Not all parents have a crap taste in music; over the years, my folks have introduced me to the likes of Crowded House, Savage Garden and – my personal favourite – The Beatles. In turn, some of my best bands have graced their eardrums and have made names like Placebo and HIM household names in our, uh, house. But we’ve always been able to agree on one thing: David Bowie’s music is either really good or really quite bad. Mum and Dad probably have a greater right to say that than I do, being 70s wild child’s after all, whilst I’ve only ever heard a couple of his singles collections. That is until I came across ‘Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars’ in the CD cupboard; with Bowie’s rather dashing turquoise cat suit and off-ginger mullet, I was rather intrigued by the album’s artwork...perhaps it was the thrill of seeing somebody standing in one of those old fashioned phone boxes that did it for me?

The version of this album we currently own is a 30th Anniversary edition of the CD; although ‘Ziggy...’ did well in the UK charts, it reached a fairly dismal 75 in the US upon its first release in 1972 but it would go on to become a Platinum selling record in both countries, achieving other accolades including 20th Greatest Record of All Time by HMV later on. Some may be put off by the tag of ‘Glam Rock’; it’s never been a genre I’ve dabbled in too blatantly, apart from a couple of quirky Sweet singles, but that’s about my limit. Yet, ‘Ziggy Stardust’ is a lot more than that; it’s an album with a concept, yes, but it’s a story wrapped in frankness, humour and musical innovation all at the same time.

‘GIRL MY AGE WENT OFF HER HEAD/HIT SOME TINY CHILDREN’ (Lyrics from ‘Five Years’)
Ok, perhaps I lied a teeny bit when I said I wanted to listen to this album coz of the totally cool front cover; a couple of years ago, I was on Youtube and heard the Placebo cover of ‘Five Years’, a song I’d (regrettably) never heard in its original form. Whilst this seems sinful, if you’ve ever heard the Placebo version, you may understand why; it’s a faster paced acoustic number and altogether makes the song seem like a beautiful lament. However, in great contrast, Bowie’s initial interpretation of ‘Five Years’ is nothing short of epic; David sings the words at a much more considered pace with a voice that seems torn in so many places. ‘Five Years’ is an opulent, textured song which draws a listener into the album straight away with the light slaps of the feathered drum sticks that leads the song to its eventual end. I love how the bass and electric guitars gradually impose on the percussion instrument with the melancholic piano casually making its presence known in between. The piano in turn gives the song more of a melody and a fairly reflective, downcast tone.

‘ALL I HAVE IS MY LOVE OF LOVE AND LOVE IS NOT LOVING’ (Lyrics from ‘Soul Love’)
‘Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars’ doesn’t portray a world in complete despair, or at least not as early on as the second song. ‘Soul Love’ is very much one of the albums easier listeners, at least when you choose to ignore the lyrics. The pace is a little bit uneventful and actually conceals much of the songs meaning, all about finding companionship after the tragedy of losing a loved one. The lyrics are quite poetic: Bowie mulls over the idea of love and what it actually means to be in love and I suppose, in that sense, the song is strongly written; the addition of a saxophone and harpsichord, both played by Bowie himself, make the lyrics seem quite romantic and dreamy. But, to me, the words got a little too lost during ‘Soul Love’: there would have been a danger of this track being a peaceful version of ‘Five Years’, at least musically, if it had been produced with an ever so slight tune but I think the lyrics themselves needed a similar treatment so that a listener could really absorb the full message of harmony and love.

‘LET ALL THE CHILDREN BOOGIE’ (Lyrics from ‘Starman’)
Continuing Ziggy’s quest to make the earth’s eventual demise seem not so bad, Stardust turns into ‘Starman’, the albums fourth track in which a messenger is sent to earth to speak to the youngsters that the saviour’s arrival is imminent. I know people are going to throw stuff at their computer screens in protest but I really am not a big fan of this song; I just find it to be a bit corny and a little too repetitive, even by Bowie’s standards. At least on the opening track when he was yelling ‘Five Years’ over and over again, he changed the pitch of his voice occasionally but on ‘Starman’ the fadeout of a million ‘las’ became a bit much and cheapened the song somewhat; I liked how Bowie had told the story from the eyes of the hip cats who heard the news of a cool dude set to come to earth to save the plant and the language like ‘far out’ and ‘cosmic space jive’ made ‘Starman’ a little comical yet relatable, I’d imagine, to the young adults of the 70s. By the same token though, ‘Starman’ is consequently a song that sounds awfully dated because of the odd lyrics; such wording may provoke feelings of nostalgia to the slightly older listener, and my parents are a testament to that notion, but to modern listeners, the song is riddled with phrases that are as alien as Ziggy himself.

This is in great contrast to ‘Starman’, an optimistic tale of the earth’s redeemer and to go from one eventuality to the other within a couple of songs may seem a little hasty but it is also a great reminder that the earth is doomed. And this was long before the words ‘Global Warming’ were uttered by Al Gore...

Alas with a lowly acoustic guitar introduction, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide’ concludes the album in its own state of misery and confusion; Bowie’s vocals regain their ranting, raspy tone that was so inviting on ‘Five Years’ and also returns to the openers theatrical and over the top presentation with string instruments marking the end to the album in a similar way to ‘A Day In The Life’ on ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’. With the close of ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide’, it becomes apparent that Ziggy’s life has taken a dramatic turn for the worse; he’s old, living on his past glam rock star glories but enough is enough: it’s time to end it all. The progression from the acoustic guitar and Bowie’s gentle and quite pure vocals expands into a desperate display of yelling with distorted background vocals to emphasise how ‘wonderful’ Ziggy once was. I think the final track is a fitting tribute to the character of Ziggy; it would have been all too easy to let the album quietly doze off with the soft guitars but the bizarre bedlam of music was adventurous and well executed and made the album end on a real high.

Pictures

Take special note of the hair and cat suit - meow!

‘Velvet Goldmine’, which later went on to inspire a pretty lively film, also sounds a little different here; perhaps not as dramatically as ‘John, I’m Only Dancing’ but the piano seems to be muted in comparison to the version I normally listen to. I really love ‘Velvet Goldmine’; it’s the breakdown in the middle which allows the plodding piano to stand out that makes it a classic and trademark Bowie number with the buzzing sounds at the end being a simple operatic twist. ‘Holy Holy’ is a song I’ve never heard of before this review; it sort of reminds me of the ‘Scary Monsters’ Bowie phrase more than the ‘Ziggy Stardust’ era because of the staggered vocals but it’s not one I’d consider listening to too often; it’s a bit too cluttered for my liking. However, ‘Amsterdam’ is a sweet and simple cover of the Jacques Brel song which allows the listener to concentrate on Bowie’s neat and straight forward vocals because of the acoustic backing. I quite like ‘Amsterdam’; Bowie’s voice rises and falls to give the song depth.

I’m sorry that I’m unable to comment on the whole notion of this being a digitally remastered CD. However, having listened to older recordings of ‘Starman’ and ‘Ziggy Stardust’, it is fair to say that this CD offers listeners a real musical clarity; I could literally sit and pick out all of the instruments used in each song, particularly on ‘Five Years’, which makes me realised how ‘Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars’ is a really considered, painstakingly detailed album with variety and quality. Don’t let the idea of this being a ‘glam rock’ album put you off; Bowie sings his songs in a shrill, unusual tone whilst referring to other make up wearers of the era but I think that’s cleverly disguised because of the album following the life and times of a unique character rather than being autobiographical. The opener points the listener in the right direction: apocalyptic worlds are merely fantasy (for now) and Bowie has been clever to identify this from the start.