David Bowie: Live In Santa Monica 72 : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Why this album was never officially released until now remains one of the great mysteries of major-label decision making. Long bootlegged, Live Santa Monica '72 captures the glam-rock pioneer during his Ziggy Stardust prime, on his first U.S. tour, recording what is unequivocally his best concert album. With no needless production tricks to separate the music from the live experience, everything, including the crowd, becomes part of this intimate show taped at the Santa Monica Civic Center. Bowie is relaxed and chatty — he even introduces "Andy Warhol" with a goofy impersonation of the pop artist. His band, featuring the combustive guitar work of Mick Ronson and tight rhythm section of bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Mick "Woody" Woodmansey, was his strongest lineup ever, and here they run though nearly all of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, fleshing out the loose storyline about an alien rock star with appropriate cuts from earlier LPs, such as Hunky Dory's "Life on Mars" and Space Oddity's title song. Bowie also turns cover versions of the Velvet Underground's junkie anthem "Waiting for the Man" and Jacques Bruel's beautiful and harrowing "My Death" into fitting rock & roll hymns for Ziggy. It's a near-flawless document of a character Bowie would soon leave behind for good.