Today we have David Bowie's fifth studio album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Release in 1972, the album became Bowie's commercial breakthrough. It was positively received at the time and has since gone on to be considered one of the greatest albums of all time. It is also often considered his greatest artistic achievement. The album is loosely a concept album based on an alien Ziggy Stardust, whom Bowie played on subsequent tours, that comes to earth and becomes a rock star. Most of the story of Ziggy Stardust, however, was written after the album was recorded.
Although the album is just as pretentious as The Man Who Sold The World, Bowie has started to earn some pretentions and musically it's hard to deny. The concept is also impressive--and even more ambitious--and fortunately, unlike most concept albums, Ziggy Stardust doesn't squander the majority of its lyrics on plot. However, even a very loose narrative doesn't save the lyrical topics from being mostly limited and uninteresting. Indeed, not a single lyric is close to being as impressive as "Life on Mars?," "Eight Line Poem," or even the early "The Width of a Circle." Although the album is a slight step down from Hunky Dory, there are notable improvements such Mick Ronson's guitar playing--check out the solo that ends "Moonage Daydream," the best song on the album. B+
