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Ziggy Stardust 30th Anniversary 224

jonerik writes "Any short list of influential rock albums of the '70s is likely to include David Bowie's 'The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars,' the story of a futuristic alien rock star and his demise during the Earth's final years. Originally released in June 1972, Ziggy is celebrating his 30th anniversary this year in fine style. First of all, the album is being reissued today in a limited edition 2-CD set. Secondly, the 1983 documentary, 'Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars,' directed by filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker ('Don't Look Back,' 'Monterey Pop') is being re-released this month and John Cameron Mitchell has an interesting interview with Pennebaker about the re-release in this week's Village Voice."
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Ziggy Stardust 30th Anniversary

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  • Woohoo!! (Score:1, Flamebait)

    So when should I get on Kazaa to get this album? Later tonight? Heh.
    • How about you buy it?
  • I also like singles compilation. Like some cat from japan.
  • bowie (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by Prizm ( 52977 )
    I support any artist that makes a guest appearance in The Simpsons and/or an Adam Sandler movie!

  • I only wish that more artists understood us geeks and our needs like he does...

    Seriously, the guy is awesome.

    Congrats David!

    • It's been years since I've seen his film "The Man Who Fell to Earth" even in the second run theaters. It's a good scifi film and relevent to parts of the tech sector.
  • My trusty old turntable died last year, and I made the hard decision not to replace it. So far I've been reluctant to re-buy my LP's on CD... now, at least, I see why I hadn't bought "Ziggy" again -- I was waiting for this re-issue!

    Nice packaging, too...

    • If you ever feel the urge to replace your old turntable, look into getting a Technics SL-1200. I'm constantly amazed on what a beautiful piece of machinery those are. Listening to records is almost like a ritual to me now. Way different than popping in a CD and having the music "magically" appear.
      • Oh please. When I worked in the hi-fi shop, we only ever sold SL-1200s in pairs to wannabe DJs.

        Decent turntable for not much outlay, go for a Rega. If you want to get serious, go Linn.
  • by bartash ( 93498 ) on Tuesday July 16, 2002 @06:21PM (#3897997)
    Why are influential albums reissued as double CDs? Could it be anything to do with money? We just had 'The Velvet Underground and Nico' released as a double CD so that you can listen to the mono version of the album, or the stereo. Also annoying was the 'Live at Leeds' debacle: First there was a version for CD, then a version with extra tracks (the remaster), then a deluxe double CD version.

    Having said that ZSatSFM is a great album. And actually the single version CD seems to be still available.

    My other favorite Bowie album: Low.

    -Andrew
    • We just had 'The Velvet Underground and Nico' released as a double CD so that you can listen to the mono version of the album, or the stereo.

      Ack! That has got to be the WORST excuse for a double album I've ever heard. But I must admit, if the second disc had anything to recommend it (B-sides, demos, etc) I'd pick it up, as I probably would for any band I really dig. For instance, Rhino's reissues of Elvis Costello's entire catalog as double CD's -- that's cool.

      But a mono version? I think I can make my stereo do that, right? :)

      • The mono version was often a remix, with different instrumental/vocal tracks. That is, it wasn't just the stereo version remixed to mono, but different cuts of the tracks.
      • Actually, the mono versions of these discs are quite interesting, because they are in no way 'Left + Right speakers sticked together' versions.

        Remember the LP's albums from the late 60's were the first to use the stereo technology. As many new technologies, this technology was at firtst misused and misunderstood: nobody knew how to use it well and often did an awful work with it (think: the drums left, all the other tracks right).

        Take for instance Jefferson Airplane's masterpiece 'Surrealistic Pillow' (1967): the new, remastered edition comes with both mixes (on only one CD, though). You can hear that the mono mix is by far superior to the stereo mix, because, as stated in the sleeve notes, the sound engineer completely misunderstood what stereo was about. He added tons of flanger and 'cool' effects to the music, which just sounded awful in stereo. Errors he didn't make on the mono mix.

        Another exemple is The Beatles's 'Sgt. Pepper's' (1967, too): the mono mix was made by the Beatles themselves and the stereo mix was left to some obscure sound engineer: so, the mono mix is really the way the artists intended it to be heard !
      • released as a double CD so that you can listen to the mono version of the album, or the stereo
      That is the craziest thing I've read all day. Why the hell would you need separate mono and stereo versions? Just connect your CD player outputs together like this:

      Left Out ---\_/------ Left In
      Rght Out ---/ \------ Right In [Mixer]
      [CD]

      Separately for both signal and ground of course. You will then get the sum of the left and right CD player channels in both channels on your mixer.

      If your mixer has a "mono sum" output which does the equivalent, then of course just send that to your amp instead of modding your cables or whatever.
      • The mono version of albums are mixed differently. I know people who will swear up and down that "Sgt. Pepper's" is way better in mono, but I refuse to believe that.

        All you're doing is combining 2 stereo tracks into one. It's not the same thing.
        • I know people who will swear up and down that "Sgt. Pepper's" is way better in mono, but I refuse to believe that.

          Same goes for Pet Sounds. There was a stereo release of Pet Sounds a few years ago. I still think the mono sounds much, much better (but that's probably because I heard it first and love it to death).

          The same goes for any of Spector's Philles label work.
        • I know people who will swear up and down that "Sgt. Pepper's" is way better in mono, but I refuse to believe that.

          The Beatles were notorious for the use of "Popcorn Stereo" (a term used for when an entire instrument is layed directly onto the left or right signal only... the result of which is that, rather than a realistic stereo illusion of sound coming from one side of a performace stage, you hear it coming directly from the center of your loudspeaker). In the case of "Sgt. Pepper's", I would argue that The Beatles were not trying to create correct stereo imaging, and were intentionally using popcorn stereo for dramatic, cartoony effect. (They also recorded violins using headphones as microphones, and did a lot of other weird crap, like multiple layers of the same orchestra recording to make the string section sound bigger than it was, messing with tape speeds, etc. John Lennon wanted to do a lot of stuff different just to be different when they were making that album.)

          The best rock album that I know of for good use of stereo sound was not intended to be stereo, but quadrophonic. Those cash sounds at the beginning of "Money" on Pink Floyd's "Dar Side of the Moon" were supposed to surround you. While the band was still working on recording "Dark Side" as a quad record, the quadrophonic fad fizzled out. Alan Parsons and the other engineers took the original material (which was intened to go to four tracks), and did their best to create a similar feel on two tracks. The result was probably the most meticulous stereo imaging you will ever hear on a rock album, and it's the reason why I include track 1: "Breathe" with my list of material I insist on using to test out speakers that I am thinking of buying.

      • I don't know about VU&N but Pink Floyd's really early stuff sounds WAY better in Mono because the early stereo process was horrible and gimmicky. Its hard to find though - If they re-released their old stuff in original mono I would be all over it!
    • "We just had 'The Velvet Underground and Nico' released as a double CD so that you can listen to the mono version of the album, or the stereo."

      ??????
      I've got the original CD of that. It's very very short. You could fit mono and stereo on one CD I would think. Greed at work I suppose. PS: Nico was no great artist but she did capure that spaced out Astrud Gilberto quality.
    • The Live at Leeds releases were a "debacle," but for another reason entirely. The original CD wasn't all that hot; the 1995 remix/remaster with extra tracks was, IMO, a *huge* improvement. What makes hte current "Deluxe Edition" so awful, though, is that it actually sounds quite a bit worse than both the '95 issue (on the tracks it duplicates), completely re-organizes the concert, and sounds crappier than most bootlegs sourced from the material. Oh, and did I mention that Roger overdubbed several MORE parts for the reissue? It's just nuts...things aren't supposed to get worse-sounding as time goes by, but unfortunately, technology can be both used and abused...

      -D
  • enough said...
  • I, for one, am glad to see the rerelease of one of the greatest rock albums ever published. David paved the way for much of the gender- and genre-bending music of the 80's, 90's, and the 21st century.

    It is incredible to see how modern technology is making these things possible. Rather than destroying LP culture, the CD is enriching it. It is truly a wonder to live in these times.

    Congrats, David. My prayers are with you.
  • Childhood songs (Score:3, Interesting)

    by wormbin ( 537051 ) on Tuesday July 16, 2002 @06:28PM (#3898043)

    I was four years old when my older siblings played Ziggy Stardust, Alladin Sane, and Space Oddity all day every day. They must have worn out a ton of albums not to mention turntable needles. They also wore out my Dad's patience as I can still hear him yelling at them to "Turn that shit down!"

    Now whenever I hear these songs I get that strange deja-vu feeling you get when you hear some childhood lullaby. They're burned into my brain like bits on a ROM.

    • The music was certainly quite memorable.

      But I think the thing that really gets burned in ones mind, especially when compared to today, is the outfits and hairstyles of Ziggy Stardust!
  • Lots of lyrics and song info here:

    www.teenagewildlife.com [teenagewildlife.com]

  • Uh Oh. (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Aren't you going to get sued by the Scientologists for telling everyone the secret of Ziggy?
  • I've been reading that comic strip for years, and I never knew that he was supposed to be a musician.
  • OF the old Ziggy comics. I guess there not that old but i hadn't thought of them in years. Anyone else still read these? Hehe sorry a small nastalgia attack due to reading slashdot.
  • Move Ziggy (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    For great justice!
  • Must... try... to... give... a... shit...
  • Its great but... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Unless you are 40 or 50, this shouldnt mean much to you.

    Imagine that in the 60's and 70's the 20 year olds were getting exited about the music from the 1930's or the 1940's. What kind of music do you think that we would be listening to now if that were the case? The Beach Boys, Velvets, 13th Floor Elevators, Mamas & Papas and Beatles would never have happened.

    The truth is, the 20 year olds of today should not be listening to Ziggy Stardust. Its as relevant to them as Fats Waller was to listeners of the Velvet Underground in the 1960's.

    This generation is pathetic and lost. They are without a distinct identity, the the garbage that is made by them (Linkin Park for example) is base beyond measure.

    It is a sad indication of how pathetic these 20 somethings are, that they have to look back to music made ten years before they were born.

    I despise and heap scorn on you all.
    • >This generation is pathetic and lost. They are without a distinct identity, the the garbage that is made by them (Linkin Park for example) is base beyond measure.

      Okay, I'll bite...

      Are you living under a rock? Or perhaps (and the rest of your comment might indicate this) are you stuck in the past? There is at least as much - if not more - interesting and exciting music coming out today than at any time in the past. Just because it doesn't sound like the stuff you grew up with doesn't make it "base beyond measure" and the fact that the best band you can come up with to bash is Linkin Park suggests you might be the one who's "pathetic and lost".

      Why don't you go listen to something on Blue Note? [bluenote.com] (Madeski Martin and Wood or DJ Logic to mention a few of the great new people on this label). There is all sorts of amazing experimental stuff coming out, check out Alien8 Recordings [alien8recordings.com] for some pointers. Punk rock has redefined itself and has a modern message and killer sound. Warped Tour [warpedtour.com] (if you've ever heard of it) is one of the best (and cheapest) big shows around. I've had a great time at every show I've gone to.

      The current music scene has fragmented and is moving in a thousand directions. I've mentioned only a few of those fragments and I'm sure that anyone who is at all "with it" could add many more references without even thinking about it. Get the hell out of your rut and start listing to stuff that doesn't play on MTV before you go bashing today's music.

    • Imagine that in the 60's and 70's the 20 year olds were getting exited about the music from the 1930's or the 1940's.
      Not hard to imagine at all. In the '70s I was a 20-something getting excited about music from the 1930s and 1940s. And music from the 1830s and 1740s and all that! As well as the 1950s and 1960s and even the 1970s (although Disco sucked then and it still sucks). The best thing about music is that every year there's more of it to enjoy. I'm in my 40s now and my car radio is set to KEXP [kexp.org], KISM [kism.com], KFNK [funkymonkey1049.fm], and KNDD [1077theend.com] (among others). "The hits just keep on coming!"

    • I started listening to music from the 90s, and I still do - stuff like Tool, Jane's Addiction, Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden. That led me to study their influences (Depeche Mode, The Smiths, The Cure, The Pixies, in no particular order) which led me to study THEIR influences (Like the Velvet Underground, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Doors etc.) I find the whole evolution of Rock music fascinating, but my fascination doesn't go back past the late 60s because before that it wasn't really "rock" in the current sense at all. I find this "last-generation" music is still very relevant and actually increases my appreciation for current artists. I agree that we should promote our own generational culture, but we should also accept that it has a foundation in the one previous, and there is lots to be learned from it.
      • I find the whole evolution of Rock music fascinating, but my fascination doesn't go back past the late 60s because before that it wasn't really "rock" in the current sense at all.

        Allow me to advise you towards a satisfying path to continue your musical odyssey. Look towards the mid-50's recordings by Muddy Waters. I think that there you will find the true river of inspiration behind what Jimmys Page and Hendrix were doing. While you are at it, check out the team of Junior Wells and Buddy Guy (one of many great spin-offs from Muddy's band), and the early-50's recordings of Ray Charles (basically anything before "Modern Sounds In Country Music, which was his "cross-over" album to get cracker DJ's to play his stuff). These men, and not the Ricky Nelsons and Bill Haleys of the world, were the pre-"British Invasion" bearers of the sound you are looking for.

    • Imagine that in the 60's and 70's the 20 year olds were getting exited about the music from the 1930's or the 1940's.

      John Lennon & Paul McCartney both dug 40's showtunes like Rogers & Hammerstein. They also were heavy into depression-era blues like Robert Johnson and Elmore James.

      70's glam-rock like David Bowie and Lou Reed was positively dripping with jazz influences. This makes your comment "The truth is, the 20 year olds of today should not be listening to Ziggy Stardust. Its as relevant to them as Fats Waller was to listeners of the Velvet Underground in the 1960's" particularilly funny. Listen to some Fats Waller, then listent to "Goodnight Ladies", the last track on Lou Reed's "Transformer". Then come back and tell us how poorly informed you really were.

      It was almost impossible to find a bio of the 80's band XTC that did not contain the words "Beatle-based pop".

      Nearly every musician who has ever played a solo worth a shit will count Louis Armstrong as one of his main influences.

      To put it bluntly, you are unlikely to ever do anything that matters as an artist unless you have knowledge and command of what has been before.

      It is a sad indication of how pathetic these 20 somethings are, that they have to look back to music made ten years before they were born.

      This has always been the case. A band called "10 Years After", who played decade-old covers, performed at Woodstock fer crisakes!

  • "Hunky Dory," "Diamond Dogs," and the 2nd side of "Tonight."

    Also, if you feel like tracking them down, Lulu did a great version of "Watch That Man" that I like more than the Bowie version, with the Spiders playing backup! She also did "The Man Who Sold The World," that old Nirvana tune.
  • ...has nothing to do with News for Nerds here are the lyrics to Savior Machine.

    President Joe once had a dream
    The world held his hand, gave their pledge
    So he told them his scheme for a Saviour Machine

    They called it the Prayer, its answer was law
    Its logic stopped war, gave them food
    How they adored till it cried in its boredom

    'Please don't believe in me, please disagree with me
    Life is too easy, a plague seems quite feasible now
    or maybe a war, or I may kill you all

    Don't let me stay, don't let me stay
    My logic says burn so send me away
    Your minds are too green, I despise all I've seen
    You can't stake your lives on a Saviour Machine

    I need you flying, and I'll show that dying
    Is living beyond reason, sacred dimension of time
    I perceive every sign, I can steal every mind

    Don't let me stay, don't let me stay
    My logic says burn so send me away
    Your minds are too green, I despise all I've seen
    You can't stake your lives on a Saviour Machine
  • Don't know about you, but I find it strange that a re-release like this is not available on SACD or DVD-Audio. Especially when Bowie's latest is available on SACD.

    Sigh.
    • Screw SACD. Don't you know what it really stands for? Sony's Anti-Consumer Device. It's not about greater sound quality, it's about obsoleting the standards-based CD and moving consumers to a controlled format. Note also that you can't digitally copy a SACD, the only way to make copies is cumbersome analog recording. I don't foresee this changing any time soon: Sony has learned from the mistakes of the CD, and they're not going to let the genie out of the bottle this time. Since they control the SACD format, they can make sure no one else does, either.
  • Yes, folks, I am old enough to remember the shock-horror tone of this seminal piece of British TV about a man who - aargh! - wore make up to play his songs.

    Anybody else remember it? Clips are played occassionally on those Channel 4 "top 30/10 list" things.
  • Mick Ronson (Score:3, Informative)

    by FrankDrebin ( 238464 ) on Tuesday July 16, 2002 @07:38PM (#3898372) Homepage

    Of course, the guitarist of the title track was not the fictional Ziggy, nor Bowie himself, but Mick Ronson [hotshotdigital.com], one of the greats of the era who sadly died in 1993.

  • The inspiration for Ziggy Stardust came at least in part from a fellow Mercury recording artist, the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, according to this article [furious.com]
  • The 60's weren't all failure,
    it's the 70's that sucked
    as the clock ticks we dig the same hole.

    -- "Chickensh|t Conformist" by Dead Kennedies

    • The 70's were the 60's. Most of what we attribute to the 60's was actually the 70s. I didn't see my first hippie until 1971 when hippiedom became fashionable all over rather than NY and SF. The songs that came out in the late 60's didn't start getting decent airplay until the 70's when FM got a big push. The Vietnam War ended in 1973 which meant the biggest protests were being held 1971-1973.

      The 60's was the catalyst for the 70's. The beginning of the 70's was GREAT from peace, ove and dope to awesome prog music. The end sucked wind. The combination of Jimmah Carter and Disco was more than anyone could stomach. The best thing about the late 70's? Saturday Night Live and Punk.
  • . . . I heard the Bauhaus version of it first, and whenever I hear the original Bowie version it seems flat to me. Quite a shame, really, that I hadn't heard it the other way around. Ah, well.
  • by bill.sheehan ( 93856 ) on Tuesday July 16, 2002 @08:45PM (#3898659) Homepage
    One of my favorite poems is T.S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock [bartleby.com]. It's the reflections of an ordinary, even mediocre man entering his waning years. I mention this because I found myself muttering, "I grow old... I grow old... I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled" while I read this item. Thirty years since Ziggy made the scene? THIRTY? It can't be thirty! Why, if it's thirty years, then I must be ...

    Oh.

    In the room the women come and go,
    Talking of Barry Manilow.

  • by Rude Turnip ( 49495 ) <valuation.gmail@com> on Tuesday July 16, 2002 @08:50PM (#3898671)
    John Cameron Mitchell, in conjunction with musician Stephen Trask, wrote the smash off-broadway hit and movie "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." This is the story of a transexual rock star (Hedwig aka Hansel) from East Germany who tries to seek revenge on his spurned lover/protege, Tommy Gnosis, while trying to come to grips with his identity and find his "other half." There are numerous homages to David Bowie in the movie.

    Anyway, the movie is fantastic and was my Favorite Pick for 2001. The soundtrack is great, too...an honest-to-goodness rock album. It was 1 of the only 2 albums I bought that year. The link to John's web site is already at the top of the page.
  • David Bowie has just release a new album=Heathen and its amazing. It has the same thematic range as stardust, but comes from a more mature, more patient musician.

    I would suggest buying these two together to see how a genious progresses from one decade to the next.

    for a david bowie discography try:

    http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/default.asp? oi d=331
  • by jwlidtnet ( 453355 ) on Tuesday July 16, 2002 @09:37PM (#3898802)
    I realize I'm coming in late in the game (and I don't know whether this has been mentioned yet), but this is some rather hideous marketing on EMI's part. To elaborate:

    a) This album has been released countless times on CD. The RCA issue, the original Rykodisc, the Rykodisc "Collector's Edition," the gold Rykodisc edition, the "regular" Virgin version, and now this.

    b) Apparently, the bonus tracks are mostly stuff that has been out before. On the above mentioned Rykodisc versions, most of David's albums came with bonus tracks that were cut for the recent Virgin reissues. Apparently, these "new" Ziggy bonuses are mostly comprised of those tracks, with a few things from the Sound and Vision boxed-set thrown in. There might be a few new items, but I doubt that they're many.

    c) Another remastering? The regular Virgin issue isn't all that hot (no-noised, and subjected to the Prism noise-shaping system, which I've always felt adds an odd "texture" to the sound), so I can't imagine what they've done with this one. Possibly brutalized it and re-recorded the bass and drums (yeah, I'm talking to you, Ozzy).

    -D
  • Cybernauts (Score:3, Interesting)

    by dohnut ( 189348 ) on Tuesday July 16, 2002 @11:19PM (#3899144)

    The surviving spiders, 2 members from Def Leppard, and a keyboardist tour occasionally as the Cybernauts [cybernautsruleok.com].

    The band is a tribute to Bowie and to Mick Ronson. They basically do covers from all the albums that the spiders were involved in, which obviously includes Ziggy.

    They have a privately released CD that will quit being sold sometime this year. It's a 2 disc set. One live disk and one studio disk. The live stuff is about 5 years old now, but the studio stuff is fairly recent. They quality is excellent and so are the performances. There are audio samples on the website.
  • The album is being reissued today in a limited edition 2-CD set.

    [humour]
    I guess the first one is the music and the second has a writer's commentary voiceover.
    [/humour]

All seems condemned in the long run to approximate a state akin to Gaussian noise. -- James Martin

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