164 replies to this topic

[Eskimo kisses]

But yeah, fuck it. I am making a thread of it anyway.

Go!



Oh man, this album. What is the deal with it? Has anyone who went on to be great ever released a crime against music like this as their first proper album? Seriously unbelievably bad, I'd be shocked if James Blunt released something as bad as this. I keep expecting Dick Van Dyke to run in to have a mockney knees up at some point, he could probably freestyle better lyrics than "Sell me a coat, cos I'm cold" and "Be nice to the big blue sea" and especially "BABY, I'LL SLAY A DRAGON FOR YOU!" WTF? I'd never bothered listening to this before and I'll never bother listening to it again.* Worst shit ever.


*Except "Silly boy blue", good song.

[Agrimorfee]

Does this one have "The Laughing Gnome" on it? Bowie probably would want to wipe out the masters on that one. Go for it, Rob...I'm Bowie-curious and want to see how this turns out.

[Eskimo kisses]

Not on the album, I think it was just a single. Which neatly sidesteps me having to listen to it again. I'm looking forward to hitting 'Never let me down' more than I would be to listening to that thing. Also, as a sidenote to his debut, I now have an irrational hatred towards anyone called Arthur, just because that name is mentioned in the two most ridiculously annoying songs. Pretty sure some Kinks can cure that, though.

[Sid Hartha]

There's an alternate release of this material called The World Of David Bowie that includes "The London Boys" (awesome) and "Karma Man" (pretty good, and with Marc Bolan). But yeah, Bowie doesn't seem to have a clue what he wants to do for the most part.
*
"There Is A Happy Land" gets points for being such a dark, creepy song.

[Holiday in Risk]

That cover makes me want to watch an episode of Newhart.

[Eskimo kisses]

Space oddity

Considering it's only two years after the abortion of a debut, this is quite the ridiculous upturn in musical fortunes. There's still a couple of duffers on here, generally the more folkly tracks (Letter to Hermione, God knows I'm good and the first half of Memory of a free festival are all pretty boring), because I don't really think Bowie's voice suits folkly music, his delivery is a bit too full of panache for that kind of thing.

Other than that this is pretty awesome, though. Especially the mental rock of 'Unwashed and somewhat slightly dazed', the lyrics to that one are insane, but in a good way. Then there's 'Cygnet committee', which is a ridiculously good 9 minute alt-rock thing and probably my favorite song on the album (between these two, anyway). The rest is all good, quite raw, maybe not as polished as he'd get but that's sometimes a good thing. Probably not in the upper, upper echelon of Bowie albums but not too far behind and the best stuff is as good as the best stuff on most of his records.

[Sid Hartha]

^ Wild-Eyed Boy From Freecloud is top-grade Bowie as well.

There're some incredible BBC versions of songs from that period found on Bowie On The Beeb.

[Eskimo kisses]

Yeah, 'Janine' is tops too. Cygnet Committee is where it's at on this album, though. Top, top notch songwriting on that one. I really don't know how he managed to go from the stuff he was writing on his debut to penning lyrics as brilliant as that in the space of a couple of years.

[Agrimorfee]

Yeah, 'Janine' is tops too. Cygnet Committee is where it's at on this album, though. Top, top notch songwriting on that one. I really don't know how he managed to go from the stuff he was writing on his debut to penning lyrics as brilliant as that in the space of a couple of years.

Maybe the debut was the stuff he had from years(?) beforehand, and the Space Oddity stuff was being penned just as he started recording? An ultra-quick maturation of songwriting craft seemed to be the order of the day as far as this era of rock is concerned (cf. The Beatles, Kinks, Donovan, Pink Floyd, etc.)

[Eskimo kisses]

Not sure, he switched labels between the first two albums so it doesn't look like he got signed on the understanding that he had to have something ready to go in a week or anything.

[Mitchell]

Bowie On The Beeb is fantastic.

[Eskimo kisses]

The man who sold the world

This could easily be my favourite Bowie album when I think about it. I'm really not sure why it's not generally thought of as one of his best. It's as dark as anything in the Berlin trilogy in it's own way. Heavy Sabbath inspired riffs, songs about war, god and his brother being in an asylum. Really heavy shit. Width of a circle is almost Bowie doing an extended metal song, so good. All the madmen? Amazing lyrics, great riffs, heartfelt song about his brother. Shit, every song on here rules. One of the best rock albums of the 70's, one of my favourite records of all time, actually. Musically hard, lyrically harder. Dark as you like, I don't see how it's in any way inferior to something like Hunky Dory.

[Sid Hartha]

Structurally, Width Of A Circle is quite similar to the title track on Station To Station. That has always impressed me, that he could take such an iffy concept and pull it off - twice. The only real issues I have with this record are the crappy production (Tony Visconti, what happened?) and the phenomenally horrible Bass playing (eh, Tony Visconti?!). Mick Ronson - in his debut here - tears it up in a big way.

[Eskimo kisses]

Hunky dory

It doesn't make any sense that Bowie managed to go from doing something that's in the upper echelon of albums that Sabbath fans should like to making something that should be in the upper echelon of albums that Arcade Fire fans should like, in less than a year or whatever. I mean I could maybe buy into it if it took the guy 5 years between the albums to work out his next change of direction but being able to flit between things so effortlessly just isn't fair. Also, how does he manage to make music so distinctly different yet put such a disticnt Bowie stamp on it, he isn't going to lose his own fanbase? Dude is seriously amazing.

Isn't Hunky Dory the other generally recognised classic along with Low? Fucking good album, a bit poncey compared to the last one but it's tough to care when he's doing what's essentially what became poncey indie music better than anyone. People would go nuts these days if a band wrote Life on Mars, Changes, Oh you pretty things, Quicksand or Queen bitch. All of them on the same album? Awesome. Not sure which is best, probably Quicksand or Life on Mars. Those songs are some epic shit. Awesome album.

Still not as good as man who sold the world, though.

EDIT - I can see why he wanted to fellate Mick Ronson. I think Ronson is pretty much the greatest guy from the same town as me ever.

[torrance]

i never much cared for the man who sold the world, i'll have to give it another go

[dave9199]

Bowie's 1st album - never liked it. On Nuggets II, I always skip You've Got A Habit Of Leaving. It's terrible. Space Oddity - great song, mediocre to bad album. Too theatrical & twee for me. The Man Who Sold The World - great album. A favorite. The lyrics were written very last minute and I think it showed more of Bowies insides than later albums. Hunky Dory - great album. Life On Mars being a favorite. Very intimate album, like it was recorded on a home 4 track (not in sound, but the feel of the songs). I always heard Davy Jones of The Monkees singing the song before Quicksand, can't remember the name of it. That's my least favorite song on there. Ziggy Stardust - great album. Every song, especially Five Years & Moonage Daydream. A great trilogy of albums that very few artists/bands ever have and all different, but work well within his framework.

[Campaigner]

People would go nuts these days if a band wrote Life on Mars, Changes, Oh you pretty things, Quicksand or Queen bitch. All of them on the same album?

The beauty of Hunky Dory is that these different songs - all of them classics - are on the same album and yet the album doesn't feel at all like a hodge-podge of a release. It still feels like a proper album, and that each of these songs, as different from each other as they are, were written and recorded as though they had nowhere else to be but alongside each other.

'Queen Bitch' may be his greatest song of the first half of the 70s.

Can't believe 'Bombers' wasn't on the album though... That song is seriously killer.

[Eskimo kisses]

The rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust & the spiders from Mars

What other albums say "Hello" and "Goodbye" as well as this one? Opening with 'five years' and closing with 'rock & roll suicide', you don't start or finish much better than that. This is Bowie's more glam rock record, again it's him stepping into a different territory and ripping it up and producing something that's better than most people who stay rigidly in the genre can accomplish. Bands back then must have been shitting themselves at the prospect that Bowie might stray into their comfort zone and destroy them next. Some of Ronson's best guitar work on here too, not that it ever feels like it's focusing on him, his strength was to play some of the best stuff ever on Bowie albums without ever really drawing extra attention to the fact that he was doing that, and letting the songs work on their level while being content to be a part of that. Lyrically different from earlier albums again, pushing everything through Ziggy as a muse for where he'd been previously musically and this perhaps being him coming back on a journey from those experiences. Dude was untouchable at this point.

[RabbiSchmoiley]

Space oddity

Considering it's only two years after the abortion of a debut, this is quite the ridiculous upturn in musical fortunes. There's still a couple of duffers on here, generally the more folkly tracks (Letter to Hermione, God knows I'm good and the first half of Memory of a free festival are all pretty boring), because I don't really think Bowie's voice suits folkly music, his delivery is a bit too full of panache for that kind of thing.

Other than that this is pretty awesome, though. Especially the mental rock of 'Unwashed and somewhat slightly dazed', the lyrics to that one are insane, but in a good way. Then there's 'Cygnet committee', which is a ridiculously good 9 minute alt-rock thing and probably my favorite song on the album (between these two, anyway). The rest is all good, quite raw, maybe not as polished as he'd get but that's sometimes a good thing. Probably not in the upper, upper echelon of Bowie albums but not too far behind and the best stuff is as good as the best stuff on most of his records.

Awww shit, I've always LOVED God Knows I'm Good! But I hear what you're saying; he's not exactly Dylan when it comes to pulling off the down-to-Earth stuff. Loving this exercise, Rob... I may have to follow your lead today!

[RabbiSchmoiley]

Hunky Dory - great album. Life On Mars being a favorite. Very intimate album, like it was recorded on a home 4 track (not in sound, but the feel of the songs). I always heard Davy Jones of The Monkees singing the song before Quicksand, can't remember the name of it. That's my least favorite song on there.

My wife and I made our grand entrance at our wedding reception to this song. An undisputed classic; one of the best songs ever written.