David Bowie-The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars
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
Best Track: Ziggy Stardust, perhaps Starman
Glam Rock's only meaningful gift to society
Many consider this album to be Bowie's piece de resistance; honestly almost everyone does. At least everyone who only owns this and maybe a Bowie greatest hit collection, but the point still stands that this album represents Bowie's best quality album on the more commercial side of things. And commercial Bowie isn't bad at all, pre-1983 that is.
But Ziggy is certainly a very weird album. Which is bascially what you expect from Bowie. Anyway Five Years kicks things off, with a solid drumbeat and heavy piano chords backing through it. It's quite a lumbering song but Bowie's vocal style keeps it interesting. The story in this song and the whole album in general is a bit hard to follow at times, but it doesn't really matter too much. Everyone gets the general gist of it being the story of an alien rockstar who lives his famous life to the full (as in sex, drugs and rock'n'roll) and eventually dies a rockstar death at the end. Was Bowie trying to parody rockers like Hendrix and Jim Morrison? I'm not sure this was the original plan but hey it fits in.
Back to the songs; Soul Love is a nice acoustic twanger that gets a bit harder as it goes on. Moonage Daydream brings in some nice flute parts which gives the song a folky feel which harkens back to Bowie's 60's material. Starman is the big hit with it's flowing acoustic guitar melodies and a slightly funky bassline behind it in the verses, before hitting the string and hook filled chorus and then he hammers that down with a lovely electric guitar solo with more string backing. All this over Bowie's slightly quivering vocal stylings. Quality for you.
It Ain't Easy is a Led Zeppelin-esque rocker that doesn't quite hit the mark as Bowie lacks Robert Plant's vocal shriek. Lady Stardust makes up for it though; it's a lovely soulful piano ballad that is a lot more suited to Bowie. Star and Hang On To Yourself are both your a-typical glam rock songs but they are both listenable and catchy. It keeps the concept of the album going as it portrays Ziggy turning into that rockstar that he always was meant to be. Neither are that memorable though, but that's more to do with the excellent songs surrounding them rather than these two being bad.
Ziggy Stardust on the other hand is an album, hell, career highlight. The start sets the scene beautifully, with a heavy "sex, drugs and rock'n'roll" guitar riff before entering a chunky bassline that sets a base for Bowie's alien singing delivery. Like the song says this is Ziggy making love with his ego, and that boozy and sex-filled style bursts throughout the music and lyrics here. It almost seems like Ziggy is real! If only...
Suffragette City is a funky stomper that continues Ziggy's spiral into rock excess. His swansong, Rock & Roll Suicide, ends his life in a more settled and less uncontrollable style from the songs before it, and yet that makes it all the better. The "Your not alone" screeching (Assumedly from Ziggy to Lady Stardust but don't quote me on that) really closes up the emotional journey of his life strongly yet a touch poignantly at the same time. Bowie sure knew how to make this guy seem real, that's for sure.
Although the Musical Chameleon would move on from the glam era within only two albums or so, Ziggy Stardust still holds up as strong as ever. Certainly, Bowie would never be able to match the theatricality of this record for the rest of his career, and that just makes this album all the better.
14/15