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RARESTONEBOWIE (1995):
Bowie album which includes a number of Ziggy Stardust period recordings.
 |
Tracks: Hidden Track / All The Young Dudes »
/ Queen Bitch / Sound and Vision / Time » / Be My Wife / Footstompin / Ziggy Stardust » / My Death » / I
Feel Free » |
Rats, The: The name of Mick Ronson's Hull-based rock group
which was renamed Ronno and eventually became The Spiders
From Mars.
RAW POWER (Columbia KC 32111 - 1973):
Iggy Pop and the Stooges album which was mixed by Bowie after an earlier poor attempt at
mixing by Iggy Pop. Bowie and Pop would later have a slight falling out when Pop started
talking about what a bad job Bowie did.
RCA: American record label which
Bowie signed with in September 1971. RCA signed Bowie for five years to provide
material for two albums a year. In exchange Bowie received a $100,000 cash advance against
future record royalties and the promise of a low-interest loan to be used to underwrite
the cost of his first tour of the US. THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS
FROM MARS (1972) was originally released on the RCA label in 1972.
Reed, Lou: American singer,
songwriter (ex Velvet Underground) and close Bowie-friend. Bowie produced his album
TRANSFORMER (1972) and Reed appeared at the Ziggy Stardust concert at the at the Royal
Festival Hall on 8 July 1972, joining Bowie in singing Reed's songs "Waiting for The
Man", "Sweet Jane" and "White Light/White Heat."
REVELATIONS - A MUSICAL ANTHOLOGY FOR
GLASTONBURY FAYRE (1971): Three record compilation album which included
Bowie's re-recorded "The Supermen" (from the Ziggy Stardust sessions at Trident
Studios). The album was designed to help offset £5,000 debts from the previous years
festival which Bowie played at.
R.H.M.S. Ellinis (Royal Hellenic Mail
Ship Ellinis): The ship in which Bowie & entourage crossed the Atlantic at the end
of the 1st US Tour. On the ALADDIN SANE (1973) liner
notes its name was included to credit its being written there.
Ringo Starr: Beatles drummer and
friend of Bowie. Bowie held a dinner party for Ringo and Klaus Voorman in Los Angeles in
March 1973. Ringo can be seen back-stage with Bowie at the "Retirement
Gig" concert on the 3rd July 1973 on the ZIGGY
STARDUST - THE MOTION PICTURE (1983) film/video.
THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE
SPIDERS FROM MARS (1972)
Bowie album released after HUNKY DORY (1971) and the
subject of this web site.
Rock, Mick:
Famous photographer/journalist who originally interviewed Bowie for Rolling Stone.
Bowie's friendship with Rock had initially been sparked because he was a friend of Syd
Barret's. Bowie confided in Mick Rock at the time that his three greatest artistic and
musical influences were Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, and Barret. Rock became the official Ziggy
photographer and took the famous picture of Bowie miming sex with Mick Ronson's
guitar. He also filmed the promotional videos for Space Oddity
(1972), John, I'm Only Dancing (1972), The
Jean Genie (1972) and Life On Mars? (1973). Of interest to the
Ziggy Stardust Era are three additional films reportedly shot in late 1972 featuring
live Ziggy footage dubbed to the studio versions of "Moonage Daydream",
"Starman" (The Ziggy Stardust Show film) and
"Rock n Roll Suicide" (Rock N Roll Suicide film).
"Rock n Roll Suicide" (Bowie): Song on THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM
MARS (1972).
Ronno: Mick Ronson's nickname and
also the name of his band before it became The Spiders From Mars.
Before that they were known as The Rats. Ronno (with lead vocalist Benny
Marshall) released one single called "The Fourth Hour of My Sleep/Power of
Darkness" which was not successful.
Ronson, (Ronno) Mick:
Band leader of The Spiders From Mars, a
classically trained musician and highly-skilled guitar exponent (Bowie says
"He was my Jeff Beck"). Ronson's first appearance on a Bowie record was on the
single "Memory of a Free Festival Part 1/Memory of a Free Festival Part
2"(Mercury 6052 026 - 12 June 1970). He played on all Bowie albums from THE MAN WHO
SOLD THE WORLD (1970) to PINUPS (1973) and on one track of Bowie's album BLACK TIE WHITE
NOISE (1993) playing guitar on "I Feel Free". He played guitar, piano, sang and
co-arranged THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS (1972) with
Bowie and also co-produced Lou Reed's TRANSFORMER (1972) with Bowie. He died of liver
cancer in 1993. A memorial concert was organised in London on 29 April, 1994 (the one-year
anniversary of his death) at the Hammersmith Odeon.
"Rosalyn" (Jimmy
Duncan/Bill Farley): Song recorded by Bowie on his PINUPS (1973) tribute album to British
Sixties groups.
Ross, Ronnie: Musician who played
solo baritone saxophone on the Lou Reed song "Walk on the Wildside." Ross was
surprised to learn that the David Bowie in the control room was the same Davy Jones that
he had given saxophone lessons to when Bowie was only 13 years old. At the
end of the recording session David walked in:
Ronnie: "Thanks very much."
David: "No, thank you very much. It's the least I could do for you."
Ronnie: "What do you mean?"
David: "Well, you taught me to play saxophone."
Ronnie: "Did I? When was that?"
David: "I was that bloke who came to see you; I was about nine or ten years
old."
Ronnie: "Good God! You said you were going to be a rock star, didn't you?"
"Round and
Round" aka "Around and Around"
(Chuck Berry): This song was recorded by Bowie and the Spiders for inclusion on
Side One of THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS (1972) but
dropped from the final line-up. In an early 1972 radio interview, Bowie says that while
"Round and Round" would have conceptually been the perfect kind of number that
"Ziggy" would have performed on stage, the song was only a studio jam and
eventually (remaining in contention until March 1972) it was replaced with the more
appropriate "Starman." Some sources mistakenly report that it was the song
"Port of Amsterdam" that was replaced with "Starman" but this is not
supported by the discarded master tape of the Ziggy Stardust album or a radio interview Bowie conducted in February or March 1972.
"Round and Round" was released as the B-side on "Drive-In Saturday/Round
and Round" (RCA 2352 - 6 April 1973) and can be found on the Ryko SOUND
+ VISION I (1989) CD and the Rykodisc "Sound + Vision: The CD Press Release"
(RCD PRO 0120/21/22 1989). The song was performed at the Hammersmith Odeon concert on 3
July 1973 but not released on the subsequent live concert album ZIGGY STARDUST - THE
MOTION PICTURE (1983).
Roxon, Lillian: Influential New
York Daily News music journalist who was a dedicated supporter of Bowie's music in
this period.
Roxy Music: Rock band lead by Bryan
Ferry and including Brian Eno which played support at the UK Ziggy Stardust concert at the
Rainbow Theatre, London on 19 August 1972.
Runk: Dulwich College band which
assisted with personal for Bowie's Arnold Corns project.
Ryko: An independent recording label
based in Massachusetts which has made a name for itself by releasing high quality CDs by
major artists such as Jimi Hendrix, and Frank Zappa. Ryko was willing to agree to
Bowie's terms for a publishing contract with them if he agreed that they could include
rare or previously unreleased material on each CD.
The 
Companion
