― Noodle Vague, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 23:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jeff Treppel, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 23:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― dan selzer, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 00:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 00:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― scott seward, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 00:23 (seventeen years ago) link
― rps, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 00:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― xhuxk, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 00:52 (seventeen years ago) link
― Z S, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 00:52 (seventeen years ago) link
― chaki, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 00:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 00:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― iago g., Wednesday, 11 April 2007 00:56 (seventeen years ago) link
― pretzel walrus, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 01:02 (seventeen years ago) link
― Hans Rott, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 01:09 (seventeen years ago) link
― iago g., Wednesday, 11 April 2007 02:12 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 02:23 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 02:24 (seventeen years ago) link
― novaheat, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 02:27 (seventeen years ago) link
Cuz it doesn't have enough range and, when called upon to emote in settings demanding commitment it often signals his commitment to the genre instead of the emotion he's trying to convey.
― Emily Bjurnhjam, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 03:35 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 04:16 (seventeen years ago) link
― i, grey, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 06:39 (seventeen years ago) link
― i, grey, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 06:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― novaheat, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 07:32 (seventeen years ago) link
― mark e, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 07:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― Hans Rott, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 08:59 (seventeen years ago) link
― Marco Damiani, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 10:35 (seventeen years ago) link
― underpants of the gods, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 10:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― Zeno, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 10:48 (seventeen years ago) link
― underpants of the gods, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 10:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― underpants of the gods, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 11:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 11:10 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 11:19 (seventeen years ago) link
― Groke, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 11:21 (seventeen years ago) link
― pisces, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 11:25 (seventeen years ago) link
― Groke, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 11:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 11:31 (seventeen years ago) link
― Groke, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 11:33 (seventeen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 11:59 (seventeen years ago) link
― Hans Rott, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 13:19 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 13:25 (seventeen years ago) link
― underpants of the gods, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 13:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 13:34 (seventeen years ago) link
― will, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 14:11 (seventeen years ago) link
― Erroneous Botch, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:03 (seventeen years ago) link
― i, grey, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:18 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:36 (seventeen years ago) link
― pisces, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 16:50 (seventeen years ago) link
― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 12 April 2007 11:58 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tom D., Thursday, 12 April 2007 12:02 (seventeen years ago) link
Let's not forget what a seductively queer album Hunky Dory is for its era - "Oh You Pretty Things", "Life on Mars", "Queen Bitch" ooze androgyne eros, but the songs are so catchy it slipped through and left the door open for Queen. But yeah my (mid teen) daughters took this one to heart and are only exploring the others gradually.Right now ★ is getting me through an evening of work, what a towering achievement.
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Monday, 1 June 2020 10:47 (three years ago) link
and "Quicksand" is such a singular tune. No one else could've written it.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 1 June 2020 10:58 (three years ago) link
and the way "Kooks" queers a father-son relationship
Yeah I feel like we're really lucky that we got that album, it feels like the perfect hybrid of "I'm now a confident songwriter" and "I have not yet become cynical". "Queen Bitch" is really the biggest and best thing, T. Rex could never
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 1 June 2020 13:51 (three years ago) link
i dislike the production and arrangements on Diamond Dogs quite a bit. It's screechy cluttered sounding.
― akm, Monday, 1 June 2020 14:22 (three years ago) link
my favorite albums bookend the Berlin trilogy: Station to Station and Scary Monsters.
― akm, Monday, 1 June 2020 14:23 (three years ago) link
Station To Station is a top-five Bowie album in my books for half-of-it alone. I am cool on "Stay" and don't like "Word" or "Wild" but the title track, "Golden Years" and "TVC15" make it an utter classic
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 1 June 2020 14:45 (three years ago) link
"Station To Station" is inarguably (in my mind) Bowie's greatest single song, and the album itself is so weird both in its content and the context within which it was created that it sits next to Big Star 3 in my books
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 1 June 2020 14:47 (three years ago) link
I go like this:
9.5 Outside9 Station To Station9 Hunky Dory9 Black Star8.5 Lodger8.5 Ziggy Stardust8 Low8 Aladdin Sane8 The Man Who Sold The World7.5 Scary Monsters7.5 Earthling7.5 The Next Day6.5 Young Americans6.5 Diamond Dogs6 Tin Machine6 Heathen6 Let's Dance5.5 "Heroes"4 Reality4 Space Oddity2 Hours1 Black Tie White Noise1 Never Let Me Down0 TonightTin Machine II
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 1 June 2020 14:52 (three years ago) link
'Stay' is top 5 Bowie for me
― doorstep jetski (dog latin), Monday, 1 June 2020 14:52 (three years ago) link
Oh, Tin Machine II is also a zero, hell is listening to the Sales brothers sing
The Hague
TonightHoursTin Machine
Meh
Pin UpsNever Let Me DownThe Next DayTin Machine II
Sound, Solid
Young AmericansScary Monsters (and Super Creeps)Diamond DogsThe Buddha of SuburbiaThe Man Who Sold the WorldRealityEarthlingHeathenBlack Tie White NoiseLet's Dance
Good to Great
LowStation to Station★LodgerAladdin Sane"Heroes"Hunky DoryOutsideThe Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 1 June 2020 14:54 (three years ago) link
Good ranking Alfred, I'm gonna give Buddha and Black Tie another shot today
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 1 June 2020 14:56 (three years ago) link
I think Let's Dance is a better album than it generally gets credit for - deep cuts Ricochet and Criminal World are excellent, slinky funk-pop.
― chap, Monday, 1 June 2020 14:56 (three years ago) link
"Ricochet" is Bowie trying to hold fast to a sense of avant-gardism for which he (temporarily) lost an attraction.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 1 June 2020 14:58 (three years ago) link
my favorite albums bookend the Berlin trilogy: Station to Station and Scary Monsters.― akm, Monday, 1 June 2020 14:23 (thirty minutes ago) link
― akm, Monday, 1 June 2020 14:23 (thirty minutes ago) link
This is me as well. I feel like voting for Scary Monsters is like my love for Flesh & Blood in the Roxy Music poll; there are better or more important Bowie albums, but I played Scary Monsters so so so much when it came out. Hugely important in my life.
I don't believe I've ever heard a note of Outside. Putting that on my to do list.
― Album Moods: Rambunctious; Snide (Dan Peterson), Monday, 1 June 2020 15:05 (three years ago) link
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, June 1, 2020 5:58 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
yes !
― budo jeru, Monday, 1 June 2020 15:41 (three years ago) link
the bowie songs on TMII are great. I've skipped over the Sales songs consistently since the album came out.
― akm, Monday, 1 June 2020 16:44 (three years ago) link
let's dance is a wonderful album. if only he hadn't tried to follow it up with a 'soundalike' album that didn't sound like it and was super weak as far as songs
― akm, Monday, 1 June 2020 16:45 (three years ago) link
"Goodbye Mr. Ed" and "Shopping for Girls" >>>>>>>>>>>>>> the first Tin Machine album
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 1 June 2020 16:49 (three years ago) link
I have a weird relationship to Tin Machine— I seem to be the lone asserted that “Reeves Gabrels was Bowie’s best guitarist”, iirc that was the case when it was polled.
My adoration for Gabrels is not just the fact that he technically stands head and shoulders above Alomar and Ronson— and Fripp never really cut loose on a Bowie album— Gabrels was taken on during the most challenging imaginable comeback, Bowie in his 40s, trying to be a “lad” and failing, then trying to do pop-industrial (and knocking it out of the park), then trying to do rock-jungle (and turning in an admirable effort). (Hours, the album, does not exist to me— I listened to it once and never again.)
So, Tin Machine tries so hard, and does a lot right, and Gabrels (in particular) is carrying much of the weight, but it’s where it falls short that destroys it and makes it “legacy souring”. Bowie has always been a thief, but with Tin Machine he is along Black Francis so excruciatingly, and getting it so wrong, that it’s absolute toxic waste music. The worst offender afaic “Baby Universal”— it’s the sound of a standup comedian doing bad impressions, a grotesque misinterpretation of What Is Good about early Pixies, Charles frankly should have lodged a complaint
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 1 June 2020 17:48 (three years ago) link
*aping, not along
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 1 June 2020 17:49 (three years ago) link
You seem to have quite a lot of eccentric opinions when it comes to Bowie, if you don't mind me saying so.
― Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Monday, 1 June 2020 17:50 (three years ago) link
Just bc I listen extensively and deeply and disagree with dogmatic precepts about Bowie's discography doesn't make me eccentric. I still fundamentally like all the same albums everybody else likes (I just think Outside is really the best), and dislike the same albums albums everybody else dislikes (except Heroes which I think is garbage aside from the title track)
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 1 June 2020 18:18 (three years ago) link
I was moved to try and recall an old Bowie website that had polls on his best songs and albums, conducted in the 90s-- this was the poll that ranked "Ashes To Ashes" as #1 and "Quicksand" as #2. I couldn't remember anything about the website except that the webmaster described Mick's guitar on Aladdin Sane as "the sound of a guitar smashing atoms in the basement". So I Googled "smashing atoms in the basement". This was the sole result:
Internet nostalgia
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 1 June 2020 18:20 (three years ago) link
Versatility isn't a be-all end-all, but Alomar's as a funk guitarist who abjured most fun cliches, not to mention the protean way in which he forced the material to accommodate to him on albums as different as Low and 1. Outside, impresses the hell out of me.
A lot of Gabrels' work grates, but that's the point -- Bowie wanted ugly sounds.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 1 June 2020 18:26 (three years ago) link
fun = funk
lol
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 1 June 2020 18:27 (three years ago) link
a little confused by fgti's dislike of heroes, i don't think it's as good as the two before it but it's still certainly a top 5 bowie album for me. i really love "beauty and the beast".
on the other hand i've always felt hunky dory is quite overrated. it's solid enough but i've never thought of it as a masterpiece as many seem to. the section from "fill your heart" through to "song for bob dylan" is pretty weak and only "quicksand" is really up there with my favourite bowie songs.
― ufo, Monday, 1 June 2020 18:38 (three years ago) link
what was bowie's favorite of his own albums?
― reggie (qualmsley), Monday, 1 June 2020 18:53 (three years ago) link
Strikes me as the sort of guy who just answer, "The last one".
― Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Monday, 1 June 2020 19:05 (three years ago) link
nice to see lodger creeping up the lists (lists nevertheless remaining bad)
or "the lodger" as i inexplicably titled it when i pitched for its full reappraisal 18 long years ago: Is THE LODGER David Bowie's best record?
― mark s, Monday, 1 June 2020 19:05 (three years ago) link
The Hunky Dory just ahead The Low according to ILX.
― Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Monday, 1 June 2020 19:08 (three years ago) link
― reggie (qualmsley), Monday, June 1, 2020
The Buddha of Suburbia.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 1 June 2020 19:08 (three years ago) link
I love "Beauty And The Beast". I love "Heroes"-- two top-class songs. The rest of the album is completely forgettable and/or actively awful ("Joe The Lion", "...Arabia"). I feel like "Heroes" popularity upon release was people making up for being non-plussed by Low, maybe?
I just mistyped just now and feel compelled to name my own next album "Herpes"
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 1 June 2020 19:08 (three years ago) link
"Joe the Lion" would make my top ten of Bowie songs tah-day. The Fripp intro is one of his and Bowie's best.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 1 June 2020 19:10 (three years ago) link
I had a conversation with Bowie and Garson in 2005 where I spoke about how much I admired Outside and asked if he'd ever consider revisiting that sound, songs from that album, and they both got really excited by the suggestion, and said they'd had conversations exactly to that effect. I know Bowie felt Earthling was way better than people gave him credit for, and I tend to agree. And I don't know Alfred if you're being facetious but I think you're actually correct, I think I remember reading that Bowie rated that album highly-- I actually have never heard it at all :o
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 1 June 2020 19:12 (three years ago) link
My top 3 Bowie albums would be 'Diamond Dogs', 'Low' & 'Outside'. Nothing really out of the ordinary there.
But as for my more unusual opinions, one album I'd immediately put into the next tier would be the dreamy, pretty thing known as 'Space Oddity' - this is one that doesn't get enough acclaim in my opinion. I love it to bits.
I have to say that think quite highly of 'Never Let Me Down' - I like it much better than Bowie himself did. I also think 'Tin Machine II' has a lot of really good songs on it, especially 'Amlapura' and 'Shopping for Girls'.
I still find value even in what I think to be his weakest work, which would probably be the first Tin Machine. 'Hours' is an album I praised massively when it was released but thought less and less of as time went by, to the point where I just felt disillusioned and came to think of it as Bowie's weakest; writing my initial reaction down to being a very naïve overoptimistic 19y old back then. However, in recent years it grew on me again, especially due to 'New Angels of Promise' and 'If I'm Dreaming My Life' - I'm quite loving those two tracks.
― Valentijn, Monday, 1 June 2020 20:02 (three years ago) link
Great post fgti, I love Earthling too, especially that Wonder / Satellites / Letter / Tibet opening salvo. It shares a lot of DNA with ★.I cannot fucking BELIEVE that The Man Who Sold the World is FIFTY years old now (like me). And Hunky Dory will be 50 next year. They seem 20 years old at most.
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Monday, 1 June 2020 22:15 (three years ago) link
With all the goodwill for Outside it’s a shame that I missed his last date here which was on that tour (Dec 1995, I was 12); setlist was predictably heavy on the new album along with various 70s staples
― Master of Treacle, Tuesday, 2 June 2020 00:57 (three years ago) link
I'll try a "Consumer Guide" style assessment, leaving out the ones I've yet to explore in-depth:
David Bowie (1967) - dudDavid Bowie (1969, a.k.a. Space Oddity) - choice cut: "Space Oddity"The Man Who Sold The World - ("The Width of a Circle," "All the Madmen," "Black Country Rock" and the title track) **Hunky Dory - AThe Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars - ALive Santa Monica '72 - AAladdin Sane - A Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - film gets an A-, soundtrack is a B+Pin-Ups - ("Sorrow") * Diamond Dogs - choice cuts: title track and "Rebel Rebel." I strongly prefer the outtake "1984/Dodo" (with Ronson et al) over what was used hereDavid Live - CYoung Americans - (title track, "Fame") ***, try to get a version with the outtakes from "The Gouster" (but not the alternate mixes, which are disposable)Station To Station - ALive Nassau Coliseum '76 - ALow - A "Heroes" - AStage - BWelcome to the Blackout (Live London '78) - ALodger - A- Scary Monsters - A Let's Dance - choice cuts: title track, "China Girl," "Modern Love" (you're not really missing anything if you have to settle for 45 edits), but some reissues helpfully include "Under Pressure" Tonight - choice cuts: "Blue Jean," "Loving the Alien," but reissues helpfully include "This Is Not America" and "Absolute Beginners" as bonus tracks Never Let Me Down - choice cut: title track, maybe "Day-In Day-Out" and the 'MM Remix' of "Time Will Crawl" for those who really want to dig further for gemsTin Machine - NeitherTin Machine 2 - Neither Black Tie White Noise - choice cuts: "I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday," "Jump They Say"1. Outside - Neither, the single version of "Hallo Spaceboy" (remixed by the Pet Shop Boys) is charming if innocuousEarthling - choice cuts: "Little Wonder," "I'm Afraid of Americans" (the latter best-heard and best-known for the single version remixed by Trent Reznor)'hours...' - choice cut: "Thursday's Child""Heathen" - ("Slow Burn," "Afraid," "Everyone Says 'Hi'") ** (basically the first album since SCARY MONSTERS that might be worth having)"Reality" - ("New Killer Star," "Never Get Old," "She'll Drive the Big Car," "Bring Me the Disco King") **A Reality Tour - the concert DVD is an A-, as 'legacy' tours go, you can't do much betterThe Next Day - B+Blackstar - A-
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 2 June 2020 17:12 (three years ago) link