David Bowie / “Ziggy Stardust” 40th Anniversary Vinyl, CD & DVD coming

EMI are set to release a 40th anniversary edition of David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars on 4 June 2012 (5 June in the US) according to Bowie’s official Facebook page.

It appears that the album will be reissued in three individual formats rather than one big super deluxe edition, although the announcement is a little ambiguous on this point. Nevertheless, the following formats will be made available one way or another:

CD: A new 2012 remaster of the original album. Digitally remastered by Ray Staff, original mastering engineer for Ziggy at Trident Studios, and Ken Scott – original co-producer.

LP: A new 2012 remaster of the original album on heavyweight 180g vinyl. Digitally remastered by Ray Staff.

DVD: 2012 remaster (96/24 PCM stereo) digitally remastered by Ray Staff. Plus Ken Scott 2003 5.1 mixes (DTS 48/24 & Dolby Digital) and stereo fold downs (48/24 PCM) – original album plus the following 5.1 previously unreleased bonus tracks:

• Moonage Daydream (instrumental)
• The Supermen
• Velvet Goldmine
• Sweet Head

There will also be a digital download of the new 2012 remaster.

This reissue represents the fifth CD release for Ziggy Stardust following on from the original RCA disc in the early 1980s, the Rykodisc/EMI reissue with bonus tracks in 1990, the EMI reissue without bonus tracks in 1999 and the 30th Anniversary 2CD set from EMI in 2002. A hi-res SACD of the album was also released in 2002.

The bonus tracks on the DVD do not include John, I’m Only Dancing (previously unreleased mix) and the Ziggy Stardust and Lady Stardust demos from the Ryko/EMI release in 1990 (and the subsequent 30th anniversary issue). The Supermen is likely to be the alternate version recorded in 1971 that appeared on the Hunky Dory Ryko/EMI reissue as a bonus track (and again, it appeared on the 30th anniversary CD of Ziggy Stardust). Moonage Daydream (instrumental) appears to be unique to this new issue.

This reissue could well be the last under David Bowie’s contract with EMI. The rights to most of his 1970s output are set to revert to him later this year, after which we are likely to see some super deluxe box sets (hopefully) with more unreleased archive material released under contract with a different label.

More details on the 40th Anniversary reissue of Ziggy Stardust when we have them.

Update 25/4/12: The DVD comes with the vinyl and the CD is a seperate release.