Where are we now? (David Bowie) (LP 1057-1059)

David Bowie  Heathen (CD, ISO/ Columbia Records, 2002) ***** 

David Bowie  The Next Day (CD, ISO/ Columbia Records, 2013) **** 

David Bowie  Blackstar (CD, Columbia Records, 2016) ***** 

Genre: Pop/ rock 

Places I remember: Vinyl Countdown; The Warehouse

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: (You Will) Set The World On Fire (The Next Day)

Gear costume: Everyone says "Hi" (Heathen); Lazarus (Blackstar) 

Active compensatory factors: I found the Bowie catalogue from the nineties onwards a bit of a blur until he re-emerged with The Next Day in 2013, and, of course I bought Blackstar after seeing the Lazarus video and after his death was announced a few days after he released the album.

Blackstar floored me. I'd enjoyed The Next Day and played it a few times in the years between it and Blackstar, but his final album is a whole nuther level of extraordinary on so many levels.

While Heathen is superb (I back tracked to that after realizing I'd missed a gem), as it stands as a culmination of all his powers to that point, Blackstar launches a whole new version of Bowie, and then he's gone.

His passing for me is like Lennon's. I can't believe we live on Earth without him.

For more years than Lennon, Bowie soundtracked my life off and on from 1971's Hunky Dory (one of my first purchases) until Blackstar in 2016. That is one amazing career in music, with music constantly evolving along the way and maintaining an unbelievable quality.

Where do they all belong? R.I.P. David. A one off.

Up the hill backwards (David Bowie) (LP 1026 -1029)

David Bowie  Low (CD, RCA Records, 1977) *****  

David Bowie  Heroes (CD, RCA Records, 1977) ****  

David Bowie  Lodger (CD, RCA Records, 1979) ***

David Bowie  Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (CD, RCA Records, 1980) **** 

Genre: Pop/rock

Places I remember: Kings Recording (Abu Dhabi); Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Subterranean (Low)

Gear costume: Sound and Vision (Low); Heroes; Ashes To Ashes (Scary Monsters) 

Active compensatory factors: It's taken me a while to get back to the Bowie albums. That's thanks to a few circulations through the vinyl albums which delayed my return. That previous Bowie entry was August 2021.

The good thing about that is I can re-examine the German albums (Low to Lodger) with a bit more distance. 

I can see why he returned to the Heroes artwork for his re-emergence with The Next Day in 2013. The experimentation on the 1977 albums is outstanding and clearly something he thought The Next Day echoed in some way.

There is still commercial brilliance on the albums - Sound and Vision, Heroes, Boys Keep Swinging,  but the main feature on display is Bowie's questing spirit for new combinations of sounds.

It's taken me a while to embrace these albums, and without The Next Day and Blackstar I doubt I would have actually got there. 

Low gets an extra star as it's my fav of this bunch but it's also the bravest one as he ditched the Station To Station persona completely.

Lodger gets three stars from me because it's a bit cacophonous to my ears - maybe it would be better on vinyl?

I indicated in the 2021 post that I was going to look at the 1977 to 1980 output so here's the final one of the four - kinda sitting outside it, but also kinda linked because after it he went full bore pop again.

1980's Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) synthesizers all that experimentation and largely applies it skillfully to his commercial instincts. Ashes To Ashes and Fashion spring spectacularly from those antecedents. Even Major Tom makes a return!

Where do they all belong? Only three more Bowie CDs in the collection. Might be a year or so before I get there, but it will be worth it!

This aint rock'n'roll, this is genocide (David Bowie) (LP 650 - 653)

David Bowie  The Man Who Sold The World (CD, Warner Music, 1970) *** 

David Bowie  Pinups (CD, Warner Music, 1973) *** 

David Bowie  Aladdin Sane (CD, Parlophone Records, 1973) ****

David Bowie  Diamond Dogs (CD, EMI, 1974) *****

Genre: Pop rock

Places I remember: Fives (Leigh on sea); The Warehouse; JB HiFi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Rebel Rebel (DD); The Jean Genie (AS)

Gear costume: Where Have All The Good Times Gone (Pinups)

Active compensatory factors: It seems appropriate to group these albums together as there is definitely a glam sheen over the period.

That's largely because of Mick Ronson's influence as well as the prettiest star. His guitar is all over these albums and it's a glorious sound. Rest in peace Mick!

The glam party starts with the Man Who Sold The World, although it has a foot in the heavy rock vibe of 1970. 

The title song was a hit for Lulu at the time (she does a great version) and, later, Nirvana did a memorable cover during their unplugged set.

Aladdin Sane and Pinups share the same year and have a similar approach - classic pop; Drive In Saturday is a stand out.

And Diamond Dogs is the culmination of all those sounds from the previous 4 years. Bowie was very prolific during this period (which, of course, also includes Hunky Dory and Ziggy).

Diamond Dogs as an album has a real cohesiveness, thanks to the 1984 storyline. Compared to Aladdin Sane, there is also a different heaviosity at work through the album in songs like We Are The Dead/ Big Brother/ Chant/ Candidate.

Where do they all belong? Another four albums from 1977 to 1980 next (he didn't let up!)

Fame (David Bowie) (LP 461)

David Bowie Young Americans  (Vinyl, RCA, 1975) ***

Genre: British pop/rock 

Places I remember: One of my last purchases from the RCA Music Club, delivered to my new home in Mt Roskill South.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Right

Gear costume: Young Americans, Fame 

Active compensatory factors: The appearance of John Lennon was my primary reason for buying this album.

Being a completist is tough at times. I was not a huge Bowie fan and his fascination with soul/RnB wasn't my favourite Bowie period. Even he called it 'plastic soul'.

Across The Universe and Fame are the two tracks to include Lennon. Fame, of course, was a huge hit single.

Listening to it again is an interesting experience. My impressions of it haven't changed at all. It still sounds cold (as in lacking warmth) and I still dislike his version of Across The Universe.

Where do they all belong? An oddity in the collection. Ziggy, Diamond Dogs and Hunky Dory are still the three Bowie albums I play the most.

Freak out in a moonage daydream (David Bowie) (LP 424)

David Bowie The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (Vinyl, RCA, 1972) *****

Genre: English pop rock 

Places I remember: The RCA Record Club supplied me with this, as they did Hunky Dory at around the same time.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Starman

Gear costume:  Suffragette City  

Active compensatory factors: I was obsessed with this record in 1972. 

My world view was severely limited in 1972, my 4th form year at Mt Albert Grammar. Bowie really was from Mars as far as I was concerned. So was England. A mystical place that contained my cousin, some Beatles (Lennon was in New York by then), Arsenal football club and David Bowie (in physical form at least).

The music was/is, of course, a revelation. I would listen to it and gaze at the cover in my bedroom and wonder about who K West was, wonder about a wet London street in an England that had old brick buildings (I knew that from Look And Learn), and wonder about how a creature like Bowie had beamed down to Earth.

Starman is what started all this Bowie wonder stuff. That and a poster in Sounds magazine (a Japanese pressing of Hunky Dory, on the left, used the same image) that I had on my bedroom wall (I wonder what my mother thought of that - she never said but I bet there were interesting thoughts in her head).

Then, when I heard the album, every song was like a bucket of cold water over the head! So unique and so right.

For many people, Bowie created an outlet and a basis upon which they could be their true selves. That wasn't my situation, but this album did open up the creative possibilities for me and showed me that it's okay to change and develop and make brave choices.

Where do they all belong? I didn't stick around for Aladdin Sane for some bizarre reason (I loved Jean Genie and bought the single). My next Bowie purchase wouldn't be until the Lennon appearance on Young Americans.

Quicksand (David Bowie) (LP 354)

David Bowie Hunky Dory (Vinyl, RCA, 1971) ****

Genre: English pop/rock

Places I remember: RCA Victor Record Club (yes, it arrived in my letterbox back in 1972 with the el cheapo cover as pictured)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Andy Warhol 




Gear costume:  Life On Mars, Queen Bitch 

Active compensatory factors: Apart from budget concerns, I have no idea why NZ went for this crappy cover (light brown annotated lithograph like picture and same image and writing on front and back). The copy appears to be written by Bowie (I played some guitar...) but the crossings out and the amateur lay out (left and right is cut off on each side) add up to tacky!

Hunky Dory is a weird mixture of styles that somehow hang together. Queen Bitch looks forward to Ziggy, there are name checks for zowie Bowie, Dylan and Warhol (and Lennon's on sale again on Mars, sic), The Bewlay Brothers is spooky, Kooks is kooky, and so on. 

But it's Bowie, so it all works!


Where do they all belong? Ziggy was itching to emerge from that yonder star.

Turn and face the strange (David Bowie)

Taking a break from the single countdown for the very first time (500 posts - quite a feat) for a sidebar post on David Bowie.

There have been some mightily impressive obituaries to the shock announcement of Ziggy's demise.

Unlike other rock stars who abuse their bodies and talents, David Bowie seemed somehow immortal. The other worldly qualities that saw him fall to earth in Brixton in humble circumstances remained with him until the last breath (and beyond).

Because of my age (58), my own youth and subsequent life has been sound tracked by Bowie songs starting in 1972 with Starman and the re release of Space Oddity. Although I need to point out that I'm not a Bowie obsessive, so I have a large number of his albums but not everything.

I did buy The Next Day on it's release and will definitely grab a copy of Blackstar when I get back to NZ in February.

The Guardian obit ended with this Bowie quote which I have copied to this post - sums up so much about the playful, intelligent, artful man whose death has diminished Planet Earth.

“My entire career, I’ve only really worked with the same subject matter. The trousers may change, but the actual words and subjects I’ve always chosen to write with are things to do with isolation, abandonment, fear and anxiety, all of the high points of one’s life.”