{"id":22489,"date":"2022-03-02T05:30:55","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T10:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=22489"},"modified":"2022-03-02T08:28:07","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T13:28:07","slug":"march-through-time-david-bowie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/02\/march-through-time-david-bowie\/","title":{"rendered":"March Through Time: David Bowie"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>This month, I&#8217;m hitting<\/em> pause <em>on coverage of new artists and releases, focusing instead for a bit on the bodies of work from some of my favorite artists. &#8212; bk<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-22490\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_bowie.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_bowie.jpg 425w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_bowie-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_bowie-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>David Bowie was easily among the most important music artists of the 20<sup>th<\/sup> century. His influence extended far beyond music, into fashion and other media. Like many of his longtime fans, I followed his constantly shifting approach to music with great interest. And like many, I lost interest in the mid 1980s, when (in my view) his output suddenly took a cynical turn toward the ordinary, dull and uninteresting. He certainly rallied again in later years, but after a break of a few decades, I must admit to not having followed those later releases. That said, we\u2019ll always have his prime-era work. Here\u2019s my rundown.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>David Bowie<\/b><\/i><b> (1967)<\/b> \u2013 An embryonic artist still searching for his own style. For completists and\/or fans of Anthony Newley, really. A curio.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Space Oddity<\/b><\/i><b> (1969)<\/b> \u2013 A great leap forward. Hints of a folk vibe remain, but here Bowie asserts himself as an artist.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>The Man Who Sold the World<\/b><\/i><b> (1970)<\/b> \u2013 Perhaps less \u201ccommercial\u201d than its predecessor, but in many ways even better. \u201cBlack Country Rock\u201d is a stunner, as is the title track (re-popularized decades later by a perhaps-too-faithful cover by Nirvana).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Hunky Dory<\/b><\/i><b> (1971)<\/b> \u2013 Here, Bowie reconciles his shape-shfting persona with his early music hall tendencies, creating an album like no other. Like most all of these records, a must-have.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars<\/b><\/i><b> (1972)<\/b> \u2013 If you can only pick a few Bowie LPs to own, <i>Ziggy<\/i> should be at the top of the list. Not a concept album, but it feels like one. And that would be true of many to follow.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Aladdin Sane<\/b><\/i><b> (1973) <\/b>\u2013 My personal favorite. The gonzo piano solo on the title track is some seriously boundary-pushing stuff. The best <i>sounding<\/i> Bowie album to this point, too.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Pin Ups<\/b><\/i><b> (1973)<\/b> \u2013 Everybody did a covers album around this time, it seems. But Bowie\u2019s is among the best. This LP tells us a lot about his influences, and yet he makes the songs his own.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Diamond Dogs<\/b><\/i><b> (1974)<\/b> \u2013 Not the <i>1984<\/i> concept album he originally intended, but a superbly dark release nonetheless. In many ways, this pairs nicely with Pink Floyd\u2019s <i>Animals<\/i> from just a few years later.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>David Live<\/b><\/i><b> (1974) <\/b>\u2013 While Bowie was a superb live performer, this audio document feels a bit thin. A worthwhile souvenir from the period when every major artist had to release a live set (thanks, Peter Frampton).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Young Americans<\/b><\/i><b> (1975)<\/b> \u2013 Perhaps Bowie\u2019s most jarring stylistic change to this point, it checks the boxes of being commercially accessible and artistically uncompromising. A triumph. With John Lennon and Luther Vandross!<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Station to Station<\/b><\/i><b> (1976)<\/b> \u2013 An imposing record, and not for the Bowie novitiate. But easily among his best. Ambitious and arty.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Low<\/b><\/i><b> (1977) <\/b>\u2013 The beginning of his Berlin period, <em>Low<\/em> is a strange, forbidding and difficult album. It\u2019s also wildly uncommercial. And it\u2019s also quite good.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\">\u201c<i><b>Heroes\u201d<\/b><\/i><b> (1977)<\/b> \u2013 Every bit as (that word again) uncompromising as <i>Low<\/i>, this record is somehow more approachable. Lots of instrumentals, which seemed weird to longtime fans. The heart-rending title track is worth the price of admission.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Stage<\/b><\/i><b> (1978)<\/b> \u2013 Less well-known than the first live album, <i>Stage<\/i> is infinitely better. A world-class band helps, delivering live readings of songs from throughout Bowie\u2019s now deep catalog. They nail the new material as handily as they do the classics.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Lodger<\/b><\/i><b> (1979)<\/b> \u2013 Those who loved the comparatively mainstream output of early \u201870s Bowie might not have known what to make of this one. But with the benefit of hindsight, \u201cDJ\u201d and \u201cBoys Keep Swinging\u201d pointed the way toward the immediate future.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)<\/b><\/i><b> (1980) <\/b>\u2013 A triumph, once again balancing Bowie\u2019s iconoclastic inclinations with his instincts for making accessible music. A desert island LP, but be warned that it, too, is weird and demands much of the listener.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Let&#8217;s Dance<\/b><\/i><b> (1983)<\/b> \u2013 Bowie\u2019s commercial apex. I must go against the grain on this one; I don\u2019t think <i>Let\u2019s Dance<\/i> has worn well. It\u2019s too trendy by half, and feels of a piece with albums by Stevie Nicks and Tina Turner.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Tonight<\/b><\/i><b> (1984)<\/b> \u2013 I took a strong and immediate dislike to this record on its release, and 35+ years haven\u2019t changed my opinion. Easily the worst entry up to this point in the Bowie catalog.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Never Let Me Down<\/b><\/i><b> (1987)<\/b> \u2013 Perhaps the title is a joke, because this one was a <em>total<\/em> letdown, worse even than its predecessor.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\">I\u2019m sorry to end on such a sour note. I did\/do like Tin Machine (even the live album!) and Bowie did have plenty of good work left in him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This month, I&#8217;m hitting pause on coverage of new artists and releases, focusing instead for a bit on the bodies of work from some of my favorite artists. &#8212; bk [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,65],"tags":[633],"class_list":["post-22489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","category-review","tag-david-bowie","cat-27-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22489"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22652,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22489\/revisions\/22652"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}