Track Listing

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1129 in Music
• Released on: 1999-09-06
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Enhanced, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
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-1970s punk and New Wave rock. As one of the defining rock albums of the 20th century, its influence is immeasurable. --James Littlewood

CD Description
Every track on ZIGGY STARDUST & THE SPIDERS FROM MARS sounds like it was pulled from the rock 'n' roll bible. The albumcreated a mythology that reached beyond the Chuck Berry folklorisms of the everyday rocker to create a new type of rockstar. With ZIGGY, Bowie created a viable alter-ego to descend onto the planet and wreak havoc on rock's fertile soil. In doing so, he created the most original rock creation sincethe music's inception 20 years before.
Musically, the album was as inspired as Ziggy's persona. Mick Ronson's snarling guitar evoked the triumphant power of the late '60s guitar heroes, but added a flash so dynamic fans knew why the Spiders were labelled "glitter rockers". As an album, ZIGGY STARDUST told the story of rock through the eyes of Ziggy, an alien--with a narrative that was equally sensational and intimate.
Any doubts as to Bowie's intentions to take over rock were displaced on a closer listen to "Star". At the end of the song Bowie (as Ziggy) whispers, "just watch me now", and his determination is eerily obvious. Combining skills as a mime artist and top-rate vocal dramatist, Bowie created Ziggy, the bisexual space man, who sang "songs of darkness anddisgrace". The planet was dying, something made evident on the first track "Five Years", and the only way to survive was to "Hang On To Yourself".
In the end, "they had to break up the band", according to the tale told in ZIGGY STARDUST, but the inevitably tragic strains of this "Rock 'N' Roll Suicide" had left their mark on the dying planet. They are still being felt today.

Customer Reviews

buy it now!
Quite simply, this album is a masterpeice, and it's easy to see why it launched Bowie into the mainstream. Conventional enough to listen to anytime, anywhere, while still having the ability to provoke the listener. It mixes a rough concept with beautifully crafted rock songs that talk of intergallatic rock stars and the end of the world. Each song is a brillient slice of perfect pop/rock that appeals to both young and old, working both as light entertainment, and on a deeper level if the listener so chooses.

The album gets off to a flying start with the slow fading in of the drums on "Five Years". The song speaks of the end of the world, and how the narrator is trying to experience as much of the world as he can before it ends in five years time. "Soul Love" is a smooth, soft groove that is suddenly interupted by the epic that is "Moonage Daydream". "Starman" is a nice almost child like ditty which you'll be singing all day long. "It Ain't Easy" is weird and waky, but non the less charming. "Lady Stardust" is just a brillient song (allegadly about Marc Bolan!?!). "Star" talks of the trials and tribulations of numerous humans trying to make it big. "Hang On To Yourself" is the punkiest song ever, strangly 6 years before it even existed (typical Bowie). "Ziggy Stardust" is a brillient guitar song, that leads onto the rip roaring "Sufferagette City". The last song on the album is one of the classic album endings. "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" moves effortlessly from acoustic guitar into an uplifting shout along at the end.

"The Rise and Fall..." is good from start to finish. i only give it 5 stars cause it won't allow me to put 6. buy it! buy! it! buy it! buy it! buy it!!!!!!!!

Music From The Red Planet
The opening track ’Five Years’ introduces this album as it means to continue. Sounding weird, beautiful, compelling and completely other worldly. The previous album had had the track ’Life On Mars’….well, frankly one listen to this album at the time should have prompted the question are there recording studios there too ’cos it sure as hell sounds like it. This is not just down to Bowie’s alien vocals which are superbly evocative throughout this set but the sound of the whole band too. They use the same instruments as had been used on countless albums beforehand. Yet here the piano sounds ghostly, the drums surreal and the guitar I can only describe as ziggy. If such a word exists. If not, it bloody well should.

So back to the start. ’Five Years’ is a marvellous futuristic piece full of fear and love and things just slipping away. These were to become major themes on Bowie’s Diamond Dogs album two years later. ’Soul Love’ is beautiful. A general comment: Bowie rarely reached the melodic heights he reaches on this album. ’Moonage Daydream’ is wonderfully freaky…far out as Bowie sings…great guitar from Ronson and a good punchy horn section in the middle. ’Starman’ was a hit single and is about as catchy as anything Bowie has recorded. And what’s wrong with that? Any song with the line ’Let all the children boogie’ is alright by me. ’It Ain’t Easy’ brings Side 1 (vinyl) to an uneasy close. A little depressing this one.

Side 2 (vinyl) opens in superb fashion. ’Lady Stardust’ is my favourite Bowie piano song, rivalling anything in this vein from ’Hunky Dory’ (where it’s up against some pretty stiff competition to quote Edmond Blackadder). And another tune from another world.

’Star’ is the only track here which doesn’t amaze. It’s OK. But then the album closes so strongly that one quickly forgets anything but perfection. ’Hang Onto Yourself’ is a superb frantically paced number where the intense playing perfectly matches the desperate lyric. The title track should need no introduction. It is brilliant. And also recorded at Record Plant Mars. It’s funny that at the time Bowie’s whole persona was this mad Ziggy character. Now 34 years later, this album survives as just Great Music. So it’s not all in the presentation, thank God. Otherwise we’d all be still raving about Adam And The Ants.

’Suffragette City’ is compulsive stuff, both musically and lyrically. Presumably this is the capital of The Red Planet. And you can see why. Then the album closes as all great albums do with a stupendous number. ’Rock And Roll Suicide’ contains one of Bowie’s most captivating lyrics and most affecting vocals. Give me your arms…cos you’re wonderful. The kind of words you would say before everything turns black.

The great thing about listening to this timeless classic album from 1972 is that one almost feels as if one is there. In some mad parallel universe. Where people freak out to moonage daydreams whilst pushing through the market square. Where Time takes a cigarette and puts it in your mouth. And where all the children boogie.

everyone should own this
the best david bowie album? not just that but one of the best and most influential albums of the 20th century.
bowie, quite simply was a genius and everything he touched turned to gold in the seventies. this was perhaps his defing moment.
the album begins with the lush "five years",demonstrating bowies lyrical and vocal capabilities. from then on the album is hard to critisice. "lady stardust" is an understated classic.and the fast tempo of "suffregate city" is perfect. ziggy... contains some of bowies best songs, and sees him veer away from the funk/rock/electronic of other albums.
the albums ends on "rock on roll suicide", epitimsing the album as a whole. pop at its best and redefined.
buy it.