Having lived for three years off Pico Blvd. in Santa Monica—three short blocks away from the great Santa Monica Civic Auditorium—I can personally attest to having seen many a great rock legend there between ‘74-76 including the Kinks, 10cc, Procol Harum and Roy Wood’s Wizzard. I can tell you it’s a cool place. What cooler than to have a new live CD box set from David Bowie entitled Live Santa Monica ‘72, encapsulating the Bowie-mania created by the glam-rock idol’s fabled first American tour. Having seen Bowie’s historic first Manhattan show myself on Sept. 24, 1972 at Carnegie Hall—my first ever printed review being a write-up of that show a week later in the South Shore Record on Long Island—I can also attest to it being perhaps the most auspicious debut performance by any artist in 1972. 35 years later in 2008, EMI has truly put together a remarkable reissue, lavishly repackaging the event with the entire ‘72 L.A. concert on CD, memorabilia, inserts, discophile info and incredible period piece publicity photos that, 36 years on, heroically heralded Bowie as the innovator he would soon evolve into. www.DavidBowie.com

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