David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (2003)



Video: PAL, MPEG-2 at 7 334 Kbps, 720 x 576 at 25.000 fps | Audio: AC-3 6ch. at 448 Kbps, AC-3 2ch. at 192 Kbps, PCM 2ch. at 1 536 Kbps
Genre: Rock | Label: EMI | Copy: Untouched | Release Date: 24 Mar 2003 | Runtime: 86 min. | 5,96 GB (DVD9)

Although conventional wisdom states that David Bowie’s strongest album is 1972’s
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, I humbly disagree. I think
Ziggy’s a good record, but quite a few others include better material.
Predecessor The Man Who Sold the World from 1970 seems superior, as do
many later efforts like 1974’s Diamond Dogs, 1976’s Station to Station,
and 1980’s Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps).
Later tours also displayed better performances than found during the
Ziggy era, but that period remains enticing to many fans. Again, I can’t
say that I dislike the Ziggy work - which I also consider to include
the tour behind 1973’s Aladdin Sane - but Bowie grew immeasurably as a
stage performer in the years that followed Ziggy. Frankly, he seemed to
reach his zenith during the amazing 1997 tour, which included possibly
the finest concerts he ever gave. Bowie continued to amaze me through
his 2002 performances, which showed him in top form as well; they didn’t
match the epics from 1997, but even after I’ve seen Bowie live almost
60 times, I found the man could still surprise and dazzle me.
Unfortunately, none of those performances appear on DVD or any other
commercially available video formats. Only two Bowie shows can be
purchased on DVD: a good 1983 concert as part of the Serious Moonlight
Tour, and a 1973 outing that came during the Aladdin Sane excursion. The
differences between 1973 Bowie and 1983 Bowie are large, and most think
he declined precipitously during that decade. I can’t debate that his
1983 recorded work fails to demonstrate the best of his abilities, but
as a live performer, Bowie showed much stronger skills in the Eighties
than he had a decade prior. The SMT Bowie was much more self-assured and
confident, and he displayed greater fluidity and presence.
Not that I dislike 1973 Bowie, and I find the show presented on Ziggy
Stardust and the Spiders From Mars: The Motion Picture to be an
interesting concert, even if it doesn’t match up with his later live
triumphs. This July 1973 performance from London marked his last live
outing with the Spiders From Mars, Bowie’s most famous backing band.
Consisting of Mick Ronson on guitar, Trevor Bolder on bass, and Mick
“Woody” Woodmansey on drums, Bowie played with the Spiders for period of
only a few years; they started with The Man Who Sold the World and
continued to back him through 1973’s wonderful cover album Pin Ups
For the purposes of the 1973 tour, additional performers bolstered the
core group. All of them remained firmly in the shadows during the
concert. Mike Garson’s piano playing gave Aladdin Sane its distinctive
sound, and he echoed that work during the show.
Concert presentations in the early Seventies remained technically
primitive. To be sure, they’d progressed past the basics found during
most shows of the Sixties, but despite some additional sophistication in
regard to lighting and theatrics, the shows were still pretty simple.
As seen in Ziggy, Bowie himself moved the genre along to a great degree,
especially through his use of makeup and costumes. However, he didn’t
really start to exhibit really complex staging until 1974’s Diamond Dogs
tour, and later concerts furthered the growth of the field.
The 1973 show seen in Ziggy stuck with visuals that look pretty simple
by modern standards, though I’m sure they seemed more revolutionary at
the time. Bowie engaged in multiple costume changes, and some decent
lighting effects cropped up along the way. However, the primary focus
remained the man himself, who started to show the physical prowess that
allowed him to become a great live performer.
I’ve seen hundreds of different concerts, but no one equals Bowie in his
stage presence and ability. Bowie knows how to move and function on
stage to a degree few others understand, and he remains consistently
provocative and engaging. Some of this occurred because of his formal
mime training in the Sixties; he can use his body in a manner others
don’t get. Unfortunately, this was a minor problem during Ziggy. He
showed more of the stereotypically silly mime behaviors during this
concert; he even does the “I’m stuck inside an invisible cage!” routine,
and it all came across as fairly dopey.
Nonetheless, Bowie still presented a magnetic personality, and his
attempts made the concert more visually compelling than one would expect
for the era. No, he hadn’t fully developed the skills he’d display in
years to come, but he remained a vibrant and active presence who showed
hints of the future legend.
Musically, Ziggy offered a generally solid performance. The concert
suffered somewhat from a general sameness to the music. Ronson’s
aggressive guitar dominated the proceedings to such a degree that many
of the songs sounded a lot alike; few modifications occurred to
differentiate between them. Nonetheless, the amped-up intensity worked
for many of the songs, and some of the tunes appeared in the best
versions I’ve heard. The medley of “Wild-Eyed Boy From Freecloud”/”All
the Young Dudes”/”Oh! You Pretty Things” was really terrific, and
Ronson’s vicious guitar runs brought a force to “Moonage Daydream” not
apparent on the album rendition. Speaking of which, World’s “The Width
of a Circle” also demonstrated much greater depth and sizzle than heard
on the record, and the version found on this DVD is the best I’ve heard -
sort of. This concert also appeared as a separate album, and “Width”
was edited for that presentation; while it lasted a whopping 14 minutes,
24 seconds during the movie, it was chopped down to nine minutes, 35
seconds for the record. Without question, the edited one provided a more
satisfying experience. The shorter cut abbreviated a long instrumental
interlude; it featured some good guitar work from Ronson but became very
tedious. More isn’t always better, as this rendition established. (Note
that the new 2003 two-CD release of this album apparently includes the
full-length version of “Width”.)
I didn’t feel that any of the other performances provided definitive
versions of Bowie material, but I also didn’t think that any of them
harmed the tunes. Yes, the songs seemed too much alike at times, largely
because of the concert production, but they still worked pretty well.
The concert included no clunkers that undermined the show as a whole.
One problem, however, related from the manner in which the show was
filmed. Although famed documentarian D.A. Pennebaker ran the show, the
whole project looked more like something cobbled together by a bunch of
kids who snuck in cameras. Far too many shots of spacey crowd members
occurred, and the images from the stage did little to adequately present
the show. This was a professional effort? You’d never know from the
amateurish results. As a whole, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From
Mars: The Motion Picture offered a reasonably interesting historical
document. It didn’t provide the best of either Bowie’s music or live
shows, but it still was very interesting to see for fans like myself. A
few of the songs appeared in excellent renditions, and none of them fell
flat, though most lacked the power found during the best of the bunch.
Note that Ziggy doesn’t offer the entire concert from July 3, 1973.
Guitarist Jeff Beck guested on “The Jean Genie” and “Round and Round”
but has never permitted that footage to be shown. Why? Allegedly because
he didn’t like the pants he wore that night!

Artists:
- David Bowie: lead vocals, guitar, mouth harp
- Mick Ronson: lead guitar, vocals
- Trevor Bolder: bass guitar
- Mick 'Woody' Woodmansey: percussion and drums
- Angela Bowie
- Ringo Starr
- Ken Fordham: saxophone and flute
- Brian Wilshaw: saxophone and flute
- Geoffrey MacCormack: backing vocals, percussion
- John Hutchinson: guitar
- Mike Garson: piano, organ, mellotron

Tracklist:
01. Introduction [7:10]
02. Hang On to Yourself [3:12]
03. Ziggy Stardust [3:20]
04. Watch That Man [4:12]
05. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud [3:15]
06. All the Young Dudes [1:38]
07. Oh! You Pretty Things [1:42]
08. Moonage Daydream [7:46]
09. Changes [3:43]
10. Space Oddity [4:44]
11. My Death [7:04]
12. Cracked Actor [2:49]
13. Time [5:29]
14. The Width of a Circle [14:35]
15. Band Introduction [:36]
16. Let's Spend the Night Together [3:12]
17. Suffragette City [3:30]
18. White Light - White Heat [5:11]
19. Farewell Speech [:34]
20. Rock 'n' Roll Suicide [4:10]
21. End Credits [2:07]

Extra:
- Commentary by Director D.A. Pennebaker & Audio Producer Tony Visconti

Features:
- Direct Scene Access
- Interactive Menu







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