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Two words on the historical context.
We are in early '70s England. The streets are teeming with young "dudes": neo-hippies who transform the boring eco-pacifist gatherings of their hippie cousins into a wild festival of kitsch: a pacifism finally free from ideology and politics. The watchwords are: disengagement, cross-dressing, and sexual ambiguity, in a festival of sequins and glitter, feathers and mascara, boots and space suits that will form the ideal cradle for the birth of "glam-rock" in an exciting "Swingin'" London yet to be invented.
"Rock'n'roll with lipstick," John Lennon will define it. In this "Festival of Vanity," David Bowie will bring to life the perfect persona: Ziggy Stardust. An androgynous alien with awkward movements, made up like a drag queen and sporting a carrot-colored wig. He is the embodiment of this rock revolution that will last only a season, the time that passes between his rise and fall ("The rise and fall," indeed). Muse of inspiration for that other cinematic masterpiece of Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange."
Of this colorful and brief musical season, Bowie, along with his friend-rival Bolan and his T-Rex and the more sophisticated Roxy Music, will be a true symbol, and "The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars" (the exact wording of the title) will be its cult object, the fetish-symbol for generations to come. Ziggy "stardust" embodies all the clichés, inspired by famous figures like Jagger, Lou Reed, Hendrix (Ziggy is left-handed), Bolan (inspiration for the ballad "Lady Stardust"), but also by unknown figures, at the time quite trendy, like Vince Taylor and The Legendary Stardust Cowboy, crucial for the character construction.
Musically, the album is a collection of romantic ballads alternated with electrified, fast-paced rock'n'roll, on the brink of punk (an embryonic movement that will burst in '77 with the disruptive advent of the Sex Pistols). Music to be played at full volume, as recommended on the back of the cover. In the eleven tracks, the entire classic glam arsenal is unleashed: from raspy and effeminate vocals to sharp guitars, from pompous string arrangements to poignant melodies.
In this musical-cabaret circus, Bowie never takes himself seriously: his songs are a mockery to puritanical morals, a study of ironic transgression, and often, pure irreverent nonsense, a school that will gain many followers in the history of Rock.
Among the tracks stands out obviously "Starman," one of Bowie's most legendary melodies with the famous chorus (There's a starman waiting in the sky/ He'd like to come and meet us/ But he thinks he'd blow our minds?) destined to become an evergreen of Bowie. Also noteworthy is the melodic "Lady Stardust," while "It Ain't Easy" is the only cover: a sort of space-country with an almost gospel-like chorus. To break this dreamy '30s musical climate (the theatrical and cabaret aspect will be a constant of the glam movement of those years) a couple of frenetic proto-punk blows launched at furious speed by the unrestrained Martian Spiders: "Hang On To Yourself," which by the same admission of the Sex Pistols will inspire "God Save The Queen," and "Suffragette City," which will serve as the soundtrack for the sexual pantomimes of Bowie and Ronson on stage during the Ziggy Stardust Tour.
The natural conclusion of the album will be a "rock and roll suicide," executed in the most theatrical way: with a cigarette in mouth ("Time takes a cigarette, puts it in your mouth") and pleading for one last gesture of affection ("Gimme your hands, 'cause you're wonderful"), which Ziggy will mime in live shows reaching out to the audience. Indeed, on July 4, 1973, during a concert at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, Bowie will announce the death of Ziggy, amidst tears from fans who will not forgive him for such a harsh and unexpected decision.
Anyone over the years who has faced the relationship between performer and audience has had to reckon with this ethereal "alien in tights." "It was a creature born to be idolized by fans - Bowie will reveal in various interviews - I used it by employing the simple canons of rock'n'roll". A marketing product, in short, contemporary to Andy Warhol's studies and theories on the Art/Marketing relationship, but studied down to the finest detail. Like a work of art, indeed. A "total" art, in which music joins with theater, music hall, mime, cinema, comics, visual arts, but without ever losing sight of the ultimate goal: the cult of celebrity.
Therefore, defining it as "a marketing record," is not entirely wrong. Only those who think that art and commerce are irreconcilable worlds are mistaken. An error that will often recur when thinking of David Bowie. As it was with Andy Warhol in the field of art. But on this age-old debate, time and History will judge, and I am sure this "Ziggy Stardust" will remain in the Olympus of indispensable albums in music history.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
03 Moonage Daydream (04:39)
I'm an alligator, I'm a mama-papa comin' for you
I'm the space invader, I'll be a rock 'n' rollin' bitch for you
Keep your mouth shut, you're squawking like a pink monkey bird
And I'm bustin' up my brains for the words
Keep your 'lectric eye on me, babe
Put your ray gun to my head
Press your space face close to mine, love
Freak out in a moonage daydream, oh yeah!
Don't fake it baby, lay the real thing on me
The church of man, love
Is such a holy place to be
Make me baby, make me know you really care
Make me jump into the air
Keep your 'lectric eye on me, babe
Put your ray gun to my head
Press your space face close to mine, love
Freak out in a moonage daydream, oh yeah! (repeat 3x)
Freak out, far out, in out
04 Starman (04:14)
Didn't know what time it was,
the lights were low
I leaned back on my radio
Some cat was layin' down
some rock 'n' roll 'lotta soul, he said
Then the loud sound did seem to fade
Came back like a slow voice on a wave of phase
That weren't no D.J. that was hazy cosmic jive
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He's told us not to blow it
Cause he knows it's all worthwhile
He told me:
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie
I had to phone someone so I picked on you
Hey, that's far out so you heard him too!
Switch on the TV we may pick him up on channel two
Look out your window I can see his light
If we can sparkle he may land tonight
Don't tell your poppa or he'll get us locked up
in fright
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He's told us not to blow it
Cause he knows it's all worthwhile
He told me:
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He's told us not to blow it
Cause he knows it's all worthwhile
He told me:
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie
07 Star (02:47)
Tony went to fight in Belfast
Rudi stayed at home to starve
I could make it all worthwhile as a rock 'n' roll star
Bevan tried to change the nation
Sonny wants to turn the world, welll he can tell you that he tried
CHORUS (x2)
I could make a transformation as a rock 'n' roll star
So inviting - so enticing to play the part
I could play the wild mutation as a rock 'n' roll star
(second time: Get it all, yeah!)
I could do with the money
I'm so wiped out with things as they are
I'd send my photograph to my honey - and I'd c'mon like a regular superstar
I could fall asleep at night as a rock 'n' roll star
I could fall in love all right as a rock 'n' roll star
08 Hang On to Yourself (02:39)
She's a tongue twisting storm, she will come to the show tonight
Praying to the light machine
She wants my honey not my money she's a funky-thigh collector
Layin on 'letric dreams
Chorus:
So come on, come on, we've really got a good thing going
Come on, come on, if you think we're gonna make it
You better hang on to yourself
We can't dance, we don't talk much, just ball and play
But then we move around like tigers on vaseline
The bitter comes out better on a stolen guitar
You're the blessed, we're the spiders from Mars
Repeat Chorus
09 Ziggy Stardust (03:13)
Ziggy played guitar,
jamming good with Weird and Gilly
And the spiders from Mars.
He played it left hand,
But made it too far,
Became the special man,
then we were Ziggy's band.
Ziggy really sang,
screwed up eyes and screwed down hairdo
Like some cat from Japan,
he could lick 'em by smiling
He could leave 'em to hang
They came on so loaded man,
well hung and snow white tan.
So where were the spiders
while the fly tried to break our bones
Just the beer light to guide us,
So we bitched about his fans and
should we crush his sweet hands?
Ziggy played for time,
Jiving us that we were voodoo
The kids were just crass,
he was the nazz
With God given ass
He took it all too far
But boy could he play guitar.
Making love with his ego
Ziggy sucked up into his mind
Like a leper messiah
When the kids had killed the man
I had to break up the band.
Ziggy played gui...tar
10 Suffragette City (03:24)
Hey man, oh leave me alone you know
Hey man, oh Henry, get off the phone, I gotta
Hey man, I gotta straighten my face
This mellow thighed chick just put my spine outta place
Hey man, my schoolday's insane
Hey man, my work's down the drain
Hey man, well she's a total blam-blam
She said she had to squeeze it but she... then she...
(CHORUS)
Oh don't lean on me man
Cause you can't afford the ticket
I'm back on Suffragette City
Oh don't lean on me man
Cause you ain't got time to check it
You know my Suffragette City
Is outta sight...she's all right
Hey man, oh Henry, don't be unkind, go away
Hey man, I can't take you this time, no way
Hey man, droogie don't crash here
There's only room for one and here she comes, here she comes
CHORUS
Oh hit me!
CHORUS x2
A Suffragette City, a Suffragette City
I'm back on Suffragette City, I'm back on Suffragette City
Ooo, Suffragete city, ooo, Suffragette City
Oooh-how, Sufragette City, oooh-how, Sufragette-
Ohhh, Wham! Bam! Thank You, Ma'am!
A Suffragette City, a Suffragette City
Quite all right
A Suffragette City
Too fine
A Suffragette City, ooh, a Sufragette City
Oh, my Sufragette City, oh my Suffragette City
Oh, Suffragette
Suffragette!
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