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Post by Meth Lab Shenanigans on Dec 6, 2016 15:41:25 GMT -5
I hope that Bowie moves away from the bland 1970s hard rock he's doing here soon because there are hints that he's capable of doing something unique and interesting and I hope stops with the casual old timey racism sooner. Unfortunately I know that "China Girl" is a thing so it looks like I've got a ways to go with the later at least. "China Girl" was at least originally intended as a criticism of how western society exploits and fetishizes asian women. But Bowie was beginning to flounder artistically at the time, and he didn't really pull it off. I didn't realize how nuanced it was intended to be until I started doing research on him. I think it's also important to note that he often writes from the perspective of characters, and frequently presents unsympathetic protagonists.
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on Dec 6, 2016 15:55:19 GMT -5
I hope that Bowie moves away from the bland 1970s hard rock he's doing here soon because there are hints that he's capable of doing something unique and interesting and I hope stops with the casual old timey racism sooner. Unfortunately I know that "China Girl" is a thing so it looks like I've got a ways to go with the later at least. "China Girl" was at least originally intended as a criticism of how western society exploits and fetishizes asian women. But Bowie was beginning to flounder artistically at the time, and he didn't really pull it off. I didn't realize how nuanced it was intended to be until I started doing research on him. I think it's also important to note that he often writes from the perspective of characters, and frequently presents unsympathetic protagonists. 'China Girl' was written with Iggy Pop in '77, at the height of the Berlin period. He gave it to Iggy for his 'The Idiot' album.
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Post by Meth Lab Shenanigans on Dec 6, 2016 15:56:45 GMT -5
"China Girl" was at least originally intended as a criticism of how western society exploits and fetishizes asian women. But Bowie was beginning to flounder artistically at the time, and he didn't really pull it off. I didn't realize how nuanced it was intended to be until I started doing research on him. I think it's also important to note that he often writes from the perspective of characters, and frequently presents unsympathetic protagonists. 'China Girl' was written with Iggy Pop in '77, at the height of the Berlin period. He gave it to Iggy for his 'The Idiot' album. Yeah, I know. The Iggy version is much darker and more violent, and gets at what he was trying to do far better. By the time Let's Dance rolled around, Bowie didn't really have that kind of abrasiveness in him.
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Post by Nudeviking on Dec 7, 2016 23:35:19 GMT -5
Breaking News out of Seoul Regarding The Man Who Sold The World
I have listened to "Black Country Rock" twenty or so times and now realize the lyric is "You can leave my friend and me with fond adieu," not "with fondue" as I had earlier thought. Also this is, at present, my favorite David Bowie song by a black country mile. Stay tuned for more on this story as it develops.
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Dec 7, 2016 23:42:15 GMT -5
Listening to this album again, I'm not quite as high on it as I was in the past. I like "The Width of a Circle" quite a bit, but it is a little too long. I think they could have cut a minute or two of the instrumental bits between the verses and it would have been a better song. I'm agreed on "All the Madmen", that one's great. "Black Country Rock" is a bit more a generic '70s hard rock song, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. I'd also agree wrt "After All", which shouldn't be as interesting as it is, and I think the choice of instrumentation is responsible for that. I'd definitely fall in the camp of "Bowie was singing in character as a racist in the anti-war "Running Gun Blues", but yeah, the slur was unnecessary, and I'd agree with Lemur that it's tonally dissonant with the song (and also that the song isn't an especially deft bit of anti-war commentary to begin with). You can't even really make the argument that the slur is supposed to shockingly be juxtaposed against the cheerful tone; it's just racist, out-of-place, and misguided, and ruins what would otherwise be a really great song. I like "Saviour Machine" quite a lot; it's one of my favorite early Bowie tracks, although I'd agree that the guitar solos are the weakest bit of the song. "She Shook Me Cold" is, indeed, simply a decent hard rock song. And put me down for preferring Nirvana's cover of the title track as well; I heard the cover years before I ever listened to the original, and I'd agree that Cobain's delivery is much better than Bowie's detached performance, without being over-the-top. I also don't care so much for the guiro in Bowie's version, and much prefer Nirvana's simpler arrangement (although I believe there's still two guitars, bass, cello, and drums in Nirvana's acoustic cover for their Unplugged album), although I don't know how much this is due to my having heard the cover version first. I remember feeling in the past that "The Supermen" was a somewhat underwhelming closing track, but listening to it again, I actually like it quite a bit, and I'd agree that the timpani helps elevate the song. One last point about the album as a whole: I really liked the high-in-the-mix bass on this one; there's some pretty great bass lines there.
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Post by Nudeviking on Dec 8, 2016 1:48:47 GMT -5
Hunky Dory (1971)I don't make a habit out of doing any preliminary research into any of these albums before I listen to them beyond the album title and when the album was released. I don't want to know that a musician was gifted a French horn by their dying grandfather prior to recording the album even if it might explain why suddenly every song on the album has a French horn solo. I want to be surprised. I want the endless French horn solos to fill me with shock and dismay. Worse, however, than understanding the behind the scenes stuff that answers why, is knowing what critics think of a particular album. Far too often people look at something some critic wrote or said and take it to be the ultimate truth, and this seems to become even more true when you are looking at an album released ages ago that have been evaluated from every possible angle. I still think I did an admirable job of more or less avoiding reviews and critiques of this album, but I do know that it is critically beloved and often regarded as the first great Bowie album. Will that knowledge of this album as a capital C Classic, influence my own opinion of this album? Let's find out together in this very special Kill Two Birds With One Stone edition of Nudeviking vs. David Bowie! Pre-Existing PrejudicesThe only song I am certain I have heard on this album is "Andy Warhol," and not even the David Bowie version. I liked the cover well enough and unless that cover took massive artist license and reworked the song completely, I don't see why I should dislike this version. Songs"Changes" Decent hump riff from the sexophone, but then it's all pianolike and...Ohhhh it's this song. Ch-ch-ch-changes. I know this thing. I don't like this song. It's boring and is in a commercial for Korean life insurance that they used to show all the time during Major League Baseball games. A brief fuck solo from the sexophone wraps it up. "Oh! You Pretty Things" Is this entire album piano ballads? This is pretty boring too. I would definitely skip this song if it were to show up on a shuffle mode. Now a bunch of dudes are yelling stuff and boredom drums are happening and there's a tasty bass lick. I think the lyrics are about space aliens or maybe X-Men style mutants. Either one is a decent thing to write a song about but it's a shame it's such a boring song. "Eight Line Poem" I didn't even realize this was a different song since the previous one transitions directly into it and it's just more boring piano shit. "Life on Mars?" The first verse is more boring piano shit, but the chorus amps up the excitement by 2. I just discovered that Bush stole that "Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow" line in "Everything Zen" from this song. That is, unless of course it's from some third source that both Bowie and Bush borrowed from. My mind is blown. "Kooks" At least the piano is not the primary instrument in this song. Fuck! Spoke too soon. It's a shitty saloon piano riff too. There are some 1970s Sesame Street trumpets. I think the lyrics might be about having a threesome. "Quicksand" This does not bode well. Slow acoustic guitar licks and whining vocals. Hahaha he said "drawer-ring" instead of "drawing." Fuck. More fucking piano plinking. Oh here's three bars of vaguely rocking out before going back to the slow jamming...you haven't pulled that trick on every goddamn song on this album Dave. Fuck this song. "Fill Your Heart" Aw ye ye! Sexophones and brushed drums. Of course there's piano here too because why wouldn't there be? G.E. Smith and the Saturday Night Live Band sax flourishes. I kind of dig the jazziness of it. "Andy Warhol" This is the only song on this album I was certain I knew though prior to this listen I'd never heard the Bowie version. Stone Temple Pilots did a cover of this as the b-side to the "Vaseline" single. I owned that single and liked their version well enough. It has proven itself to be a pretty faithful rendition. The only real differences being STP cut the 1970s synth waveform and discussion on how to pronounce "Warhol" part out of the beginning and tightened up the ending (the closing of the Bowie version is a lot sloppier). This is the best song on the album thus far. "Song for Bob Dylan" This is a garbage song about a musician I hate, but Dave's spot on in capturing the heinousness of Bob Dylan's voice when he compares it to "sand and glue." It's such a boring 1970s piano rock song. "Queen B----" The riff that kicks this one are pretty alright. It sounds kind of like the Velvet Underground. The choruses are pretty great. I could see post-punk bands being all about this song. "The Bewlay Brothers" I have no idea what this is. It's quiet and weird with swinets and weird lyrics. The choir of dwarves of the deep from "After All" on the last album are back, but it seems like weirdness for the sake of weirdness. I dislike this song. Final ThoughtsMore like Hunky Borey... I really did not like this album. Of the four albums I have listened to since beginning this fool's errand, I would rank this one the lowest. I have a very low tolerance for piano rock and piano ballads and this album was lousy with them. Even the David Bowie Cinemax Sexophone Fuck Riffs, which up to this point I'd been quite fond of, were kind of overused which ruined the hilarity of them when they'd show up. Like if there's one song with a sexophone solo that makes you chuckle and say to yourself "Heh...Emmanuelle In Space used that same riff during a hump scene," that's good, but when every song has a part that sounds like music that would show up while a mostly clothed man has fake, non-penetrative intercourse with a mostly nude woman after 12:00am on Cinemax it kind of stops being special. That's not to say the entire album is terrible. I liked "Queen B----" and "Andy Warhol" well enough and would happily listen to either of them again. "Changes" would probably be an okay song if it hadn't been ruined, as so many classic rock songs are, by Korean insurance commercials. The rest of it though was mediocre at best.
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on Dec 8, 2016 3:24:10 GMT -5
Oh dear.
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Post by Prole Hole on Dec 8, 2016 9:31:34 GMT -5
I gotta say I'm on Nudie's side with this one. I find Hunky Dory to be one of, if not the, most over-rated album in Bowie's back catalgoue. I don't think it's bad as such, but it's a lot of the-same-then-more-of-the same. I don't find it possible to question the brilliance of "Life On Mars?", because lifelong Bowie fan, but it's a great song in isolation rather than a great song that exists within the spectrum of ten other songs which are all musically very similar. "Oh! You Pretty Thing" is just kind of rubbish (and inexplicably popular), as is "Eight Line Poem", and I find Bowie's sax playing rather under-whelming (more bee-trapped-in-envelope rather than the big, sexy noise a sax ought to make). My problem with Hunky Dory is it's just so... same-y.
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Post by Some Kind of Munster on Dec 8, 2016 11:12:42 GMT -5
I always think I like "Oh You Pretty Things" until I start singing it to myself and realize the song I'm thinking of is "Silly Thing" by the "Sex Pistols"
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Post by Prole Hole on Dec 8, 2016 11:46:29 GMT -5
"Silly Thing" is a great song - wish Lydon had done the vocals for it
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Post by Jean Luc de Lemur on Dec 8, 2016 17:42:23 GMT -5
I like it, but it’s such an established classic that I find it really hard to elaborate why or critique it. I guess it’s samey, but it’s samey in a very Bowie-esque fashion and that’s pretty nice. Maybe “unity” is a better word. “Andy Warhol” is likewise my favorite off this and a standout—concise, jumps out, sounding mechanical/high tech in a way that belies its actual instrumentation.
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Post by Meth Lab Shenanigans on Dec 8, 2016 22:54:07 GMT -5
> Disliking "The Bewlay Brothers," "Quicksand," and "Changes" (It's not really my favorite Bowie album either, honestly, though it has some fantastic high points. It's a little too normal, especially in comparison to what he would go on to do.)
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Post by Jean Luc de Lemur on Dec 9, 2016 12:51:55 GMT -5
Also worth noting that absolutely no one except David Bowie knew what “The Bewlay brothers” was about, but it’s a gorgeous song and music doesn’t need to make sense.
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on Dec 9, 2016 13:55:31 GMT -5
Virtually no entry in the David Bowie songbook has confused the hardcores quite like "The Bewlay Brothers." It was the final track recorded for Hunky Dory and Bowie said at the time the lyrics were nonsense, but in later years he hinted it was inspired by his schizophrenic half-brother Terry. "I was never quite sure what real position Terry had in my life," he said in 2000, "whether Terry was a real person or whether I was actually referencing another part of me, and I think 'Bewlay Brothers' was really about that." Others have seen clear homosexual overtones in the surreal lyrics, but Bowie's never commented on that. He's also only played it five times, and those were all between 2002 and 2004.
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Dec 10, 2016 19:46:42 GMT -5
Hunky Dory is probably overrated in the sense that it seems to have a higher profile than albums like Aladdin Sane, Station to Station, the Berlin Trilogy, and Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and it's not quite on par with most of those albums (with the exception of probably "Heroes"), but it's still pretty great. I agree on "Andy Warhol" (I always forget how much I like that song in between listens) and "Queen B----", but honestly the only songs on the album that I could do without are "Eight Line Poem" and "Fill Your Heart".
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Post by Nudeviking on Dec 13, 2016 10:07:29 GMT -5
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)In middle school I had to take a music class. It was more or less half a music history/music appreciation class, half a learn how to play banjo/hand drum/autoharp/harmonica class, and half a class where I awkwardly flirted with a girl named Denise Stereotypical-Yiddish-Surname. This was back in the early 90s so I wasn't really surprised when in the mid aughts a multitude of banjo indie bands emerged. I figured they all just learned how to play the washtub bass in junior high music class like I did. Why am I talking about this you are probably wondering. "Get to the stuff about David Bowie!" I hear @gordonfrohman scream in the back. Keep your pants on. As part of the music appreciation portion of the class records or videos of performances would be played for us. When we learned about glam rock and the 70s it was a video of David Bowie circa this era that was shown. Neither of my parents liked Bowie (Dad I don't think really listened to any British musicians and Mom at one point referred to Bowie as a, and I quote, "creepy weirdo,") so that music class was my first real exposure to Bowie as a musician. Imagine how surprised I was to learn that they Goblin King from Labyrinth had at one point been a musician important enough to be discussed along side Mozart and John Philip Sousa! Pre-Existing Prejudices
I'm pretty sure I know the song "Ziggy Stardust," if that's a song that introduces the character of Ziggy and his band to the listeners. If that's some other song, I know that song and don't hate it. I also know "Starman," because some Korean indie band covered it. I liked their version well enough, but that's not necessarily a guarantee I'll like the original. Songs
"Five Years" This is not very good. It's a super repetitive song that I was ready to skip about a minute and a half in. I guess the wild strings and screaming that happen in the last ten seconds are okay, but otherwise this is a pretty awful album opener. "Soul Love" Fart like sexophones in the background. The sexophone part is far too mellow to be a considered a proper sexophone fuck riff but it's still okay. Totally disposable but a decent enough filler song on an album. "Moonage Daydream" He's yelling about being an alligator. I feel like I've heard this song before, but I don't know where. Maybe music class? A Korean life insurance commercial? Was this a single? Maybe I heard it on the annoying classic rock station I used as my alarm clock when I was in college. It's just sound. There's not really a hook or anything. I don't like it. And here come the saxophones! They sound like farts and add nothing to the song. Movie soundtrack string section nonsense happens about halfway through. It helps a little bit but not much. Time for a guitar solo to pad out the song for another minute. "Starman" This is a good pop song. The chorus is boss and the verses are well assembled. Even the guitar solos are tastefully done. "It Ain't Easy" The verses almost sound like something off Bowie's first album. It's all harpsichordy before the it turns into cliche 70s cock rock in the chorus. Ug..."hoochie coochie woman?" These lyrics are the drizzling shits. At least it's short. "Lady Stardust" Pianos. God, how I hate piano rock. It sounds like Elton John and not awesome "I'm Still Standing," Elton John either. I want to skip this song. "Star" More piano rock. Weird vocal effects. The lyrics are just stupid concept album plot. I hate this song. Concept albums are fucking terrible. If you want to write a story, write a fucking novella. If you want to write a piece of music, write a song. No need to do a half-assed job on both and call it a day. "Hang on to Yourself" Decently sleazy guitar riffs and handclaps. Good guitar lick during the outro. This is a pretty alright song. Finally things are picking up. "Ziggy Stardust" This song. This is the song I heard I saw a video of in music class in 1993. It's a pretty solid song. Nothing to complain about really. The guitar lick during the verses is tasty and the chorus is pretty badass. "Suffragette City" I've heard this before too. This is also a pretty awesome jam. I could do without the "wham bam thank you ma'am" line which is perhaps the English phrase I find most irksome, but other than that it's an awesome tune. This album is shaping up to be really bottom heavy. "Rock 'N' Roll Suicide" What I am about to write is something I don't think I've ever written before in my life. This song needed to be longer. It's a slow burn of a song, but it's just too short to be a slow burner. It starts off with acoustic guitar and whining before a horn section comes in snarling in and then there's a goddamn movie soundtrack string ensemble and Dave Bowie screaming, "GIMME YOUR HANDS CUZ YOU'RE WONDERFUL!" And then it just ends. I could have done with an extended coda of screaming and rock n' roll saxophones akin to the ending of "Memory of a Free Festival," that really hammers home the awesomeness of the ending. Final ThoughtsThat's it? That's what all the hubbub was about? I mean maybe if you were there when it was happening and had followed David Bowie's career from twee folk singer to this album where he's pretending to be a goddamn alien this album might seem exciting, but without that real life subplot the bulk of the songs were kind of mediocre. Maybe it's just that this album has been so hyped in various books and websites and magazines that I've read that there was no way it could possibly live up to my impossibly high expectations or maybe it's just not that good of an album outside of a couple stellar tracks. The second half of the album was pretty great though so I'll be generous and say it was probably the former rather than the later. When all is said and done it was a decent enough album that I'm still holding out hope for an unimpeachable capital C "Classic" album where I don't feel the desire to skip any songs. Anyway if we're doing best song and worst song, I'm going to have to go with "Suffragette City," and "Lady Stardust," respectively.
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Post by ganews on Dec 13, 2016 10:29:33 GMT -5
At least you're right that "Suffragette City" is the best song on the album, though "Starman" is second. As I read Il sole sotto la terra crap on Metallica after I praise them and remember our disagreements on Queen, I think to myself that fighting with the OP is an important part of these threads.
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Post by Nudeviking on Dec 13, 2016 10:32:15 GMT -5
At least you're right that "Suffragette City" is the best song on the album, though "Starman" is second. As I read Il sole sotto la terra crap on Metallica after I praise them and remember our disagreements on Queen, I think to myself that fighting with the OP is an important part of these threads. "Starman" is indeed second. I was saying "Lady Stardust" was the worst. Top three jams for those who care: 1. Suffragette City 2. Starman 3. Ziggy Stardust
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Post by Some Kind of Munster on Dec 13, 2016 13:27:08 GMT -5
"Suffragette City" is greatly improved if you mishear it as "Chocolate Chip City" like that one friend of mine did
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Post by Il sole sotto la terra on Dec 13, 2016 23:47:24 GMT -5
As I read Il sole sotto la terra crap on Metallica after I praise them and remember our disagreements on Queen, I think to myself that fighting with the OP is an important part of these threads. Aw, c'mon man, you knew I was gonna.
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Post by Meth Lab Shenanigans on Dec 14, 2016 0:41:05 GMT -5
"Five Years" This is not very good "Soul Love" Totally disposable "Moonage Daydream" I don't like it. "Lady Stardust" I want to skip this song. "Star" I hate this song. YOU'RE DESTROYING ME HERE WHATOkay, yeah, that song is definitely the worst on the album. It's a cover, I think. That one's my favorite. I'm a sucker for a dramatic ending. Ziggy's definitely a little uneven and has more filler than his best work, but it also has some of his all-time greatest songs, which is why it's regarded as a classic. Of course, I'd say those all-time greatest songs include "Five Years" and "Moonage Daydream," so maybe our tastes just don't align. It was recorded at the same time as Hunky Dory, so I suppose it makes sense that if you weren't huge on one you wouldn't love the other. My personal favorite Bowie era is the experimental period after he left glam rock. Maybe you'll dig that more.
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Post by Nudeviking on Dec 14, 2016 1:04:39 GMT -5
"Five Years" This is not very good "Soul Love" Totally disposable "Moonage Daydream" I don't like it. "It Ain't Easy" The verses almost sound like something off Bowie's first album. It's all harpsichordy before the it turns into cliche 70s cock rock in the chorus. Ug..."hoochie coochie woman?" These lyrics are the drizzling shits. At least it's short. "Lady Stardust" I want to skip this song. "Star" I hate this song. "Suffragette City" I could do without the "wham bam thank you ma'am" line YOU'RE DESTROYING ME HERE Okay, yeah, that song is definitely the worst on the album. It's a cover, I think. Thank god you at least liked that one. Ziggy's definitely a little uneven, but it has some of his all-time greatest songs in my opinion (which would include "Five Years," so maybe our tastes just don't align...) My personal favorite Bowie era is the experimental period following Young Americans. Maybe you'll dig that more. In my defense with regards to "Suffragette City," save for my disdain for the "wham bam thank you ma'am," line, I enjoyed the song. In my opinion it's far and away the best song on the album, and I would probably go so far as to rank it as the best Bowie song I've heard since I began this discography run through. As for the uneveness of this album, I think that's probably my biggest gripe. Hearing about how great this album or seeing 10/10 BEST REISSUE! reviews on Pitchfork I expected something like, I dunno, Sgt. Peppers or Nevermind or Thriller where pretty much ever single goddamn song is perfect and you don't care how many times you've heard them, you're willing to listen to them again if they are on the radio or if they show up on a shuffle mode. If people had been like, "Yeah Ziggy Stardust has about an EP's worth of really great songs and then a bunch of B- to D- filler tracks," I'd have nodded and been like, "Yes, that is more or less a fair assessment," since I thought roughly half the album was honestly really good ("Starman" plus the last four tracks were great).
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Post by Meth Lab Shenanigans on Dec 14, 2016 3:00:19 GMT -5
As for the uneveness of this album, I think that's probably my biggest gripe. Hearing about how great this album or seeing 10/10 BEST REISSUE! reviews on Pitchfork I expected something like, I dunno, Sgt. Peppers or Nevermind or Thriller where pretty much ever single goddamn song is perfect and you don't care how many times you've heard them, you're willing to listen to them again if they are on the radio or if they show up on a shuffle mode. If people had been like, "Yeah Ziggy Stardust has about an EP's worth of really great songs and then a bunch of B- to D- filler tracks," I'd have nodded and been like, "Yes, that is more or less a fair assessment," since I thought roughly half the album was honestly really good ("Starman" plus the last four tracks were great). That's fair. I think the main reason it's so talked about is because the best tracks are still among his most famous and beloved songs - "Ziggy Stardust," "Starman," and "Suffragette City" were huge on the radio, while "Five Years," "Moonage Daydream," and "Rock n Roll Suicide" became instant fan favorites. It's his most immediately accessible album, and is thus common ground for fans of all different eras of Bowie, even if it has slightly more filler than the albums that would follow it. I'd say Station to Station is his album that best fits the 10/10 "every song is perfect in any order" description, though some would argue Low is his masterpiece. (Fair warning, you probably won't like Low the first time you hear it. Most people don't. It's a grower, that one.)
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monodrone
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Post by monodrone on Dec 14, 2016 4:26:42 GMT -5
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Post by Nudeviking on Dec 14, 2016 7:34:49 GMT -5
One more reason why I love Stewart Lee.
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Post by Prole Hole on Dec 14, 2016 8:21:59 GMT -5
Well I'll be the defense of Ziggy then. It's in my top ten albums of all time (no other Bowie album cracks it) and to this day I still get shivers listening to parts of it. I can understand the initial reaction Nudie has to this because, to be fair, that was my initial reaction as well. But Ziggy is very, very much an album that bears fruit through repeated listenings, and the more you listen the more there is to discover. The whole "concept album" aspect of it is, I'd say, somewhat over-emphasized - while there is an aesthetic unity to the album (more than any other Bowie album up to this point) there's really not that much of a link, or at least not enough to propel it into full-blown concept album territory of the Yes variety. But that unity of aesthetic - from the sound, to the pacing, to the track order which really sequences the tracks rather than just laying them out, to the album art, and more - is what makes it such a wonderfully cohesive whole. I honestly don't think there's a single note out of place - the screeching desperation that builds out of nothing but a simple drum pattern in "Five Years" needs the length of the track to build image on image. The trash aesthetic of "Moonage Daydream" at once embraces 50s sci-fi, post-apocalyptic imagery, a brilliant vocal performance, and some excellent guitar work. Lady Stardust is stoned, 20's-Berlin faded glory as a mode of self definition. And so forth. Rock'n'roll Suicide is a perfect album ending, and also where I'll leave this comment.
Just... turn on with me!
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Post by Il sole sotto la terra on Dec 14, 2016 13:34:50 GMT -5
Whoa, I followed that link and fell into a four and a half hour hole of reading album reviews.
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Post by Meth Lab Shenanigans on Dec 14, 2016 13:48:40 GMT -5
Well I'll be the defense of Ziggy then. It's in my top ten albums of all time (no other Bowie album cracks it) and to this day I still get shivers listening to parts of it. I can understand the initial reaction Nudie has to this because, to be fair, that was my initial reaction as well. But Ziggy is very, very much an album that bears fruit through repeated listenings, and the more you listen the more there is to discover. The whole "concept album" aspect of it is, I'd say, somewhat over-emphasized - while there is an aesthetic unity to the album (more than any other Bowie album up to this point) there's really not that much of a link, or at least not enough to propel it into full-blown concept album territory of the Yes variety. But that unity of aesthetic - from the sound, to the pacing, to the track order which really sequences the tracks rather than just laying them out, to the album art, and more - is what makes it such a wonderfully cohesive whole. I honestly don't think there's a single note out of place - the screeching desperation that builds out of nothing but a simple drum pattern in "Five Years" needs the length of the track to build image on image. The trash aesthetic of "Moonage Daydream" at once embraces 50s sci-fi, post-apocalyptic imagery, a brilliant vocal performance, and some excellent guitar work. Lady Stardust is stoned, 20's-Berlin faded glory as a mode of self definition. And so forth. Rock'n'roll Suicide is a perfect album ending, and also where I'll leave this comment. Just... turn on with me! Yeah, it's definitely a grower. Bowie has a lot of albums that work best once you've lived with them for a while. I agree that the length of "Five Years" is important to make it work, and I wouldn't change a thing about "Moonage Daydream" or "Rock n Roll Suicide." I don't buy the bit about him being "an era too late" to get Bowie. His music's aged extraordinarily well, I don't know of any rock stars from the '70s who have as many young fans as Bowie does. Maybe Led Zeppelin.
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monodrone
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Post by monodrone on Dec 14, 2016 14:43:23 GMT -5
I don't buy the bit about him being "an era too late" to get Bowie. His music's aged extraordinarily well, I don't know of any rock stars from the '70s who have as many young fans as Bowie does. Maybe Led Zeppelin. I see what you're saying but I think there's a difference between someone being a few years too young to get Bowie at the time and "kids" "today". The main thing here being access to and the visibility of things from pop culture history. It's much easier for a 17 year old today to be pointed towards Bowie's best as a starting point than it was 30 years ago. At that time all that was readily available was the current iteration of an artist and if that had lost some of its previous sheen then it was easy to dismiss it as irrelevant.
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monodrone
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Post by monodrone on Dec 14, 2016 14:44:03 GMT -5
Whoa, I followed that link and fell into a four and a half hour hole of reading album reviews. It was a great blog and I'm sad that they've drawn it to a close.
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