David Bowie

28th April, 2022 — Today marks the 50th anniversary of the release of David Bowie’s STARMAN, the first single from THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS. To celebrate, Parlophone Records is proud to announce release details for two very special vinyl releases to mark the album’s Golden Jubilee.

On 17th June, 2022, 50 years and one day after the original U.K. release date, THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS will be issued as a limited edition 50th anniversary half speed mastered LP and a picture disc, featuring the same master and a replica promotional poster for the album.

This new pressing of THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS was cut on a customised late Neumann VMS80 lathe with fully recapped electronics from 192kHz restored masters of the original Trident Studios master tapes, with no additional processing on transfer. The half speed was cut by John Webber at AIR Studios.

THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS is the breakthrough album that catapulted David Bowie into the international spotlight. Over the past 50 years it has remained a touchstone record, growing in stature with each passing year. It is now ingrained in popular culture, its undeniable influence spanning musicians from Arcade Fire to Lady Gaga, to Harry Styles’s androgynous fashion sense to Noel Fielding’s shirts on The Great British Bake-Off to Ziggy make-up challenges on Tik-Tok.

David Bowie laid to rest the Ziggy Stardust persona in July 1973 at his infamous last show with the Spiders From Mars at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, but Ziggy’s impact reverberates to this day.