David Bowie: Rock 'N' Roll Star! is a new box set from Rhino Entertainment that chronicles the iconic star's journey from the formulative beginnings of the Ziggy Stardust era through its conclusion. The heavy box contains a plethora of wonders, not the least of which are the contents of the 5 CDs and the BluRay disc contained within. The CDs contain a vast assortment of early acoustic demos, live in the studio demos, live rehearsal recordings from Haddon Hall (Bowie's residence at the time), singles, outtakes, and alternate versions, along with live on-air recordings from Top of the Pops, John Peel, Bob Harris, Old Grey Whistle Test, and Johnny Walker's Lunchtime Show. The contents of the BluRay disc are equally exciting, and it features high resolution 24-bit/96kHz versions of the 2012 definitive remaster of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, the 2003 24/96 DTS-HD 5.1 surround tracks for Ziggy Stardust and other select tunes, the 24/96 original tracklist for Ziggy Stardust that was released as an LP on Record Store Day 2024 as Waiting In The Sky (Before the Starman Came to Earth), and finally, 24/96 collections of singles, outtakes, and alternate versions. Whew! There's also a 14-track, half-speed mastered, 180 gram LP available separately that features select outtakes, alternate tracks, and live session tracks from the box.
The graphically stylish, ultra-mod slipcase-style box features a metallic silver base that's overprinted with a cool, noirish black-and-white image of Bowie on the front, with a large print pull quote from the Ziggy Stardust song "Star" on the back. That reads "I could make a transformation as a rock 'n' roll star," which was basically Bowie's modus operandi during the Ziggy Stardust era, and serves as the rationale for this box. The centerpiece of the box set is the 112 page casebound book that contains detailed liner notes, reviews and articles contemporary to the release of Ziggy Stardust, memorabilia, and a host of rare photos from the likes of Barrie Wentzel, Michael Putland, Mick Rock, Sukita, and Alec Byrne. The extensive book also features new essays and interviews with personalities peripheral to the Ziggy Stardust era, including longtime Bowie producer Ken Scott, guitarist Mark Carr-Pritchett (he played in a Bowie side-band, the Arnold Corns, that served as a dry-run for Ziggy Stardust), and Anya Wilson, who handled Bowie's promo and publicity during the Ziggy era. The box also includes a 36-page perfect-bound soft-cover booklet that replicates and compiles Bowie's hand-written notebooks from the era. The CDs and BluRay disc are bound into die-cut pockets in the inside covers of the casebound book; it's actually one of the better configurations of this type I've encountered, with each disc inserted in a mini-album sleeve. Based on functionality and appearance, I give this box set a 10/10! You can order a copy of the David Bowie: Rock 'N' Roll Star! box or the LP from Rhino's web store by clicking HERE, and the box and LP are also available from a multitude of online retailers and independent record stores.
David Bowie: Rock 'N' Roll Star!, (5) Compact Discs, (1) BluRay Disc, $139.98 MSRP
When Rhino announced their slate of Record Store Day 2024 LP titles in January, the list included David Bowie's Waiting in the Sky (Before the Starman Came to Earth). The album would feature Bowie's original intended tracklist for Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, which he inexplicably pulled just prior to its release, replacing four of the songs with new ones he'd just written. Waiting in the Sky's name comes from a line in the song "Starman," which along with "Suffragette City" and "Rock and Roll Suicide" had not yet been recorded. Among the songs that didn't make the final cut of Ziggy Stardust were concert staples and longtime fan favorites "Holy Holy" and "Velvet Goldmine." Waiting in the Sky (Before the Starman Came to Earth) was at the top of my list for RSD, and it did not disappoint, and as I did my exploratory research in advance of that review, I couldn't believe how very little I knew about the background and circumstances surrounding the recording of Ziggy Stardust. Not long after, I started getting emails for the impending release of David Bowie: Rock 'N' Roll Star!, which truly excited me!
Upon further inspection of the emails, I was jazzed to find that the BluRay disc would not only include high resolution files for the Ziggy Stardust catalog release, but also for Waiting in the Sky. Along with an assortment of singles and bonus tracks, as well as 5.1 surround sound files for Ziggy Stardust; that excitement meter soon pegged from pumped to maximally jazzed! The five CDs contain literally hours of rare and unreleased tracks that span the period just prior to and during the Ziggy Stardust era, and while the sound quality is a mix of studio-quality stereo and not particularly high-end mono, the significance of Rock 'N' Roll Star! can't be overstated. Here's a list of the contents of the individual discs:
Disc 1
- So Long 60s (San Francisco Hotel recording) *
- Hang On To Yourself (early demo) *
- Lady Stardust (demo)
- Ziggy Stardust (demo)
- Star (Aka Stars) (demo) *
- Soul Love (demo and DB spoken notes) *
- Starman (demo 1 excerpt) *
- Starman (demo 2) *
- Moonage Daydream (The Arnold Corns version)
- Hang On To Yourself (The Arnold Corns version)
- Looking For A Friend (The Arnold Corns version – rough mix) *
- Haddon Hall Rehearsals Segue: Ziggy Stardust / Holy Holy / Soul Love *
- Star (Aka Stars) (Haddon Hall rehearsal) *
- Sweet Head (Haddon Hall rehearsal) *
Disc 2
Sounds Of The 70s: John Peel - Recorded January 11, 1972, broadcast January 28, 1972
- Ziggy Stardust *
- Queen Bitch *
- Waiting For The Man *
- Lady Stardust *
Sounds Of The 70s: Bob Harris - Recorded January 18, 1972, broadcast February 7, 1972
- Hang On To Yourself
- Ziggy Stardust
- Queen Bitch
- Waiting For The Man
- Five Years
Old Grey Whistle Test - Filmed February 7, 1972, broadcast February 8, 1972, except 'Oh! You Pretty Things' which was not broadcast until 1982.
- Oh! You Pretty Things (take 1)
- Queen Bitch
- Five Years
Disc 3
Sounds Of The 70s: John Peel - Recorded May 16, 1972, broadcast May 23, 1972
- White Light/White Heat
- Moonage Daydream
- Hang On To Yourself
- Suffragette City
- Ziggy Stardust
Johnnie Walker Lunchtime Show - Recorded May 22, 1972, broadcast from June 5-9, 1972
- Starman
- Space Oddity
- Changes
- Oh! You Pretty Things
Sounds Of The 70s: Bob Harris - Recorded May 22, 1972, broadcast June 19, 1972
- Andy Warhol
- Lady Stardust
- White Light/White Heat
- Rock 'N' Roll Suicide
Top Of The Pops - Filmed July 5, 1972, broadcast July 6, 1972
- Starman
Disc 4
- Round And Round
- The Supermen (Ziggy session version)
- Holy Holy (Ziggy session version)
- Velvet Goldmine (Ziggy session outtake)
- Starman (original single mix)
- John, I'm Only Dancing (original single version)
Recorded Live At The Music Hall, Boston - Recorded October 1, 1972
- The Supermen
- Changes
- Life On Mars?
- My Death *
- John, I'm Only Dancing
Disc 5
- Looking For A Friend (The Arnold Corns version 2022 mix) *
- Hang On To Yourself (early Ziggy session take) *
- Star (take 5 alternative version) *
- Lady Stardust (take 1 alternative version) *
- Shadow Man (Ziggy session version) *
- The Supermen (Ziggy session version 2023 Mix) *
- Holy Holy (Ziggy session version alternative mix) *
- Round And Round (alternative mix)
- It's Gonna Rain Again (Ziggy session outtake) *
- Looking For A Friend (Ziggy session version) *
- Velvet Goldmine (Ziggy sessions outtake 2022 mix) *
- Sweet Head (Ziggy sessions outtake 2022 mix) *
- Starman (Top Of The Pops version 2022 mix)
- John, I'm Only Dancing (alternative Trident Studios version) *
- I Can't Explain (Trident Studios version) *
- Moonage Daydream (2003 instrumental mix)
Blu Ray Audio
Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, Original album mix (96kHz/24-bit stereo)
Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars and select extras, 2003 5.1 Mixes (96kHz/24-bit)
Waiting In The Sky (Before The Starman Came To Earth), December 1971 (96kHz/24-bit stereo)
The Singles (96kHz/24-bit stereo)
Outtakes And Alternative Versions(96kHz/24-bit stereo)
Half-Speed Master 180 gram LP
Tracklist
Side 1
- Hang On To Yourself (early Ziggy session take)
- Star (Take 5 alternative version)
- Lady Stardust (Take 1 alternative version)
- Shadow Man (Ziggy session version)
- The Supermen (Ziggy session version 2023 mix)
- Holy Holy (Ziggy session version alternative mix)
- Round And Round (alternative mix) +
Side 2
- Velvet Goldmine (Ziggy sessions outtake 2022 mix)
- Looking For A Friend (Ziggy session version)
- It's Gonna Rain Again (Ziggy sessions outtake)
- Sweet Head (Ziggy sessions outtake 2022 mix)
- Starman (Top Of The Pops version 2022 mix)
- John, I'm Only Dancing (alternative Trident Studios version) *
- I Can't Explain (Trident Studios version)*
*Previously unreleased
Rock 'N' Roll Star! is a Must-have for True Bowie Fans!
By clicking on my name in the header above, you can see all the equipment that resides in my dual audio systems. All of my listening to David Bowie: Rock 'N' Roll Star! was done on my digital source system, using the Yamaha BD-A1060 Blu-ray/universal disc player as the primary source. I also ripped everything to FLAC during the evaluation process, and played those in combination with streaming equipment from Euphony Audio, a Gustard DAC and external clock, with my PS Audio preamplifier sending the signal to my Naiu Labs Ella amplifier. A pair of Magneplanar LRS loudspeakers and dual Vanguard Caldera 10 subs provided the sound transmission, which with either spinning discs or digital files was nothing less than superb!
The mono and stereo sound quality is highly variable across the five CDs, and for all practical purposes, David Bowie: Rock 'N' Roll Star! is very historical in nature. I can't comment on the sound quality of the separately available LP, as I didn't receive it for evaluation, but my experience with recent half-speed mastered Bowie LPs has been great! Everything in this box will be indispensable to Bowie fans, collectors, and completists, and I never found the sound quality to be less than enjoyable. I also found many of the live performances from John Peel, Bob Harris, and Johnny Walker to be essential listening, and they definitely add necessary pieces to the very interesting puzzle that the time frame surrounding Ziggy Stardust has become for me! But in terms of sound quality—OMG, the high-resolution contents of the Blu-ray disc are revelatory, to say the least, and are such a welcome addition to my digital library—those files alone are worth the cost of this set to me!
I can't recommend David Bowie: Rock 'N' Roll Star! highly enough; while I'm a huge David Bowie fan, it appears to me that there's a significant cross-section of fans who believe that Ziggy Stardust is the pinnacle of his career. While I love the album with the kind of fervor I reserve for few others, I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, but I do find this set simultaneously invaluable and essential. I can sit and gaze at the set's casebound book for hours while Bowie's transformative music plays—this is the rare set of digital discs that transcends the typical limitations of the small-format CD booklet, giving you the essays, liner notes, and interviews in full-sized text with a collection of images that are beyond amazing! My thanks to Miranda Alston and everyone for Rhino Entertainment for their assistance and for the opportunity. David Bowie: Rock 'N' Roll Star! comes very highly recommended!
Rhino Entertainment
All images courtesy of Rhino Entertainment