David Bowie – Suffragette City – Live, Imperial College of London (1972)

David Bowie – Suffragette City – Live at the Imperial College of London – 1972 – Speed Corrected. A Nacho remaster.

Suffragette City is originally a song from David Bowie’s album, “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”, recorded in late ’71, and released in June ‘72.

This early live and raw, proto-punk version of Suffragette City was recorded at The Imperial College of London, on the 12th of February 1972. That was 45 years ago today. It was only the third gig by the Ziggy & the Spiders, only the third time they had played this song live, presumably. According to this nice feature on the official Bowie site, the Imperial College gig is considered the first proper Ziggy & the Spiders gig.

Performed here just three months after the release of Hunky Dory, and just one week after the actual recording session for Suffragette City, on February the 4th at Trident Studios in London, that was the last session that made up the Ziggy Stardust… album.
The band here are the original Spiders From Mars, prior to the addition of Mike Garson on Piano, later that year:
Mick Ronson: guitar, backing vocals
Trevor Bolder: bass guitar
Woody Woodmansey: drums

Musically, one cannot help but notice the big Stooges influence going on. As has been long understood, this is no coincidence:
Iggy & The Stooges
Ziggy & The Spiders

Uploading again to correct the speed of the original. The French broadcast plays about 8% too slow. Last time around I didn’t dare correct the speed, thinking Bowie and the boys must have played it slow, in a different key that night. But with hindsight that seems very unlikely. Plus, the INA Heroes on French TV, 1977 similarly plays noticeably slow, so there seems to be a pattern…

In the same feature from the official Bowie site, it mentions that 20 minutes of footage was shot by the French film crew at the Imperial College gig. But it languishes in the vaults due to poor sound quality. How frustrating! Give it to me – I’ll fix the sound!

Original technical notes:
This video was originally broadcast on French TV. In the original, there is talk – in French – all over the intro to the song. As part of the restoration, I rebuilt the intro of the song – about the first 10 seconds, using samples from the main body of the track. As I was already taking the liberty of rewriting history, I decided to also add Mick Ronson’s first “Hey man!” backing vocal, as in the original it is almost completely inaudible. I also boosted the overall sound of the track through some EQ to try to beef up the rather weedy sound of the original recording. As always, hope no one is offended by my tamperings.

Hope you dig it!

Do me an’ yerself a favor – watch it in the Highest Def available with the sound UP LOUD!

If anyone has any other footage, or ideas for another video project, of material from Bowie’s classic period, do please get in touch: nachomarcho@gmail.com

Putting this video together was another huge labour of love, made with love and with respect for the source.

I don’t own the rights, and I’m not making any money out of this etc. Just a fan making videos for other fans.