David Bowie

[Giuseppe Zangara]

Accents are rarely noticable when singing because most Brit singers are trying to appeal to an American audience. And "Changes" sounds nothing like Dylan. Weird.

 

I was looking at Pitchfork's 100 Best Albums of the 1970s list again, recently. I still think it's the best of those kind of lists they've done, but I'd forgotten just how low (har har) Hunky Dory ranked. Fuck yeah, it's the best thing he's ever done. Which is saying a lot.

 

One more thing: how does an avowed anglophile like Kinetic not know that "gash" can be used pejoratively?

[Edwin MacPhisto]

Re Bowie first sides: It could just as easily be Ziggy. I find it really hard to pick between "Changes" and "Five Years," "Oh You Pretty Things" and "Starman." "Kooks" is a slight weak spot for me, but I guess you could say the same of "It Ain't Easy."

[Giuseppe Zangara]

I love "Kooks." If you're gonna pick a weak spot from side one of that album, "Eight Line Poem" is right there, sleepwalking between "Oh! You Pretty Things" and "Life on Mars?" Whatta downer.

 

By the way, Tindersticks do a fine cover of "Kooks." They make that song sound like death.

[Edwin MacPhisto]

I love me some "Eight Line Poem." It's a perfect transitional piece and gets right at me.

 

"Kooks" isn't bad by any stretch. It's just probably a 6 or 7 on my scale while everything else is a 9 or 10.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

I would be fine with "Eight Line Poem" as a transitional piece, but one that's track three on an 11-song, 40-minute album? Who needs a break then?

[Edwin MacPhisto]

I also think it's a great little twangy song on its own, too. I may also just be a grandma who likes his breaks.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I think the worst track on that album is "Andy Warhol."

 

My favorite varies when I'm listening to it. Probably "The Bewlay Brothers" averages the best.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I'll probably always like Low more. Eno's a genius, the record is totally unique, and despite being economical timewise, feels like two different albums. The hooks are there in spades, with the opener, and tracks like "Always Crashing in the Same Car" and "Be my Wife."

 

I get the piano line from the latter in my head at least once a week.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

Eno's involvement in Low has always been overstated. Yes, he appears on the album and the work he did on his own throughout the 70s was definitely on Bowie's mind during recording, but the overall execution is Bowie's and producer Tony Visconti's.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I wouldn't say it's overstated. Look at how different the Berlin albums are from the much of the rest of his material.

[Red Baron]

The only reason why Changes reminds me of Dylan is because of Bowies vocals. Or maybe its just such a Dylan-esque song.

[Copper Feel]

The vocals on Changes remind me more of Sinatra (the verses anyway) than Dylan, Bowie completley croons it.

[Annabelle]

re: CHANGES

 

some of you needs to clean out your ears. dylan? sinatra? it sounds like bowie, you fucking queers.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

I wouldn't say it's overstated. Look at how different the Berlin albums are from the much of the rest of his material.

I acknowledged the influence, but have you heard Bowie's Station to Station? It's the album he did before Low; while sounding neither like Low nor Eno, you can hear that he was heading in that direction.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I own that one. Heading in that direction, sure, but it seems to me Eno's involvement tweaked those ideas to further the whole presentation and make the experimentation successful on Low. That album never drags for me, whereas I get tired of Station to Station if I hear it too much.

 

Basically, I think Low is made up of smaller pieces that add up to a great finished product. Station to Station is all big pieces that don't quite gel.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

Oh, I definitely prefer Low to Station to Station—the former is my favorite Bowie after Hunky Dory—but I'm saying the pieces were there for Low, without being very Eno-y.

 

Station to Station drags in spots, sure, but the highs are so very high. The title track, particularly during the "it's too late" conclusion, gives me chills.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Come to think of it, name a back to back to back grouping of albums better than Station to Station, Low, and Heroes. There's some I'd rank higher, but that's an incredible stretch of creativity.

[Copper Feel]

Bowie has better himself with Hunky Dory - The Rise and Fall Of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars - Alladin Sane.

[notJames]

Just got the Singles Collection, and I'm definitely interested in getting more of his albums.

 

Side note: Nick Lowe put out an album called "Bowi" because he jokingly said that Bowie's "Low" was his name without the "e", so he followed suit.

[Si82]

I picked up "Hunky Dory" today and I'm looking forward to giving it a listen. I've also picked up "Heathen", "Reality" and "Best of Bowie" in sales. Haven't given any of them a full listen yet but I'll post my thoughts when I do.

 

To think, at the start of the week I only owned one Bowie album, "Ziggy Stardust".

[5_moves_of_doom]

After listening to Low for the first time in a while last night, I have concluded that the following are my top five Bowie albums:

 

1.) Low

2.) Hunky Dory

3.) Heroes

4.) Ziggy Stardust

5.) Station to Station

 

EDIT: I never really did like Aladdin Sane too much, for reasons that I can't really explain.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I'd put mine in the exact same order. Weird. The only exception might be Scary Monsters over Station to Station.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

Hunky Dory

Low

Scary Monsters

Aladdin Sane

TRAFOZSATSFM

 

Still never checked out Lodger. What kind of fan am I?

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

The kind that likes Hunky Dory more than Low.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

This is supposed to be a really good book:

 

[Annabelle]

i haven't heard heroes yet. too busy listening to hunky dory.

 

mine would be

 

hunky dory

ziggy

low

alladin sane

scary monsters

[Giuseppe Zangara]

Anyone here see The Man Who Fell to Earth? Criterion put out a nice two disc set of it.

[Kinetic]

I would have difficulty rating Low over Hunky Dory based totally on the ambient side 2, which is interesting in theory (and pretty ballsy for a major commercial artist to do) but not something I'm compelled to listen to all that often. My list would go:

 

Hunky Dory

Low

Ziggy Stardust

"Heroes"

Station to Station

 

And, really, I'm no anglophile. My interest in British culture begins and ends with rock music. I think I posted something a while back about meeting this girl who said I looked like Ray Davies and referred to herself as "an unrepentant anglophile." Maybe that's where the confusion is coming from.

 

I fucked her.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

I thought "rock music" was assumed.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

I mean, who cares about anything else the English have done, outside of beer.