I used to think it was funny, but I've heard it too many times for the childish humour *or* the natty guitar to overcome the oh-god-so-annoying vocals.
― Also unknown as Zora (Surfing At Work), Friday, 9 March 2012 16:49 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCf3xa5tYKM
― "marvellously inoffensive" (Eazy), Friday, 9 March 2012 16:49 (twelve years ago) link
I should 'fess that HD, as well as being an old favourite in its own right, is one of my writing-to albums, which means I might have overplayed it, just a touch. Same goes for Aladdin Sane, Ziggy and Diamond Dogs. You sure notice which songs work for you when you've got them on rotation for 6 weeks straight.
xpost
― Also unknown as Zora (Surfing At Work), Friday, 9 March 2012 16:53 (twelve years ago) link
and for some reason Kooks rubs me up the wrong way lately too.
It's a song written for an audience of one: Zowie (two if you count Angie). In a way it annoys me in the same way Phil Collins' 'relationship' songs annoy me - I'm not the intended audience and I don't even want to eavesdrop on the situation, I feel awkward about it even.
― rain came down like water falling from the clouds (snoball), Friday, 9 March 2012 16:56 (twelve years ago) link
Hunky Dory vs. Aladdin Sane
Both albums have some annoying tracks but Aladdin Sane has Mike Garson, so I give it the edge. I love them both, including all the annoying tracks.
― Brad C., Friday, 9 March 2012 17:06 (twelve years ago) link
which reminds me of this, from way up thread:
"what are the most avant-garde/outside solos on pop singles?"Great thread idea!
Great thread idea!
^ otm
― Brad C., Friday, 9 March 2012 17:08 (twelve years ago) link
thread idea inspired by Steely Dan's "Do It Again" btw, even though it wouldn't win the "most avant-garde solo" prize
― Carlos Pollomar (WmC), Friday, 9 March 2012 17:49 (twelve years ago) link
https://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyf0o6YS9t1qfkgyio1_500.jpg
― mookieproof, Friday, 9 March 2012 18:16 (twelve years ago) link
God, I love "Kooks." It's the song that more than any other made me reconsider my long-standing antipathy to Bowie. (Big fan of Changesone in high school, completely uninterested through my 20s and 30s, again a big fan of the dozen songs I voted for.)
― clemenza, Friday, 9 March 2012 18:48 (twelve years ago) link
'Andy Warhol' is clearly where Metallica stole one of the riffs in 'Master Of Puppets' from.
― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican)
Yep, and they stole the phrase 'Leper Messiah' from 'Ziggy Stardust'. Obviously Jaymz is a closet Bowie fan.
Holy shit, the vicar in that Young Ones scene is Terry Jones? It's been yonks since I watched the Young Ones I never noticed that before.
― Inevitable stupid samba mix (chap), Friday, 9 March 2012 18:59 (twelve years ago) link
my dumbass all-hits ballot, classic rockist 2 the core and (unsurprisingly) non-ILX-canonical in that i gave v short shrift to station to station & the "berlin trilogy":
1) Suffragette City2) Ashes To Ashes3) Rebel Rebel (perhaps i overrate due to imagined spiritual kinship w bikini kill's "rebel girl")4) The Man Who Sold The World5) Space Oddity (not so much for now, but then)6) Cat People (long moroder version ftw*)7) Heroes8) All The Young Dudes9) Quicksand10) Starman (have no idea how this drek got on here, should have been "fame", smdh)11) Andy Warhol12) Is There Life On Mars?13) John, I'm Only Dancing14) Fashion15) Diamond Dogs16) Moonage Daydream17) Under Pressure18) Young Americans19) Let's Dance20) Modern Love
* there's supposedly a nine minute version of the bowie/moroder "cat people (putting out fire)" on an australian 12-inch. is this a myth? anyone have it/heard it?
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Friday, 9 March 2012 19:17 (twelve years ago) link
I always liked Fill Your Heart anyway, but liked it even more when I heard the various ways that Bowie improved on the original. It's not like he made huge changes, but every one is perfect...
― dlp9001, Friday, 9 March 2012 19:31 (twelve years ago) link
I like every song on Hunky Dory TBH.
― Inevitable stupid samba mix (chap), Friday, 9 March 2012 19:34 (twelve years ago) link
3 of my favorites that didn't make it:
Let Me Sleep Beside youMemory Of A Free FestivalUnwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed
― nicky lo-fi, Friday, 9 March 2012 19:49 (twelve years ago) link
1.Life On Mars?2.Time3.Cat People (Soundtrack)4.Modern Love5.Breaking Glass6.Drive In Saturday7.Oh! You Pretty Things8. Warszawa9.Time Will Crawl10.Suffragette City11.Ashes To Ashes12.Young Americans13.Panic In Detroit14. Art Decade15.Watch That Man16."Heroes"17.Ziggy Stardust18.Fame '90 (was not tied to this particular version)19.Space Oddity20.Cracked Actor
― sarahell, Friday, 9 March 2012 19:57 (twelve years ago) link
nine minute cat people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvrXkOeu-ss
― fit and working again, Friday, 9 March 2012 20:19 (twelve years ago) link
eek sorry for the embed
so so worth it though!
― sarahell, Friday, 9 March 2012 20:22 (twelve years ago) link
o shit! couldn't find it the last time i looked (which was apparently quite some time ago). ^-_-^
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Friday, 9 March 2012 20:40 (twelve years ago) link
just needs this as an intro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPP1i2YrrfA
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Friday, 9 March 2012 20:43 (twelve years ago) link
i think his singing got better with aladdin sane. i don't like some of the more nasally vocals on the earlier stuff.
― riding on a cloud (blank), Friday, 9 March 2012 21:23 (twelve years ago) link
i think life on mars won cuz it's a fucking amazing song
― a little tiny crunk person (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 9 March 2012 21:25 (twelve years ago) link
music crit gold ^^
― Also unknown as Zora (Surfing At Work), Friday, 9 March 2012 21:27 (twelve years ago) link
So, I was still coming up with 80 ballots, but only 78 first-place votes. Obviously I'd miscounted the #1s when I transcribed (by hand, don't ask) from my big messy spreadsheet to the nice neat googledoc. So I opened Big Messy in Google and there they were.
Revisions: "Hang on to Yourself" changed from 0 first-place votes to 1, and "Life on Mars" changed from 4 first-place votes to 5. Point totals were correct, no changes. Total number of ballots: a nice even 80.
― Carlos Pollomar (WmC), Friday, 9 March 2012 22:21 (twelve years ago) link
I love that clash of the Tony Newley cockney scamp voice with the New York arts scene references that makes Hunky Dory so original and fresh.
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Friday, 9 March 2012 22:25 (twelve years ago) link
80's a terrific effort, well done all. It makes the results so much more fun too.
― Ismael Klata, Friday, 9 March 2012 22:31 (twelve years ago) link
And 41 different songs got first-place votes.
― Carlos Pollomar (WmC), Friday, 9 March 2012 22:36 (twelve years ago) link
Wow, 80. You win!
― Mark G, Saturday, 10 March 2012 00:00 (twelve years ago) link
Is 80 all-ILM record? Well done, people--and WmC, again, great job....so FUN!!
― Iago Galdston, Saturday, 10 March 2012 00:16 (twelve years ago) link
I think so, but I don't keep up with rap or metal polls.
Mark -- I wasn't competing for anything! ILM wins.
― Carlos Pollomar (WmC), Saturday, 10 March 2012 00:31 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4Km5OKZlp0
― clemenza, Saturday, 10 March 2012 01:46 (twelve years ago) link
It's not the side-effects of the cocaineI'm thinking that all you people who voted for Low haven't listened to any other Bowie albums― an elk hunt (Ówen P.), Tuesday, March 6, 2012 4:32 PM (4 days ago)
― an elk hunt (Ówen P.), Tuesday, March 6, 2012 4:32 PM (4 days ago)
You may recall that in 1978, LP cutout bins (at least in Scranton) were full of firmly unwanted copies of Low.
― Up With Hoople (Dr. Joseph A. Ofalt), Saturday, 10 March 2012 02:26 (twelve years ago) link
they loved it in wilkes-barre tho
― mookieproof, Saturday, 10 March 2012 02:56 (twelve years ago) link
^^^^
maybe so, I don't recall seeing Low cutouts at Joe Nardone's Gallery of Sound!
― Up With Hoople (Dr. Joseph A. Ofalt), Saturday, 10 March 2012 03:41 (twelve years ago) link
Low was rating #1 of the Top 100 1970's albums on Pitchfork, btw. None of his other albums ranked in the top 50.
http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/5932-top-100-albums-of-the-1970s/10/
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, 10 March 2012 04:22 (twelve years ago) link
fwiw while i did not vote in this poll and contributed no more than the occasional joek to its unveiling, i totally appreciate its existence and have indeed listened to trax 1-12 today.
so thanks y'all
― mookieproof, Saturday, 10 March 2012 04:43 (twelve years ago) link
Nah it's his best album
― riding on a cloud (blank), Saturday, 10 March 2012 05:06 (twelve years ago) link
Well, hey. Let's talk.When you consider so many other Bowie albums to be an treasure trove, pleeeeease tell meWhy Bowie's #1 album (selon ILM) contains so many one-offs, oddities; essentially a b-sides collection(excepting "Breaking glass" and "Sound + vision") come at me, it's a shit-haul.
― an elk hunt (Ówen P.), Saturday, 10 March 2012 08:17 (twelve years ago) link
Close your eyes to the backstory and you'll hear at least ten other superior albums by same artist
― an elk hunt (Ówen P.), Saturday, 10 March 2012 08:23 (twelve years ago) link
I'm not that invested in Bowie the songwriter, the lyricist, the personality etc. I just really love how Low sounds, from the bottom of my heart! I don't really care about "backstories" and it's really presumptuous and rather arrogant for you to suggest that that's the reason people love the album (whether they're conscious of it or not).
― riding on a cloud (blank), Saturday, 10 March 2012 20:24 (twelve years ago) link
i mean, i'm not into most of hunky dory at all, but i don't have to come up with some strawman conspiracy theory to validate my dislike. also, i know i'm wrong.
― riding on a cloud (blank), Saturday, 10 March 2012 20:30 (twelve years ago) link
I'll bet there's some relationship between average age of voter and preference for Low. I realize after this poll that I don't particularly have a favorite Bowie album at this point. When I listen to the top 60 playlist on Spotify, I seem to be gravitating towards the Scary Monsters tracks, which is interesting because it's not one of my first choices for "best album."
― dlp9001, Saturday, 10 March 2012 20:32 (twelve years ago) link
starman conspiracy
― pplains, Saturday, 10 March 2012 20:32 (twelve years ago) link
Let's just accept that "favorite album" can change week to week if not day to day.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 10 March 2012 20:32 (twelve years ago) link
^^^ yep
― Carlos Pollomar (WmC), Saturday, 10 March 2012 20:35 (twelve years ago) link
I voted Low No. 1.
I resisted Bowie for a long time because of the glitter, glam and clown suits. I grew up listening to Top 40 and Classic Rock radio stations and it was all "Let's Dance" and "Rebel Rebel". Hearing that there was this crazy doop-doop-doop record he recorded with the guy who made Bono a star didn't really entice me as a teen.
Later on in college, I finally put Low on and for the next 30 minutes or so, kept checking the copyright date on the label to reconfirm that this really was made in 1977? It sounded light years (sorry for the space term) ahead of what I was hearing at the time.
While there are some who make the Geir Hongroesque proclamations that the songs are but only snatches of static, one-offs, incomplete compositions or unpolished and that they lack the structure of those other bar-to-bar masterpieces is kinda missing the point of what makes Low so great. It's like the music nerd who pooh-poohed the Beatles at summer camp because "their vocals were flat."
Low was the first time it clicked for me just what kind of antenna Bowie had stuck up into the stars and it helped put in context all the other stuff. There's a reason why it's one of his lesser commercial efforts, but also provided the name of his box set. No, it's not a Rosetta Stone. Just rock and roll like nothing I'd ever heard before.
― pplains, Saturday, 10 March 2012 20:59 (twelve years ago) link
Well, I really like Pinups. The music is taut, and bright, and zippy. Bowie's vocals are enjoyable and goofy. The song selection is really fun. I love his take on "Where Have All The Good Times Gone?" Although I always thought it was a missed opportunity for perfection, if only he had reversed the lyrics to: "Mommy didn't have no toys/and Daddy didn't need no boys." Wouldn't that be tremendous? I love the slowed tempo of I Can't Explain. There is no better album cover.
― Up With Hoople (Dr. Joseph A. Ofalt), Saturday, 10 March 2012 23:15 (twelve years ago) link
Listening to the Nassau Coliseum show for the first time. Holy crap. Utterly relentless.
― we can be gyros just for one day (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 10 March 2012 23:27 (twelve years ago) link
Nassau is the best thing in his catalog. That band was amazing.
― EZ Snappin, Sunday, 11 March 2012 00:24 (twelve years ago) link
loving this tonight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI1WQBUdB6c
― pplains, Sunday, 11 March 2012 02:43 (twelve years ago) link