Product: Ziggy Stardust [VHS]
Rating: 3.0
Time to bin your VHS copies, Ziggy's back on DVD....
Here it is, the 25th Anniversary Special Edition of D.A Pennbaker's film of Bowie's final '73 concert as his alter ego Ziggy Stardust film July 3, 1972 at the Hammersmith Odeon. Bowie's backing band at this stage includes Trevor Bolder- future bassist for Uriah Heep.For it's re-release the film has been remixed in Dolby Digital, greatly improving on the muddy sound of the original VHS edition giving it a rawer, more rockin' feel. Though Leonard Maltin only gives this one and a half stars out of four, this is actually a pretty good concert: I'm far from being a Bowie fanatic, so devoted fans will easily give this a 4 or 5 star rating. Even though Maltin's one of the most respected film critics out there, its still just one man's opinion so its not like anything he (or anybody else) writes is gospel.Songs include the rockin' HANG ON TO YOURSELF (which will blow your mind when you crank up the volume), CHANGES, SPACE ODDITY & SUFFRAGETTE CITY, as well as a cover of Lou Reed's WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT.The DVD package also features a warning about strobe lighting FX (esp. during the song THE WIDTH OF A CIRCLE), so if you are sensitive to this you should take the necessary precautions before you make the decision to view this.DVD extras include Director's commentary, DVD ROM features with screensaver, photos, weblinks etc.I do have ONE complaint: the long, lingering close-ups of teenage girls crying over Bowie. How sappy can you get? Maybe they had premonitions about the TIN MACHINE album? I don't know. This is still a must for your DVD collection. Check it out.