The David Bowie Albums

THE LODGER, of fucking course.

Can't believe he made an album about Matt Johnson selling the world, what was he thinking?

Hunky Dory

Knee-jerk reaction is Station to Station.

Gonna change my vote to Station to Station - title track is classic as hell. Hunky Dory was for semimental reasons

Blackstar

Aladdin Sane and Low are my favorites

Another for Blackstar. I love a lot of Bowie, but that one goes deep.

The David Bowie - 7/10
The Space Oddity - 7/10
The The Man Who Sold the World - 7/10
The Hunky Dory - 9/10
The Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - 9/10
The Aladdin Sane - 8/10
The Pin Ups - 6/10
The Diamond Dogs - 9/10
The Young Americans - 8/10
The Station to Station - 10/10
The Low - 9/10
The "Heroes" - 9/10
The Lodger - 9/10
The Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) - 8/10
The Let's Dance - 6/10
The Tonight - 3/10
The Never Let Me Down - 2/10
The Tin Machine - 5/10
The Tin Machine II - never heard
The Black Tie White Noise - 5/10
The Outside - 6/10
The Earthling - 7/10
The Hours - never heard
The Heathen - 7/10
The Reality - 6/10
The The Next Day - 7/10
The Blackstar - 9/10

Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

Another for Blackstar. I love a lot of Bowie, but that one goes deep.

― dinnerboat

Me too. Would've voted for Station to Station but... the timing of its release, the shock of his death, & the frankly astounding quality of the music & its menace... I don't think anyone else has pulled off making their own death a work of art like that ever before.

Blackstar is amazing and yes, unique in that a dying 69 year old was breaking new ground in his last work - it is a quantum leap from The Next Day which was basically a continuation on from the 'classic Bowie rock' sound of the previous 2 albums.

But Station To Station is still pretty much essence of Bowie, it's where it all comes together - the sound of it, the themes, the vocals, the look he had around then, the album artwork (far and away his best) - it was the album Bowie was destined to make.

The Diamond Dogs is the band I'd be most likely to buy a 7" from out of the back of a zine, so that

Voting for the favourite album?
Or voting for favourite the album?
(As in: title that most improves from adding The?)

I'm going with the second option but feel free to follow your heart

I have some to a lot of love for all of his albums, I'm even pretty postive about Never Let Me Down. My absolute faves are Diamond Dogs, 1. Outside, Low and Space Oddity (usually in that order with DD being my ultimate fave). Those I care least for are the debut & the first Tin Machine (the second Tin Machine is much better, with great songs, although the production could have been better).

But the album title that sounds best with The is probably The "Heroes", or The Space Oddity.

I'm wondering about The Space Oddity then (it's a big fave which sounds great with The), but- it's not the original album title, that would be the second The David Bowie OR The Man of Words/Man of Music.

oooh The Man of Words/Man of Music is a great title!

Head says Low, heart says Hunky Dory.

The The World of David Bowie

Not included in the poll options but I consider these live albums improved by The update:
The David Live
The Stage

TheChangesOneBowie

Hunky Dory

yeah I just did studio albums, though The Bowie at the Beeb is also great

The Stage is very good.
I went for The Space Oddity in the end, not only is it an amazing title but -both- original titles are very good The-titles as well.
(That, and I also really love the album, it's got such a lovely atmosphere.)

Found myself gravitating towards Aladdin sane, mostly because of the brilliance of Mike Garson on piano and the incredible Drive-In Saturday

listening to the new Low mix, sounds like they did a lot of cleaning on it

it's almost... too clear

There's a new mix of Low?

I think this is supposed to be new?
https://open.spotify.com/album/6DcvIymXDe8sCD1u0fzi8J

could also be that I've been listening to a beat up copy for the past few years

oh sry I see it's just a remaster... only The Lodger is remixed

Oh right, people are actually taking this poll seriously.

In which case, the results of the albums section of the David Bowie artist poll are near enough OTM.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

The Tin Machine albums benefit most here imo. You know The Tin Machine was a hit, because there's a sequel.

toss up on whether the right answer is ziggy, station to station, or Low to me. voted Low just for the audacity of the second side.

also, everyone is very angry about the latest round of remasters/reissues in the box set; didn't hear specific complaints about Low but there's some vovlume shift in heroes that sounds like shit, and apparently they fucked up Lodger with a very bass-heavy mastering approach.

The Hunky Dory and The Tonight are the most improved titles imo.

The Young Americans

"the most improved titles imo." the most improved over what? their predecessors? are you mad?

Some would argue as much, yes.

i'm also voting for most improved title as well.

something about The Tonight sounds so good to me

but i voted for The "Heroes" on impulse as soon i scanned the list earlier this morning, so it's too late now.

Why no The The Buddha Of Suburbia? Good record. ( and not really a sound track album at all)

my bad :'(

impossible to choose. im paralyzed by how many amazing mind blowing and beyond classic albums there are on this list

oh man the the buddha of suburbia would’ve been my vote

the the next day doesn’t quite cut it

I used to think it was The Ziggy Stardust, then I used to think it was The Scary Monsters, then I used to think it was The Young Americans and after that The Low. But now I know it's The Station To Station.

But really, it could actually be The Lodger.

Carrying the torch for normcore dad rock, Ziggy Stardust it is!

you mean The Ziggy Stardust

It's The Station To Station for me too, but The Lodger would be in my top 5

The Dancing in the Streets

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Pretty much exactly right

Yep - that top 5 is pretty much my top 5

The Reality 0
^^deservedly so

the Heathen deserved a vote

certainly deserved more than The The Hours

Of the ones that got 0 votes, I'll rep for The Heathen, The Earthling and The David Bowie

haha that would be a great title for a book

due to the chaos of the recent boxset i have decided to re-add the Ryko editions to my digital archive.
i got a complete set of the EMI remasters (japanese mini editions) a few years back and so cleared out the digital rips of my Ryko collection as i thought the Ryko set sounded weak and ineffectual.
however, according to the SF crew the Ryko editions are far better sonically.
i have most of them (just Ziggy missing), so, time to dive in.

The ‘Mercury’ Demos is a compilation by David Bowie, released in May 2019. It features ten songs in mono, demo form performed by Bowie with his friend John Hutchinson in early 1969. In November 2019, all songs were released on CD on the Conversation Piece box set. Wikipedia

Just heard these folky Mercury demos from 68 & 69 for first time, on Spotify. Space Oddity version is nice as is a song called “An Occasional Dream”

Yeah I like all those. They released almost all of it in spurts last year in stupid variations (7" box, blah blah).

Aapparently there's supposed to be 6 unreleased tracks released weekly starting today on streaming which will wind up on an RSD release later this year called ChangesNowBowie, but I can't locate the song they released on apple music (a 1997 version of Man Who Sold the World).

Will look out for those

4 years ago today

“Four years”

my brain does hurt a lot

Is it because it is like a warehouse, or is it the concrete all around?

It just occurred to me that while Bowie could be personal, funny or profound as a lyricist, sometimes accidentally so, he never really tries to be clever, does he?

Which is a good thing, I hope

Now the workers have struck for fame
Because Lennon's on sale again

Yeah, I think that whole weird verse is trying to be clever.

https://i.imgur.com/AtKx7nM.jpg
Keep boxing clever.

I totally think it's a good thing he never really tries to be clever. Jut surprising, given he's smart, pretentious, ambitious, etc. that he never really seemed tempted to show off lyrically. If anything he went the opposite direction. Automatic writing, cut-ups, stream of consciousness, etc.

I don't know how you're defining 'trying to be clever' tbh.

For instance...

"I'm closer to the Golden Dawn
Immersed in Crowley's uniform
Of imagery
I'm living in a silent film
Portraying Himmler's sacred realm
Of dream reality"

... is that trying to be clever?

There's quite a lot of that sort of stuff pre-Ziggy!

Yeah, I don't think of that as clever, just evocative. I'm thinking more of the, yeah, Elvis Costello vein, of couplets and quips and tricky wordplay.

Right, get you, no he did not, thank God!

he definitely did it sometimes, but i agree that it's good he largely avoided it and in any case the examples that come to mind (including the one i posted) rarely come off as smug or obnoxious

He doesn't go much for rhymes, which precludes a lot of opportunities cleverness.

Last two posts otm.

There is really no way to do a list of my favorite albums with any rationality. I do only have about 2,500 vinyls. There is a possibility there. I’ll look through the albums and pull together a list of those I have re-bought or am in the process of re-buying on CD. I have little time, and there are just too many to sort through. So, I’ll keep pulling stuff out blindly, and if it’s too obvious (Sgt. Pepper, Nirvana) I’ll put it back again till I find something more interesting. A lot of the rock stuff I have is the same as everyone else’s, and I have so many blues and R&B albums that it would topple over into trainspotter world if I went that route.

O.K., no rules then. I’ll just make ’em up as I go along. I’d say half of this list below is now on my CD racks, but many are finding impossible to trace. The John Lee Hooker album, for instance, or The Red Flower of Tachai Blossoms Everywhere. I have done the only thing possible and burned them to CD myself, reduced the cover art down to size, and made reasonable simulacrums of the originals.

If you can possibly get your hands on any of these, I guarantee you evenings of listening pleasure, and you will encourage a new high-minded circle of friends, although one or two choices will lead some of your old pals to think you completely barmy. So, without chronology, genre, or reason, herewith, in no particular order, 25 albums that could change your reputation.

https://web.archive.org/web/20161002154204/http://scallemang.ca/bowie25albums/

O, this is wonderful, thanks!

wow, thanks for introducing me to Florence Foster Jenkins... what a voice

This is the oldest usage of “vinyls” I’ve seen

I was just thinking that I am now the same age The David Bowie was when he married The Iman

The hatred of "vinyls" sorta makes me like it. I'd be too embarrassed to say it but reading it gives me the same queasy pleasure as comic sans.

Saw this performed live in downtown New York in the late 70s. All white shirts and black trousers. Having just finished a tour in white shirt and black trousers, I immediately recognized Reich’s huge talent and great taste.
<3

The Reich piece a pretty clear influence on side 2 of Low I'd say.