Top 5 Bowie Albums

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Chrille
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Top 5 Bowie Albums

Post by Chrille »

Listening to Lodger once again I realise that this is perhaps my favourite Bowie-record. What's your list?

1. Scary Monsters
2. Lodger (but not quite!)
3. Station To Station
4. Low
5. Hunky Dory

(and the rest)

6. Heroes
7. Outside
8. The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust
9. Aladdin Sane
10. Reality
11. Earthling
12. Heathen
13. The Man Who Sold The World
14. Let's Dance
15. Hours
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wardo68
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Post by wardo68 »

Hunky Dory
Station To Station
Aladdin Sane
Low
Ziggy Stardust
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Post by BlueChair »

wardo68 wrote:Hunky Dory
Station To Station
Aladdin Sane
Low
Ziggy Stardust
Ditto, pretty much...
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Me too, though AS would be the substitutable item, depending on mood. It would share equal billing with Scary Monsters and Diamond Dogs. Where is the latter from your list, Chrille? Hoursahead of it? Let's Dance too? Do I take it you just don't know it? Maybe it's too much 'of its time' for those not there at the time, though Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (reprise) was something like song 7 in a UK magazine readers' poll of faves, so clearly held as a classic by many. I love that one dearly. And no Young Americans, either, which would be one of my next. Chacun a son gout. I'm also very fond of Space Oddity. Apart from the classic title track, you can't beat Letter To Hermione for young pained tenderness. I loved it badly as a teen, even though the emotions described (like a far less overwrought I Want You) were all unknown to me at the time.
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Post by Chrille »

I simply haven't listened to those not on the list.

I just ordered Young Americans though. I love Bowie, more than E.C for sure, but I have never been much interested in Space Oddity, Diamond Dogs, Tonight, Never Let Me Down or Black Tie, White Noise simply because I havn't heard alot of positive things about them. I do like Diamond Dogs and Rebel Rebel though, but I'm not crazy about either.
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Post by Who Shot Sam? »

Mine would be....

Hunky Dory
Ziggy
Low
Diamond Dogs
Scary Monsters
Mother, Moose-Hunter, Maverick
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Post by lostdog »

Station to Station
Scary Monsters
Low
Lodger
Reality/Young Americans

Bubbling under: "Heroes"; Hunky Dory; Ziggy.....
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Post by Mike Boom »

Currently my favourites would be, in order -

Aladdin Sane
Ziggy Stardust
Station to Station
Diamond Dogs
Hunky Dory

I love the short poppy songs on Low, I think they are just about the best sounding things he's ever done, but all those Eno ambient instrumentals on Side Two bore me to tears to be honest.
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Warszawa? Masterpiece. Well the whole of that side is. Lovely music, and such an unexpected concept. Couldn't do such a thing now we've lost sides.

See, Chrille, the popularity of Diamond Dogs. Listen to it as a whole a bit. Some really great stuff there. If you're really into Bowie, everything from Space Oddity through to Scary Monsters is essential. Tonight is utter dross (played it once, never again), Let's Dance is a bore but efficiently so, never heard Never Let Me Down. Would play once and probably never again (singles were boring enough). Black Tie has some decent moments. Definitely an improvement. The rest you know.
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Post by Chrille »

I am convinced, I will get Diamond Dogs next and then Space Oddity.
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Post by BlueChair »

Didn't know where else to put this, but apparently a 2CD deluxe edition of Young Americans is finally coming out on April 17. As far as details go, I have absolutely none.
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Post by Masterpiece? »

1. Scary Monsters
2. Station To Station
3. Let's Dance
4. The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust
5. Space Oddity
----
5a. Hunky Dory
5b. Outside
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Post by King Hoarse »

Lodger
Hunky Dory
Scary Monsters
Low
Earthling

(I know I should give Station To Station a second listen at least. I remember being in a foul mood last time, about 5 years ago, and putting on Reign In Blood instead. Ziggy I've heard one time too many but I used to really love it. I played it for years before buying another Bowie LP. Big fan of Aladdin Sane, Heathen & Heroes. Diamond Dogs & Outside are very good albums. Space Oddity is nice. The Man Who Sold The World, Pinups, Hours and even the first Tin Machine LP are worth a couple more listens I guess. I sold the others. Maybe I will buy back Young Americans when I get a job.)
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

BlueChair wrote:Didn't know where else to put this, but apparently a 2CD deluxe edition of Young Americans is finally coming out on April 17. As far as details go, I have absolutely none.
Two years later than it was meant to be - we should be getting Low this month, if they were going to keep up the 30th anniversary thing. there's an exchange between me and Storm on the tracklisting for this somewhere. Somewhat underwhelmed by the second CD's contents, but it's still exciting for me to get such things on CD given that I never really play the vinyl any more.
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Post by wardo68 »

BlueChair wrote:Didn't know where else to put this, but apparently a 2CD deluxe edition of Young Americans is finally coming out on April 17. As far as details go, I have absolutely none.
Details here:
http://www.bowiewonderworld.com/bowiene ... ansspecial

And I'm still miffed there's no 2CD expansion of Hunky Dory.
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Post by Masterpiece? »

While I didn't put it on my tops list, I will defend 1984's Tonight as quite a decent listen.

Loving the Alien is a classic, and Blue Jean is a perfectly crafted pop single. The dearth of covers (Tonight, Neighborhood Threat, God Only Knows, I Keep Forgetting) isn't unprecedented, and at least two of them were Bowie-Pop collaborations that deserved a revisit.

The loungey Don't Look Down creates a whiskey-smooth atmosphere. And I rather liked the (pre-Graceland) African-flavored Tumble and Twirl, as well as the big, bloated rocker Dancing with the Big Boys. He may not have been able to release those 2 songs at any other time, as the album's big, brash arrangement style suited them perfectly. It's doubtful that "Dancing" would be heard in an "Unplugged" concert.

Overall, while it failed to mask the fact that mega-success was causing him to lose his way artistically, it wasn't quite the car-crash that Never Let Me Down and the Glass Spider tour would be a few years later. Ironically, that tour was the only time I've seen him live...
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

I'm tempted to ask if you're winding me up, but no, I'm a grown-up, chacun a son gout, etc. Let me just say I would never part with money for it, played the copy I was given once, and struggled to get through that. The contrast with the brilliance he was putting out a mere 4 years previously was simply unbelievable. This was what flabberghasted and horrified me about Let's Dance: it was only couple of years after an LP as strong and as artistically rich as Scary Monsters. It really was as if he'd had a brain transplant. It seems incredible now that I didn't go and see the man I spent most of the 70s idolising when I had the chance in '83. I let all my university chums head off and stuck to my principles. I now half regret it and am half proud. My perspective now is to re-immerse myself in everything up until '80 (most of which seems as stunningly wonderful now to me as when I first discovered it) and simply forget that anything else existed until the 90s.
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Post by Masterpiece? »

There are all kinds of Bowie fans, and no set rules about which albums to credit and discredit. Most people are in agreement that Never Let Me Down sucked rubber donkey lungs, but beyond that it's completely a matter of taste and experience.

I never said Tonight was a great Bowie album. I said it was a decent album. I stopped being a hardcore purist about music artists a while ago, Elvis included. They're all just people who make music, and holding up every new release against an entire legacy just causes needless stress.

ETA: Also, I didn't pay for Tonight when it first came out. I got it for free reviewing it for the college paper. ;)
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

I wouldn't like Tonight more if it wasn't by Bowie, it's a crap LP by anyone, just particularly depressing coming from him. You can't listen to an artist's output in isolation from their total output, can you? Unless you've never heard the rest of it. I've never heard NLMD, though I did nearly shell out £3 for it in a store a while back. I was half-interested because a magazine special on him that rated all the LPs placed it higher than Tonight and said it had some redeeming features. what I know of it doesn't move me to hear more.
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Post by Masterpiece? »

Otis Westinghouse wrote:You can't listen to an artist's output in isolation from their total output, can you?
Most don't, but I imagine some can. I don't do it to that extreme, but I try not to instantly compare something negatively to my faves by an artist, it's not really fair to the work. It should be judged on its own merits.

How many people refuse to buy Elvis' jazz or classical albums simply because they don't sound like This Year's Model? There's extremes on both sides.

Now Joni Mitchell, THERE'S someone for whom we can all completely skip the 80s. :D
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Post by Bad Ambassador »

1. Station To Station
2. Low
3. Diamond Dogs
4. Heathen
5. Buddha Of Suburbia

A special nod for the bonus 3rd disc with the Bowie at the Beeb set that was recorded in 2000. A blistering live set with some absolutely outstanding live takes on classics.
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Agree that's a great thing to have. Nice to watch too. The main 2CD set had some great stuff on it, and all. Nice inclusion of Buddha of S. Why don't they re-release that?
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Post by mood swung »

No love for Young Americans? That's the only one I really know. :oops: And only because my Lennon-ite best friend gave it to me.
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Post by Chrille »

I've gotten to know Young Americans by now and I really like it, can't believe I didn't check it out sooner. I'd put it on the 6th place.
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Post by Mechanical Grace »

1. Ziggy
2. Hunky
3. Lowy
4. Stationsy
5. Heatheny
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