What's the best David Bowie studio album

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"

"Joe the Lion" would make my top ten of Bowie songs tah-day. The Fripp intro is one of his and Bowie's best.

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

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.

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.

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

I'll try a "Consumer Guide" style assessment, leaving out the ones I've yet to explore in-depth:

David Bowie (1967) - dud
David 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 - A
The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars - A
Live Santa Monica '72 - A
Aladdin 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 here
David Live - C
Young 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 - A
Live Nassau Coliseum '76 - A
Low - A
"Heroes" - A
Stage - B
Welcome to the Blackout (Live London '78) - A
Lodger - 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 gems
Tin Machine - Neither
Tin 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 innocuous
Earthling - 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 better
The Next Day - B+
Blackstar - A-