Twitter was full of Bowie tweets over the weekend including this one. It got me thinking that in my little musical bubble I have never listened to a whole David Bowie album. I know all the radio Bowie playlist songs by heart but I’d never looked further. Yes, I am odd, especially as so many of my musical favourites cite Bowie as a major influence. So I’m going to put that right.
My era Bowie should have been “Let’s Dance” but I hated “China Girl” so I didn’t bother. Thankfully the Tweet that piqued my interest states that the 12 albums from “The Man Who Sold The World” to “Scary Monsters” are the greatest run of consecutive albums ever. So I’m doing one a month in 2021. I might do some “Nights In” if that doesnt bore everyone too much and if I dont run out of steam…. I’m really enjoying “TMWSTW” at the moment…..
https://twitter.com/memorialdevice/status/1347678232406056963?s=20
Already commented about this on another thread.
Enjoy.
You don’t have to like them all.
I’m not a great fan of Pinups, Diamond Dogs, or Lodger.
But a huge fan of Hunky Dory, Ziggy, Station to Station, Low (particularly) and Heroes.
There is a lot in there to love or hate.
You have to say though that DB was certainly productive in those years! You could through in The Idiot and Lust for Life too. 14 albums in 10 years.
They’re my faves, too.
I bought most of them as Ryko/EMI expanded jobbies back in 1991. Then I played them all again (in order) in 2016. My preferences had not changed in the 25 years between.
I enjoy some of the AlbumToAlbum podcasts more than I enjoy the record, so they’re a great way in.
David Bowie is my favourite artist by a country mile. Dave enjoy your adventures. @fentonsteve When I read your comment re AlbumToAlbum I thought that it was a great idea. Maybe give an album a listen and then refer to the podcast. The albumToAlbum podcasts are one of the better places to go for an ‘in’ to investigate Bowie and his albums. Thanks @slotbadger.
Another game to play is ‘spot the track on each album which is an outlier, and indicated what the next album would be like’. Hours of fun for all the family.
Ooo, oooh
Quen Bitch
1984
Secret Life of Arabia
OTTOMH
I would argue When You Rock & Roll With Me has more of the Philly soul and vocal stylings of Young Americans than 1984.
Also, Fame in relation to STS as Tiggs has often pointed out.
How about 1978’s Peter And The Wolf? Does that make 15? It would mean that in 1977 & 1978, he released Low, “Heroes”, The Idiot, Lust For Life, Lodger, Peter And The Wolf, plus two tours, one with Iggy & Isolar II.
“he” didn’t release Lust for Life and The Idiot, he’s all over them but they are Iggy albums. Also Lodger was 79. However cocaine is a hell of a drug.
But didn’t he go to Berlin to get off cocaine? Work can be addictive, too.
He spoke about this in 1993 in a distinctly ‘what-am-I-like?’ style:
“I wanted to get off drugs.
So where did I go?
Berlin….the smack capitol of Europe!
Who did I go with?
(laughing now) Iggy Pop!”
Smack isn’t noted for its enchanced work rate qualities, though…
More for Iggy than Bowie I think, not sure David was ever on smack.
Over a few days in March-April 2016 I listened all the Bowie songs in my iTunes in chronological order.
709 songs. 2 days, 5 hours, 3 minutes and 22 seconds of music.
I’m mental me.
I listened to every album he made in early 2016 also. Was going to go through the live albums after that, but didn’t make it. Whisper it softly, he wasn’t an outstanding live act, studio versions are nearly always far superior.
Don’t know about live albums so much but there’s plenty of examples of outstanding performances on youtube. Let’s Dance at Glastonbury, the BBC concert 2000, Reality tour, among others. Even the maligned David Live has it’s moments, like Moonage Daydream, 1984. Great band.
I bow to no-one in my love for the Dame, but I know what you mean about live performances, particularly when experienced in sound only. I find it occasionally annoying and dare I say grating when he ch-ch-ch-changea his accent/inflection/delivery from one line to another, often losing the grace or impact of the song in the process (particularly when he incongruously forces Bromley Dave onto a song). I feel quite dirty now…I’ve had the temerity to criticise David Bowie. You’ll all be calling me deramdaze next 😏 I’m now going to stand in a corner and think long and hard about what I’ve done.
Agree. Saw him twice in concert only (Outside and Reality tours), loved the shows especially the 2nd one, but I generally find listening to live albums hard going.
You will have a rollercoaster ride.
Pin Ups is great for what it is – a covers album – but I still like it.
I first acquired Hunky Dory in 1972 after Ziggy had been released, swiftly followed by Ziggy itself, then Aladdin Sane on the day it came out, then each album as they came. A joy from beginning to end. The one I listen to most is still Aladdin Sane but I increasingly find more to love in those I wasn’t so impressed with at the time. For example, Scary Monsters felt like a step back rather than a leap forward, but, today, the musicianship stuns me. Even the loathed eighties output has its moments. Buddha Of Suburbia was a key turning point for me, put together in just a couple of weeks, making me fall for his genius all over again and staying that way right through to the end.
If you search for David Bowie in the top right of the page, you’ll find a few Nights In and such already.
Best of luck, Dave. I do hope you enjoy the trip!
I’m gonna forecast now that Aladdin Sane and Scary Monsters will be Dave’s favourites come year’s end. Looking forward to your reviews, Dave.
I came to Diamond Dogs very late having somehow missed it on my journey. I think it’s the best of all his “glam” period. I find both Ziggy and Aladdin Sane patchy (although AS the track is possibly the best thing he ever did).
I got on the bus for Ch-ch-changes, either via Johnny Walker or Fluff Freeman, enthralled at the direction the Space Oddity chappie had gone, and bought Hunky Dory. Then bought Ziggy and sold it swiftly as he became too popular and all over TOTP. (Yup, I was a precocious rocksnob even then, maybe especially then.) Didn’t like Aladdin Sane one bit and hated Pin Ups, as I felt he desecrated the songs. Didn’t bother with what I saw and assumed were his disco years, not pricking up my ears again until Heroes, liking the run of singles from the Berlin years. Read more about him than listened, acquiring a Bowie loving wife along the way. She loved Let’s Dance and, you know, so did I, and we wasted a a lot of dosh for a poor set of seats at Wembley for the atrocious Glass Spider tour. Lost that wife and the next one liked her disco and led me to begin to accept Diamond Dogs etc.
Fast forward and I have most of his records available to me, via the very pro-Bowie 3rd Mrs Path, and my OCD of winkling into old corridors only fleetingly investigated. And came on here, with all you uber-fans and acolytes. So bought The Next Day, and it was, OK, yes, quite good, even if the wife hated it. Blackstar was and is terrific. So, a long way of saying, bring these ‘nights in’ on, am looking forward to edifying my frankly schizophrenic opinions on someone I know a lot about, have a lot of records by but, bar the singles, probably don’t really get that much of.
I was kind of opposite to you, Retropath – I started listening as a direct result of seeing all the glam stompers on TOTP. So my first LPs (and still in my top 5) were Aladdin Sane and Diamond Dogs, and then backwards to TMWSTW. I missed the soul period completely (by then I was about 14/15 and well into prog & Zep/Sabbath, etc) – then picked up again when John Peel played both sides of the Heroes LP on his show. I got completely hooked on the so-called Berlin trilogy – and we were off on the rollercoaster again…found Station to Station via the Stage album (yellow vinyl copy picked up at a student union sale) and the live version of the title track (still a favourite). Then a gap after Let’s Dance and I picked up again with Heathen – this site and the advocacy therein has pointed out the gems that I’d missed…
Ziggy for me, every time, and by some distance. The others all have their moments for sure, but as a whole album it is brilliant from start to finish.
This is going to be hilarious if Dave ends up hating all these albums.
Could happen. From reading his posts, Dave seems like an unabashed pop fan (absolutely not a slur) and some of Bowie’s stuff just isn’t in that bracket. Even on one album he can go from pop to prog to industrial noise and back again…
Like Lodey vs the Fall. Perhaps the review will all be in Italics.
Space Oddity (the reissue) in 1975 blew my tiny mind and I think that was when he gathered me in. I was only 8 so not exactly flush with disposable income. Always a big deal if he was on TOTP or any other TV show. My actual record buying I think started with the Changesonebowie compilation on cassette and then Scary Monsters – all the while frequently “borrowing” my brother’s copy of Low. Hunky Dory and Ziggy followed, then Changestwobowie, Baals Hymn, This is not America and then I got to buy more as I got older.
Personally I am not a big fan of the Young Americans period. I am also irritated by the way the sax honks through many of his songs.
Entire albums are less of a thing with Bowie I think. He was always doing something else too.
There’s no sax on that record. You need to have a word with your neighbour.
I’m clearly missing a reference here. Ah durnt get it…
Ziggy Stardust and Low are my favourites followed by Hunky Dory and Aladdin Sane.
Pin Ups is hit and miss but when Sorrow was released as a single I relentlessly played the b side which was Amsterdam. A Jacques Brel song that was made for Bowie to sing. Brilliant.
Kind of lost track of his releases after Let’s Dance until The Next Day which is brilliant and Blackstar which is harrowing but not entirely sure is entertaining.
1. Ziggy *****
2 Hunky Dory *****
3 Diamond Dogs *****
4 Station to Station *****
5 Low *****
6 “Heroes” ****
7 Aladdin Sane ****
8 Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) ****
9 Young Americans ***
10 Lodger ***
11 Pinups **1/2
12 TMWSTW **1/2
And my main “Candidate” (get it?) for an equal or better run in the (mainly) 70s…
1. Tonight’s the Night *****
2. On the Beach *****
3. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere *****
4. Rust Never Sleeps *****
5. Zuma *****
6. After the Goldrush *****
7. Harvest ****
8. Time Fades Away ****
9. Neil Young ***1/2
10. Comes a Time ***1/2
11. American Stars n Bars ***
12 Long May You Run **1/2
Amsterdam is great, I loved the way it stuck out like a sore thumb on the old Ryko Pin-Ups.
One of my 2020 projects was to sell my Bowie LPs/CDs/Box Sets. Why? I took a look at the upcoming Bowie releases and I realised I was about to buy even more stuff that I’d probably never play, I never played any of The Dame’s music, not any more. I had every album both on CD & LP (where available) taking up shelf space, space I needed for albums I do play. So I sold the lot on eBay & Discogs, selling each album cheaper than any other seller. All I was left with are some compilations which I also don’t play. I think someone said I’d regret selling them, they were wrong, I don’t regret it at all.
Why did I buy the albums in the first place? I thought I liked Bowie, I did play the albums at first and kept adding to the collection before I realised I didn’t like his music anymore. There was much better music to investigat.
Wot! I’m not so anti-Sainted Dave.
He’s like Aston Villa, kinda always there. Aston Villa, The One Show, Snooker, Sainted Dave.
And, remember, I know someone he was in the same class with at school!
Whether that means I’ll lump on when Reissue Sainted Dave (April, isn’t it?) next strolls around is, however, debatable.