Santa Monica '72

Infobox Album
Name = Santa Monica '72
Type = live
Longtype =
Artist = David Bowie


Released = start date|1994|4|25(UK)
start date|1995|3|28(U.S.)
Recorded = start date|1972|10|20
Genre = Glam rock
Length = 76:29
Label = Golden Years (UK)
Griffin Music (U.S.)
Producer =
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:60qpg4fntv1z link]
*The Quietus [http://www.thequietus.com/articles/david-bowie link]
Last album = "The Singles Collection"
(1993)
This album = "Santa Monica '72"
(1994)
Next album = "RarestOneBowie"
(1995)
Misc =Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Alternate cover
Type = live


Lower caption = Limited Edition box set Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Alternate cover
Type = live


Lower caption = Wooden box release

"Santa Monica '72" is a live album by David Bowie, recorded at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on 20 October 1972 during the Ziggy Stardust tour. Taken from an FM radio broadcast,Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). "Bowie: An Illustrated Record": p.116] it was available only as a bootleg for more than 20 years; according to author David Buckley, possessing a copy was the test of a "proper Bowie fan". [David Buckley (1999). "Strange Fascination - David Bowie: The Definitive Story": p.359] The recording was issued officially by the Golden Years label in 1994, with Griffin Music handling the American release in 1995.

This live album features a quite different setlist to the one found on "Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture" (1983), which was recorded nine months afterwards and similarly bootlegged prior to its belated official release. The Santa Monica recording is generally considered a superior representation of the Ziggy Stardust concerts in terms of both sound quality and standard of playing.Nicholas Pegg (2000). "The Complete David Bowie": p.338] In 1981, "NME" critics Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray called it not simply "the performer's best ever bootleg", but "far superior to either of Bowie's official location recordings" to that date, "David Live" (1974) and "Stage" (1978).

A gold disc edition with the DJ's closing remarks at the end was made available in Holland, while in the U.S. a special limited box set was released that included a t-shirt, a key chain and a short video. The video was not actually from the Santa Monica show, but was previously unseen footage from a silent colour film made at a concert in Dunstable, England on 21 June 1972. The video was combined with the live audio recording from the Santa Monica concert. This box was limited to only 1000 copies. In addition, an even more limited edition was released as a small wooden box with Bowie's image carved into the lid, and a brass plate indicating the series number. Only 250 copies were made. [ [http://www.illustrated-db-discography.nl/Album4.htm#Santa%20LP Illustrated db Discography] ]

This semi-legal release was one in the series of mid-nineties releases by MainMan, Bowie's former management company during the seventies (other ones being "RarestOneBowie" and the Ava Cherry & The Astronettes album "People from Bad Homes"). All these albums were released without Bowie's approval and are currently deleted.

An official version — "Live Santa Monica '72" — was issued by EMI/Virgin in 2008.

Track listing

All songs written by David Bowie except as noted.
# "Intro" – 0:15
# "Hang on to Yourself" – 2:47
# "Ziggy Stardust" – 3:24
# "Changes" – 3:32
# "The Supermen" – 2:57
# "Life on Mars?" – 3:28
# "Five Years" – 5:21
# "Space Oddity" – 5:22
# "Andy Warhol" – 3:58
# "My Death" (Jacques Brel, Mort Shuman) – 5:56
# "The Width of a Circle" – 10:39
# "Queen Bitch" – 3:01
# "Moonage Daydream" – 4:38
# "John, I'm Only Dancing" – 3:36
# "I'm Waiting for the Man" (Lou Reed) – 6:01
# "The Jean Genie" – 4:02
# "Suffragette City" – 4:25
# "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" – 3:17

Personnel

*David Bowie – guitar, vocals
*Mick Ronson – guitar, vocals
*Trevor Bolder – bass
*Mick "Woody" Woodmansey – drums
*Mike Garson – piano

Other releases

* In Belgium the album was released with the DJ's closing remarks as "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars "Live" in 1995.
* In Japan the album was released without the intro or the outro as "Live 1972" in 1997.
* This performance of The Velvet Underground's "Waiting For The Man" was featured in the film "Almost Famous", as well as included on the soundtrack album.

Notes