This was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it. thanks for letting me have an advance copy. I'm new to this author.

For me is always a temptation read something about Bowie, but for me this is kind of rare 'cause is talking someone who actually work with him, and his perception abot him, that isn't as different of other people have spoke about it. Interest just foe Bowie fans

Woody Woodmansey is the last living member of the legendary Spiders from Mars who accompanied Ziggy Stardust in his adventures on the planet Earth.

As someone who was close to David Bowie at that time, Woodmansey decided to tell the story from his own perspective; and this is exactly what you get from reading this book – Woodmansey’s unique perspective. Don’t expect big revelations or sensational descriptions about David Bowie’s lifestyle in the ‘70s. This book is merely Woody Woodmansey’s point of view and his sporadic life memoir.

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.

Thank you Mr Woodmansey!

This is good , Woodmansey is aware that people only really care about his time with Bowie so very little of the book is concerned with the before and after and its all the better for that. Woodmansey will never be seen as a literary author but he is a good guide to the period of Bowies life and british popular music. Highly recommended

As a big Bowie fan I was looking forward to reading this, and I wasn't disappointed. The story follows Woody through his teenage years and how things progress once he joins a local band in Yorkshire. Woody Woodmansey comes across as 'a decent bloke' and we also hear about his life - meeting his love and life with her. We hear about what happened when he was asked to become one of the 'Spiders from Mars' and work with people like Mick Ronson and David Bowie - there are lots of photos and you get a real sense of what life was like before the big time...

It's not a 'kiss and tell' type of book, it's far too personal. I really enjoyed it and will listen to my Bowie albums with a new appreciation.

Recommended

I couldn’t resist requesting this book when it was available on NetGalley. I’m a huge David Bowie fan and love every era of his including Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. Woody Woodmansey is from a place near where I’m originally from so I feel like I was aware of the Spiders from Mars from a really young age.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a real insight into Woody’s life and his time with the Spiders from Mars. It’s a candid look back over the years and it felt very open and honest. The way the Spiders came to be and how Woody end up a part of the band was really interesting. It’s obvious that there was a genuine camaraderie between the band and Bowie during their early days together, and I loved reading the stories. I enjoyed reading about David Bowie their recording process and how the songs came to be.

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.

Bowie famously killed off Ziggy Stardust on stage at the Hammersmith Apollo on the last night of the tour, which came as a shock to the Spiders from Mars and Woodmansey gives his side of the story in this memoir. It obviously became quite tumultuous for everyone as David Bowie’s fame grew and the cracks began to show between him and the rest of the Spiders from Mars, which is plain to see was very painful for Woodmansey.

It’s incredibly moving to read about the deaths of members of the Spiders from Mars – Mick Ronson and later Trevor Bolder, and I hadn’t realised before that Woodmansey’s current band Holy Holy were on tour in America when the news broke that David Bowie had died. The chapter covering how he found out and his reflections on his friend were incredibly moving – it really did make me cry.

This memoir is about Woody Woodmansey looking back at his life and in particular his time in the Spiders from Mars, and David Bowie is a part of that but it’s very much Woodmansey’s life story. It’s another perspective on that incredible period of time in music. There are also some great photos in this book that I hadn’t seen before and I loved having the chance to see those.

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

I received a copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley.

Spider from Mars: My Life with David Bowie is out now and available from all good book shops.

This is a book of memoirs from the drummer Woody Woodmansey, who played for some years with David Bowie. Maybe the most important years at the beginning of David’s career.
Besides being “a book about Bowie”, this is also a nice read if you like to know a little bit about how was growing up in a post-war Britain, and becoming a rock star. Woody tell us about being a teenager at the north of the country, discovering music as an important part of his life. And later on, how he succeeded in the business, moving to London after playing in some bands, just to join Bowie. They recorded together The Man Who Sold the World (1970), Hunky Dory (1971), The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972), and Aladdin Sane (1973).
Thanks to Ziggy's album, Mick Ronson (guitar), Trevor Bolder (bass) and Woody at the drums were known as the Spiders from Mars. Another thing interesting beyond Bowie is the rise (and fall) of “fame”, when the band toured in the United States: we read about the crazy life of a band on the run, heavy schedules, lots of groupies, and drugs (although with a low profile, and not used by Woody).
At the end of the book, we read about other projects of Woody in the music: his band U-Boat, and a recently cover band called Holy Holy, that tributes Bowie’s legacy.

NOTE: A longer review was published in Spanish. Link attached.

"The Spiders from Mars" is a book that captures the reader and brings him back at the time when Mick "Woody" Woodmansey, who from early age wanted to be a rock star, meets Mick Ronson and Trevor Bolder and becomes the drummer for David Bowie's succes albums as The Man Who Sold the World (1970), Hunky Dory (1971), The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972) and Aladdin Sane (1973).
Thus, we discover some anecdotes of the behind the scenes of their tour, stories of everyday life of the band, ups and downs of their relationship with Bowie / Ziggy, what happened to the Spiders from Mars (Woodmansey, Ronson and Bolder) once everything is went up in smoke, thus reaching the present day and the tragic news of David's death.
A book that every music fan should read. A slice of life of the London music scene that few have been able to live. With this book the reader is there, present, between studio sessions, appearances at Tops of the Pops, long international tours and meetings with other rock stars of that era.