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[Lemurnator]

I made a thread awhile back about how my opinion quickly changed about David Bowie. I went from thinking he was a glam flash in the pan of the 70s and 80s to a very talented songwriter and musician. I still have retained that opinion but have come to a crossroad when it comes to the sound of his music.

Of all the Bowie albums I have those are the only two I like. The other two are Heros and Low, and I'm not a huge fan of either of them.

I'm more of a fan of the more melodic, brighter, less electronic Bowie. Does that aspect of his sound pretty much end with Ziggy Stardust or is it carried over into any of his other albums IE: Aladdin Sane? Is Space Oddity a good album? I loved Ground Control to Major Tom.

 

[enjoy bell woods]

Space Oddity is "Ground Control to Major Tom."

 

[Crag Dweller]

If you haven't yet, give this album a shot:

Let's Dance

 

[Lemurnator]

Space Oddity is "Ground Control to Major Tom."

So is Space Oddity the title track of the album, or just a track? Is the album it's on good and well rounded?

 

[gigapower]

How could you not like Outside? Its filled with great fucking songs.

Bowie albums you must own:
Hunky Dory
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
Aladdin Sane
Diamond Dogs
Young Americans
Station to Station
Low
Heroes
Scary Monsters
Lets Dance
Outside
Earthling

Go forth and buy.

 

[gigapower]

So is Space Oddity the title track of the album, or just a track? Is the album it's on good and well rounded?

Its his second album, its ok. Nowhere near the quality of his later work like his "Berlin Trilogy"

 

[Star Power]

Other albums in the same vein as Ziggy:

Hunky Dory (more stripped down than Ziggy)
The Man Who Solf the World
Alladin Sane (though it's much more 'cabaret' and 'camp'... judging from your posts it'll probably be too much for you)
Diamond Dogs (more hard rocking, takes the pretense of Ziggy to another level)


Then of course you have latter-era bowie:

Reality
Hours

Both are sort of rocking, singer songwriter ballads stuff like that..

The other two are Heros and Low, and I'm not a huge fan of either of them.

It figures you wouldn't like Bowie's "experimental"/"best" period..

 

[Ollie Pooch]

'outside' is fucking awesome.

 

[gigapower]

It figures you wouldn't like Bowie's "experimental"/"best" period..

Star Power might you be the long lost brother I always knew I had but never could find him, as I thought the same thing when I read that. If you don't like Bowie's albums from 1970 to 1985 you just don't like music plain and simple.

 

[Lemurnator]

Other albums in the same vein as Ziggy:

Hunky Dory (more stripped down than Ziggy)
The Man Who Solf the World
Alladin Sane (though it's much more 'cabaret' and 'camp'... judging from your posts it'll probably be too much for you)
Diamond Dogs (more hard rocking, takes the pretense of Ziggy to another level)


Then of course you have latter-era bowie:

Reality
Hours

Both are sort of rocking, singer songwriter ballads stuff like that..



It figures you wouldn't like Bowie's "experimental"/"best" period..

It's not that I don't like them. I just don't like them as much as I liked Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust. I like Bowies voice and his voice in Heros is usually an undertone to a whole bunch of other shit that's going on.

I'm sorry my opinion differs from yours. :rolleyes I just don't have as good of a time listening to Low and Heros as I did with Ziggy and Hunky Dory. I like the guitar, and the production.

I haven't listened to Low all the way through yet so that's still up in the air.

 

[gigapower]

If you don't like Aladdin Sane and Diamond Dogs then something is wrong with your ears as they are the closest to what you are looking for. That is thing about Bowie, most of his albums are different from the last which is one of the reasons why I love listening to him.

 

[Lemurnator]

I have to listen to Aladdin Sane and Diamond Dogs first.

 

[White Man]

Station to Station is the best Bowie album. It's so bipolar. It goes from over-the-top craziness to penance-style soul searching. And somewhere along the line a chick gets eaten by a TV.

The title, by the way, isn't a reference to TV channels or radio stations,a s many people seem to think. It's referencing the stations of the cross. Bowie was just that drugged out at the time.

Thin White Duke > all other Bowie personas.

EDIT: Diamond Dogs is his worst album of the 70s, and probably the most disappointing album ever. Skip it until you become a big fan.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

I have to listen to Aladdin Sane and Diamond Dogs first.

good idea.

<3 'sweet thing'

 

[isamu]

Drop Bowie like a bad habit and get into either theThe or The Smiths.

 

[White Man]

Drop Bowie like a bad habit and get into either theThe or The Smiths.

I approve of TheThe, but Fat Bob's Bunch only has 3 great albums.

Stick with Bowie.

 

[enjoy bell woods]

Drop Bowie like a bad habit and get into either theThe or The Smiths.

lol, because both of those bands have SO much in common with David Bowie.

 

[isamu]

lol, because both of those bands have SO much in common with David Bowie.

exactly. that's why I recommended them

 

[TJ Bennett]

It's not the side effects of the cocaine.

I'm thinking that it must be love.

 

[iapetus]

Turn your computer off now, and go out and buy Hunky Dory. It's a crime that you don't own it anyway, and it will return your Bowie-love to its natural state.

 

[White Man]

Turn your computer off now, and go out and buy Hunky Dory. It's a crime that you don't own it anyway, and it will return your Bowie-love to its natural state.

I like Hunky Dory, but I really don't consider it one of the ultimate essential Bowie albums. For me, Aladdin Sane and Low have always been the albums that reconfirm my Bowie love when I have that rare moment of doubt. Hunky Dory has some great songs, but I think it also has some dated clunkers on it.

 

[kablooey]

I'll second the Station to Station recommendation. Coked-Out Bowie > *

Though honestly, the only *full* Bowie albums I've heard are that one and Ziggy. The rest I've just heard in chunks. But yeah, S2S is the shit.

 

[CabbageRed]

"Is Space Oddity a good album? I loved Ground Control to Major Tom."

Yeah, I loved "Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed" from the album although it gets pretty loose at time.

Three random bits:

Ziggy and Aladin or sort of sisters albums with the later having slightly more dramtic flair.

But as many have pointed out, Station to Station is the best.

Rent the Man Who Fell to Earth.

 

[Triumph]

Hmmm... guess I'm the only one who likes Heroes the best of all.

 

[White Man]

Hmmm... guess I'm the only one who likes Heroes the best of all.

That would be my number 2. I've only recently begun evangelizing Station to Station.

Edit: Aladdin Sane was written as Bowie was touring America for the first time, in support of Ziggy Stardust. If you keep in mind that it's a sort of insane road trip album, you'll take away much more from it. Legend has it that most of the songs on the album were inspired by stories told to Bowie by Americans as he toured the country.

 

[Triumph]

I...don't own Station to Station. But I remember liking what I heard when I listened to it, eons ago. I suppose I'll just have to take some shitty promotional cds from work and turn them into gold again.

 

[White Man]

I...don't own Station to Station. But I remember liking what I heard when I listened to it, eons ago. I suppose I'll just have to take some shitty promotional cds from work and turn them into gold again.

There's not a single less-than-perfect song on the record. The title track is one of the most sprawling and impressive songs in Bowie's catalog. Golden Years is his best single; Word on a Wing is like, nu-crooning -- highly confessional and naked. TVC15 rocks out and is genuinely insane -- dig that last round of the chorus. Stay rocks, and it has a totally desperate vibe around it that's pretty unique among pop music; the live versions are even better. Wild is the Wind is the sad comedown. Probably my favorite Bowie vocal performance.

 

[Desperado]

bum bum bum buduhduhdum
bum bum bum buduhduhdum

 

[enjoy bell woods]

bum bum bum buduhduhdum
bum bum bum buduhduhdum

?

 

[Tain]

She's so twitchy in her satin and tat?

 

[drohne]

if bowie's a flash in the pan, then any other rock musician you care to name is one of those oddly named elements way up in the periodic table that can only sustain material existence for a matter of microseconds under laboratory conditions. most everything he did between hunky dory and scary monsters is great.

scary monsters, incidentally, is my favorite bowie album (sorry, low ). it combines relatively conventional songwriting with some of those berlin textures. you're obligated to like it.

 

[Lemurnator]

Turn your computer off now, and go out and buy Hunky Dory. It's a crime that you don't own it anyway, and it will return your Bowie-love to its natural state.

I own it, that was one of the albums I listed as being awsome.

 

[Lemurnator]

if bowie's a flash in the pan, then any other rock musician you care to name is one of those oddly named elements way up in the periodic table that can only sustain material existence for a matter of microseconds under laboratory conditions. most everything he did between hunky dory and scary monsters is great.

scary monsters, incidentally, is my favorite bowie album (sorry, low ). it combines relatively conventional songwriting with some of those berlin textures. you're obligated to like it.

That's what I USED to think.

 

[Desperado]

?

Do do do bah bah bah bah
O-kay
Chippin’ around
Kick my brains round the floor
These are the days
It never rains but it pours
People on streets
People on streets

 

[Daigoro]

How could you not like Outside? Its filled with great fucking songs.

Bowie albums you must own:
Hunky Dory
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
Aladdin Sane
Diamond Dogs
Young Americans
Station to Station
Low
Heroes
Scary Monsters
Lets Dance
Outside
Earthling

Go forth and buy.

this person knows what he is talking about.

Drop Bowie like a bad habit and get into either theThe or The Smiths.

this person is on fucking crack.


go get Alladin Sane, Man who Sold the World, and Diamond Dogs.

 

[Polari]

I haven't listened to Low all the way through yet so that's still up in the air.

WHAT?!??!?

OK, shit, this may sound pretentious but fuck it: Low and Heroes aren't the sort of albums you "get" first time around. Or the second or third for that matter. But you definitely learn to love them. Pretty much any album ever made takes more than half a listen to appreciate its true value, you sort of have to know an album before you make a judgement on it.

So give them another few chances, and keep your mind open to them, because to your surprise, you might end up loving them.

 

[etiolate]

thethe! Oh man that's like a flashback to my boyhood years.

 

[CabbageRed]

Do do do bah bah bah bah
O-kay
Chippin’ around
Kick my brains round the floor
These are the days
It never rains but it pours
People on streets
People on streets

I believe you mean:

Ice ice baby
Ice ice baby
All right stop collaborate and listen
Ice is back with my brand new invention

 

[Daigoro]

I believe you mean:

Ice ice baby
Ice ice baby
All right stop collaborate and listen
Ice is back with my brand new invention

BASTARD!

 

[Martini]

outside and heathen are fucking fantastic. different..but fantastic. i remember seeing some live heathen songs on A&E a couple years ago and was blown away.

 

[Prospero]

I'm more of a fan of the more melodic, brighter, less electronic Bowie.

Try Heathen, I think.

Oh, and if you can find it, this:

This disc accompanied the first pressing of Bowie at the Beeb (which is also worth having), and I think it's Bowie's best live recording (even though Bowie's voice was affected by illness, so that his backup singers had to take some of the high notes on a couple of tracks). The tracklist is a good mix of old and new tunes and classics and relatively obscure cuts:

Wild Is The Wind
Ashes To Ashes
Seven
This Is Not America
Absolute Beginners
Always Crashing In The Same Car
Survive
Little Wonder
The Man Who Sold The World
Fame
Stay
Hallo Spaceboy
Cracked Actor
I'm Afraid Of Americans
Let's Dance

Most of the songs have new arrangements that might be closer to what you're looking for (Let's Dance, in particular, starts out with an acoustic guitar as the lead instrument--nice).

That said, I think you should give Bowie 76-80 (Station to Station, Low, Heroes, Lodger, Scary Monsters) another try. Lodger is actually the one out of those five that I listen to most, with Station to Station a very close second.

And Young Americans!! I told you to listen to Young Americans the last time we had this thread. Young Americans!

 

[Ollie Pooch]

I approve of TheThe, but Fat Bob's Bunch only has 3 great albums.

Stick with Bowie.

isn't fat bob the cure

 

[White Man]

isn't fat bob the cure

There used to be other regular members of the band, but I presume Robert Smith ate them. That's the only logical conclusion I could come up with.

 

[gigapower]

I approve of TheThe, but Fat Bob's Bunch only has 3 great albums.

Stick with Bowie.

First off the guy was talking about The Smiths, not The Cure. Neither of these two bands have made a bad album.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

There used to be other regular members of the band, but I presume Robert Smith ate them. That's the only logical conclusion I could come up with.

yeah that's what i mean - he was talkin about the smiths!

this thread has sent me bowie crazy

i saw him live last year - fantastic show, especially 'sunday' from heathen <3

 

[White Man]

yeah that's what i mean - he was talkin about the smiths!

this thread has sent me bowie crazy

i saw him live last year - fantastic show, especially 'sunday' from heathen <3

Oh, holy shit, my bad. I don't know what I was thinking.

Oh well. Everyone approves of a little uncalled Cure bashing, right?

 

[gigapower]

Oh, holy shit, my bad. I don't know what I was thinking.

Oh well. Everyone approves of a little uncalled Cure bashing, right?

No. The song 100 Years alone saves The Cure from any bashing ever.

 

[Daigoro]

Oh, holy shit, my bad. I don't know what I was thinking.

Oh well. Everyone approves of a little uncalled Cure bashing, right?

hell yes.

 

[White Man]

hell yes.

The Cure has apparently unbroken up again and announced another new album for April of next year, btw. My semantic error was actually prescience.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

i love the cure

except for the latest self titled album :S

in the words of a friend :

"i love robert smith. but this is fucking shit"