Its been said that if the Beatles St Pepper album was the culmination of the 60s musically, then David Bowies Ziggy Stardust was the equivilant for the 70s, and it would be hard to think of many rock albums that sum up the fasions and attitudes of the times.
The albums artwork has a mystique and mythology all of its own, Bowie (or is it Ziggy himself?) stood in a dimly lit door way of an urban back street on a rainy night. The image is, though unconfirmed by Bowie himself, a tribute to the opening shot of the controversial 1960 film Peeping Tom, the setting a mirror of that scene.
The sign above Bowies head reads K. West, a long gone fur distribution company, and the sign too is no longer there having been removed by an avid fan years ago.
The band itself made an interesting journey, mirroring the folklore of the mythical creation on the album. Originally the Rats from Hull, Mick Ronson (Ronno) guitar and piano, Trevor Bolder on bass and Mick (Woody )Woodmansy on drums were lured into the project to become the regular backing players for the next few years.
The last too members being the Weird and Gilly mentioned on the title song. After being given a make over and a new name, The Spiders From Mars were complete. Bowie was always at pains to stress that even though other musicians were used on the tour, the Spiders began and ended with these three musicians, they were the mythical creation that Bowie needed to reflect his music, a theatrical creation that completed the overall effect.
The album is the story of a musician, his re-invention and media manipulation, the precursor of the real life story of so many bands from the sex pistols to almost every pop band to day. It is seen as the counteroint of hippy and punk, containing an alluring mixture of the imagary and attitude of both cultures, even though punk was still 5 years away.
What was such a clever ploy on Bowies part is that the character Ziggy is a massive rock star already, Bowie himself at this point was not and the one springboarded the career of the other as after a short space of time, one had merged seamlessly into the other, the perfect coupling, a marriage made on Mars.
Opening with the solitary drum beat and a mournful voice telling us that we have Five Years left to live, the earth is dying. The bass rattles away in the background, pianos build and the voice soars in a bitter sweet ballad of the end of mans existance. The under production of the time makes this sound stark and bleak, less is more. The song goes up a notch and a string section and a chorus of voices carry the song into a higher gear as Ronsons guitar finally comes into play, and then the song just seems to fall apart and its back to the drum beat.
Soul Love has a warmer sound, acoustic guitar and bass shuffling through a calypso rythymn and taking it through into a more recognisable Bowie rock song complete with the man himself on Saxaphone, his original instrument.
The guitar kicks in leaving spaces for the typically obscure lyrics of Moonage Daydream, a re-working of an earlier Bowie number
Starman, well what can you say about Starman that hasnt already been said. If you know only one Bowie song, its probably this one. Building slowly through guitar and a downbeat vocal style until you hit that ’’crazy cosmic jive’’ and the keyboards kick in sounding like start of news at ten into the chorus. Guitars and strings weave a background pattern as a platform for the lyrics, and by the end every one is singing along to the La La La play out.
It Aint Easy, the only none Bowie composition on the album, again a minimal song that only buils up on the chorus, all vocals and slide guitars, and then back to the single not bass line and high pitched vocal.
The star imagary continues with Lady Stardust, a song of a androgenous musician singing his songs, an autobiography perhaps. Again a piano led mellow affair, showing like so many of his songs that you dont need to over do the power to make a song hit home, a subtle approach and great arrangements will do the job just as well.
The dream of rock and roll stardoom continues on Star, a paced song of thumping piano which mellows out to at the end. The counterpoint is delivered in the form of Hang On To Yourself, the first full on rock number of the album.
The Spiders from Mars are now in place and doing well. These two songs are completeed by the infamous title track Ziggy Stardust, the final act in the trilogy, evryonr knows that riff, the scream that follows it in and the story of the band who hit the high time and burn out ’’ when the kids had killed the man had to break up the band’’. The rivalry, clashing egos and fickle nature of the industry are examined and told by someone who knows the it only too well.
The album rocks out with Suffragette City, a great culmination of wailing guitars and sing along chorus and a journey from the dark imagary of the end of days, through the highs of music and the rock and roll burn out and finally you find your self on the wrong side of one of the greatest albums of all time ’’wham bam Thank you Ma`am’’ and its all done. And out of this silence Bowie on vocal and guitar serenades his broken dreams on the reflective Rock and Roll suicide, which builds with the aid of a brass section as he screams his regrets and hopes ’’youre not alone’’ and fade out.
Rightly seen as one of the most enduring and original of Bowies albums, this is a must for any fan of great music, but what am I saying..youve already got this haven`t you....you havent? Why not?
Thanks to http://www.5years .com for back ground info. Do check out this site.