Product Description

In 1972, talented photographer Mick Rock spent 2 years as David Bowie's official photographer. Rock accompanied Bowie on tour to the US and the UK, capturing his life both on stage and behind the scenes at the height of his Ziggy Stardust period. During this time Rock documented the rise and descent of Ziggy Stardust, and shot promotional films, album jackets, posters, artwork, videos like Life on Mars and Space Oddity and thousands of photographs. Rock's camera caught more of the Ziggy legend than any other and followed Bowie into hotel rooms and dressing rooms, on the road and socialising with musicians and friends including Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and Mick Jagger. The results are shown in this extraordinary book. The parties, costumes, hair-styles, photo shoots and concerts are all pictured in a fantastical style that sums up the spirit of the time. Bowie provides a fascinating running commentary to Mick Rock's photographs, recalling his personal memories of life as Ziggy. A must-have for any David Bowie fan.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #186793 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 348 pages

Record Collector
Though you may well he familiar with the image, you won't have
seen it like this

Q
Revealing and funny

News of the World
...fascinating read making it the perfect Christmas gift for
fans.

Customer Reviews

The Thin, White Duke in Glorious Technicolour!
I bought this book for my mum's birthday. She absolutely loved it as she was a huge fan and even I was impressed with the lavish colour photos of Bowie in his fantastically theatrical costumes. There are many juicy snippets of information for lovers of the thin white Duke, including on-tour annecdotes, musings on fashion and fame, and insights into the song-writing process. It makes you realise just how very odd Bowie was at the time and still is, he was the inventor of glam, he was punk before punk was invented, New Romantic long before the eighties, but he was never exclusively any of these things. He was only ever himself, a truly mercurial and intelligent performer who bought his peculiar sensibility to everything he did.

The Starman Speaks
My main interest in Bowie is the music, so I bought this only when I found it heavily discounted. I am glad that I did.

The revelation for me is Bowie's text, which runs through the book, partly as commentary on particular photos, but more often as general musings. He looks back fondly, yet dispassionately on the farflung Ziggy times. Witty & all rather English.

On being pressed by a girlfriend to take a look at Lindsay Kemp, the avantguarde mime artist, he comments: 'A mime. What could be less interesting?'. But then the girlfriend mentions that Kemp was playing Bowie's first album at the interval. 'A mime. how interesting.'

DB reveals that the lightening flash came from the sign for high voltage electricity. Not the schizophrenia reference which I had assumed.

You also get pictures, 300 pages' worth, recording much of the brief time Ziggy was with us (merely 18 months). An interesting mix of brash on-stage Ziggy & Spiders with some superbly mundane backstage footage & a few boyish ones at Haddon Hall. Viva Mick Rock!

This is not the first DB item you should buy. But it makes for a handsome addition for the Bowie enthusiast.

Black and White in Colour
I can remember being absolutely intrigued by David Bowie's image as a young lad of 11 or so. This was the hey day of glam rock and there were no such things as women in rock, or so I thought, mind you I was convinced that The New York Dolls and Brian Eno were very strange looking women. Once this myth was dispelled, I thought that rock stars had to dress up as women as real women were not allowed to play in Rock Bands.

Some how I always knew that David, no matter how much makeup and androgynous clothing he wore, was a bloke through and through. We had a black and white television and read Melody Maker and NME, therefore David was not usually available in full colour. There were colour pop mags and several of the pictures featured in this fantastic book were on my bedroom wall.

Along with the familiar images are some photo's that I have never seen before and with an entertaining narrative from Bowie Himself this is a feast of Sound and Vision. This book took me back to the 11 year old school boy and is a must for a Bowie fan, or even for the mildly curious. Now there was a man who sounded as good as he looked....