I went down to a market stall in my town in June 1972 and picked the album up. We used to go there after having chips from the chippy for a healthy (!) school lunch and listen to music that she (Joan the Record Lady) would play for us.

Still have my 1972 copy and it still plays great.

Game changer of a record as we all know.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-06-17 05:00 by KingmanBarstow.

2nd best album is Diamond Dogs. Mick Ronson era = Beethoven's 5th, pinnacle, but Mick didn't play on DD. Fun fact, Rick Wakeman of YES was used in the recording of Hunky Dory.

2nd best album is Diamond Dogs. Mick Ronson era = Beethoven's 5th, pinnacle, but Mick didn't play on DD. Fun fact, Rick Wakeman of YES was used in the recording of Hunky Dory.

The Mick Ronson Memorial Stage in 2007

Nice that they have the MR Memorial Stage.

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KevinM
2nd best album is Diamond Dogs. Mick Ronson era = Beethoven's 5th, pinnacle, but Mick didn't play on DD. Fun fact, Rick Wakeman of YES was used in the recording of Hunky Dory.

The Mick Ronson Memorial Stage in 2007

Rick Wakeman also played on Man Of Words/Man Of Music (aka Space Oddity).

Amazing record! A classic for all time.
On one of my visits to London I went to the Heddon Street location where Bowie was photographed for the Ziggy Stardust cover. It looks different now but there is a commemorative plaque there and the telephone booth is still there.

Way prefer the live versions of the tunes from this album I have to say. The soundtrack Spiders from Mars album and a live album from Santa Monica really make the tunes come to life. Mick Ronson was a killer guitar player. Really underrated..

A great collection of songs though....

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Paddy
Way prefer the live versions of the tunes from this album I have to say. The soundtrack Spiders from Mars album and a live album from Santa Monica really make the tunes come to life. Mick Ronson was a killer guitar player. Really underrated..

A great collection of songs though....

I bought the Santa Monica bootleg when it came out. 2 UK Pounds at the time. That was a fantastic recording. USD $5.50 it shows on the later CD cover release for a concert ticket. October 20, 1972.

Mick Ronson’s CV is impressive. I’m not sure that he ever really received the credit (and financially for same) that he should have for music arrangements during his Bowie era. A talent gone far too soon.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2020-06-17 06:33 by KingmanBarstow.

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KingmanBarstow

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Paddy
Way prefer the live versions of the tunes from this album I have to say. The soundtrack Spiders from Mars album and a live album from Santa Monica really make the tunes come to life. Mick Ronson was a killer guitar player. Really underrated..

A great collection of songs though....

I bought the Santa Monica bootleg when it came out. 2 UK Pounds at the time. That was a fantastic recording. USD $5.50 it shows on the later CD cover release for a concert ticket. October 20, 1972.

Mick Ronson’s CV is impressive. I’m not sure that he ever really received the credit (and financially for same) that he should have for music arrangements during his Bowie era. A talent gone far too soon.

The amount of credit he should get for his work on Lou Reed's Transformer has always gone woefully unnoticed. He @#$%& kills on that album, as he does on all albums. He was great with Dylan on the Rolling Thunder Tour too. Dude played with Bowie, Reed, Dylan...

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RollingFreak

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KingmanBarstow

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Paddy
Way prefer the live versions of the tunes from this album I have to say. The soundtrack Spiders from Mars album and a live album from Santa Monica really make the tunes come to life. Mick Ronson was a killer guitar player. Really underrated..

A great collection of songs though....

I bought the Santa Monica bootleg when it came out. 2 UK Pounds at the time. That was a fantastic recording. USD $5.50 it shows on the later CD cover release for a concert ticket. October 20, 1972.

Mick Ronson’s CV is impressive. I’m not sure that he ever really received the credit (and financially for same) that he should have for music arrangements during his Bowie era. A talent gone far too soon.

The amount of credit he should get for his work on Lou Reed's Transformer has always gone woefully unnoticed. He @#$%& kills on that album, as he does on all albums. He was great with Dylan on the Rolling Thunder Tour too. Dude played with Bowie, Reed, Dylan...

Ronson did some great work with Ian Hunter, too. Here's a fine documentary about Mick Ronson if you're interested:

Ah, this is why a pic of my copy of the album popped up in my Facebook "memories" today! What a classic.

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RollingFreak

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KingmanBarstow

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Paddy
Way prefer the live versions of the tunes from this album I have to say. The soundtrack Spiders from Mars album and a live album from Santa Monica really make the tunes come to life. Mick Ronson was a killer guitar player. Really underrated..

A great collection of songs though....

I bought the Santa Monica bootleg when it came out. 2 UK Pounds at the time. That was a fantastic recording. USD $5.50 it shows on the later CD cover release for a concert ticket. October 20, 1972.

Mick Ronson’s CV is impressive. I’m not sure that he ever really received the credit (and financially for same) that he should have for music arrangements during his Bowie era. A talent gone far too soon.

The amount of credit he should get for his work on Lou Reed's Transformer has always gone woefully unnoticed. He @#$%& kills on that album, as he does on all albums. He was great with Dylan on the Rolling Thunder Tour too. Dude played with Bowie, Reed, Dylan...

...and IAN HUNTER!

[www.youtube.com]

I saw Hunter and Ronson twice, both times in small clubs. At one gig myself and my friend were first in and set up our beers at Mick’s monitor and thereafter didn’t move. What a brilliant night. Could watch him pick out every note above our heads. I wasn’t at the one (link above) but it is a great example of what it was like watching Ronno.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-06-17 09:49 by KingmanBarstow.

How the @#$%& did I forget Ian Hunter?!! Of course! Michael Picasso.

And yes, saw that documentary. Its free online. Definitely recommend.

I also saw Mick play in T Bone Burnette's band, opening for the Who & the Clash in 1982. They were good but the Clash owned that day.

Fantastic legendary album. For me, Bowie has made way better records, but the impact and the whole mythology regarding the record, is unmatched.
Personally I rank Hunky Dory, Station To Station, Low, “Heroes” and Lodger, way higher. But Ziggy is a marvelous album and as a whole, it’s one of those records bigger than life.

The influence o the Ziggy album is noticeable on Goats Head Soup.

A more prominent, up-front bass style. Mainly Taylor and Keith though ,I think.

Drums to an extent too, and overall production, I fink.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-06-21 15:49 by Four Stone Walls.

Johnny went to fight in Belfast, Rudy stayed at home to starve

I could make it all worthwhile as a rock and roll star


Ziggy is my stranded on desert island album....What a masterpiece!!

Next to the Stones I was a huge Bowie fan and I remember the day well when I bought ZS the day it was released and he released some great record trough out the seventies ....I lost track and didn't buy any records after scary monsters.

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loog droog

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RollingFreak

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KingmanBarstow

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Paddy
Way prefer the live versions of the tunes from this album I have to say. The soundtrack Spiders from Mars album and a live album from Santa Monica really make the tunes come to life. Mick Ronson was a killer guitar player. Really underrated..

A great collection of songs though....

I bought the Santa Monica bootleg when it came out. 2 UK Pounds at the time. That was a fantastic recording. USD $5.50 it shows on the later CD cover release for a concert ticket. October 20, 1972.

Mick Ronson’s CV is impressive. I’m not sure that he ever really received the credit (and financially for same) that he should have for music arrangements during his Bowie era. A talent gone far too soon.

The amount of credit he should get for his work on Lou Reed's Transformer has always gone woefully unnoticed. He @#$%& kills on that album, as he does on all albums. He was great with Dylan on the Rolling Thunder Tour too. Dude played with Bowie, Reed, Dylan...

...and IAN HUNTER!

I met Mick Ronson and Ian Hunter in 1975. I gushed to Mick about his playing on the Santa Monica bootleg and he didn't know anything about it, didn't know it was out there.

Ronson also played with Van Morrison. I am not sure if his guitar is on any album of Van, but I have a DVD where he is part of Van's band.

Bye
Fernando

Ziggy Stardust really is one of the most perfect albums of all time. The fact that Bowie did that in the same year as All The Young Dudes and Transformer is the stuff of legends.

Way back in 1972 I did buy Ziggy Stardust LP and only found out later that they played the first live Ziggy gig at Toby Jug pub at Tolworth.
Also a gig in Kingston, only about 2 miles away,my home town where I recently saw The Who acoustic gigs and Ronnie Wood played at the lovely town church.
Couple of articles I found from the Ziggy gigs back then.
[www.closedpubs.co.uk]
[www.kingston.ac.uk]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-06-19 02:00 by crawdaddy.

This is the article I knew had a review of the very first Ziggy gig.
Also several links to interesting Ziggy stuff.
I can vaguely remember him on Old Grey Whistle Test as well.

[www.5years.com]

Just read drummer Woody Woodmansy's 2017 book 'Spider From Mars', and it sheds some interesting light on recording and touring with Bowie and The Spiders.

Seems, like Dylan, Bowie was a "3-takes maximum" kind of artist, and rarely told the others what to play, other than the arrangements, in which Ronson also had a big part in developing. They were more concerned with the emotional feel of the song, rather than absolute perfection, and Bowie knew exactly what he wanted, although occasionally had trouble conveying these ideas to the band.

As we all know, the Spiders and Ziggy didn't last long, due to the usual culprits of drugs and fame. They split quite acrimoniously, although mended fences not too long after.

Apparently, Bowie wanted to reform the Spiders in 1978, but Ronson wasn't interested in revisiting the past. Understandable, but still a shame.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-06-21 23:59 by mosthigh.

Re: Ziggy/Spiders not lasting too long “due to the culprits of drugs and fame.”

I took a look back at the book “Strange Fascination” by David Buckley. His take on the infamous Ziggy retirement gig was:

- Bowie was bored and exhausted from months of touring;
- Tony DeFries (Bowie’s manager) wanted to make Bowie (sans Spiders) globally famous;
- Ziggy (the image of) had proved to be too radical for American audiences;
- The Spiders were still on the same wage that they were on from the start;
- There was a band “revolt” on a prior Japanese tour re: poor wages. Getting rid of the band at Hammersmith was to DeFries‘ satisfaction.

Ultimately though Bowie wanted to move on.

I must dig out my Mick Ronson bio and compare notes.

Woody said Bowie's behavior towards the Spiders changed as he got more popular. They started out as a 'gang' - eating dinner together and hanging out before the gigs - then, he said, Bowie's attitude started to change, and he grew more isolated and diva-like - likely due to his heavy cocaine consumption (which he was very discreet about) and Defries steering him away from the band.

One particular incident was in the dressing room before a show, where they were all together, and Bowie put a cigarette in his mouth and snapped his fingers, expecting one of them to light it for him. They thought he was putting them on, but apparently, he wasn't. Ouch.