| DAVID BOWIE — Hunky Dory (17 December 1971/25 September 2015) |
DAVID BOWIE — Hunky Dory (17 December 1971/25 September 2015)
★ První album v životě Davida Bowieho, které obdrželo 5 hvězdiček od Rolling Stone. A tento magazín nedává nic kvůli jménu: ze 37 hodnocených alb dává toto plné skóre pouze u devíti jeho alb. Podobně naplno skóruje Allmusic Guide. Robert Christgau píše: “A singer–composer with brains, imagination, and a good idea of how to use a recording console comes up with a quick change tour de force that is both catchy and deeply felt. A MINUS”. O nesmírné popularitě alba svědčí jeho 147 vydání v 18 zemích. / The theme of shifting sexual identity became the core of Bowie's next album, 1971ʼs scattered but splendid Hunky Dory: “Gotta make way for the Homo Superior,” he squeals on the gay–bar singalong “Oh! You Pretty Things”, simultaneously nodding to Nietzsche and to X–Men. Heʼd also made huge leaps as a songwriter, and his new songs demonstrated the breadth of his power: the epic Jacques Brel–gone–Dada torch song “Life on Mars?” is immediately followed by “Kooks”, an adorable lullaby for his infant son. The band (with Trevor Bolder replacing Visconti on bass) mostly keeps its power in check — “Changes” is effectively Bowie explaining his aesthetic to fans of the Carpenters. Still, they cut loose on the albumʼs most brilliant jewel, “Queen Bitch”, a furiously rocking theatrical miniature (Bowie–the–character–actor has rarely chewed the scenery harder) that out–Velvet Undergrounds the Velvet Underground. — By Douglas Wolk (Pitchfork); October 1, 2015; Score: 8.2
Born: David Robert Jones, 8 January 1947, Brixton, London, England
Location: London, UK
Album release: 17 December 1971
Recorded: June–August 1971, Studio Trident Studios, London
Record Label: RCA / Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Co, LLC
Duration:
Tracks:
★ All songs written by David Bowie, except where noted.
Side one
01. "Changes" 3:37
02. "Oh! You Pretty Things" 3:12
03. "Eight Line Poem" 2:55
04. "Life on Mars?" 3:53
05. "Kooks" 2:53
06. "Quicksand" 5:08
Side two
07. "Fill Your Heart" (Biff Rose, Paul Williams) 3:07
08. "Andy Warhol" 3:56
09. "Song for Bob Dylan" 4:12
10. "Queen Bitch" 3:18
11. "The Bewlay Brothers"
Personnel:
★ David Bowie — vocals, guitar, alto and tenor saxophone, piano (in “Oh! You Pretty Things”, “Eight Line Poem”, and “The Bewlay Brothers”)
★ Mick Ronson — guitar, vocals, Mellotron, arrangements
★ Rick Wakeman — piano
★ Trevor Bolder — bass guitar, trumpet
★ Mick Woodmansey — drums
Technical personnel:
★ Ken Scott — producer, recording engineer, mixing engineer
★ David Bowie — producer
★ Dr. Toby Mountain — remastering engineer (for Rykodisc release)
★ Jonathan Wyner — assistant remastering engineer (for Rykodisc release)
★ Peter Mew — remastering engineer (for EMI release)
★ Nigel Reeve — assistant remastering engineer (for EMI release)
★ George Underwood — cover art
Producer: Ken Scott, David Bowie
℗ 2015 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Co, LLC under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Ltd, a Warner Music Group Company
Charts:
Album:
★ 1972 UK Albums Chart #3
★ 1975 Billboard 200 #93
★ 1972 Norwegian Album Chart #33
★ 1972 Australian Album Chart #39
Single:
Position:
★ 1972 "Changes" Billboard Hot 100 #66
★ 1973 "Life on Mars?" UK Singles Chart #3
★ 1975 "Changes" Billboard Pop Singles #41
Certifications:
★ BPI — UK Gold 25 January 1982
★ BPI — UK Platinum 25 January 1982
Description:
★ Hunky Dory is the fourth album by English singer–songwriter David Bowie, recorded in the summer of 1971 and released by RCA Records that December. It was his first release through RCA, which would be his label for the next decade. Hunky Dory has been described by AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine as having “a kaleidoscopic array of pop styles, tied together only by Bowie's sense of vision: a sweeping, cinematic mélange of high and low art, ambiguous sexuality, kitsch, and class”.
★ The album has received critical acclaim since its release, and is regarded as one of the artistʼs best works. Time chose it as part of their “100 best albums of all time” list in January 2010, with journalist Josh Tyrangiel praising Bowie–s “earthbound ambition to be a boho poet with prodigal style”. The style of the album cover was influenced by a Marlene Dietrich photo book that Bowie took with him to the photo shoot.
Website: http://davidbowie.com/fiveyears/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidBowieReal
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidbowie
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/davidbowie
Biography:
Author: Stephen Thomas Erlewine
★ The cliché about David Bowie says heʼs a musical chameleon, adapting himself according to fashion and trends. While such a criticism is too glib, thereʼs no denying that Bowie demonstrated remarkable skill for perceiving musical trends at his peak in the '70s. After spending several years in the late '60s as a mod and as an all–around music–hall entertainer, Bowie reinvented himself as a hippie singer/songwriter. Prior to his breakthrough in 1972, he recorded a proto–metal record and a pop/rock album, eventually redefining glam rock with his ambiguously sexy Ziggy Stardust persona. Ziggy made Bowie an international star, yet he wasn't content to continue to churn out glitter rock. By the mid–'70s, he developed an effete, sophisticated version of Philly soul that he dubbed "plastic soul," which eventually morphed into the eerie avant–pop of 1976's Station to Station. Shortly afterward, he relocated to Berlin, where he recorded three experimental electronic albums with Brian Eno. At the dawn of the '80s, Bowie was still at the height of his powers, yet following his blockbuster dance–pop album Letʼs Dance in 1983, he slowly sank into mediocrity before salvaging his career in the early '90s. Even when he was out of fashion in the '80s and '90s, it was clear that Bowie was one of the most influential musicians in rock, for better and for worse. Each one of his phases in the '70s sparked a number of subgenres, including punk, new wave, goth rock, the new romantics, and electronica. Few rockers ever had such lasting impact. David Jones began performing music when he was 13 years old, learning the saxophone while he was at Bromley Technical High School; another pivotal event happened at the school, when his left pupil became permanently dilated in a schoolyard fight. Following his graduation at 16, he worked as a commercial artist while playing saxophone in a number of mod bands, including the King Bees, the Manish Boys (which also featured Jimmy Page as a session man), and Davey Jones & the Lower Third. All three of those bands released singles, which were generally ignored, yet he continued performing, changing his name to David Bowie in 1966 after the Monkeesʼ Davy Jones became an international star. Over the course of 1966, he released three mod singles on Pye Records, which were all ignored. The following year, he signed with Deram, releasing the music hall, Anthony Newley–styled David Bowie that year. Upon completing the record, he spent several weeks in a Scottish Buddhist monastery. Once he left the monastery, he studied with Lindsay Kemp's mime troupe, forming his own mime company, the Feathers, in 1969. The Feathers were short–lived, and he formed the experimental art group Beckenham Arts Lab in 1969. Bowie needed to finance the Arts Lab, so he signed with Mercury Records that year and released Man of Words, Man of Music, a trippy singer/songwriter album featuring "Space Oddity." The song was released as a single and became a major hit in the U.K., convincing Bowie to concentrate on music. Hooking up with his old friend Marc Bolan, he began miming at some of Bolanʼs T. Rex concerts, eventually touring with Bolan, bassist/producer Tony Visconti, guitarist Mick Ronson, and drummer Cambridge as Hype. The band quickly fell apart, yet Bowie and Ronson remained close, working on the material that formed Bowieʼs next album, The Man Who Sold the World, as well as recruiting Michael "Woody" Woodmansey as their drummer. Produced by Tony Visconti, who also played bass, The Man Who Sold the World was a heavy guitar rock album that failed to gain much attention. Bowie followed the album in late 1971 with the pop/rock Hunky Dory, an album that featured Ronson and keyboardist Rick Wakeman. Following its release, Bowie began to develop his most famous incarnation, Ziggy Stardust: an androgynous, bisexual rock star from another planet. Before he unveiled Ziggy, Bowie claimed in a January 1972 interview with Melody Maker that he was gay, helping to stir interest in his forthcoming album. Taking cues from Bolan's stylish glam rock, Bowie dyed his hair orange and began wearing womenʼs clothing. He began calling himself Ziggy Stardust, and his backing band — Ronson, Woodmansey, and bassist Trevor Bolder — were the Spiders from Mars. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was released with much fanfare in England in late 1972. The album and its lavish, theatrical concerts became a sensation throughout England, and it helped him become the only glam rocker to carve out a niche in America. Ziggy Stardust became a word–of–mouth hit in the U.S., and the re–released "Space Oddity" — which was now also the title of the re–released Man of Words, Man of Music — reached the American Top 20. Bowie quickly followed Ziggy with Aladdin Sane later in 1973. Not only did he record a new album that year, but he also produced Lou Reed's Transformer, the Stooges' Raw Power, and Mott the Hoople's comeback All the Young Dudes, for which he also wrote the title track. Given the amount of work Bowie packed into 1972 and 1973, it wasn’t surprising that his relentless schedule began to catch up with him. After recording the all–covers Pin–Ups with the Spiders from Mars, he unexpectedly announced the band's breakup, as well as his retirement from live performances, during the groupʼs final show that year. He retreated from the spotlight to work on a musical adaptation of George Orwell's 1984, but once he was denied the rights to the novel, he transformed the work into Diamond Dogs. The album was released to generally poor reviews in 1974, yet it generated the hit single "Rebel Rebel," and he supported the album with an elaborate and expensive American tour. As the tour progressed, Bowie became fascinated with soul music, eventually redesigning the entire show to reflect his new "plastic soul." Hiring guitarist Carlos Alomar as the band’s leader, Bowie refashioned his group into a Philly soul band and recostumed himself in sophisticated, stylish fashions. The change took fans by surprise, as did the double–album David Live, which featured material recorded on the 1974 tour. Young Americans, released in 1975, was the culmination of Bowie’s soul obsession, and it became his first major crossover hit, peaking in the American Top Ten and generating his first U.S. number one hit in "Fame," a song he co–wrote with John Lennon and Alomar. Bowie relocated to Los Angeles, where he earned his first movie role in Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). While in L.A., he recorded Station to Station, which took the plastic soul of Young Americans into darker, avant–garde–tinged directions yet was also a huge hit, generating the Top Ten single "Golden Years." The album inaugurated Bowie's persona of the elegant "Thin White Duke," and it reflected Bowie’s growing cocaine–fueled paranoia. Soon, he decided Los Angeles was too boring and returned to England; shortly after arriving back in London, he gave the awaiting crowd a Nazi salute, a signal of his growing, drug–addled detachment from reality. The incident caused enormous controversy, and Bowie left the country to settle in Berlin, where he lived and worked with Brian Eno. Once in Berlin, Bowie sobered up and began painting, as well as studying art. He also developed a fascination with German electronic music, which Eno helped him fulfill on their first album together, Low. Released early in 1977, Low was a startling mixture of electronics, pop, and avant–garde technique. While it was greeted with mixed reviews at the time, it proved to be one of the most influential albums of the late '70s, as did its follow–up, Heroes, which followed that year. Not only did Bowie record two solo albums in 1977, but he also helmed Iggy Pop's comeback records The Idiot and Lust for Life, and toured anonymously as Pop's keyboardist. He resumed his acting career in 1977, appearing in Just a Gigolo with Marlene Dietrich and Kim Novak, as well as narrating Eugene Ormandy's version of Peter and the Wolf. Bowie returned to the stage in 1978, launching an international tour that was captured on the double–album Stage. During 1979, Bowie and Eno recorded Lodger in New York, Switzerland, and Berlin, releasing the album at the end of the year. Lodger was supported with several innovative videos, as was 1980ʼs Scary Monsters, and these videos — "DJ," "Fashion," "Ashes to Ashes" — became staples on early MTV. Scary Monsters was Bowie's last album for RCA, and it wrapped up his most innovative, productive period. Later in 1980, he performed the title role in stage production of The Elephant Man, including several shows on Broadway. Over the next two years, he took an extended break from recording, appearing in Christiane F (1981) and the vampire movie The Hunger (1982), returning to the studio only for his 1981 collaboration with Queen, "Under Pressure," and the theme for Paul Schrader's remake of Cat People. In 1983, he signed an expensive contract with EMI Records and released Let's Dance. Bowie had recruited Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers to produce the album, giving the record a sleek, funky foundation, and hired the unknown Stevie Ray Vaughan as lead guitarist. Let's Dance became his most successful record, thanks to stylish, innovative videos for "Letʼs Dance" and "China Girl," which turned both songs into Top Ten hits. Bowie supported the record with the sold–out arena tour Serious Moonlight. Greeted with massive success for the first time, Bowie wasnʼt quite sure how to react, and he eventually decided to replicate Let’s Dance with 1984ʼs Tonight. While the album sold well, producing the Top Ten hit "Blue Jean," it received poor reviews and was ultimately a commercial disappointment. He stalled in 1985, recording a duet of Martha & the Vandellas’ "Dancing in the Street" with Mick Jagger for Live Aid. He also spent more time jet–setting, appearing at celebrity events across the globe, and appeared in several movies — Into the Night (1985), Absolute Beginners (1986), Labyrinth (1986) — that turned out to be bombs. Bowie returned to recording in 1987 with the widely panned Never Let Me Down, supporting the album with the Glass Spider tour, which also received poor reviews. In 1989, he remastered his RCA catalog with Rykodisc for CD release, kicking off the series with the three–disc box Sound + Vision. Bowie supported the discs with an accompanying tour of the same name, claming that he was retiring all of his older characters from performance following the tour. Sound + Vision was successful, and Ziggy Stardust re–charted amidst the hoopla. Sound + Vision may have been a success, but Bowieʼs next project was perhaps his most unsuccessful. Picking up on the abrasive, dissonant rock of Sonic Youth and the Pixies, Bowie formed his own guitar rock combo, Tin Machine, with guitarist Reeves Gabrels, bassist Hunt Sales, and his drummer brother Tony, who had previously worked on Iggy Pop's Lust for Life with Bowie. Tin Machine released an eponymous album to poor reviews that summer and supported it with a club tour, which was only moderately successful. Despite the poor reviews, Tin Machine released a second album, the appropriately titled Tin Machine II, in 1991, and it was completely ignored. Bowie returned to a solo career in 1993 with the sophisticated, soulful Black Tie White Noise, recording the album with Nile Rodgers and his now–permanent collaborator, Reeves Gabrels. The album was released on Savage, a subsidiary of RCA, and received positive reviews, but his new label went bankrupt shortly after its release, and the album disappeared. Black Tie White Noise was the first indication that Bowie was trying hard to resuscitate his career, as was the largely instrumental 1994 soundtrack The Buddha of Suburbia. In 1995, he reunited with Brian Eno for the wildly hyped, industrial rock–tinged Outside. Several critics hailed the album as a comeback, and Bowie supported it with a co–headlining tour with Nine Inch Nails in order to snag a younger, alternative audience, but his gambit failed; audiences left before Bowie’s performance and Outside disappeared. He quickly returned to the studio in 1996, recording Earthling, an album heavily influenced by techno and drum‘n’bass. Upon its early 1997 release, Earthling received generally positive reviews, yet the album failed to gain an audience, and many techno purists criticized Bowie for allegedly exploiting their subculture. hours... followed in 1999. In 2002, Bowie reunited with producer Toni Visconti and released Heathen to very positive reviews. He continued on with Visconti for Reality in 2003, which was once again warmly received. Bowie supported Reality with a lengthy tour but it came to a halt in the summer of 2004 when he received an emergency angioplasty while in Hamburg, Germany. Following this health scare, Bowie quietly retreated from the public eye. Over the next few years, he popped up at the occasional charity concert or gala event and he sometimes sang in the studio for other artists (notably he appeared on Scarlett Johansson’s Tom Waits tribute Anywhere I Lay My Head in 2008). Archival releases appeared but no new recordings did until he suddenly ended his unofficial retirement on his 66th birthday on January 8, 2013, releasing a new single called “Where Are We Now?” and announcing the arrival of a new album. Entitled The Next Day and once again produced by Visconti, the album was released in March of 2013. Greeted with generally positive reviews, The Next Day debuted at either number one or two throughout the world, earning gold certifications in many countries. The following year, Bowie released a new compilation called Nothing Has Changed, which featured the new song "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Studio albums
★ David Bowie (1967)
★ David Bowie (1969)
★ The Man Who Sold the World (1970)
★ Hunky Dory (1971)
★ The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
★ Aladdin Sane (1973)
★ Pin Ups (1973)
★ Diamond Dogs (1974)
★ Young Americans (1975)
★ Station to Station (1976)
★ Low (1977)
★ “Heroes” (1977)
★ Lodger (1979)
★ Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) (1980)
★ Letʼs Dance (1983)
★ Tonight (1984)
★ Never Let Me Down (1987)
★ Black Tie White Noise (1993)
★ The Buddha of Suburbia (1993)
★ Outside (1995)
★ Earthling (1997)
★ ‘Hours...ʼ (1999)
★ Heathen (2002)
★ Reality (2003)
★ The Next Day (2013)
Rolling Stone: https://web.archive.org/web/20131110072743/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/david-bowie/albumguide
_____________________________________________________________
| DAVID BOWIE — Hunky Dory (17 December 1971/25 September 2015) |
★ První album v životě Davida Bowieho, které obdrželo 5 hvězdiček od Rolling Stone. A tento magazín nedává nic kvůli jménu: ze 37 hodnocených alb dává toto plné skóre pouze u devíti jeho alb. Podobně naplno skóruje Allmusic Guide. Robert Christgau píše: “A singer–composer with brains, imagination, and a good idea of how to use a recording console comes up with a quick change tour de force that is both catchy and deeply felt. A MINUS”. O nesmírné popularitě alba svědčí jeho 147 vydání v 18 zemích. / The theme of shifting sexual identity became the core of Bowie's next album, 1971ʼs scattered but splendid Hunky Dory: “Gotta make way for the Homo Superior,” he squeals on the gay–bar singalong “Oh! You Pretty Things”, simultaneously nodding to Nietzsche and to X–Men. Heʼd also made huge leaps as a songwriter, and his new songs demonstrated the breadth of his power: the epic Jacques Brel–gone–Dada torch song “Life on Mars?” is immediately followed by “Kooks”, an adorable lullaby for his infant son. The band (with Trevor Bolder replacing Visconti on bass) mostly keeps its power in check — “Changes” is effectively Bowie explaining his aesthetic to fans of the Carpenters. Still, they cut loose on the albumʼs most brilliant jewel, “Queen Bitch”, a furiously rocking theatrical miniature (Bowie–the–character–actor has rarely chewed the scenery harder) that out–Velvet Undergrounds the Velvet Underground. — By Douglas Wolk (Pitchfork); October 1, 2015; Score: 8.2
Location: London, UK
Album release: 17 December 1971
Recorded: June–August 1971, Studio Trident Studios, London
Record Label: RCA / Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Co, LLC
Duration:
Tracks:
★ All songs written by David Bowie, except where noted.
Side one
01. "Changes" 3:37
02. "Oh! You Pretty Things" 3:12
03. "Eight Line Poem" 2:55
04. "Life on Mars?" 3:53
05. "Kooks" 2:53
06. "Quicksand" 5:08
Side two
07. "Fill Your Heart" (Biff Rose, Paul Williams) 3:07
08. "Andy Warhol" 3:56
09. "Song for Bob Dylan" 4:12
10. "Queen Bitch" 3:18
11. "The Bewlay Brothers"
Personnel:
★ David Bowie — vocals, guitar, alto and tenor saxophone, piano (in “Oh! You Pretty Things”, “Eight Line Poem”, and “The Bewlay Brothers”)
★ Mick Ronson — guitar, vocals, Mellotron, arrangements
★ Rick Wakeman — piano
★ Trevor Bolder — bass guitar, trumpet
★ Mick Woodmansey — drums
Technical personnel:
★ Ken Scott — producer, recording engineer, mixing engineer
★ David Bowie — producer
★ Dr. Toby Mountain — remastering engineer (for Rykodisc release)
★ Jonathan Wyner — assistant remastering engineer (for Rykodisc release)
★ Peter Mew — remastering engineer (for EMI release)
★ Nigel Reeve — assistant remastering engineer (for EMI release)
★ George Underwood — cover art
Producer: Ken Scott, David Bowie
℗ 2015 Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Co, LLC under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Ltd, a Warner Music Group Company
Charts:
Album:
★ 1972 UK Albums Chart #3
★ 1975 Billboard 200 #93
★ 1972 Norwegian Album Chart #33
★ 1972 Australian Album Chart #39
Single:
Position:
★ 1972 "Changes" Billboard Hot 100 #66
★ 1973 "Life on Mars?" UK Singles Chart #3
★ 1975 "Changes" Billboard Pop Singles #41
Certifications:
★ BPI — UK Gold 25 January 1982
★ BPI — UK Platinum 25 January 1982
★ Hunky Dory is the fourth album by English singer–songwriter David Bowie, recorded in the summer of 1971 and released by RCA Records that December. It was his first release through RCA, which would be his label for the next decade. Hunky Dory has been described by AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine as having “a kaleidoscopic array of pop styles, tied together only by Bowie's sense of vision: a sweeping, cinematic mélange of high and low art, ambiguous sexuality, kitsch, and class”.
★ The album has received critical acclaim since its release, and is regarded as one of the artistʼs best works. Time chose it as part of their “100 best albums of all time” list in January 2010, with journalist Josh Tyrangiel praising Bowie–s “earthbound ambition to be a boho poet with prodigal style”. The style of the album cover was influenced by a Marlene Dietrich photo book that Bowie took with him to the photo shoot.
Website: http://davidbowie.com/fiveyears/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidBowieReal
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidbowie
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/davidbowie
Biography:
Author: Stephen Thomas Erlewine
★ The cliché about David Bowie says heʼs a musical chameleon, adapting himself according to fashion and trends. While such a criticism is too glib, thereʼs no denying that Bowie demonstrated remarkable skill for perceiving musical trends at his peak in the '70s. After spending several years in the late '60s as a mod and as an all–around music–hall entertainer, Bowie reinvented himself as a hippie singer/songwriter. Prior to his breakthrough in 1972, he recorded a proto–metal record and a pop/rock album, eventually redefining glam rock with his ambiguously sexy Ziggy Stardust persona. Ziggy made Bowie an international star, yet he wasn't content to continue to churn out glitter rock. By the mid–'70s, he developed an effete, sophisticated version of Philly soul that he dubbed "plastic soul," which eventually morphed into the eerie avant–pop of 1976's Station to Station. Shortly afterward, he relocated to Berlin, where he recorded three experimental electronic albums with Brian Eno. At the dawn of the '80s, Bowie was still at the height of his powers, yet following his blockbuster dance–pop album Letʼs Dance in 1983, he slowly sank into mediocrity before salvaging his career in the early '90s. Even when he was out of fashion in the '80s and '90s, it was clear that Bowie was one of the most influential musicians in rock, for better and for worse. Each one of his phases in the '70s sparked a number of subgenres, including punk, new wave, goth rock, the new romantics, and electronica. Few rockers ever had such lasting impact. David Jones began performing music when he was 13 years old, learning the saxophone while he was at Bromley Technical High School; another pivotal event happened at the school, when his left pupil became permanently dilated in a schoolyard fight. Following his graduation at 16, he worked as a commercial artist while playing saxophone in a number of mod bands, including the King Bees, the Manish Boys (which also featured Jimmy Page as a session man), and Davey Jones & the Lower Third. All three of those bands released singles, which were generally ignored, yet he continued performing, changing his name to David Bowie in 1966 after the Monkeesʼ Davy Jones became an international star. Over the course of 1966, he released three mod singles on Pye Records, which were all ignored. The following year, he signed with Deram, releasing the music hall, Anthony Newley–styled David Bowie that year. Upon completing the record, he spent several weeks in a Scottish Buddhist monastery. Once he left the monastery, he studied with Lindsay Kemp's mime troupe, forming his own mime company, the Feathers, in 1969. The Feathers were short–lived, and he formed the experimental art group Beckenham Arts Lab in 1969. Bowie needed to finance the Arts Lab, so he signed with Mercury Records that year and released Man of Words, Man of Music, a trippy singer/songwriter album featuring "Space Oddity." The song was released as a single and became a major hit in the U.K., convincing Bowie to concentrate on music. Hooking up with his old friend Marc Bolan, he began miming at some of Bolanʼs T. Rex concerts, eventually touring with Bolan, bassist/producer Tony Visconti, guitarist Mick Ronson, and drummer Cambridge as Hype. The band quickly fell apart, yet Bowie and Ronson remained close, working on the material that formed Bowieʼs next album, The Man Who Sold the World, as well as recruiting Michael "Woody" Woodmansey as their drummer. Produced by Tony Visconti, who also played bass, The Man Who Sold the World was a heavy guitar rock album that failed to gain much attention. Bowie followed the album in late 1971 with the pop/rock Hunky Dory, an album that featured Ronson and keyboardist Rick Wakeman. Following its release, Bowie began to develop his most famous incarnation, Ziggy Stardust: an androgynous, bisexual rock star from another planet. Before he unveiled Ziggy, Bowie claimed in a January 1972 interview with Melody Maker that he was gay, helping to stir interest in his forthcoming album. Taking cues from Bolan's stylish glam rock, Bowie dyed his hair orange and began wearing womenʼs clothing. He began calling himself Ziggy Stardust, and his backing band — Ronson, Woodmansey, and bassist Trevor Bolder — were the Spiders from Mars. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was released with much fanfare in England in late 1972. The album and its lavish, theatrical concerts became a sensation throughout England, and it helped him become the only glam rocker to carve out a niche in America. Ziggy Stardust became a word–of–mouth hit in the U.S., and the re–released "Space Oddity" — which was now also the title of the re–released Man of Words, Man of Music — reached the American Top 20. Bowie quickly followed Ziggy with Aladdin Sane later in 1973. Not only did he record a new album that year, but he also produced Lou Reed's Transformer, the Stooges' Raw Power, and Mott the Hoople's comeback All the Young Dudes, for which he also wrote the title track. Given the amount of work Bowie packed into 1972 and 1973, it wasn’t surprising that his relentless schedule began to catch up with him. After recording the all–covers Pin–Ups with the Spiders from Mars, he unexpectedly announced the band's breakup, as well as his retirement from live performances, during the groupʼs final show that year. He retreated from the spotlight to work on a musical adaptation of George Orwell's 1984, but once he was denied the rights to the novel, he transformed the work into Diamond Dogs. The album was released to generally poor reviews in 1974, yet it generated the hit single "Rebel Rebel," and he supported the album with an elaborate and expensive American tour. As the tour progressed, Bowie became fascinated with soul music, eventually redesigning the entire show to reflect his new "plastic soul." Hiring guitarist Carlos Alomar as the band’s leader, Bowie refashioned his group into a Philly soul band and recostumed himself in sophisticated, stylish fashions. The change took fans by surprise, as did the double–album David Live, which featured material recorded on the 1974 tour. Young Americans, released in 1975, was the culmination of Bowie’s soul obsession, and it became his first major crossover hit, peaking in the American Top Ten and generating his first U.S. number one hit in "Fame," a song he co–wrote with John Lennon and Alomar. Bowie relocated to Los Angeles, where he earned his first movie role in Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). While in L.A., he recorded Station to Station, which took the plastic soul of Young Americans into darker, avant–garde–tinged directions yet was also a huge hit, generating the Top Ten single "Golden Years." The album inaugurated Bowie's persona of the elegant "Thin White Duke," and it reflected Bowie’s growing cocaine–fueled paranoia. Soon, he decided Los Angeles was too boring and returned to England; shortly after arriving back in London, he gave the awaiting crowd a Nazi salute, a signal of his growing, drug–addled detachment from reality. The incident caused enormous controversy, and Bowie left the country to settle in Berlin, where he lived and worked with Brian Eno. Once in Berlin, Bowie sobered up and began painting, as well as studying art. He also developed a fascination with German electronic music, which Eno helped him fulfill on their first album together, Low. Released early in 1977, Low was a startling mixture of electronics, pop, and avant–garde technique. While it was greeted with mixed reviews at the time, it proved to be one of the most influential albums of the late '70s, as did its follow–up, Heroes, which followed that year. Not only did Bowie record two solo albums in 1977, but he also helmed Iggy Pop's comeback records The Idiot and Lust for Life, and toured anonymously as Pop's keyboardist. He resumed his acting career in 1977, appearing in Just a Gigolo with Marlene Dietrich and Kim Novak, as well as narrating Eugene Ormandy's version of Peter and the Wolf. Bowie returned to the stage in 1978, launching an international tour that was captured on the double–album Stage. During 1979, Bowie and Eno recorded Lodger in New York, Switzerland, and Berlin, releasing the album at the end of the year. Lodger was supported with several innovative videos, as was 1980ʼs Scary Monsters, and these videos — "DJ," "Fashion," "Ashes to Ashes" — became staples on early MTV. Scary Monsters was Bowie's last album for RCA, and it wrapped up his most innovative, productive period. Later in 1980, he performed the title role in stage production of The Elephant Man, including several shows on Broadway. Over the next two years, he took an extended break from recording, appearing in Christiane F (1981) and the vampire movie The Hunger (1982), returning to the studio only for his 1981 collaboration with Queen, "Under Pressure," and the theme for Paul Schrader's remake of Cat People. In 1983, he signed an expensive contract with EMI Records and released Let's Dance. Bowie had recruited Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers to produce the album, giving the record a sleek, funky foundation, and hired the unknown Stevie Ray Vaughan as lead guitarist. Let's Dance became his most successful record, thanks to stylish, innovative videos for "Letʼs Dance" and "China Girl," which turned both songs into Top Ten hits. Bowie supported the record with the sold–out arena tour Serious Moonlight. Greeted with massive success for the first time, Bowie wasnʼt quite sure how to react, and he eventually decided to replicate Let’s Dance with 1984ʼs Tonight. While the album sold well, producing the Top Ten hit "Blue Jean," it received poor reviews and was ultimately a commercial disappointment. He stalled in 1985, recording a duet of Martha & the Vandellas’ "Dancing in the Street" with Mick Jagger for Live Aid. He also spent more time jet–setting, appearing at celebrity events across the globe, and appeared in several movies — Into the Night (1985), Absolute Beginners (1986), Labyrinth (1986) — that turned out to be bombs. Bowie returned to recording in 1987 with the widely panned Never Let Me Down, supporting the album with the Glass Spider tour, which also received poor reviews. In 1989, he remastered his RCA catalog with Rykodisc for CD release, kicking off the series with the three–disc box Sound + Vision. Bowie supported the discs with an accompanying tour of the same name, claming that he was retiring all of his older characters from performance following the tour. Sound + Vision was successful, and Ziggy Stardust re–charted amidst the hoopla. Sound + Vision may have been a success, but Bowieʼs next project was perhaps his most unsuccessful. Picking up on the abrasive, dissonant rock of Sonic Youth and the Pixies, Bowie formed his own guitar rock combo, Tin Machine, with guitarist Reeves Gabrels, bassist Hunt Sales, and his drummer brother Tony, who had previously worked on Iggy Pop's Lust for Life with Bowie. Tin Machine released an eponymous album to poor reviews that summer and supported it with a club tour, which was only moderately successful. Despite the poor reviews, Tin Machine released a second album, the appropriately titled Tin Machine II, in 1991, and it was completely ignored. Bowie returned to a solo career in 1993 with the sophisticated, soulful Black Tie White Noise, recording the album with Nile Rodgers and his now–permanent collaborator, Reeves Gabrels. The album was released on Savage, a subsidiary of RCA, and received positive reviews, but his new label went bankrupt shortly after its release, and the album disappeared. Black Tie White Noise was the first indication that Bowie was trying hard to resuscitate his career, as was the largely instrumental 1994 soundtrack The Buddha of Suburbia. In 1995, he reunited with Brian Eno for the wildly hyped, industrial rock–tinged Outside. Several critics hailed the album as a comeback, and Bowie supported it with a co–headlining tour with Nine Inch Nails in order to snag a younger, alternative audience, but his gambit failed; audiences left before Bowie’s performance and Outside disappeared. He quickly returned to the studio in 1996, recording Earthling, an album heavily influenced by techno and drum‘n’bass. Upon its early 1997 release, Earthling received generally positive reviews, yet the album failed to gain an audience, and many techno purists criticized Bowie for allegedly exploiting their subculture. hours... followed in 1999. In 2002, Bowie reunited with producer Toni Visconti and released Heathen to very positive reviews. He continued on with Visconti for Reality in 2003, which was once again warmly received. Bowie supported Reality with a lengthy tour but it came to a halt in the summer of 2004 when he received an emergency angioplasty while in Hamburg, Germany. Following this health scare, Bowie quietly retreated from the public eye. Over the next few years, he popped up at the occasional charity concert or gala event and he sometimes sang in the studio for other artists (notably he appeared on Scarlett Johansson’s Tom Waits tribute Anywhere I Lay My Head in 2008). Archival releases appeared but no new recordings did until he suddenly ended his unofficial retirement on his 66th birthday on January 8, 2013, releasing a new single called “Where Are We Now?” and announcing the arrival of a new album. Entitled The Next Day and once again produced by Visconti, the album was released in March of 2013. Greeted with generally positive reviews, The Next Day debuted at either number one or two throughout the world, earning gold certifications in many countries. The following year, Bowie released a new compilation called Nothing Has Changed, which featured the new song "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
★ David Bowie (1967)
★ David Bowie (1969)
★ The Man Who Sold the World (1970)
★ Hunky Dory (1971)
★ The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
★ Aladdin Sane (1973)
★ Pin Ups (1973)
★ Diamond Dogs (1974)
★ Young Americans (1975)
★ Station to Station (1976)
★ Low (1977)
★ “Heroes” (1977)
★ Lodger (1979)
★ Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) (1980)
★ Letʼs Dance (1983)
★ Tonight (1984)
★ Never Let Me Down (1987)
★ Black Tie White Noise (1993)
★ The Buddha of Suburbia (1993)
★ Outside (1995)
★ Earthling (1997)
★ ‘Hours...ʼ (1999)
★ Heathen (2002)
★ Reality (2003)
★ The Next Day (2013)
Rolling Stone: https://web.archive.org/web/20131110072743/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/david-bowie/albumguide
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