OK, so we’re gonna be trying something new here and that it’s something that I’m gonna be calling Decade Reviews. What that basically means is any band that has a certain number of albums (usually a legacy act) we will get broken up by decade. The first of this is none other than David Bowie and since he started in the 60s, this one will be on his 60s/70’s albums. So let’s take a look……..
60’s
David Bowie- to be honest I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I’m sure I have heard his songs before, but I couldn’t recall them off the top of my head unless you played them for me first. Now with this album, it has a very kind of folk music sound as well as some orchestral and music hall sounds. It’s a very interesting record, especially for a debut album. I’ll go ahead and give it 8/10.
Standouts: Uncle Arthur, There Is A Happy Land, Join The Gang
Space Oddity- so I guess I have heard the title track to this album and you know what?? I actually like it. It definitely has a lot of psychedelic elements and folk music which makes for a good album. How’s whether or not I would go back and revisit this one. I’m really not sure but probably not. However I will say it’s a great example of someone that reinvents themselves so early on. I’ll give this one 8/10
Standouts: Janine, Letter To Hermione, God Knows I’m Good
70’s
The Man Who Sold The World- so again another album that is a departure from the previous. This one goes for more of a hard rock meets blues sound. The lyrics are much darker as they explore themes like religion, insanity, technology, and war. I must say I actually really enjoyed this album and much like a lot of 70s hard rock albums it has that kind of classic rock sound. I’ll give it 9/10.
Standouts: Black Country Rock, Running Gun Blues, Saviour Machine
Hunky Dory- so since the last album was more of a Guitar driven album, this one goes for more of a piano even orchestral sound. Well, I enjoyed this particular one, I think I actually would’ve preferred the last album. I don’t know it just this one didn’t really catch my ear as much, but I do respect the fact that he is going in a different direction with this record. A good record but probably not when I would revisit and I’m still going to give it 8/10.
Standouts: Fill Your Heart, Eight Line Poem, Song For Bob Dylan
The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars- this is one of those definitive Bowie albums. I mean, I don’t know much about his music, but I have heard this album being mentioned countless times (hell there’s even a hotel named a Hotel Ziggy in LA and if you haven’t gone to a Cobalt Presents show there you absolutely should) and after doing some very light research, it turns out that Ziggy is David Bowie’s alter ego. Which also means that this album is a loose concept record as well as a rock opera. I don’t know what can I say that has been said about this album already? It’s a classic for a reason and I thoroughly enjoyed this record so I have no choice but to give it 10/10.
Standouts: Starman, Hang On To Yourself, Moonage Daydream
Aladdin Sane- much like the last record. This is one of those that gets brought up when talking about his music. I mean, come on the album cover as iconic and for good reason. This album does have more pianos and more saxophones, which does make for a very interesting follow up. It definitely feels like a good companion to Ziggy and I have to give this 10/10.
Standouts: Cracked Actor, The Prettiest Star, The Jean Genie
Pin Ups- who knew that Bowie would actually do a covers album but here we are. I guess if you want to hear his take On songs from bands like The Yardbirds, Pink Floyd, or The Who then check this album out. It’s fine. It’s good, but I wouldn’t exactly call it essential listening. I’ll give it 8/10.
Standouts: See Emily Play, I Can’t Explain, Everything’s Alright
Diamond Dogs- this album is an amalgamation of scrapped projects that Bowie was going to do. Some of those include things like a musical adaptation of Ziggy as well as an adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984. It’s an interesting record to say the least but it’s one that I really couldn’t get into and it took me a couple of times to appreciate it more. This album may still be in the glam rock realm but there’s almost a bit of soul and funk to this one. It’s done really well and I’ll give this 7.5/10.
Standouts: Sweet Thing, Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me, Big Brother
Young Americans- well since he’s always reinventing himself, just wanna explore more of his soul/R&B side. I’m not the one that usually listen to this kind of music, but I actually enjoy this a lot more than I would’ve thought. It’s just something soothing and comforting about this record and I feel like I’ve heard songs off of it before when I was younger, so that could be why. I’ll give this one 8.5/10.
Standouts: Young Americans, Right, Fame
Station To Station- I feel like this is one of those albums that doesn’t go in a completely different direction as the previous record, but rather further develops that sound. I’m not really sure how to describe this one but again another one of those quintessential David Bowie records. I’m definitely giving this one 10/10
Standouts: Golden Years, TVC15, Station To Station
Low- I will say when it comes to the band Testament, this is definitely one of their best albums. I mean, the guitar work is amazing as is Chuck’s vocals. I definitely think that they should play more songs off this album live. No but in all seriousness, this album experiments with things like electronic and there’s even a bit of avant-garde rock mixed in. One thing that I didn’t notice too is that the songs on this record are also pretty short and this album really only clocks in at about 38 minutes or so. Again, much like the previous record this is another one of the better albums of his to come out of the 70s. It’s a very weird sounding record almost like a dystopian sound, yet it oddly works with the aforementioned styles of music. I’ll be giving this one another 10/10.
Standouts: What In The World, Warswaza, Speed Of Life
Heroes- so the last album had more of a darker dystopian feel and sound, this record builds off of that, but is the positive version. I feel like it was meant to kind of make you sad or whatever this one is sort of meant to make you happier. Well, I did enjoy this record and I do like this record, I just don’t think it was maybe quite as strong as Low. Still though it’s a good follow up and it’s sort of a nice contrast to the previous record. I’ll go ahead and give it 9/10.
Standouts: Joe The Lion, Sense Of Doubt, Sons Of The Silent Age
Lodger- so I didn’t realize that this album is the final part of his Berlin trilogy. The trilogy originated with his move from Europe to Los Angeles with singer Iggy Pop which was to rid themselves of their drug addictions. This also explains why the albums included a lot of sounds from what’s called Krautrock (German experimental rock) as well as ambient sounds. Now, both the albums Low and Heroes experimented with more electronic sounds and this one doesn’t really do that. In a way I would say that this one’s probably more accessible than those two records but when you listen to all three of them back to back, it’s a nice flow. I’ll go ahead and give this one 7/10
Standouts: Red Sails, Move On, Red Money
And so this ends the first part of my look into David Bowie. There are definitely some great albums here and I can see why they’re held in such high regard. The albums were certainly a lot darker than I would’ve thought and to be honest I didn’t really know what to think of his music as I haven’t really given much thought into listening to the albums. I enjoyed what I heard, and I love the fact that he reinvent himself on most of these albums. It’s really annoying. I have to listen to the same album over and over again so I can see why he is so iconic just based off of this decade alone. Stay tuned for my look into his albums from the 80s! Since this is my first broken up review, I’ll go ahead and rank these albums and then when I finally finish all of his albums, that will be one comprehensive ranking.
Final Grade: A
Album Rankings:
- Ziggy Stardust
- Station To Station
- Aladdin Sane
- Low
- The Man Who Sold The World
- Heroes
- Young Americans
- Pin Ups
- Hunky Dory
- Diamond Dogs
- Space Oddity
- David Bowie
- Lodger
Sinister Reviews 