Aladdin Zane

How exactly do you follow a massive commercial and critical success?
Seems like the Beatles didn’t have a clue after Sgt Pepper and put out everything and anything they had (‘the White album’). Radiohead got fed up with guitars for a bit after Ok Computer (Kid A). Marc Bolan tried to do Electric Warrior over again but with louder backing vocals (Slider).
And so we come to 1973’s Aladdin Sane, or ‘Ziggy goes to America’ as David Bowie himself is quoted as saying some where. We find Dave’oh in ‘Search for Spock’ territory as he attempts to follow his personal ‘Wrath of Khan’ that was ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust’. I can only imagine that it was the first in a planned series of albums in which Ziggy would be found in different locations:
‘Ziggy gets to the shops and finds he’s forgotten his purse’
‘Ziggy takes a leak on his computer’
Finishing with ‘Ziggy chokes on his own elbows’, the last in the series (hello Boosh fans).

But sadly it was not to be and this is Ziggy’s last official appearance on a long player.

What’s Good?
Things get off to a cracking start with ‘Watch that Man’. It’s all whaling black lady backing singers and dirty guitar licks, as if Bowie and Mick Ronson are on stage in Vegas. ‘Panic in Detroit’ is more of the same, but a little more laid back.
‘Cracked Actor’ is am infectious and darkly cynical rock and roll romp about fading stardom. But is Ziggy the withered old has been or has he encountered some kind of Hollywood vampire? Who cares when you can hum the tune?
‘Let’s spend the night together’ is everything a foot stomping rock n roll record should be and way better then the Rolling Stones ever sounded.
‘Gene Jeanie’ is the perfect slice of 70’s glam pop.

What’s Bad?
The title tracks starts out as one of the most haunting songs that the B-boy has written and makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. But it ends up as jazz piano freak out - NEXT!
I’ve always hated ‘Drive in Saturday’. I’ve got nothing against Doo Whop music, but this is a boring song with some unpleasant lyrical content about watching dirty films after a nuclear holocaust. Why would anybody choose to put this out as a single? You can file this one in the same box as ‘John I’m only Dancing’ from the previous year.
‘Time’ is another dull slow number in the same self mythologizing vain as ‘Quicksand’ from 1971’s ‘Hunky Dory’ album. And it’s got some nasty lyrics that fill your mind with unhelpful images of David Bowie being rude all by himself. Most unwelcome!

How many good songs?
6 out of 10

Bowie-o-meter: 65 Ziggys.

Aladdin Sane has a much dirtier rock sound then ‘The Rise and Fall…’ and some air punching high points. But the weaker songs really let things down making it at best a very average album.

“Watch out coz here we come!”

“It’s been a while but we’re back in style,
So get set to have some fun,
We’ll bring you action and satisfaction”!

It’s been a busy old year so far and although I kept up with the Bowie albums, the blog fell off my to do list a while ago.

But Rueben would never let you down and he’s kept up with his brilliant ‘Year of Bowie’ articles over at Line of Best Fit. I’ll be posting links to those and my own precious thoughts about each Bowie alum over the next few days.

Now where were we? Oh yeah, 1973.

(Thanks to Alvin and the Chipmunks for their words of support and wisdom that meant so much to so many. C.H.I.P.M.U.N.K.!)

Press your space face close to mine

So here we are in 1972 for David Bowie album no’ 5: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (and I thought MWSTW had a some what cumbersome title!).

Stuff of note: Incase you weren’t sure , this is the album where he puts on make up and pretends to be from space. What the betting that Dave’oh was so off his box one day that he thought Marc Bolan was the saviour of mankind, only to realized upon sobering up that he had a crackin’ idea for a concept album. In doing so he finally scored a hit on the album charts (no 5 in the UK no less), got on Top of The Pops and had a single in the UK top 10 (‘Starman’). Oh and his last 3 albums were re-issued and charted as well. Let’s hear it for perseverance!

The good bits
All of it, there’s not a bad track. I first got this a year ago and was blown away. From opening track ‘Five years’ to uber album closer ‘Rock n Roll Suicide’ it’s quality all the way. None of those dodgy rhymes that plagued some of the previous albums and every single tune is a winner. The lyrics to ‘Lady Stardust’ are like a career blue print for all the bands that have meant the most to me. And did I mention ‘Moonage Day Dream’ yet?

The bad bits.
None. Not any.
I didn’t rate ‘Hang on to yourself’ when I first heard it. But it’s so good on the ‘Ziggy’ live album that I grown to enjoy the album version to.

How many good tracks? 11 out of 11. 7 of which are amazing.
How many bad songs? 0

Bowie-o-meter: I give it 95 Ziggys
(because only God gets 100, though I’m not sure why he’d want them)

Pa-ru-pa—pa-pumb. Me and My drum.

The only surviving member of the all conquering Electric Warrior T.Rex line up is drummer Bill Legend.
He’s got his own charming little web site that tells his story, complete with scans of aeroplane menu’s from old tours and photos of his church. It’s a cute little home grown site, especially the part about how much he loves being a Christian and drumming. See for yourself!

http://www.presentation-partners.co.uk/legend/Story/lifestory.html

Bowie vs Bolan round 5 : 1971, The ‘T.Rex-tacy’ edition!

So far it’s 3:2 to Marc Bolan. And ain’t no way Ol’ D.B. is going to equalize this year.

Here’s why:

So it’s ’71 and Dave’oh has released one of his best singles (‘Changes’) and Hunky Dory which is still his most critically acclaimed album some 37 years later, but which neither Simon nor I have a lot of love for. And none of it bothered the UK charts in any shape or form, despite Radio 1 airplay.

Marc Bolan on the other hand released Electric Warrior, which also remains his most critically acclaimed album some 37 years later. But unlike Bowie, it scored a UK no’ 1. And better still, it’s one of the most atmospheric and yet still fun albums I’ve heard. He also had two no’1 singles and a journo some where dubbed the nations teens as suffering from “T.Rex-tacy”.

So an easy win for Marc Bolan then.

See you next year.

In the year 1971

Whilst David Bowie was being kooky and most of the world turned a blind eye, stuff like this was making headlines:

After failing to get their at all in 1970, the Americans landed on the moon twice. They even took a car up this time to make it more interesting for the viewers at home. Bored with the moon, the Russians sent their 2nd probe to Mars which is much cooler don’t you think?

The BBC launched the legendary Open University which went on fill late night and early afternoon TV schedules with bearded men in lab coats for years to come.

The UK and Ireland both switched to decimal currency.

Andy Warhol was big news. He had a film out, set up his video factory an had an exhibition at the Tate in London which largely consisted of mug shots of people who were far to hard to ever go to an Andy Warhol show. Oh the irony.

The French Connection and Dirty Harry did impressive box office and lead to a spate of 70’s ‘dirty cop’ movies.

The troubles in Northern Ireland snowballed. The first British solider was killed in in February. 43 soldiers and 100 civilians were dead by the end of the year. The British government adopted a policy of internment without trial in the province, the consequences of which were truly terrible, as we’ll see in 1972.

The Hunky Dory Backlash (Mahbenja's 2p's worth)

So Hunky Dory;
“a sweeping, cinematic mélange of high and low art, ambiguous sexuality, kitsch, and class" (All Music Guide)?

Or, Hunky Dory;
“reminds me of how naff he was when he started.” (Rueb’s over at The Line of Best Fit)?

Let's give it a bash:

Stuff to note:
This is D’boys 3rd record company and his 4th album. But despite John Peel rinsin’ oot the crackin’ single (‘Changes’) the album still failed to chart (although the single reached no’ 66 in the USA). Exactly how does a person manage to release 4 commercially dismal albums off the back of one novelty hit record about lonely space men?
From looking around the internet (and spending a regrettable portion of my life reading the UK music press) it’s safe say to that Hunky Dory is David Bowie’s most critically acclaimed album. But the world is hungry to know how this “stylistic kaleidoscope” (All Music Guide again) coloured the last 2 weeks of my life.

Here goes:

The good stuff:
Stroof where did all the rock pomp from MWSTW go?
‘Kooks’ really did “remind me of how naff he was when he started.” But as fans of this blog know, I kinda liked a lot of that cockney stick-it-up-ya-jumper stuff, so I liked this song from the first play.
‘Andy Warhol’ struck a cord with me too, I like the chord progression a lot. Both Mick Ronson and Rick Wakeman do a brilliant job on this album and everything sounds great, especially on ‘Queen Bitch’.
And of course ‘Changes’, ‘Oh You Pretty Things’ and ‘Life on Mars’ belong in every single persons music collection. Fortunately they are on a million compilation, because….

The not so good:
The rest of this album is ruddy aweful.
Some of the lyrics…. oh dear. I thought 1967's ‘We are Hungry Men’ was bad until I heard Davo sing the following in album closer ‘The Brewley Brother’:
“Now my Brother lays upon the Rocks
He could be dead, He could be not
He could be You
He's Camelian, Comedian, Corinthian and Caricature”

Is he now? I think you can get a cream for that.

Having sold not that much of anything ol’ D.B. has a fair amount of nerve in ‘Song for Bob Dylan’.
A more honest title would have been ‘I liked you better when you sang those acoustic protest songs, and so did everybody else’. Aspiring rock stars take note: when righting a song about how a mulit million selling performer isn't as good as they used to be, please make sure that said song compares well with their work. Otherwise your kinda asking for it.

Oh and ‘8 line poem’ is a waste of space.

In conclusion:
How many good songs: a respectable 6. 3 of which are amazing.
How many bad songs: an extremely regrettable 5.

Bowie-oh-meter: 65 Ziggys.
10 for every good song and an extra 5 because ‘Life on Mars’ is just incredible. But this is my least favourite Bowie album so far (bang goes my credibility among the hobbyist music journos!).

PS. The amazing thing about Hunky Dory is how confident Dave’oh sounds, despite the failure of his previous albums. He sings like he’s really to take on the world, even during the weakest songs on the album. I guess confidence is something you need if you plan on dressing up silly and telling people you’re the androgynous rock n roll chosen one from outer space.

P.P.S. Next review will be shorter I promise.