Bowie is an important journey for any music fan. Every album, a singular artistic statement - each, revolutionary in it's day. Glam, Soul, New Wave, Metal, Electronica, Post-Punk, Avante-garde, EDM, Gospel, Pop, Ambient - Bowie was a master of it all. Keep going, so much to discover.
I would check out "Station to Station" beautiful, dark, and twisted album... Bowie was cooked out of his mind during the production of the album (coke being his drug of choice, it also being responsible for his emaciated gauntness but I digress...) Bowie actually said about the album in later interviews how it was the darkest time of his life, he lived in LA and had access to mountains of powder so much so he can't even remember making the damn record !!!... Not only does it feature Bowies most nefarious alter ego "The Thin White Duke" who often romanticized Nazi regalia and fascism in general (Which he was high on white china all the time, so you can't really hold it against him) but it also features his longest song (the title track), at least a ten minute listen... So check it out very fascinating... (Edit: after this album he moved to Berlin to get clean with a certain iggy pop and started working on an extremely experimental trilogy of albums promptly named "The Berlin Trilogy" so yes Bowie kicked the addiction...(Check those albums out too !!!)
The string arangments are by Mick Ronson the guitarist in the Spiders. He was classicly trained and incredibly multi talented. My all time favorite guitarist. Saw him live playing in Ian Hunters band in the late 80's. Sadly he died from liver cancer about 5 years later at age 46. A tragic loss to music.
To me "Life on Mars" is one of the greatest songs of the 20th century. It's simply a masterpiece. He played "Quicksand" live when I saw him live on Aprill 11th 2004 on the "Reality" tour. I felt so lucky to see that one live as I don't think he played it live too often.
This is the sound of a budding artist that shows his versatility and surrounds himself with a great pianist (Rick Wakeman) and a solid band. The last song (Bewley Brothers) is about David's half brother Terry that was institutionalized. Lou Reed influence comes out in Queen Bitch. What a great album. Station to Station and Diamond Dogs are the ones I would recommend. BTW LOW is a very underrated album.
Hi! Great review! I always love when a "reactor" suddenly realizes a song he knew and appreciated for long was actually from Bowie :) : your reaction was priceless :D ! I'd suggest next time you react to "Station to Station", from 1976 : it's 3 years after "Ziggy Stardust" and it shows how much he evolved from the Glam formula that made him famous at first, and pointed him towards his later experimentations in "Low", "Heroes" and "Lodger". A perfect blend of rock, funk and avant-garde pop, imo. And after that, "1. Outside" (1995), once again to hear the evolution from the 70s to the 90s. And then, you'll be ready for his last album, "Blackstar" (2016)...
Great reaction! Hunky Dory is a brilliant album. I prefer its weirdness to Ziggy, but that’s just me. On Andy Warhol he was going for an acoustic Velvet Underground sound and Queen Bitch is straight up V.U. White Light returned with thanks as he wrote on the albums back cover. Several songs like Quicksand and The Bewlay Brothers are very lyrically dense and having the lyrics on hand makes a difference. Once you start exploring all the references he packs in you’ll find you’re falling down the Bowie rabbit hole. A great place to be. I’d love to see you react to StationtoStation. Recorded in the autumn of 1975 in L.A. under mountains of cocaine it’s a monumental achievement. Only 4 years after Hunky Dory you wouldn’t think it was the same person. Ch ch changes indeed.
Ohhh, yay ! Welcome back to the ever interesting world of David's amazing music.❤Oh yes! Five years has my favourite line of any song ever..Think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour, drinking milkshakes cold and long . Smiling waving and looking so fine. Don't think you knew you were in this song.
As someone who has listened and researched bowie's entire discography, I can tell you with confidence that the Berlin trilogy will absolutely change how you hear his entire catalogue. The Berlin trilogy consists of Low, Heroes, and Lodger (in that order), and gives such outlook on his struggles throughout the seventies. He moved out of LA and went to Berlin to get away from his drug habits (a cocaine addiction that was so bad he would hallucinate, starve himself, and stay awake for weeks on end. He weighed a minimum of 90lbs and had to get a piece of cartilage implanted in his nose, because the cocaine was eating it away.), but when he moved to Berlin he gained a terrible depression and alcohol addiction. This trilogy, along with Young Americans and Station to Station, completely changed the way I heard the rest of his music. It opened my eyes to the true genius of Bowie's lyricism. As in the seventies, this drug addicted behavior was normalized for artists like Bowie, but I truly feel that it had a completely different trajectory on his work compared to these other artists.
@@jack_rabbit totally! I just found out that a museum in London just acquired the rights to most of Bowie's estate & they're planning to display projects that weren't fully realized for the first time ever! So I'm praying we will finally know what he & eno were planning for that trilogy 🤞
Major Bowie fan here, I'm 53 and he was a really significant part of my teenage and early adult years. I am still a massive fan, but my tastes have changed slightly. It was great to see you react to Hunky Dory as it was one I listened to over and over (sometimes many times a day). There are loads of great suggestions here, and it very much depends on where you are in your 'musical life journey' as to what will resonate with you. The Man Who Sold The World is a great place to go to next, as it's actually earlier than Hunky Dory, and way more experimental. Loads of heavy rock and thrashing guitars. And then for me, it would be Heroes and Station to Station, and Low. The Berlin era. After that, you could lose yourself in Scary Monsters and Supercreeps.
Nice one Jack , this is my favourite Bowie albumn , and it is an album in the true sense of the word it’s a journey, through a landscape of his artistry . Even the remastered version has that analogue warmth , a sound like sand and glue ❤
Ronson made his guitar sing. In his hands the instument had a voice. He could play beautiful, melodic soulfull lines that were very intimate or the heaviest power chords and totaly rock out.
For my money, Hunky Dory is Bowie's best album. Some of his most personal tunes. I bought it for my 13 yo niece at Christmas. Not surprisingly, she's became a big Bowie fan. Wears Bowie t-shirts. Now she's converting her gf's. The legend lives on.
Bowie made so many great albums. Ones I'd recommend are "Aladdin Sane", "Diamond Dogs", "Station to Station", "Scarey Monsters and Super Creeps", "Blackstar". Those are all fantastic and there are lots of others I didn't mention.
Yo! Terrific reaction, as always. Bowie is the king. Just a side note, in case you didn’t already know, (which I doubt): The Smile released Wall of Eyes today! May be a perfect time for a good listening. Probably a lot of interest right now, and you might be able to get more eyes- or, uh, ears- on your channel. :)
Such a shame that most people only ever get to hear Bowie's hit singles. As good as some of those singles are, for my money, most of his best songs are album tracks that they'll never get to experience. On this one album, you have absolute classics like Quicksand and The Bewlay Brothers, as well as the three tribute tracks (Andy Warhol, Queen Bitch and Song for Bob Dylan). So many great albums, especially from the 1970s (listen to them all!), but of his later work the stand-out one for me would be 1. Outside. Well worth adding to your list.
