Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture

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Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture
Dbzstmp.jpg
Soundtrack album by David Bowie
Released October 1983 (1983-10)
1 April 2003 (2003-04-01) (2003 re-release)
Recorded 3 July 1973 (1973-07-03)
Studio Hammersmith Odeon, London
Genre
Length 69:31
83:33 (2003 re-release)
Label RCA Records
Producer
David Bowie chronology
Let's Dance
(1983)Let's Dance1983		 Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture
(1983)		 Tonight
(1984)Tonight1984
Singles from Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture
  1. "White Light/White Heat"
    Released: November 1983
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 2/5 stars[1]
AllMusic (2003 re-release) 3/5 stars[2]
MusicHound 3/5[3]
Pitchfork Media 7.6/10[4]

Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture is a live album by David Bowie, corresponding to the film of the same name. The music was recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on 3 July 1973 (1973-07-03), although the album was not issued by RCA Records until 1983. Prior to that it had existed in bootleg form, notably His Masters Voice – Bowie and the Spiders From Mars' Last Stand.[5]

The album documents the final show which Bowie performed in his Ziggy Stardust persona. Just before the final track, he announces, "Not only is it the last show of the tour, but it's the last show that we'll ever do. Thank you." Many in the audience believed that Bowie himself was retiring.[6]

Production and release

D. A. Pennebaker filmed the concert and RCA recorded it with the intention of releasing a live album. However the project was shelved for several reasons, rumoured to include Bowie's desire to leave Ziggy behind, and the poor quality of the recordings.[7] Reasoning that RCA would most likely issue the material sooner or later regardless, Bowie and producer Tony Visconti mixed the recordings in 1981. This mix has been heavily criticised, although Visconti describes it as "more of a salvage job than an artistic endeavor" considering the state of the source material.[8]

The album was eventually released in October 1983 as a double LP soundtrack to Pennebaker's documentary. Partly due to the limitations of the LP record format, the release omitted, shortened or reordered several items from the original tapes. "White Light/White Heat" was issued as a single in November.

Rereleases

Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture has been released on CD twice to date, the first being on 7 August 1992 (1992-08-07) by Rykodisc and the second in April 2003 by EMI/Virgin being the album's 30th Anniversary 2CD Set, containing additional material, including introductions, spoken passages and the complete version of "The Width of a Circle"; "Changes" was also slotted into its correct position in the original concert's running order, following "Moonage Daydream".

In 2003, the soundtrack was re-released with a new Visconti mix, considered a significant improvement on the original.[9] Almost the whole show was restored except for "The Jean Genie/Love Me Do" and "Round and Round" encore with Jeff Beck. The continued absence of Beck's sequence has been variously attributed to an issue over royalties or to the guitarist feeling, in Tony Visconti's words, that "he didn't fit in the film".[9]

Track listing

All songs were written by David Bowie, except where noted.

Original 2LP (1983) track listing

Disc 1

  1. "Hang on to Yourself" – 2:55
  2. "Ziggy Stardust" – 3:09
  3. "Watch That Man" – 4:10
  4. "Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud/All the Young Dudes/Oh! You Pretty Things" – 6:37
  5. "Moonage Daydream" – 6:17
  6. "Space Oddity" – 4:49
  7. "My Death" (Jacques Brel, Mort Shuman) – 5:45

Disc 2

  1. "Cracked Actor" – 2:52
  2. "Time" – 5:12
  3. "Width of a Circle" – 9:35
  4. "Changes" – 3:35
  5. "Let's Spend the Night Together" (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) – 3:09
  6. "Suffragette City" – 3:02
  7. "White Light/White Heat" (Lou Reed) – 4:06
  8. "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" – 4:20

30th Anniversary 2CD Set (2003) track listing

Disc 1

  1. "Intro" (incorporating Beethoven's Ninth Symphony arranged and performed by Wendy Carlos) (Ludwig van Beethoven) – 1:05
  2. "Hang on to Yourself" – 2:55
  3. "Ziggy Stardust" – 3:19
  4. "Watch That Man" – 4:14
  5. "Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud" – 3:15
  6. "All the Young Dudes" – 1:38
  7. "Oh! You Pretty Things" – 1:46
  8. "Moonage Daydream" – 6:25
  9. "Changes" – 3:36
  10. "Space Oddity" – 5:05
  11. "My Death" (Brel, Shuman) – 7:20

Disc 2

  1. "Intro" (incorporating William Tell Overture) (Gioacchino Rossini) – 1:01
  2. "Cracked Actor" – 3:03
  3. "Time" – 5:31
  4. "The Width of a Circle" – 15:45
  5. "Let's Spend the Night Together" (Jagger, Richards) – 3:02
  6. "Suffragette City" – 4:32
  7. "White Light/White Heat" (Reed) – 4:01
  8. "Farewell Speech" – 0:39
  9. "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" – 5:17

Personnel

Technical personnel

  • David Bowie, Mike Moran – live recording production and mixing
  • Ken Scott – recording engineer
  • David Bowie, Tony Visconti, Bruce Tergeson – 2003 remixing

Charts

Album

Year Chart Peak
Position
1983 UK Albums Chart 17[10]
1983 Billboard Pop Albums 89[11]

Notes

  1. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r2481
  2. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r627613
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/21066-five-years-1969-1973/
  5. ↑ Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). Bowie: An Illustrated Record: p.116
  6. ↑ David Buckley (1999). Strange Fascination – David Bowie: The Definitive Story: p.191
  7. ↑ Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). Op Cit: p.65
  8. ↑ "FAQ: David Bowie" at TonyVisconti.com
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Nicholas Pegg (2000). The Complete David Bowie: p.320
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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