David Bowie: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		5.0

David Bowie: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 3, 2024

David Bowie may have somehow been presciently thinking ahead to The Man Who Fell to Earth when he recorded The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, at least if one considers the fact that a kind of post-production "concept album" conceit appended to already recorded tracks supposedly gave listeners a "story" about, well, a rock star who fell to earth. Speaking of films, Parlophone has already released D.A. Pennebaker's fantastic documentary Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars: The Motion Picture, and while that set of performances catches Bowie perfectly at that stage of his career, the actual record may be a better overall listening experience, as should perhaps be expected. This new audio Blu-ray offers both 2024 remixes and the original 1972 stereo mix via a 2012 remaster, with the 2024 options offering the added allure of a really potent Atmos mix.

The album's track listing can be seen in screenshots 1 and 2 taken from the disc. As mentioned below, while the track lists are obviously the same, Parlophone has authored this disc so that access comes via separate submenus devoted to the 2024 and 1972 versions. I will say only in passing that as much as this album is rightly heralded, longstanding descriptions of its being "proto punk" may now seem fanciful, at least for the album as a whole. In fact, Bowie's songcraft, as absolutely distinctive as it is throughout this album, is on more than one occasion relatively traditional in terms of the ch-ch-changes (sorry) he writes and even the glossy production some tunes receive.

David Bowie: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Parlophone provides a series of animated menus for the disc, which may help ameliorate the fact that you can't use the colored buttons on your remote to toggle through codecs (especially since the disc is authored to access the 2024 and 2012 versions through separate sub-menus). That said, there are a number of different shots of Bowie available. The 2024 mixes feature color photos, including versions of the cover photograph, while the 2012 remasters offer black and white photos of Bowie. The photos cartwheel and move as the songs play.

David Bowie: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders of Mars offers one Atmos rendering of a 2024 remix, along with a 2024 stereo track in LPCM 2.0 (96/24). The original 1972 stereo mix is offered via a 2012 remaster in LPCM 2.0 in either 192/24 or 48/24. My hunch is while these stereo options are all first class and of separate interest, it's probably going to be the 2024 Atmos version that attracts the most attention. With all of that said, there's some really interesting additional information about the 2024 mixes courtesy of Ken Scott in the insert booklet, as follows:

Dolby Atmos is a whole different way of listening. You're in there with the act, with David.

I co-produced the original Ziggy with Mr. Bowie and I've now created a Dolby Atmos mix of the same album we did 50 years ago.

[. . .]

Atmos is a system that was initially devised for cinemas to create a more immersive situation. When you see a jet plane on screen, you actually hear it going overhead. David was so theatrical I think being able to put him into an immersive place makes this a really good choice for an Atmos mix. My whole philosophy with this has been to make it more like a live experience. And I've even got him moving about the stage a little towards the end, the way he would have in real life. Hopefully it just feels as if you're in the theatre with this amazing show going on. I wanted to make it feel as if the listener is in the room with David and the band as opposed to just things jumping around and being gimmicky.

All of the above serves as a (sorry, pun unavoidable) counterpoint to watching Pennebaker's documentary, where you are experiencing an "act", though perhaps arguably as more of an observer than a participant. The Atmos mix here is in fact not gimmicky at all in my estimation, and provides clear engagement of the Atmos speakers from the get go, with first the kick drum and then those shimmering opening chords. As enjoyable as hearing an Atmos track that actually regularly utilizes the Atmos speakers is the fact that there's a beautifully immersive use of the side and rear channels as well. Everything from strings to backup vocals can emanate quite clearly from the rear channels in particular, but if you sit in the middle of your Atmos setup I can pretty much guarantee you'll have a lush sense of surround activity. The 2024 stereo mix probably can't help but pale in comparison to the Atmos mix, but it offers sterling clarity and excellent dynamic range. I personally liked the 192/24 rendering a bit more than the 48/24, because (call me crazy, in which case, get in line), to my ears the midrange in particular just sounds a bit more full bodied.

David Bowie: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements per se on the disc, other than the various versions offered. The insert booklet has the aforementioned statement from Ken Scott, along with song credits and a couple of photos of Bowie and the band members.

David Bowie: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This was the album that helped put Bowie on the map, and it's not hard to understand why. There's actually a rather amazingly wide array of styles and approaches here, all unified by Bowie's completely unique "voice", in all the senses of that term. While I personally would have preferred a disc authored so that easy toggling between versions/codecs was offered, I'm sure some Bowie fans will be delighted to see their icon "dancing" across the screen as various photos twirl and whirl as the music plays. All of the stereo mixes are certainly worthwhile, but the 2024 Atmos mix is really a marvel and provides both additional clarity and spaciousness to the listening experience. Highly recommended.