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

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