O'Leary, Chris (2015). Rebel Rebel: All the Songs of David Bowie from '64 to '76. Winchester: Zero Books. ISBN 978-1-78099-244-0. The Spiders’ contribution to The Man Who Sold the World, with producer Tony Visconti, documents in fascinating detail, that although still Bowie’s vision and voice, this was very much an album by a band finding each other’s musical strengths and exploiting a wealth of talent from all involved. (And like 95% of the material on the RCA albums, it passes the test of time with honours.) I’d been listening to bands such as Led Zeppelin and Cream over the previous couple of years; Bowie’s influences were obviously completely different. My friends wouldn’t even know who Bowie was if I asked them about him. It might be difficult to imagine now, but in early 1970 Bowie seemed like a one-hit wonder. His single ‘Space Oddity’, which got to Number 5 in the charts, had come and gone, and the follow-up, ‘The Prettiest Star’, had flopped. Woody did not even like Bowie's music, but he decided to go to London thinking he might regret it after he did not.

Woodmansey converted to Scientology after being introduced to it by Mike Garson [11] and had his wedding service at a Scientology church in Sussex. [12] A sad codicil is that, as Woody is writing Chapter 9, he gets the news that Bowie has died from cancer. A kid says to his mother, ‘When I grow up I want to be a drummer,’ and she says ‘You can’t do both , son.’ This book is recommended to all Ziggy Stardust fans and it is a good reminder that behind every great man (and David Bowie was one of the greatest), there are many others who have contributed to his success. It is nice to get to know them as well. If anything, in this day and age, Woodmansey’s life story is a good reminder that it’s worth pursuing our dreams for no other reason that we won’t regret later that we haven't tried.First wave U.S. David Bowie fans will immediately recognize the name Woody Woodmansey as the drummer for The Spiders From Mars. For others that didn’t catch on until The Thin White Duke phase or later, this book is an insider account of Bowie’s earliest success and transformation from an English folk singer into Ziggy Stardust – from conception to fame to final bows.

There are a lot of funny stories in this memoir too – the way the band felt when Bowie first suggested some of the more outrageous stage outfits is amusing. The ways they would wind each other up in the early days just shows how for a time they were just normal young men in a band trying to make it big. There is a real warmth in the way Woodmansey tells his story. So, anyway, it is all very interesting, the story from his unique perspective on the drum stool. Of course, he spends more time talking about the drums and the beats, but that is his wheelhouse, his area of expertise. That is what I want to hear from him mainly. So here we are, blood, toil, tears and sweat - and not a lot of cash... but then great things are seldom accomplished without casualties.

Martian Drummer unravels web of intrigue

After finishing the book I immediately had to listen to the albums from this period out of the Five Years vinyl boxset to really immerse myself, yet again, in the amazing music of David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars A vivid and unique evocation of a transformative musical era and the enigmatic, visionary musician at the center of it, with a foreword by legendary music producer Tony Visconti and an afterword from Def Leppard's Joe Elliot, Spider from Mars is for everyone who values David Bowie, by one of the people who knew him best. Well, the biggest problem I had was trying to get through a book that was written by a man from North-Eastern England. Although my own family is of Australian (Irish, Scottish, and British) heritage, I admittedly was not used to the "feel" of someone from where the author, Woody Woodmansey, was from. He left school when he was in the middle grades, so couple a lesser education with a form of speaking I was not used to, I would find myself having to think harder when reading his stories. He would sometimes get caught up in his own exuberance and make things feel a bit repetitive. I wanted things fleshed out more. I think he was so rapt in his own memories, with them so strong in him, that he would forget that we the readers, were not always "in" on what he was retelling. I also found myself rereading because of punctuation and style differences. However, I never gave up. I had to let go of his and my respective shortcomings and muddle on.