''Santa Monica '72'' is a live album by

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

, recorded at

Santa Monica Civic Auditorium Santa Monica Civic Auditorium is a multi-purpose convention center at 1855 Main Street in Santa Monica, California, owned by the City of Santa Monica. It was built in 1958 and designed by Welton Becket and as a concert venue, it has a seating cap ...

on 20 October 1972 during the

Ziggy Stardust Tour The Ziggy Stardust Tour was a concert tour by David Bowie during 1972–73, to promote the studio albums ''Hunky Dory'', ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'' and '' Aladdin Sane''. Bowie was accompanied by his backi ...

. Taken from KMET FM's radio broadcast,

Roy Carr Roy Carr (1945 – 1 July 2018) was an English music journalist, covering pop, rock and jazz. He joined the ''New Musical Express (NME)'' in the late 1960s, and edited ''NME'', '' Vox'' and ''Melody Maker'' magazines. Biography Born in Blackpoo ...

& Charles Shaar Murray (1981). ''Bowie: An Illustrated Record'': p.116 it was available only as a

bootleg Bootleg or bootlegging most often refers to: * Bootleg recording, an audio or video recording released unofficially * Rum-running, the illegal business of transporting and trading in alcoholic beverages, hence: ** Moonshine, or illicitly made ...

for more than 20 years; according to author David Buckley, possessing a copy was the test of a "proper Bowie fan". The recording was issued semi-legally/officially and without Bowie's approval by the Golden Years label in 1994, with Griffin Music handling the American release in 1995.

Songs

This live album features a quite different setlist to the one found on ''

Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture ''Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture'' is a live album by English musician David Bowie, released in October 1983 in conjunction with the film of the same name. The music was recorded during the Ziggy Stardust Tour at the Hammersmith Odeon in ...

'' (1983) (namely that, with the exception of The Jean Genie, the setlist contains no songs from Aladdin Sane, which were very present by the end of the tour), 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 Nicholas Pegg is a British actor, writer and director. Educated at Nottingham High School and graduating with a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Exeter, Pegg subsequently trained at the Guildford School of Acting. Acti ...

(2000). ''The Complete David Bowie'': p.338 In 1981, ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' critics

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 the Netherlands, while in the US 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 Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the ...

, 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. 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 ''Rarestonebowie'' is a compilation album by English musician David Bowie. This release was one in the series of mid-nineties releases by MainMan, Bowie's former management company during the seventies (other ones being ''Santa Monica '72'' and ...

'' and the

Ava Cherry Ava Cherry is an American singer and model. She collaborated with English musician David Bowie between 1972 and 1975; the two met in New York City when she was a nightclub waitress and Bowie was touring for ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardus ...

& The Astronettes album ''

People from Bad Homes A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, ...

''). All these albums were released without Bowie's approval and are currently out of print. An official version — ''

Live Santa Monica '72 ''Live Santa Monica '72'' is a live album by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released on in the United Kingdom and in the United States. It is the official release of KMET FM's radio broadcast, then bootleg album and – later � ...

'' — was issued by

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

in 2008.

Track listing

All songs written by

except as noted. # "Intro" – 0:15 # "

Hang on to Yourself "Hang On to Yourself" is a song written by English singer-songwriter David Bowie in 1971 and released as a single with his band Arnold Corns. A re-recorded version, recorded in November 1971 at Trident Studios in London, was released on the a ...

" – 2:47 # " Ziggy Stardust" – 3:24 # " Changes" – 3:32 # "

The Supermen "The Supermen" is a song written by English singer-songwriter David Bowie in 1970 and released as the closing track on the album '' The Man Who Sold the World''. It was one of a number of pieces on the album inspired by the works of literary figur ...

" – 2:57 # "

Life on Mars? "Life on Mars?" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, first released on his 1971 album ''Hunky Dory''. In 1968, Bowie was commissioned to write English lyrics for the Claude François French song " Comme d'habitude". After his l ...

" – 3:28 # " Five Years" – 5:21 # "

Space Oddity "Space Oddity" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was first released on 11 July 1969 by Philips Records as a 7-inch single, then as the opening track of his second studio album ''David Bowie''. After the commercial f ...

" – 5:22 # "

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

" – 3:58 # " My Death" ( Eric Blau,

Jacques Brel Jacques Romain Georges Brel (, ; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, l ...

, Mort Shuman) – 5:56 # "

The Width of a Circle "The Width of a Circle" is a song written by English musician David Bowie in 1969 for the album '' The Man Who Sold the World'', recorded in spring 1970 and released later that year in the United States and in April 1971 in the UK. The opening t ...

" – 10:39 # "

Queen Bitch "Queen Bitch" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was originally released on his 1971 album ''Hunky Dory'' before appearing as the B-side of the single "Rebel Rebel" in the United Kingdom in early 1974. The song was inspired by ...

" – 3:01 # "

Moonage Daydream "Moonage Daydream" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was originally recorded in February 1971 at Radio Luxembourg's studios in London and released as a single by his short-lived band Arnold Corns in May 1971 on B&C Recor ...

" – 4:38 # "

John, I'm Only Dancing "John, I'm Only Dancing" is a song by English musician David Bowie, originally released as a non-album single on 1 September 1972. A glam rock and R&B number, the lyrics describe a situation in which the narrator informs his lover not to ...

" – 3:36 # "

I'm Waiting for the Man "I'm Waiting for the Man" is a song by American rock band the Velvet Underground. Written by Lou Reed, it was first released on their 1967 debut album, ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''. The lyrics describe a man's efforts to obtain heroin in Har ...

" (

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...

) – 6:01 # " The Jean Genie" – 4:02 # " Suffragette City" – 4:25 # "

Rock 'n' Roll Suicide "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, originally released as the closing track on the album ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'' on 16 June 1972. Co-produced by Ken Scott, Bowi ...

" – 3:17

Personnel

– guitar, vocals * Mick Ronson – guitar, vocals *

Trevor Bolder Trevor Bolder (9 June 1950 – 21 May 2013) was an English rock musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his long association with Uriah Heep and his tenure with the Spiders from Mars, the backing band for David Bowie, a ...

– 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 The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The original line-up consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. MacLise w ...

's "Waiting for the Man" was featured in the film ''" Almost Famous"'', as well as included on the

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...

Chart performance

In the United Kingdom, ''Santa Monica '72'' peaked at #74 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

during 1994.

Notes

{{Authority control Bootleg recordings David Bowie live albums 1994 live albums Albums recorded at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium