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Thread: David Bowie: Rate the albums

  1. #1
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    David Bowie: Rate the albums

    Now that there will be no more music from this man, and many people could be looking to start or to expand their Bowie collection, but are unsure what to get, this should be of assistance.

    Give your ratings or rankings of his albums.
    To make it useful, please don't just give numbered ratings or rankings; say WHY you like (or don't like) certain albums or certain periods.
    Last edited by bob_32_116; 01-16-2016 at 12:00 PM.

  2. #2
    Recently Resurrected zombywoof's Avatar
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    I'm not a Bowie fan - as in, I've heard the hits but not explored much further. Monday, I played Hunky Dory and Ziggy - both given to me by a good friend years ago and yesterday I picked up Blackstar. Played it twice. Brilliant. By far my favorite of the three. What makes his death even sadder is that he went out absolutely on top.

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    Member zravkapt's Avatar
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    My faves:

    The Man Who Sold The World (at his most hard-rockin', even more so than the Ziggy era)
    highlights - The Width Of A Circle, title track

    Diamond Dogs (transitional album that's the missing link between the Ziggy era and his 'blue-eyed soul' era)
    highlights - Big Brother, title track

    Station To Station (transitional album between the blue-eyed soul era and the Berlin era)
    highlights - 10 minute title track, TVC15 (album version way better than single edit)

    Low (the first and IMO 'best' of the Berlin trilogy albums; influenced by the German Krautrockers and electronic artists)
    highlights - Warszawa, Speed Of Life

    Scary Monsters (not as experimental as the last few albums but more consistent than the next few albums)
    highlights - Ashes To Ashes (album version way better than single edit), Up The Hill Backwards

    1. Outside (works with Eno again, intentionally '90s' sounding)

    Blackstar (one hell of a swan song, both a great Bowie album and a great 2016 album)
    The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off

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    Other than box sets / compilations / live albums, I own very few of his studio releases unfortunately. What I have;

    1. Ziggy Stardust: One of the best albums of the 70's IMO.
    2. Tonight: Not a great album, but it has it's moments.
    3. Outside: I really did not care for this one.

    Other than studio I have;

    1. Sound And Vision Box Set: 3 disc that spans his career up to the early 80's. Lots of rare stuff on it.
    2. David Live: Great live album.
    3. Stage: Another great live one.
    4. Changes Bowie: Greatest Hits that I think just about everyone from my generation has owned at one time or another.

  5. #5
    Progga mogrooves's Avatar
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    In order of preference:

    The Man Who....
    Ziggy
    Hunky Dory
    Low
    Heroes
    Aladdin Sane
    Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes

  6. #6
    1. Low A
    2. Ziggy A
    3. Station to Station A
    4. Heroes A
    5. Hunky Dory A-
    6. Scary Monsters A-
    7. Aladdin Sane A-
    8. Black Tie White Noise A-
    9. Lodger B+
    10. Let's Dance B+
    11. Reality B+
    12. The Next Day B+
    13. The Man Who Sold the World B+
    14. Diamond Dogs B
    15. Young Americans B
    16. Heathen B
    17. Tin Machine B
    18. Earthling B
    19. Pin Ups B-
    20. Buddha of Suburbia B-
    21. Space Oddity B-
    22. Tin Machine II C+
    23. Hours C+
    24. Outside C+
    25. Tonight C
    26. Never Let Me Down D+

  7. #7
    ALL ACCESS Gruno's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bob_32_116 View Post
    Now that there will be no more music from this man
    I have a feeling unreleased material will be made available in the future.

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    Facelift's list is sound. I would only make a few changes...I find Never Let Me Down more worthwhile than Tonight, the latter is his weakest album IMHO- he contributed very little new material, too many covers and remakes. And I also like Tin Machine II more than the first, apart from the dud songs he doesn't sing on. I rate Outside quite highly too.

  9. #9
    Ziggy
    Aladin
    Hunky
    MWSTW

  10. #10
    Ziggy Stardust (one of the top ten albums of the 70s, in my estimation)
    Aladdin Sane
    Hunky Dory
    Diamond Dogs
    The Man Who Sold the World

    These are the Bowie albums I still listen to. As for the rest, there are certain songs I love, but within moderation.
    "And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision."

    Occasional musical musings on https://darkelffile.blogspot.com/

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    Diamond Dogs is still my favorite from him. I don't have all his studio material but from what I have I like:

    Live at the Tower (which comes from the Diamond Dogs tour) I knew a guy who went to one of these shows and he told me stories about people with makeup and dressing like Bowie in the theater.

    Scary Monsters
    Hunky Dory
    Ziggy Stardust
    Station to Station
    Aladdin Sane


    Ones that I don't really care for:

    The Man who sold the world
    Space Oddity
    The Next Day
    Young Americans

    There's some gaps in what I don't own. I need to get Heroes and Low for sure, I think I'd enjoy them from what I've heard about them. And also the new one sounds good from what I've heard.

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    For some reason best known to Bowie, the title of the album and song "Heroes" is written like that, i.e. enclosed in quotes. Does anyone know the rationale behind that? It's as though he's saying that some person or people purporting to be heroes are not really heroes, they are fake.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Fracktured View Post
    Live at the Tower (which comes from the Diamond Dogs tour) I knew a guy who went to one of these shows and he told me stories about people with makeup and dressing like Bowie in the theater.
    The BBC documentary covering that US tour, Cracked Actor, backs that up. The performance footage in that is amazing, those shows were real spectaculars.

    It also has footage of a well-before-fame Luther Vandross when he was one of Bowie's backing vocalists, and they are running through the song 'Right'.

  14. #14
    Probably like most people who read this forum I like the Berlin period most, and enjoy The Man Who Sold the World for its great guitar from Mick Ronson as well as Bowie's songwriting. Blackstar was a great final statement.

    The self-titled album from 1967 is also quite interesting at times in a sort of Ray Davies/Syd Barrett meets Anthony Newley way.

  15. #15
    Member jake's Avatar
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    1. The Man Who Sold the World
    2. Lodger
    3. Hunky Dory
    4. Ziggy Stardust
    5. Aladdin Sane
    6. Low
    7. Space Oddity
    8. Station to Station
    9. Diamond Dogs
    10. Heroes

    I have not yet heard Blackstar so I can't rate it yet.

  16. #16
    Member hippypants's Avatar
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    I've got fifteen of his albums, and yes, I like some more than others. I'm not sure which I bought first, but it may have been:

    Aladdin Sane--which for me is his classic glam period. It's got Mick Ronson on guitar which I also like, and some rocking, druggy songs: Aladdin Sane, Jean Genie, Panic In Detroit, the album segues well too.

    Ziggy Stardust--his alien concept album, I may have gone back and picked up this one as their was a lag at the time of his next album iirc, and it's a great toss up whether I enjoy this or Aladdin Sane better, they're in the same glam period, and Stardust has as many great songs, if not more radio friendly and more accessible at times-- both albums Bowie will have a song that pays homage to older 50's rock n roll like Drive-In Saturday with the sax playing a nice role. There is an eclecticism running thru most Bowie albums.

    The next would be a three way tie, but maybe I'd choose, The Man Who Sold The World, as it took me a bit longer to get into it but also for the title song. The songs on it were not as accessible (for me), scratch that, I might reach for Diamond Dogs probably more frequently, which again has this dark atmosphere, druggy, and really a pretty cool album. So I might choose Diamond Dogs above Man Who Sold The World. Pin-Ups is just a fun overall album wherein Bowie does his on rendition of some rock tunes from various band of the day like Pink Floyd, the Kinks, & the Who, and many others. Sorrow is a great song. Diamond Dogs was another concept album, a reworking of Orwell's 1984, was big for me back in the day, and I still enjoy listening to it ever so often. It has some great catchy tunes.

    Station to Station was a departure, more atmospheric & experimental in it's approach, and his future albums took that as well. All during this period Bowie was inventing/reinventing himself. Heroes/ Low followed that path, and if you like Eno, made for a nice diversion.

    Young Americans went a different direction still into sort of an Americana Philly soul sound, but it works and Bowie has always been a good vocalist. I enjoyed it a lot at the time, though if you're not into that sound, you may not.

    Let's Dance is another favorite, and introduced Stevie Ray Vaughn to me and probably many others, with his Texas guitar blues sound. Produced with Niles Rogers (Chic) it's an uplifting, positive album with many nice songs.

    Scary Monsters might be his proggiest which has guest appearances with Robert Fripp on guitar (Fashion, It's No Game, Scary Monsters, and Kingdom Come, Up the Hill Backwards, and Teenage Wasteland), and Pete Townshend plays on Because You're Young, & Visconti also produced and played guitar as well. Lodger sort of went long the same creative method or approach, but not quite as good to me.

    Tonight was not as innovated as the above two, it's darker in tone. I haven't listened to it enough, but is noteworthy for the first (I think) of guitarist, Carlos Alomar, whom went on to play with Bowie thru the rest of his career (if memory serves--I could be wrong on that). He's a great guitarist reminding me of someone like Adrian Belew in what he can do with his guitar.

  17. #17
    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    Hunky Dory
    Diamond Dogs
    Low
    Station To Station
    Ziggy Stardust
    Heroes
    Aladdin Sane
    Space Oddity
    Lodger
    The Man Who Sold The World
    Young Americans
    Scary Monsters
    Pinups
    Let's Dance

    ... I don't really know much of the others apart from tracks here and there. I had to include Let's Dance because I've always absolutely loved "Modern Love".
    Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.

    *** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***

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    Recently Resurrected zombywoof's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bob_32_116 View Post
    For some reason best known to Bowie, the title of the album and song "Heroes" is written like that, i.e. enclosed in quotes. Does anyone know the rationale behind that? It's as though he's saying that some person or people purporting to be heroes are not really heroes, they are fake.
    "Heroes" the Hands of Fate

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by hippypants View Post

    Tonight was not as innovated as the above two, it's darker in tone. I haven't listened to it enough, but is noteworthy for the first (I think) of guitarist, Carlos Alomar, whom went on to play with Bowie thru the rest of his career (if memory serves--I could be wrong on that). He's a great guitarist reminding me of someone like Adrian Belew in what he can do with his guitar.
    Carlos Alomar was around since Young Americans, although often combined with other guitarists (Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp on some studio cuts and Stevie Ray Vaughan in his short stint with Bowie).

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    Tonight was a troubled production- even one of its producers, Hugh Padgham (more famous for The Police/Genesis/Phil Collins etc.), has gone on record as being very unhappy with how it turned out. However, whilst I think it's his weakest album, there's still some highlights. 'Loving The Alien' is stunning and I quite like 'Don't Look Down'. 'Blue Jean' has its fans, it's too overproduced for my taste. The long video 'Jazzin' For Blue Jean' is magnificent though, with Bowie hamming it up in two different roles.

    Carlos Alomar has a co-write on 'Fame', that's how long he'd been there.

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    Quote Originally Posted by JJ88 View Post
    Tonight was a troubled production- even one of its producers, Hugh Padgham (more famous for The Police/Genesis/Phil Collins etc.), has gone on record as being very unhappy with how it turned out. However, whilst I think it's his weakest album, there's still some highlights. 'Loving The Alien' is stunning and I quite like 'Don't Look Down'. 'Blue Jean' has its fans, it's too overproduced for my taste. The long video 'Jazzin' For Blue Jean' is magnificent though, with Bowie hamming it up in two different roles.

    Carlos Alomar has a co-write on 'Fame', that's how long he'd been there.
    Tonight was where I really lost interest in Bowie for awhile. Even though I never heard the entire album the songs I did hear really turned me off.

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    Quote Originally Posted by zombywoof View Post
    "Heroes" the Hands of Fate
    Huh?

  23. #23
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    Bowie is like Elton John or the Stones: mosly an artiste who I'd generally like songs but never found an album strong enough for me to keep it

    But, unlike with the Stones (Hot Rocks1, Made In The Shade and Sucking in the 70's), I never found a good enough (satisfying) "best of" Bowie and Elton compilation... For ex: one with Five Years on it

    TBH, I hated Let's Dance and I haven't really "heard/listened" to a full album of his since
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  24. #24
    Jon Neudorf
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    Although well down the list of my favourite Bowie albums I've always had a soft spot for 'Tonight'. Lots of catchy tunes and his rendition of God Only Knows is quite beautiful.

    Jon

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    Quote Originally Posted by Trane View Post
    Bowie is like Elton John or the Stones: mosly an artiste who I'd generally like songs but never found an album strong enough for me to keep it
    Interesting comparison with Elton. Not one I would have thought to make. There are Elton John albums that I love from start to finish - mostly pre-1976 - and others that I find to be a steaming pile of proverbial. From what I have heard of Bowie, he does not have albums that fall into either category for me.

    When Elton passes away - which could happen any time, his heart is not the best - I would expect EJ albums to swamp the charts, as has happened with Bowie. Unlike Bowie, however, I think his early period would be heavily favoured over the later.

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