A bootleg favourite for the best part of 35 years Live In Santa Monica 72 catches Bowie at his best during his Ziggy Stardust incarnation during his inaugural tour to the USA.
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Legend has it, he hardly remembers the time due to a large ingestion of drugs, but you wouldn’t know it with this live collection of early Bowie songs. He really puts on a show, ably supported by impresario sidekick Mick Ronson and under-rated rhythm section comprising drummer Mick Woodmansey and bass player Trevor Bolder.
He talks to the audience in between songs, as they run through a gambit of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars album, plus a couple of covers including a great version of the Velvet Underground’s Waiting For the Man.
This album catches Bowie at his best, and would set the scene for what was to become one of rock and rolls enduring legends. Some would argue this was the zenith of his creativity – in song-writing terms at least. Aladdin Sane and the Thin White Duke were both just around the corner, but the Ziggy Stardust was the start of his ascendancy.
