David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust - chapter 1 (Five Years)

The album was released in 1972, at the height of "glam rock".
Produced by Bowie, "his" guitarist Mick Ronson, and the then-ubiquitous Ken Scott.
Full name "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars", Bowie's first cohesive concept album - theme = superstardom in a dystopian society with only 5 years to go until the final meltdown.

Five Years majestically sets the tone of the concept, and the album.
The stripped-down rhythmic motif on bass drum, snare and closed hi-hat continues throughout the entirety of the song, with very few fills and little extravagance or indeed variation - on the video for this, the drummer, when filmed, appears to be almost comatose, and little wonder...

The song establishes Bowie as a masterful story-teller, in the vein of 60s Dylan.
He begins by telling us about a news report in which the reporter lets the world know that the Earth is really dying.

After this bad news, Bowie shares with us the visual and aural catalogue of events he sees and hears as he, presumably, walks down the street.

The song builds musically and lyrically, after a reflective pause at the end of the first verse ("I never thought I'd need so many people"...)
Strings enter, first subdued and sustained, but on later verses building through volume, pitch and rhythmic activity.
The chord progression (I, vi, II and IV) continues throughout (an example of Bowie being ahead of his time in terms of musical composition within the pop genre, unless you count the last part of the Beatles' She's So Heavy or Hey Jude), providing a similar unity to the drumkit pattern.

The chorus comes as the climax to the song, first sung, then shouted, as Bowie gets more and more involved in his apocalyptic message - electronic gurglings (once again, a reference to She's So Heavy) are layered on, and once the shouting stops all instruments fade out, save for the sparse drumkit, serving as a kind of heartbeat for the narrator (i.e. Bowie).

Significant features then are the use of rhythmic ostinato, the buildup throughout the song and the way in which the music underscores the lyrics.

Bowie often plays down his musical contributions to his own songs, but don't be fooled - this is Bowie at the top of his "game" and very much in control of his material.

Coming soon on "Bowie Reviewed" - "Soul Love".

G.