're so inclined. This set is for collectors, plain and simple.
(1) Some tracks have rather muffled sound: "Ziggy Stardust" is just a tiny bit congested when compared with the old EMI disc, but "Suffragette City" is noticeably lacking in upper-end bite. There's more low-end on the new disc, so this may represent an intentional change in emphasis, but it still sounds odd to my ears: much of the snarl is missing from Ronno's chugging guitar riffs.
(2) The little tiny three-note guitar lick at the very end of "Ziggy Stardust" -- the one *right* before "Suffragette City" crashes in -- has been faded out, so that the two songs no longer flow continuously one into the other. I can't imagine why this was done.
(3) The *really* puzzling one: the new disc has the stereo image REVERSED. Check out the opening of "Ziggy Stardust": the new disc has the acoustic guitar in the left channel, when it's been on the right on every previous release. Similarly, the five little hits on the ride cymbal at the very start of "Suffragette City" should be in the right speaker: here, they're on the left. It's not a remix: they've just swapped the L and R channels.
(4) The very first piano note in "Lady Stardust" is missing its initial attack: it sounds as if the track was faded up from silence, and a little bit of the initial "thunk" was lost. It's quite noticeable when compared with the 1999 EMI disc.
(5) The "one-two" count-in at the start of "Hang On To Yourself" is gone. Not reduced in volume: it's *gone*. The song just starts off with the two-chord hook. As far as I'm aware, every previous release of the album has had the count-in.
I've no idea what could have prompted the mastering team (Peter Mew and Nigel Reeve, the same gents who did the 1999 EMI master) to make these bizarre alterations to this album. Until/unless EMI fixes these issues, I'm afraid I can't recommend this release: stick with the 1999 EMI disc for the best available version of _Ziggy Stardust_.
The packaging and bonus tracks rate 2 stars by themselves. But as a best-ever release of the album, I think this edition falls woefully short.
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