Phil Collins "In The Air Tonite" Song Analysis

Here's a song analysis of one of the few songs that really changed the sound of music for a while. It's "In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins from his 1981 album Face Value, which was the first single of his solo career. The song is interesting in so many ways, not the least is the fact that 99% of the lyrics were spontaneous and improvised. As with all song analysis, we'll look at the song form, the arrangement, the sound and the production.

The Song
"In The Air Tonight" doesn't have a traditional song form by any means, but the form is understandable after you realize that it was more or less improvised. The form looks like this:

Intro, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Chorus, Chorus, Chorus, 

The intro is interesting in that it's 20 bars long, with the first set up part at 12 bars, then 8 bars of the keyboard pad. Then it begins with a chorus instead of a verse. There's no bridge and the outchorus repeats against a very long fade.

The Arrangement
As unusual as the song form is, so is the arrangement. Many of the instruments used don't play the role that you're use to them playing, like the guitar, which is used mainly for sound effect fills. Here's what the arrangement elements look like:

  * The Foundation: Drum machine throughout, drums (with no cymbals) on the last chorus.

  * The Pad: Synthesizer

  * The Rhythm: Pedal bass synth drone until the last chorus, when it changes to a reggae bass line that's doubled with a synth string line (very unusual), as well as a high synth pedal sound during the first and second chorus.

  * The Lead: The lead vocal

  * The Fills: Guitar effects, vocoder vocal at the beginning of the 2nd verse.

The Sound
"In The Air Tonight" was extremely influential for the sound of the ambience on the drums that was the result of the Listen Mic circuit on the SSL 4000 console, which is a sort of reverse talkback so the people in the control room can hear the musicians in the studio. The Listen Mic circuit has some heavy compression built into it so the level between musicians close or far away from the mic can be heard evenly, and this is what gave the drums the distinctive sound after the console was modified so you could record it. Producer/engineer Hugh Padgham later recreated the sound with heavily compressed and gated room mics, and that sound was eventually incorporated into most digital reverbs in what we know today as "Gated Reverb." This was the sound that engineers tried to emulate for a decade or so thereafter, as the gated reverb drum sound became very popular.

The song was built around a then new Roland CR-78 drum machine pattern (called "Disco 2"), which is bone dry and in your face, which represented the base layer of the ambience layers.

The synth pad, which is the most prominent instrument throughout the song, has a short delay (less than 100 milliseconds) that's panned to the right to give it a stereo soundfield, while the dry synth sound is panned to the left.

The lead vocal has a very distinctive sound also thanks to a short (less than 100 ms) delay and a touch of small room reverb. It's possible that it's the same delay that's on the synth pad. In the second chorus, a second longer 1/4 note delay is introduced at the end of each phrase. It also features an interesting use of a vocoder on the vocals during the second verse.

The Production
So many of the sounds are distinctive in this song, but the production really makes it a hit. While one might think that the synth carries the song on a passing listen, it's really the repeating synth bass drone and the high synth drone in the chorus that add motion. These two are down in the mix so it's easy not to be aware of them.

The other thing to notice is the fact of how the song develops, as most hits normally do. The second chorus introduces a harmony vocal with a long delay at the end of the phrases, the second verse introduces the vocal vocoder, and the last chorus and outro introduces the drums and bass line, which is doubled with a synth string sound. Collins then ad libs the lead vocal over the fade of the song. There's constantly something new happening throughout, even though it may be subtle, to keep your attention.

One last thing - although the sound of the real drums on this record would change drum sounds for a long while afterwards, the most interesting thing about them to me is that there are no cymbals ever played.

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A Tribute To Jim Marshall

When it comes to the giants of the musical instrument business with a huge influence on the music of today, only two come to mind - Leo Fender (who passed away in 1991) and Jim Marshall. Jim Marshall passed away last week at the ripe old age of 88, and left behind a rich legacy as the creator of the amplifier that was the sound of the rock - a sound just as loved and pertinent today as it was back in the early-60's when Marshall Amplifiers began.

As a tribute to Jim Marshall, I thought it fitting to present a short list of facts about the man and his creation:

• Jim Marshall was actually a drummer, not a guitar player. 

• He was a very successful drum teacher, with as many as 65 students at a time.

• One of Jim's students was Mitch Mitchell from The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

• Marshall Amplifiers actually started in the back of his drum shop in 1962, with the inspiration to design his own amps coming from players like Pete Townshend of The Who and Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore, mostly because Fender amps were so expensive in Britain.

• The original Marshall amps were based on the Fender Bassman. Since many of the parts used in the design of the Bassman weren't readily available in Britain, Marshall used parts that were more common to the country, which helped to change the sound from the relatively clean Fender to the much ballsier rock sound that we're familiar with.

• It took 6 prototypes before Marshall came up with an amp that they felt they could sell, the JTM 45.

• The first model received 23 orders the first day. Within 2 years the company had 16 employees and were making 20 amps a week.

• The first international order came from Roy Orbison (who you don't usually think of as having a Marshall sound).

• Marshall twice won the Queen's Award For Export Achievement, and was appointed an officer of the Order of the British Empire (which is just below knighthood) in 2004.

• He was regarded as one of the wealthiest individuals in Britain, but donated millions of pounds to various charities over the decades.

• Marshall suffered from hearing loss, but not from listening to loud amps. He attributed the problem to playing with loud brass in orchestras during the 50s.

• He preferred a single-malt scotch which was bottled just for him.

• He refused to sell the company many times over the years because his name was on the product, and he was afraid what might happen should someone else gain control (as was the case with Leo Fender).

Rest in peace, Jim, and good luck on your new journey.

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Some Interview Excerpts

One of the things that people seem to enjoy about my books is the interview sections. I'm lucky that I live in Los Angeles and have some great friends that are experts in so many different fields, so Im able to interview so many people that are a lot smarter than I am. Plus, when I interview them for a book, they usually provide far more information than I ever expected. That's why I've always included the entire interview.

For those of you who haven't had a chance to read all of my books but like the interviews that I've excerpted here, I've posted numerous chapter and interview excerpts as well as a Table of Contents to all my books on the Bobby Owsinski website.

Here's a list of what's currently available from each book.

The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook 

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 2 Excerpt - The Mechanics of Mixing

        Andy Johns Interview Excerpt

        Dave Pensado Interview Excerpt

        Elliot Scheiner Interview Excerpt

        Jimmy Douglass Interview Excerpt

The Recording Engineer’s Handbook 

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 6 Excerpt - Basic Multichannel Tracking

        Eddie Kramer Interview Excerpt

        Al Schmitt Interview Excerpt

The Audio Mastering Handbook 

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 5 Excerpt - Preparation For Mastering

        Bob Ludwig Interview Excerpt

        Bob Katz Interview Excerpt

The Drum Recording Handbook 

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 13 Excerpt - Final Drum Sound Checklist

        Ricky Lawson Interview Excerpt

        Dave Weckl Interview Excerpt

How To Make Your Band Sound Great 

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 8 Excerpt - The Keys To Greatness

        Peter Thorn Interview Excerpt

        Brian Ray Interview Excerpt

The Studio Musician’s Handbook 

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 2 Excerpt - Why The Studio Is Different Than Playing Live

        Leland Sklar Interview Excerpt

        Rami Jaffee Interview Excerpt

Music 3.0: A Survival Guide For Making Music In The Internet Age

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 1 Excerpt - The Five Live Stages of the Music Industry

        Chapter 4 Excerpt - The New Marketing

        Chapter 6 Excerpt - The New Marketing Part 2

        Gregory Markel Interview Excerpt

        Ian Rogers Interview Excerpt

The Music Producer's Handbook

       Table of Contents

        Chapter 6 Excerpt - Music Mechanics       

        Chapter 7 Excerpt - Preproduction: The Most Important Step

        Jack Douglas Interview Excerpt

The Touring Musician's Handbook

        Table of Contents

        Bob Glaub Interview Excerpt

        Terry Lawless Interview Excerpt

        Chapter 3 Excerpt - The Touring Musician’s Difference

The Musician's Video Handbook

        Table of Contents

         Chapter 5 Excerpt - Lighting Basics

         Chapter 8 Excerpt - Performance Video Production

The Studio Builder's Handbook

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 3 Excerpt - Some Basic Acoustics

        Chapter 5 Excerpt - Making A Plan

        Carl Tatz Interview

The Ultimate Guitar Tone Handbook

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 3 Excerpt - Tonal Factors of an Electric Guitar

        Chapter 11 Excerpt - Acoustic Guitar Miking

        Dick Boak Interview Excerpt

Mixing And Mastering With T-RackS: The Official Guide

       Table of Contents
        Chapter 1 Excerpt - Mix Preparation

        Chapter 3 Excerpt - Using T-RackS Dynamics During Mixing

The Audio Mixing Bootcamp

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 4 Excerpt - Building The Mix

        Chapter 6 Excerpt - Setting The Compressor

Enjoy! And let me know what you think!

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8 Indicators That Your Mix Is Finished

One of the tougher things to decide when your doing a project is when the mix is finished. If you have a deadline, the decision is quickly made for you, but if you have a deep pocket budget or unlimited time, a mix can drag on forever.

So when is a mix considered finished? Here are some guidelines, courtesy of The Mixing Engineer's Handbook:

1) The groove of the song is solid. The groove usually comes from the rhythm section, but it might be from an element like a rhythm guitar (like on the Police’s Every Breath You Take) or just the bass by itself, like anything from the Detroit Motown that James Jamerson played on (Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin’ On or The Four Tops Reach Out, I’ll Be There and Bernadette for instance). Whatever element supplies the groove, it has to be emphasized so that the listener can feel it.

2) You can distinctly hear every instrument. Every instrument must have its own frequency range to be heard. Depending upon the arrangement, this is what usually takes the most time during mixing.

3) Every lyric, and every note of every line or solo can be heard. You don’t want a single note buried. It all has to be crystal clear. Use your automation. That’s what it was made for.

4) The mix has punch. The relationship between the bass and drums is in the right proportion and work together well to give the song a solid foundation.

5) The mix has a focal point. What’s the most important element of the song? Make sure it’s obvious to the listener.

6) The mix has contrast. If you have the same amount of the same effect on everything (a trait I hear from so many neophyte mixers), the mix will sound washed out. You have to have contrast between different elements, from dry to wet, to give the mix depth.

7) All noises and glitches are eliminated. This means any count-offs, singer’s breaths that seem out of place or predominate because of vocal compression, amp noise on guitar tracks before and after the guitar is playing, bad sounding edits, and anything else that might take the listener’s attention away from the track.

8) You can play your mix against songs that you love, and it holds up. Perhaps the ultimate test. If you can get your mix in the same ball park as many of your favorites (either things you’ve mixed or from other artists) after you’ve passed the previous seven items, then you’re probably home free.

In the end, it’s best to figure at least a full day per song regardless of whether you’re mixing in the box or on an analog console, although it’s still best to figure a day and a half per mix if you’re mixing in a studio with an analog-style console. Of course, if you’re mixing every session as you go along recording, then you might be finished before you know it as you just tweak your mix a little.

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The Quietest Room In The World

If you've never been in an anechoic chamber, it's literally an unreal experience. Things are quiet; too quiet. So quiet that it's disconcerting, since even in the quietest place you can think of, you can still at least hear reflections from your own movement.

I've always assumed that the quietest anechoic room belonged to either JBL (I was told that they have 3 of them) or the Institute for Research and Coordination In Audio and Music (IRCAM) in France, but according to the Guinness World Records, it's actually at Orfield Laboratories in South Minneapolis. Supposedly the Orfield chamber absorbes 99.9% of all sound generated within, which results in a measurement of -9dB SPL. As a comparison, a typical quiet room at night where most people sleep is at 30dB SPL, while a typical conversation is at about 60dB SPL.

The Orfield chamber is so quiet that no one has been able to stay inside for more than 45 minutes due to the fact that you begin to hear your heart beating, you lungs working, and even the blood coursing through your veins. Some people even begin to hallucinate during the experience. In fact, you can't even stand after a half-hour since you no longer hear the audio cues that you're used to when you stand as the reflections bounce off the floor, ceiling and walls of the environment.

While it's easy to figure out what JBL does with their anechoic chamber, what goes on in an independent one like at Orfield? It seems that the chamber is used by companies like Harley Davidson and Maytag to test how loud their products are. NASA also uses it for astronaut training.

Here's a short video that describes the Orfield anechoic chamber.

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Cutting Vinyl At Abbey Road

With vinyl sales increasing every year, there's obviously a new-found interest in the format. Here's a a great video that shows a vinyl master being cut at none other than Abbey Road Studios.

Of course what you're seeing is the a totally up to date process using the current state-of-the-art, but it's really not all that removed from the way discs were cut 50 years ago. It's only a bit more refined.

If you want to learn more about cutting records at Abbey Road during The Beatles heyday, as well as a lot of other interesting Abbey Road-related stories, check out Abbey Road To Ziggy Stardust, which is the memoirs of Beatles engineer (and Bowie, Supertramp, Devo, Kansas, Missing Persons, etc producer/engineer) Ken Scott.

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9 All-Time Bad Tech Predictions Again

As we approach the 1000th post and 1 millionth page view of The Big Picture Blog, I thought I'd repost some of the more interesting posts from the beginning when there wasn't much of an audience. This one is just as interesting today as it was a bit over three years ago.
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The prediction business is always like walking a tightrope over a waterfall. You're a lot more likely to fall off than make it to the other side. Here are a few of the most egregious forward-looking flubs of the past 112 years, courtesy of Info World:

• "Everything that can be invented, has been invented." - Charles Duell, Commissioner of the US Patent Office, 1899

• "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." - Thomas Watson, president of IBM, 1943

• "Television won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night." - Darryl Zanuck, executive at 20th Century Fox, 1946

• "Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality within ten years." - Alex Lewyt, president of Lewyt vacuum company, 1955

• "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." - Ken Olsen, founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977

• "Almost all of the many predictions now being made about 1996 hinge on the Internet's continuing exponential growth. But I predict the Internet will soon go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse." - Robert Metcalfe, founder of 3Com, 1995

• "Apple is already dead." - Nathan Myhrvold, former Microsoft CTO, 1997

• "Two years from now, spam will be solved." - Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, 2004

• "The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a mouse. There is no evidence that people want to use these things." - John Dvorak, noted tech writer and columnist, February 1984.

The interesting thing about these predictions is who made them, as not many of them are lightweights. Let this be a lesson on being careful about making predictions. They sometimes come back to haunt you.

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Overcoming The Self-Production Blues

Self-Production is simultaneously one of the most difficult things to do in music, and perhaps one of the easiest. Every artist hears what their music should sound like in their head (that’s the easy part), but it’s sometimes difficult to get it to actually sound that way when it comes to real-life recording. That can lead the artist to overwork a song until it’s limp like a dishrag, or overproduce it so it has so many layers that it sounds like there’s a 30 piece band backing you up. Indeed, it’s difficult to get it to sound somewhere in between where your project is both exciting and vital, and still meets your vision.

One of the biggest problems with a creative artist is going in circles. This means that the artist has so many good ideas that the production is never finished. As soon as a version is complete, the artist thinks, “I think the middle 8 should have a ska feel.” Then after that’s recorded he thinks, “Maybe the entire song should have a ska feel.” Before you know it there are versions in 6/8, speed metal and reggae (and maybe more), with each one just sounding different, not necessarily better.

If this is what's happening to you, there are two words to keep in mind to help you out of your rut.

Instinct - Usually, the very first inspiration is the right one, especially if you’ve gone through more than a couple of different versions. You’ve got to repress the urge to keep changing things and learn to follow your initial instinct. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t tweak or perfect what you’re doing; it means that you shouldn’t make a right turn in a direction that goes against your initial inspiration.

The exception to this is if you think it might be cool to have multiple different versions of the song available so you can give the alternate versions to your core fans as an exclusive gift. Then, a wholesale change in direction can actually be particularly useful.

Deadline - One of the biggest problems with producing yourself is the fact that your project is usually open-ended time-wise. As a result, you end up with the “project that wouldn’t end” that keeps going for years (no exaggeration here).

The surest way to keep that from happening and to actually accomplish something is to set a deadline for the project’s completion. Many people do their best work on deadlines because they don’t have a chance to second guess themselves. The final product may not be 100% of what you want, but remember that it seldom ever is, even with all the time in the world available to finish the project. Save yourself some heartache and impose a deadline on yourself.

If you're interested in some more production tips, check out The Music Producer's Handbook. You can read a few excerpts here.

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De-Reverberation Made Easy

One of the dreams of post engineers has been to find a device or plugin that allows you to strip the reverberation from a sound. Dialog or effects recording with unwanted ambience eventually have to be replaced, costing time and money, and a music track swimming in too much reverb can turn into a muddy mess. Now comes an announcement from a company called Zynaptiq regarding a Mac plugin called UNVEIL, which they say accomplishes real-time de-reverberation and "signal focusing."

By using artificial intelligence, UNVIEL claims to be able to not only strip the ambience from a sound, but to add more of the natural ambience back into the sound, as well as attenuating some of the components that cause a sound to be "muddy" or masked.

I've not yet played with UNVIEL, but if it works as claimed, it could immediately find a place in the plugin lists of DAWs everywhere. Not only would it be invaluable for post, but during a mix as well. Instead of adding artificial reverb to a mix element, it would be great just to be able to adjust the natural ambience of the element itself. That means, of course, that you have to record the sound well complete with some natural ambience in the first place, but that's a topic for a different discussion.

Check out UNVIEL at the Zynaptiq site. It's just $259USD and a free trial is available. Let me know if it works as claimed.

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DIY Recording Gear

One of my favorite new sites is DIYrecordingequipment.com, a true DIY site that is somewhat of a clearinghouse for all sorts of record gear mods and projects. It's the brainchild of Peterson Goodwyn, a drummer and recording engineer who discovered that building your own gear can be a lot cheaper than buying it.

The site has 244 DIY projects that range from rack gear for the 500 series racks, compressors, equalizers, guitar amps and pedals, controllers, mics, mic preamps, gear modifications, and DIs, summing amps, and interesting effects.

DIYrecordingequimpent.com has a number of pages designed for the DIY newbie. A DIY jargon page, a guide to passive electronic components, newbie friendly DIY projects and a DIY tools store are all excellent places to begin, if you've not ventured into the world of electronic tech before.

Do It Yourself is near and dear to my heart, since I grew up with my hands inside a guitar amp, and later a recording console and tape machine, eventually getting a degree in electronics so I could do a better job following the electrons around the recording studio. I don't do much tech stuff anymore, but I appreciate the ethic involved. Of course, this is how all the lovely boutique mic pres, compressors and guitar amp companies that seem to be everywhere these days came to pass.

There's nothing more satisfying than building your own gear, even it's as simple as just cables (the simplest of all DIY projects). Check out diyrecordingequipment.com. It's very cool.

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The Craziest Cutting Edge Instruments

This comes from Gizmodo and it's worthy of noting. It's the craziest new cutting edge musical tech instruments that just came out at Musikmesse, which is Europe's version of the NAMM show, only much, much larger. Each of these are an interesting new twist on an existing product.

The AlphaSphere has a number of pads that each act like a drum controller, but you can assign any sound you want either via dedicated software or your favorite. Sure does look cool.

The next time  you've been served and someone tells you "It's On!", show up with your crew with one of these babies. The Steez Audio Type S (terrible name) picks a playlist, then automatically edits the tracks and tempo between songs in "Auto Battle Mode."

The Endeavour Evo claims to be a keyboard with an entirely new way of generating and controlling sound thanks to its "Magic Key" technology. The sounds aren't that great to my ears, but it does have a unique way of controlling them by having touch sensitive keys where by just moving your finger up a key you can change a parameter. Check out the video on the site for a better idea of the concept.

Full size

The Alesis iO Mix is basically a mixer/dock that wraps around your iPad. I'm sure it's only the tip of the iceberg of future iPad accessory products, but it's the only one of its type at the moment. Check it out.

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David Bowie "Suffragette City" Song Analysis

Here's a song analysis of a classic. It's "Suffragette City" from David Bowie's seminal Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars album. I happen to know a bit about this record since I'm the co-author of the memoirs of Ken Scott, the co-producer and engineer of the record, called Abbey Road To Ziggy Stardust.

It's interesting to note that although Ziggy Stardust was a huge influence on American musicians at the time, it didn't actually sell that much in the US when it was first released. In fact, it was considered somewhat of a flop in the States, although a hit in the rest of world. It's also interesting that to this day, Ken can't fathom the impact that the record has had on us. He thinks the record is pretty good, but nothing special.

Ziggy Stardust was recorded at Trident Recording in London in 1972 before Bowie even had a record deal (he was being shopped at the time on the basis of an album he just finished - Hunky Dory). Although many consider this to be a concept record, it was like most albums are; just a group  of songs, that in this case, seemed to have a common thread almost by accident (you'll have to read the book for the rest of the story).

Like all song analysis, we'll look at the song form, the arrangement, the sound and the production.

The Song
"Suffragette City" has a pretty simple song form that looks like this:

Intro, Verse, Chorus, Intro, Verse, Chorus, Solo, Chorus, Intro, Outro (C Section), Outro

The outros are a different song section which you can think of a section C, with the second outro being a reprise of the first. All in all, it's a simple song, but both interesting and energetic.

The Arrangement
Like most great song arrangements, "Suffragette City" builds and breathes. The intro is big, with doubled guitars left and right, then gets smaller in the verse, then big again during the chorus, back down for the verse, etc. The song culminates with the loudest most energetic part in the dual outros.

The outros are interesting in that they take up a third of the song and are perfect examples of how to keep listener attention during a repeating part (in this case going back and forth between a 2 chord pattern). The lead and background vocals change every time the pattern is repeated (every 8 bars), and the synthesizer enters halfway through the outro section as an answer to the lead vocal.

The arrangement elements look like this:

  * The Foundation: Bass and drums

  * The Rhythm: Acoustic guitar strumming, 8th note piano

  * The Pad: Synth and power chord guitars in the B section

  * The Lead: Lead vocal, guitar solo, synthesizer line in intros

  * The Fills: Background vocals, synthesizer

Although the popular conception is that Bowie played baritone sax on the intros, outros and choruses, the sound is actually an ARP 2600 synthesizer, programmed by Ken Scott and played by Mick Ronson. Bowie has taken credit for the "saxes" in a number of interviews, but it's unknown if he just didn't remember or was being coy about the part on purpose.

The Sound
There are a lot of interesting sonic elements that make up "Suffragette City." First is Mick Ronson's guitar sound, which came as a result of a Les Paul into a wah wah pedal set at about half-way, into a Marshall Major. That's the classic Ronson sound.

The drums are interesting in the song as the snare is panned half-right and the kick half-left. This is because the song was recorded on 16 track, and the drum kit was frequently recorded either in stereo on two tracks, or with the kick or snare on one track and the rest of the drums on another, or some other combination. Regardless, the drums were recorded far differently from the way we do it today with each drum on it's own track, hence the odd panning.

The other interesting thing is how prominent the acoustic guitar is on the track, pushing the song along rhythmically, and almost serving in place of the cymbals. According to Ken, "I wasn't too into cymbals back then so I mixed them low."

Bowie's lead vocals are doubled throughout the song, going to a single vocal on the hook of the chorus ("I'm going to Suffragette City").

There's only a single EMT plate reverb on the entire mix, as that's all that Trident had at the time. You can hear it hang over a bit at the very tail end after the last chord of the song.

Also take note the legendary Trident piano pushing the song along in the chorus and panned to the right side. It was famous for its brightness, which was fantastic for rock or pop, but didn't work very well for classical music.

The Production
Like all records that Ken Scott has produced or co-produced (he produced Ziggy Stardust with Bowie), the production is typically excellent even though it was only his second stab at it (Hunky Dory being the first). The best thing about the song for me is the energy, which can be attributed to the number of takes by the band. David made it a point to never let the band go beyond 3 takes, and sometimes even two, so the players were always on the edge (this is with no rehearsal beforehand as well). Another interesting production fact is that according to Ken, almost all of the Bowie's vocals were done on the first take over the course of the 4 albums he did with him!

The background vocals (done by Bowie and Ronson) are interesting in that they move in the stereo spectrum, first starting on the left in the first verse, then changing to the right on the second and doing the same during the outro. All these little things add up to make the song both exciting and interesting, and as a result, a classic.

You can read more about Bowie and the Ziggy Stardust sessions in the upcoming Abbey Road to Ziggy Stardust book.

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