Customer Reviews

Ziggy Stardust

5 star:		(178)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

If "Ziggy" were Bowie's only release, his place in Rock's pantheon would still be assured. This album pretty much established Bowie as major artist in the U.S. Just a couple of observations; this album is unusually "Beatle-esque". Note the layered/textured harmonies, the insistent lead guitar (Mick Ronson's guitar style lends itself beautifully to this material), the almost omni-present acoustic rhythm guitar, and last but not least, the uncanny resemblance of "Five years" to John Lennon's "The dream is over" (Lennon and Bowie apparently were close friends - John is featured on "Fame"). I personally enjoy the many moods of this album; brooding - "Five Years", whimsy - "Starman"/"Moonage Daydream", defiance - "Suffragette City", urgency - "Hang on to yourself", this track being perhaps the least appreciated and most musically inventive of the CD, again beatle-esque, especially the chorus. Bowie's facility with melody still astonishes me after 25 years. If you need somewhere to start with Bowie, this has to be the place.

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Before this album, Bowie was only somewhat of a ridiculous character. You heard him telling everyone `I'm going to be huge!', you may have even seen photos of him making out with Mick Jagger...but you probably never heard any of his music. Then, what Bowie seems to have done with Ziggy, is take that part of himself that he knew was absolutely ridiculous-exaggerate to such an obscene extent-and then make it appear authentic. If anyone has ever heard Bowie talk about this album, it is easy to get the impression that he is just as confused by it as we are. He certainly attributed quite a bit of the creative process that went into Ziggy to `the help of some chemical substances at the time.'

Whether Bowie has any idea what he was doing is beside the point. The album rocks. Some say that no albums rocks more (Q (the magazine)), and everyone seems to concede that no album rocks in the same way. Each song has it's own style and charm, but also gracefully flows into the next. My favorite tracks are the first five, mostly because I prefer the softer ones, but when you want to rock, 'Suffragete City' takes you there.

And what Bowie did with his alter ego Ziggy Stardust was brilliant. He presented the alien as becoming an established rock legend - making Bowie appear like one too, even though, then, he was the fledging artist. Later, Bowie would say that he so engrossed with his creation that he couldn't tell where Ziggy began and he stopped `He's a monster and I'm Dr Frankenstein. He's my brother, and God, I love him.' - Bowie (1976) Bono is to have said of Ziggy that he `was the nicest fella from Mars I ever met...' I think Bowie knew there is something Godlike about a rock star, about what such a person represents to his audience, some impression of superhuman ability, of control, power. He knew about the need confused, young, passionate people had to worship something/somebody, and he cultivated/exploited that need.

Interesting Lyric: `Keep your mouth shut/Your squaking like a pink monkey bird!'
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Or is it vice versa? This was Bowie's first concept album, which helped tell of the trials & tribulations that an extraterrestrial rock star has to go through. Bowie, being the prime example himself, did it perfectly with creativity and precision. The beautiful angst of "Five Years" starts it all off, where Ziggy's world slowly fades away into nothing. Next, we see him telling what he thinks love really is, hiding behind the pop music of "Soul Love". "Moonage Daydream" is the first alien rock song, mingling with a violent space-faced alien. "Starman" wonderfully expresses how humans wouldn't be able to accept something different, say a spiritual alien, into their society. "It Ain't Easy" and the mellow piano tune of "Lady Stardust" are further dwelling into not being accepted. "Star" and "Hang On To Yourself" showcase the gradual rise Ziggy's glam carreer, but then we see what happens when he starts to fall with "Ziggy Stardust". It's hard to tell what "Suffragette City" is about, but it is an awesome song. The final farewell of Ziggy concludes in the aptly titled "Rock N'Roll Suicide". Through it all, we hear raging electric guitar, acoustics, strings, and piano. Brilliant. Another congratualtion on behalf of Bowie.

Bowie is one of those artists that I have had a love hate relationship with over the years. When he is good, he is very good, but he has also put out a significant amount of lousy material as well. "Stardust", of course is one of his all time classics and really one of the all time classic albums of the 70's period. Every song here is a winner showing Bowie at his best. The Ziggy character is probably Bowie's most enduring, and the concept works well for the most part. Several huge hits came from this album that has become classic rock staples including "Suffragette City" and the title track. More great stuff can be found throughout the album, "Five Years", "Starman", "It Ain't Easy", "Star", "Hang On To Yourself" and the album closer "Rock N Roll Suicide" are all great tunes. Guitarist Mick Ronson was one of Bowie's best writing collaborators and his influence is all over "Stardust". If you only own one Bowie album, this would be the one to get.

Jammin' good with Weird and Ghillie and the Spiders from Mars."

"Ziggy Stardust" found Bowie really hitting his stride in the early 1970's. This album remains an all-time classic. Every cut is unique, yet they all fit together -- but not in the same fashion as a rock opera. (Kind of difficult to explain ... and this from a long-time Bowie fan such as myself!)

"Five Years" is best described as post-apocalyptic bubblegum. "I saw you in the ice cream parlour, drinking milkshakes cold and long" is a rather odd line to find juxtaposed with swirling hard rock guitar by the late Mick Ronson. "Moonage Daydream" is, in many ways, a previous of "Loving the Alien," from the mid '80's "Tonight" album. Of course, the title track is marvelous, telling its tale of a band's rise to stardom and fall from grace. One of my personal fave cuts is "Hang On To Yourself," with its catchy guitar riffs. "Rock and Roll Suicide" can be seen as oddly comforting despite it's title: "I've had my share, I'll help you with the pain. You're not alone."

Any fan who found Bowie during the "Let's Dance" period and has *not* investigated his older work really needs to give this album a listen. There is a reason why it is perenially listed as an essential recording -- and why the songs from this outing continue to earn huge cheers and ovations at Bowie concerts. Not to be missed.

.... it took me this long to buy this cd. I grew up knowing Bowie as an art-rocker who sometimes scored a hit dance single - a song that I'd hear at the roller rink in the mid seventies. Fame , Golden Years,you get the idea . When I first heard this in its entirety , on cd, with earphones, I was blown away. Incredible. It deserves its legendary status.

This album brings back a lot of fond memories. Being in the audience at Winterland and seeing the creme-de-la creme of San Francisco rock artistes sitting in special "boxes" above the dance floor. An entirely new creative energy emerging on the stage, but not before a tantalizingly slow set change from the band before (whoever they were? Slade, maybe?) Then the main event, the arrival of Ziggy stardust, Bowie in his most outageous and purest persona. It seemed that if you were in the audience and you blinked one or two times he had on a different costume. Orange hair way before punk was even a term. Lipstick, eye-shadow, who is this guy? It really was as if he were the man who fell to earth. Mick Ronson blowing our young, impressionable minds with his keyboard playing. This CD definitely captures an era, before glam-rock had become a cliche and the whole androgynous rock-star motif had lapsed into self-parody. Bowie really did represent something entirely new and fresh at that moment in rock-history.

If Sergeant Pepper was the soundtrack to the psychedelic Summer of Love (1967), Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was the soundtrack to the glitter/glam rocking 1972. While The Beatles' message was to get high with a little help from your friends, Bowie's was to "freak out in a moonage daydream" and "let the children boogie."

Bowie as Ziggy, the gender-bending alien rocker, along with his band, The Spiders from Mars, led by axman guitarist extraordinaire Mick Ronson, mesmerized the earthling listener on the opening track "Five Years" with his apocalyptic science fiction vision. On "Soul Love," David whips out his sax, combining with an acoustic guitar track to create an intoxicating cosmic groove -- picture Mr. Spock boogieing on "Soul Train" and you get the idea. Beam us up, Ziggy! Bowie's and Ronson's string arrangements on the album are lush and dramatic, providing a cinematic quality to the disc, comparable to George Martin's work with The Fab Four.

The "Rise" of Ziggy is depicted in the testosterone-driven songs "Star" and "Hang on to Yourself." (Check out the red-hot live versions on Bowie's fine double album Stage.) The classic title cut tells of the spaceman's fall, Ziggy's inflated ego, and a murder spelling the end of the band. The incendiary hard-rocker "Suffragette City" and coda "Rock 'N' Roll Suicide" complete the album. "Suicide" is Bowie's "A Day in the Life," with its final violin note suspended for dramatic effect.

Ziggy is a conceptual tour de force by Bowie and Co. For fans of the glam rock movement of the early '70s, Ziggy, T.Rex's Electric Warrior, and Lou Reed's Transformer are essential listening. A production masterpiece for sure, Ziggy is also David's finest studio album and a rock and roll landmark.

The best characteristic about Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars is also its major weakness, which is Bowie's innate talent at knowing his audience. There was a generation of kids who were waiting, practically frothing at the mouth, for something as liberating and exciting as this Ziggy Stardust character to come along. At a time when rock and roll music was mostly comprised of sensitive singer/songwriters and instrumental technicians, David Bowie provided a breath of fresh air, and liberated a generation whose turn it was to rebel. It was beautiful on those terms, almost perfect. But like I said, its best feature is also a glaring fault. By appealing so grandly to contemporary youth, it meant that Bowie's `Stardust' character was doomed to become little more than a charming memory. He's so damned accurate in capturing the shock appeal of an early `70s teenager's aspirations that much of the record sounds a bit juvenile now. While this characterization elevated Bowie to almost mythic status, he could also have passed for one of the kids who he was singing to (sans makeup, of course). Bowie spoke the language and turned himself into a figurehead for what would be called the `Glam' movement.
At the time, I was a kid, and Bowie provided something that seemed both cool and liberating; he made music with a purpose, or at least what seemed purposeful to kids in their early teens. Bowie was an exciting character, and his outrageousness offered up an entire universe of possibilities. Ziggy Stardust offered us a new form of rebellion, a strange one, but it was ours, and we loved it. The song "Star" spelled out the most enticing possibility of all, which was to invent yourself (as Bowie did) as a genuine rock and roll star. As a young teenager, few things held more allure. As an adult, few things seem less relevant than devoting so much effort to the illusion offered by fame.
The album begins and ends with its most dramatic material; "Five Years," about the impending end of the world, and "Rock and Roll Suicide", which is fairly self-explanatory. Both parlayed a youthful tendency toward the dramatic and added an artistic flair into the equation, which virtually guaranteed their success. Most parents thought is was rubbish, and as the kids of the glitter generation grew older, they must have begun to recognize why the older generation dismissed it all as androgynous melodrama, or a freakish threat to normalcy. Ultimately, Bowie's vision became more and more acceptable and mainstream, especially with the onset of punk, which made `glam' seem almost safe in comparison, but at the time, there was nothing like it. "Ziggy Stardust", "Hang On To Yourself" and "Suffragette City" were all anthems for a time, and any real appreciation for this record must take into account the social zeitgeist of the time in which it was created.
Hell, everybody gets old, except for those who are already dead. Ziggy Stardust reminds me of what it was like to really feel alive in 1972, and for that, I'll always be grateful. A Tom Ryan

This is an amazing album, by David Bowie, released during the height of the Glam Rock Years (from 1969-1973). This marked a period during Bowie's recording career where he experimented with sexually ambiguous posturing (complete with sparkly jumpsuit ensembles and make-up to match), along with a distinctive and "other worldly" style of singing. Every song on this album, from "Five Years" through to "Rock n' Roll Suicide" takes the listener on an odyssey through the world of Bowie's alter ego--the flamboyant Ziggy Stardust. This album is in a sense an allegorical rock opera journey.

Stardust has been described as "a Martian who comes to Earth to liberate humanity from banality." [a quote lifted from Wikipedia] This includes dabbling with drugs and sex, which ultimately destroy him. This is indicative in the songs that Stardust croons in a half tortured/half punk style, along with lyrics rich with innuendo alluding to space travel, sex, drugs, and liberation on all plains. The melodies have a very triumphant "anthem" quality to them (complete with amazing guitar work) and are as compelling today as they were in 1972. This is truly one of David Bowie's masterpieces (in my opinion and the opinion of others).