Rock N Roll Star! box set (2024)Recorded: 1971, 1972
Producers: David Bowie, Ken Scott

Released: 14 June 2024

Tracklisting

CD1

Rock ‘N’ Roll Star!

CD2

Sounds Of The 70s: John Peel (11 January 1972)

Sounds Of The 70s: Bob Harris (18 January 1972)

  • ‘Hang On To Yourself’
  • ‘Ziggy Stardust’
  • ‘Queen Bitch’
  • ‘I’m Waiting For The Man’
  • ‘Five Years’

The Old Grey Whistle Test (7 February 1972)

CD3

Sounds Of The 70s: John Peel (16 May 1972)

The Johnnie Walker Lunchtime Show (22 May 1972)

Sounds Of The 70s: Bob Harris (23 May 1972)

Top Of The Pops (5 July 1972)

  • ‘Starman’

CD4

Live At The Music Hall, Boston, 1 October 1972

CD5

  • ‘Looking For A Friend’ (The Arnold Corns version 2022 mix)
  • ‘Hang On To Yourself’ (early Ziggy session take)
  • ‘Star’ (take 5 alternative version)
  • ‘Lady Stardust’ (take 1 alternative version)
  • ‘Shadow Man’ (Ziggy session version)
  • ‘The Supermen’ (Ziggy session version 2023 mix)
  • ‘Holy Holy’ (Ziggy session version alternative mix)
  • ‘Round And Round’ (alternative mix)
  • ‘It’s Gonna Rain Again’ (Ziggy session outtake)
  • ‘Looking For A Friend’ (Ziggy session version)
  • ‘Velvet Goldmine’ (Ziggy sessions outtake 2022 mix)
  • ‘Sweet Head’ (Ziggy session outtake 2022 mix)
  • ‘Starman’ (Top Of The Pops version 2022 mix)
  • ‘John, I’m Only Dancing’ (alternative Trident Studios version)
  • ‘I Can’t Explain’ (Trident Studios version)
  • ‘Moonage Daydream’ (2003 instrumental mix)

Blu-ray audio

  • The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars – original album mix (96khz/24bit Stereo)
  • The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars and Extras – original album mix 2003 5.1 Mixes (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 – 96khz/24bit)
  • Waiting In The Sky (Before The Starman Came To Earth) – Early Ziggy Stardust album tracklisting – December 1971 (96khz/24bit PCM stereo)
  • The Singles (96khz/24bit PCM stereo)
  • Outtakes and Alternative Versions (96khz/24bit PCM stereo)

Rock ‘N’ Roll Star! is a box set containing tracks from David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust era.

The set contains demos, radio and TV sessions, singles, live tracks, and studio outtakes, including 29 previously-unreleased tracks, spread across five CDs and a Blu-ray audio disc.

The blu-ray includes the Ziggy album’s 2003 5.1 mix, a 96/24 stereo version, singles, outtakes, and the Waiting In The Sky (Before The Starman Came to Earth) collection, which was previously issued on vinyl for Record Store Day.

The box set was announced on 21 March 2024, ahead of its 14 June release.

Rock N Roll Star! also includes two books. The first has 112 pages and contains detailed sleeve notes, contemporary reviews and articles, memorabilia, interviews with Ken Scott, Mark Carr Pritchett and Bowie’s media plugger Anya Wilson, and photographs by Barrie Wentzel, Michael Putland, Mick Rock, Sukita and Alec Byrne. The other book has 36 pages and reproduces Bowie’s notebooks from the Ziggy era.

A single-disc vinyl edition of Rock ‘N’ Roll Star! was also released. Mastered at half speed, it contains 14 alternative session tracks which are also on the box set.

Rock 'N' Roll Star! box set (2024)

Press release

DAVID BOWIE – ROCK ‘N’ ROLL STAR!

5CD/BLU-RAY, DIGITAL BOX SET & HALF-SPEED MASTERED LP TO BE RELEASED ON 14TH JUNE, 2024

INCLUDES 29 EXCLUSIVE PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED TRACKS

Parlophone Records proudly announces DAVID BOWIE ROCK ‘N’ ROLL STAR!, a 5CD and 1 Blu-Ray Audio set that explores David Bowie’s journey from February 1971 through the creation of the Ziggy Stardust character, the recording of the iconic THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS album, and captures the international mania that surrounded the Ziggy phenomenon in the form of UK radio sessions and TV performances, as well as live tracks from Ziggy and the Spiders’ 1st October 1972 show at the Boston Music Hall.

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL STAR!, containing 29 unreleased tracks, covers early songwriting demos, recordings from David’s studio creation, The Arnold Corns, rehearsals at Bowie’s then-home, Haddon Hall, BBC sessions, singles, live performances, plus outtakes and alternative versions from the original album recording sessions, which have been newly mixed by original album producer, Ken Scott.

Unreleased highlights include an alternative version of ‘Lady Stardust’, a version of the deep-cut classic ‘Shadow Man’ and an up-tempo take of The Who’s ‘I Can’t Explain’, which he would later slow down and cover for the PIN UPS album.

The audio-only Blu-Ray disc features the definitive 2012 remaster of the original Ziggy Stardust album in 96kHz/24bit PCM stereo, plus the album and additional mixes from 2003 in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 as well as the singles, outtakes and alternative versions in 96kHz/24 bit PCM stereo.

The Blu-Ray also includes a version of the ZIGGY STARDUST album called WAITING IN THE SKY (BEFORE THE STARMAN CAME TO EARTH) taken from Trident Studio tapes dated 15th December 1971, which features an alternative running order and four songs that didn’t make the final album. This will also be available as a limited vinyl LP on 20th April, 2024 for Record Store Day. In addition, there is a 1-LP version of ROCK ‘N’ ROLL STAR! compiling the alternative takes and mixes.

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL STAR! also contains two books. The first is an extensive 112-page book with detailed liner notes, memorabilia, contemporary reviews and articles, rare photographs from Barrie Wentzel, Michael Putland, Mick Rock, Sukita and Alec Byrne, as well as brand-new notes and interviews with Ken Scott, Mark Carr Pritchett and David’s plugger from the time, Anya Wilson. Accompanying the main book is a 36-page compiled reproduction of David’s personal Ziggy Stardust era notebooks.

The first track taken from ROCK ‘N’ ROLL STAR! is ‘ZIGGY STARDUST’ (DEMO)’ recorded by Bowie on vocal and acoustic guitar in 1971 at Haddon Hall in Beckenham.

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