The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (2012 Remaster)

Ziggy Stardust is one of those classic albums that has been reissued many times, but never done quite right. Until now? This is undoubtedly the best release yet, though there are a few peculiarities.First, a note on the music. First released in 1972, this was the album that propelled Bowie to stardom. The band is Mick Ronson (guitar), Trevor Bolder (bass), Mick Woodmansey (drums) and Bowie on almost everything else. It was a tight band, but what makes the album is the immaculate songwriting and Bowie's own vocals, presence and energy. From the first drumbeats of Five Years to the dying chords of Rock `n' Roll Suicide, the album is nearly perfect.The original UK LP sounds great, but subsequent releases have had various problems. The RCA CDs from the eighties are OK, though not a lot of trouble was taken with them, and they are hard to find now. The EMI release (Ryko in the USA) was clean but thin-sounding. Subsequent issues have been over-processed resulting in a slightly fatiguing sound. Even the SACD in 2003 was not that special, though it did feature a 5.1 mix that now reappears here.But I am getting ahead of myself. This 2012 release comes in two forms, a single CD and a deluxe package with an LP and an audio-only DVD. It is the result of a new remaster done by the original engineer Ray Staff with the involvement of the original producer Ken Scott. The sound is excellent, perhaps the best it has ever been, though I still like the sound of my old original LP. Still, no pops and crackles, just a sparkling, clean remaster which finally does Ziggy Stardust justice.There is one oddity. Starman has a "morse" section which comes after "Hazy cosmic jive" and is repeated later. It is loud and clear on the original LP and single, but on all the CD versions, recessed in the background. Why? A mystery, but also a shame if you are nostalgic for the original sound.Now for the packaging. The CD is fine for what it is, but there are no bonus tracks. The LP package on the other hand has various extras on the DVD:- The original mix in 24/96 PCM- The Ken Scott 2003 5.1 mix in DTS, Dolby Digital, and 24/48 PCM- Four bonus tracks also in 5.1 and 24/48. These are:1 Moonage Daydream Instrumental2 The Supermen3 Velvet Goldmine4 Sweet Head, complete with studio chatBowie fans will have heard most of these before, since all but the Moonage Daydream instrumental were on the 30th Anniversary CD package, but it is good to have the surround mixes. Moonage Daydream sounds odd to me without the vocals, but it is great music nonetheless.The annoying thing is, that to get the high resolution stereo, the surround mixes and the bonus tracks, you have to get the vinyl LP even if you do not want it. You could also ask: what about all the other bonus tracks that could have been included?Still, the price is reasonable, unlike some super deluxe packages we have seen, and the LP is an attractive piece as well as offering good sound.Looking more closely at the LP, you get a gatefold with a high-quality reproduction of the original cover, lyrics on an inner bag, and a set of black and white photos on the innner gatefold which are new to me and seem to be from the cover photoshoot. The DVD is pocketed in a cheap cardboard sleeve cutting into the gatefold and therefore spoiling one of the small photos, but this is a minor gripe. I like the way the outer sleeve is left exactly like the original.Even if you no longer play vinyl, it is a small price to pay for the best digital Ziggy yet.THANK YOU to all concerned for the high quality sound.

What can I say. If you thought the previously available 5.1 mix of the Ziggy album was fantastic ( I thought it was and I still do ) then when you listen to this in Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio it’s going to blow your socks off! Honestly this is something really special. If you want to have an idea of what it felt like to be in the studio with Bowie and the Spiders when this album was recorded, back in the early 70s remember, then this will give you a pretty good idea. I think Bowie himself if he was still with us would also be suitably impressed. If you’re a Bowie fan or even someone just wanting to hear how a Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio album should be done ( Kudos to Ken Scott and Emre Ramazanoglu 👍🏻 ) Then you would be extremely foolish to miss out on this. As a side note, if your audio equipment is unable to process Dolby Atmos then it folds down into a 5.1 mix that is different to the previously available one. Also included is a 2024 stereo remix of the album, a hi- res version of the original album 1972 mix and the 2012 remaster of the original 1972 album. Which of these different versions you prefer or think is worthwhile is subjective depending on what your preference parameters are. Me I like the 2024 stereo mix but I will always be a sucker for the original 1972 album mix that I have actually grown up with. Worth a mention is there is a constantly rolling and constantly changing full screen saver of the albums Ziggy photos taken in Heddon Street. This is great and saves you having to knock your TV screen off in order to prevent shadowing / damage etc. Via the Atmos version though Ziggy Stardust really will live forever that in a way is quite scary from a realism point of view.

I grew up with two older David Bowie fans in the 1970s and liked his musical output from this decade almost as much as my brothers. I used to play the vinyl version of this as a teenager, which I still have - but as I no longer have a record player, I decided to buy this CD, also prompted by watching a recent repeat of a BBC documentary on Bowie to mark the 40th anniversary of his Ziggy Stardust tour and the original release of this album. Listening to it as an adult, I still think it is brilliant, even more so in fact, as I feel I'm more able to understand the meaning of Bowie's lyrics now. I sometimes think a lot of attention is given to Bowie's image throughout this career but not much comment is made on his singing capacity - my view is he has a wonderfully expressive voice, on some tracks it is soft, romantic even (i.e., on "Soul Love"), on others it is quite mournful and on the more rock orientated tracks, strident, powerful and upbeat (i.e, on "Suffragette City"). All the tracks on this album are great and demonstrate Bowie's unique creative genius; those of you Bowie fans who are aged 40+ will already be familiar with it, but it is worth adding to your music collection if you don't already have it - and for anyone younger and curious to become more acquainted with Bowie's music and discover why in the 1970s he made such a big impact on the UK music scene and what all the fuss was about, this is well worth buying. It still sounds great all these years later - and lets not forget his band at the time who play a big part in making this album the work of art it is. After listening to it again after some years, I couldn't stop singing "Moonage Daydream" to myself! I hope anyone who buys this album after reading my review will enjoy it as much as I have.

Fabulous Atmos playback , but also the 2024 stereo remix is excellent too.Well worth £22 of anyone's pounds.I think people are getting a teeny bit carried away tho , the sacd surround version still stands the test of time against the new Atmos , in my opinion, a close run thing,Not that it matters, it's another great version of one of the greatest albums ever released .