The album loosely follows the tale of Ziggy Stardust, a rockstar whose songs are used by aliens to spread their messages over humanity. As a concept, it's as delightfully absurd and ridiculous as you would expect looking back at Bowie's back catalogue. However, it's worth remembering that at the time of release the man voted the greatest solo artist of all time by NME readers was just a pale youth is one major hit (Space Oddity) to his name. The bizarre characters, manic costumes and legendary world tours were all ahead of him, and no-one had done anything quite like Ziggy Stardust before. This was new. Brand new.
But enough on ideas, how does Ziggy's music stand up today? From the crescendo of desperation and despair of opener Five Years to the oh-so-danceable riff of Suffragette City to the bittersweet, powerful melody of final track Rock n' Roll Suicide, it's clear that this is an album as musically rich and divers as Bowie's own legendary career. With Mick Ronson providing truly classic performances on guitar and piano and Trevor Bolder throwing in superb bass riffs, Bowie's wonderful vocals are perfectly complimented on this collection of songs. Ziggy's story is well told through music, with songs such as Star reflecting the heights of his game and Rock n' Roll Suicide documenting his tragic end. It's not that The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars hasn't aged a day: in fact it's taken on a new maturity and depth as the years have gone by, and now represents a stunning early stage in Bowie's career. Stardust is perhaps Bowie's greatest character, and his album is perhaps his greatest gift to the world.
9/10
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