The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (2012 Remaster)

Brilliant album and great value for money highly recommended

Disc one has ‘Ziggy’, of which it has all been written. However, I’ll say it again. This is, without doubt, the most important and influential album of the 1970s. From ‘Five Years’ through to ‘Rock’n’Roll Suicide’ we are treated to spontaneous, edgy, exciting, virtuosic ‘pop/rock’ the likes of which had never been heard before. Bowie never sounded better than when he was backed by (only) the three ‘Spiders’. The 2003 remastering is clear and concise. The comprehensive liner notes, in booklet form, along with the photographs (some that were not familiar) are well worth having. This double CD release is a well thought out and meaningful package. Disc two, however, is what makes this actual release an essential purchase. To have the ‘B’ sides ‘Amsterdam’ (1971) and ‘Round and Round’ (1972) available on CD is a real boon. ‘Amsterdam’, in particular, has David Bowie on top form, vocally and he ‘stacks’ his 12-string guitars to a crescendo in this emotional rendition in the ‘chanson’ by Jacques Brel. ‘The Supermen’ (1971 recording with ‘The Spiders’) is a revelation. Just listen to Mick Ronson’s guitar, especially on the second chorus. This serves to illustrate how and why this period (1971-2) is Bowie’s most creative (arguably) and most interesting. On ‘Velvet Goldmine’, ‘Sweet Head’ and ‘Holy Holy’ (the later version, as opposed to the 1970 ‘Blue Mink’ version) Bowie’s optimism and ‘swagger’ are so evident. These recordings are the last that Bowie made before the stardom that was inevitable. Ziggy was a monster, indeed! Oh, such wonderful music. Thank you, Messrs. Jones, Ronson, Bolder and Woodmansey. It just doesn’t get any better than this.

What can I say. If you thought the previously available 5.1 mix of the Ziggy album was fantastic ( I thought it was and I still do ) then when you listen to this in Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio it’s going to blow your socks off! Honestly this is something really special. If you want to have an idea of what it felt like to be in the studio with Bowie and the Spiders when this album was recorded, back in the early 70s remember, then this will give you a pretty good idea. I think Bowie himself if he was still with us would also be suitably impressed. If you’re a Bowie fan or even someone just wanting to hear how a Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio album should be done ( Kudos to Ken Scott and Emre Ramazanoglu 👍🏻 ) Then you would be extremely foolish to miss out on this. As a side note, if your audio equipment is unable to process Dolby Atmos then it folds down into a 5.1 mix that is different to the previously available one. Also included is a 2024 stereo remix of the album, a hi- res version of the original album 1972 mix and the 2012 remaster of the original 1972 album. Which of these different versions you prefer or think is worthwhile is subjective depending on what your preference parameters are. Me I like the 2024 stereo mix but I will always be a sucker for the original 1972 album mix that I have actually grown up with. Worth a mention is there is a constantly rolling and constantly changing full screen saver of the albums Ziggy photos taken in Heddon Street. This is great and saves you having to knock your TV screen off in order to prevent shadowing / damage etc. Via the Atmos version though Ziggy Stardust really will live forever that in a way is quite scary from a realism point of view.

I grew up with two older David Bowie fans in the 1970s and liked his musical output from this decade almost as much as my brothers. I used to play the vinyl version of this as a teenager, which I still have - but as I no longer have a record player, I decided to buy this CD, also prompted by watching a recent repeat of a BBC documentary on Bowie to mark the 40th anniversary of his Ziggy Stardust tour and the original release of this album. Listening to it as an adult, I still think it is brilliant, even more so in fact, as I feel I'm more able to understand the meaning of Bowie's lyrics now. I sometimes think a lot of attention is given to Bowie's image throughout this career but not much comment is made on his singing capacity - my view is he has a wonderfully expressive voice, on some tracks it is soft, romantic even (i.e., on "Soul Love"), on others it is quite mournful and on the more rock orientated tracks, strident, powerful and upbeat (i.e, on "Suffragette City"). All the tracks on this album are great and demonstrate Bowie's unique creative genius; those of you Bowie fans who are aged 40+ will already be familiar with it, but it is worth adding to your music collection if you don't already have it - and for anyone younger and curious to become more acquainted with Bowie's music and discover why in the 1970s he made such a big impact on the UK music scene and what all the fuss was about, this is well worth buying. It still sounds great all these years later - and lets not forget his band at the time who play a big part in making this album the work of art it is. After listening to it again after some years, I couldn't stop singing "Moonage Daydream" to myself! I hope anyone who buys this album after reading my review will enjoy it as much as I have.

Probably Bowie's finest work...no need to say much more

Yes, just yes it’s perfect

When something is bombarded with praise it raises expectations so high that it is impossible for that something to live up to it. This is the problem with Ziggy Stardust. Nevertheless it does have a great cohesion as an album and boasts some of Bowie's greatest tracks, such as the classic 'Starman,' which let's face it is worth the price of the album on it's own. We also have other greats like Sufferagette City, Rock and Roll Suicide and the blissful, 'Five Years' which opens the album and certainly lives up to the hype. Unfortunately, the moment 'Soul Love' began I felt a twinge of disappointment in my gut. Unfortunately also is the fact that 'Soul Love' isn't alone in being a weaker track, as we also have 'It Ain't Easy,' and 'Hang On To Yourself' that latter track sounds like a carbon copy of 'Queen Bitch' from Bowie's previous album and it's that lack of originality that brings it down. In fact that is something that also lets the entire album down. Ziggy Stardust is not in this writers eyes the ultimate Glam Rock album, for that try T-Rex or Roxy Music, the original pioneers of the genre. Ziggy Stardust excels in commercializing the Glam Rock sound but it does little in the way of experimentation, something Roxy Music certainly excelled at in their early days. Overall then this is without doubt a solid album and well worth a purchase. However, it is a little over-hyped by many which has sadly tarnished its legacy somewhat, although nothing will tarnish the legacy of songs like 'Starman,' 'Five Years,' the two Stardust tracks and the closing 'Rock and Roll Suicide.'

A classic album from a very exciting time in David Bowie's career, this one to complete my CD collection of 1970's Bowie to me the best era.

Obra-prima do Rock do século XX. A qualidade sonora é boa deste master japonês com remix de 2012.

Ich hatte bereits zu diesem Artikel eine Rezension geschrieben und bzgl. der schlechten Qualität der Plattenpressung nur einen Stern vergeben. Also nicht für den Künstler, David Bowie, den ich, auch nach seinem Tod, sehr schätze. Jetzt muss ich mich korrigieren. Die Qualität der Plattenpressung ist o.k. Es lag tatsächlich an der Nadel meines Plattenspieler, die ich ausgetauscht habe.

デヴィッド・ボウイの最高傑作『The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars』が発売された1972年、私はまだ2歳の幼児でした。本作の存在を知ったのは、1990年頃に手にした音楽評論家・渋谷陽一氏の著書『ロック ベスト・アルバム・セレクション』でした。実際にアルバムを手に取ったのは、2023年になってからのことです。 ようやくアナログ盤を買い求め、針を落としてみました。 アコースティックな響きの中にスケール感を感じる「Moonage Daydream」、メロディの冴えが際立つ「Starman」、心に染み入る美しい旋律の「Lady Stardust」、そしてタイトル曲の「Ziggy Stardust」。終盤には、静寂から始まり最後に爆発的な盛り上がりを見せる「Rock'N'Roll Suicide」で幕を閉じます。 本作は、5年後に迫った資源枯渇による人類滅亡の危機を背景に、異星からやってきたロックスター「ジギー・スターダスト」が救世主として現れ、そして滅びゆく姿を描いた壮大なトータル・アルバムです。アコースティックを軸にした前半と、エッジの効いたロック・ナンバーが並ぶ後半という、アルバム一枚の中での振り幅の大きさは圧巻。物語性を無視して聴いたとしても、楽曲個々の強烈な個性ゆえに、最後まで全く飽きることがありません。 ロックという音楽に演劇的な要素を融合させ、架空のキャラクターを現出させたボウイの美学が、この一枚に凝縮されています。時代を超えてなお輝きを放つ、唯一無二の名盤です。

Super fonctionnel excellent