Niklas och Henke är tillbaka med andra avsnittet av två om de bästa albumen från 1977. Detta enigmatiska året då punken samsades med progressive rock och diskomusik.
Kampen om förstaplatsen är stenhård, och det står mellan tre album!
Detta är också sista gången albumåren publiceras på måndagar. Från och med nästa albumår som kommer ut i juni kör vi på torsdagar!
Lyssna på musikpodden via Patreon! Gå in på Patreon och följ Shinypodden. Det är gratis! Då får ni automatiskt alla musikprogram av olika slag som vi sätter ihop.
1978 är ett så brett musikår och vi missade så mycket i våra respektive listor att vi slog till och erbjuder er här ett bonusprogram bestående av en gigantisk musiktävling.
Eller, tävling och tävling. Det är inte direkt det viktigaste. Ni får en poäng för varje band/artist ni tar. Men det gäller att vara snabb för Niklas skjuter från höften illa kvickt som det blev.
Vi har också testat en ny inspelningsprocedur. Hoppas ljudkvaliteten inte blev allt för sunkig. Kanske lyssnas bäst via hörlurar?
Veckans låt är ett trivsamt koncept. Så, jag återstartar nu min egen version.
Sista dagen i veckan känns bra. Kommer sammanfatta vilken låt jag blivit mest förälskad i under veckan som gått. Detta kommer extra väl till pass när jag förbereder mig för Shinypodden Special albumåren. Jag har upptäckt att det ofta poppar upp något oväntat som fångar mitt intresse.
Men det kan också handla om en ny skiva jag köpt, en ljuvlig vinyl eller kanske en Super Deluxe box av någon av mina favoritartister. Eller så är det bara en låt som krupit in i huvudet och vägrar att lämna plats! Tja, ni förstår nog vad jag menar.
Jag inleder med att blicka tillbaka på de fyra Specialerna vi redan publicerat. Vi inledde med ett femtioårsårsjubileum - de bästa albumen från 1973. I efterforskningarna "fann" jag tidiga Roxy Music. Jag kände givetvis till dem väl men jag hade aldrig lyssnat så värst dedikerat på deras album.
Till råga på allt släppte de två album det året. Det starkaste är For Your Pleasure, men låten som kröp in i huvudet på mig på ett sällsamt sätt kommer från Stranded.
Veckans låt är från 1973, Roxy Music och albumet Stranded: A Song For Europe
Det är långsam och melankolisk, men pianot, saxofonen, Ferrys känsla... Wow, när han mot slutet sjunger på franska är det fanimej magiskt.
Tous ces moments Perdus dans l'enchantement Qui ne reviendront Jamais
Shinypodden Special är tillbaka. Henke och Niklas rankar här de bästa tio albumen från 1973.
Följ med på en resa femtio år tillbaka i tiden. Till en spännande musikalisk era då "dinosaurien" symfonisk rock samexisterade med glamrock och en gryende hårdrock bland andra musikaliska genrer.
Vilka album valde vi att ta med? Hade vi några överlapp? Och vilka var musikårets tre bästa album egentligen?
Errata från programmet:
Henke säger McCartney II (1980) men menade Flowers in the Dirt (1989)
Henke pratar om en ranking av Willie Nelsons albums, det var top 150, icke top 250
Klipparna valde att byta ut sistalåten i programmet... sånt händer!
Spellista med låtar som omnämns i programmet hittas här på Spotify.
Lyssna på Shinypodden där poddar finns, eller här.
The cover of the album “Never for ever” shows us Kate in a dress standing on a small hill. Cascades of magical beings are shot out from under her skirt. There is a swan, a goblin, an angry bat, monkeys, a toad, a cat and many more fantastical creatures. Where do they come from? How long have they been there? Why did they leave?
Her third album is her darkest yet. Any record ending with such a dark song as “Breathing” is not a very light album. As taken pointers from Roger Waters, “Breathing” is an angry cry from a little child inside her mother’s womb for clean air to breath. It’s about the fallout from nuclear bombs, but the song may have a new meaning today with the pollution all around us, in the oceans and on the lands.
By this record Kate has taken over the main responsibility as the producer and she hasn’t left it since. I think it is glorious that she owns all important steps in the creation of her world.
The lyrics are dark and often inspired by films. The fantastic “The infant kiss” is inspired by the 1961 film “The innocents”. A governess suspects that the boy child in her care is possessed by a dead man. A fan-made film of shots from the film to the song was appreciated by Kate who said it was exactly those scenes she thought of when she wrote the song.
Almost as great, “The wedding list” is inspired by Truffaut’s 1968 film “The bride wore black” about a bride that avenge the murder of her dead groom. It’s a sad and dark song. It’s chilling.
“Delius (song of summer)” is inspired by the 1968 tv movie “Song of summer”. Sadly the song is not the strongest on the album.
The single “Babooshka” is a nice intro to the album. I love the singing, and the story is ironic and dark. The wife is sad and afraid that her husband is unfaithful. She sends him letters to prove he is in the wrong. He is attracted by the anonymous woman sending him letters, as she is reminding him of his wife before she got sad. In the end the relationship is destroyed by the paranoia.
“Blow away (for Bill)” and “All we ever look for” are also dark. “Egypt” is dreamy and a nice tune, one of the better songs on side A.
The first side of the LP is eerie and gloomy, but it is the second side of the LP that makes this album one of her greatest; four favourites “The wedding list”, “The infant kiss”, “Army dreamers” and “Breathing”.
I am not a big fan of the rocker “Violin”, I am not sure what she was thinking there. The sixth track is a short instrumental that prepare us for the majestic ending of the album. A nice touch.
The two last songs are very strong, “Army dreamers”, a sad lament over a dead son and the nightmarish “Breathing”. Strong indeed.
Through the record Kate mostly sings with her early career high tones. I like them a lot, but you can hear her voice slowly maturing and I do love her older matured voice later in her life… Anyway, it narrowly beats out her debut album. Could it be Kate’s best album, ever for ever? Only time will tell…
My rating: 8/10
Side A: 1.Babooshka 2.Delius (song of summer) 3.Blow away (for Bill) 4.All we ever look for 5.Egypt
Side B: 1.The wedding list 2.Violin 3.The infant kiss 4.Night scented stock 5.Army dreamers 6.Breathing
Best songs: “Babooshka”, “Egypt”, “Breathing”, “The infant kiss”, “The wedding list” and “Army dreamers”
Only a measly nine months after the stellar debut was released, the second album was pushed out to the audience. Why the rush? I am sure the record company men wanted to make more money, but I can’t help but think that it was a tad too rushed. This note’s for you, Record Company Man. Bad!
Kate’s music is singular. This album is theatrical, autobiographical and even in one song quite erotic. I have a hard time to compare her to any other well-known artist. I may not have played this album that often, but it is such a delight to listen to it from start to finish at the time for this review.
Maybe it’s not so anonymous at all? Maybe it’s me, but I haven’t gotten a clear feeling for the record yet. The most important element is still here though. Kate’s voice is very much in the front of the mix and I do love her voice. We enjoy the high tone when she sings and get enthralled with her deeper throatier voice when she speaks (in the songs).
Themes and style from the first album “The kick inside” remain. The lyrics are influenced by literature and movies. And the lyrics are perhaps somewhat unexpected rather witty!
The music is some sort of her own variant of vaudeville with songs that goes up and down in colour; sounds, tempo and different instruments. The quite funny song “Coffee Homeground” is a very good example of the complex song structure Kate seems to prefer. The song is about a paranoid cab driver Kate met, who thought someone was trying to poison him. It’s crazy how Kate sings the song. She is enjoying herself!
The second song is “In Search of Peter Pan”. Peter Pan in a song, that’s something! The picture of an astronaut searching for Peter Pan is dreamy and Bowie-esque. I love the piano, and as always, her voice. The drums are also quite nice.
The third song, “Wow”, is the one I know best as it is on “The whole story” that I got before I truly understood Kate’s position as an artist. The singing on “Wow” is of course remarkable and well recognized.
I don’t love the fourth track “Don’t Push Your Foot on the heartbrake” but I really like the drums. And I can appreciate how she goes for it with the singing. Powerful.
The ballad “Oh England My Lionheart” is a nostalgic song about the old times. Music played only on the piano and the harpsichord. Baroque pop! Such an unusual mix of genres for a pop record. Listen on it with your headphones on.
The album cover is exciting! Kate as a lioness on a wooden box in an attic. And a lion’s head on the floor. I am not quite sure what to make out of it. A dream, a wish or just a mystery…
Turn over the LP, now it’s time for the second side. “Fullhouse” opens it up. A complex song that seems to tell an interesting story about paranoia and self-doubt. The feeling of the song is eerie, the piano in the background is making sound as out of a horror movie. Does Kate often meet herself in the rainy nights?
“In the Warm Room” is a simple ballad with Kate alone on the piano. The lyrics is grown up and as written to her male fans. It’s rather bewildering actually.
“Kashka from Baghdad” is a bittersweet song about two men in love. Written in 1976, before the debut album, as many songs from this album.
“Hammer Horror” rounds off the album. It’s an interesting song about an actor that replaces his actor friend in the lead role on the Hunchback of Notre Dame after the friend has died on set. The friend comes back and haunt the actor. Yet another very cinematic lyric.
This is of course not an anonymous album! Nevertheless it still feels like “minor Kate” to me. Seven of the ten songs were “old” songs, written before the debut album. They were leftovers, as a matter of fact. After “Lionheart” Kate got almost two years to make her third album, an album she also co-produced. This one is a part of her work, and as such it has its place in history, but there will come stronger albums down the road…
My rating: 6/10
Side A:
1.Symphony in Blue
2.In Search of Peter Pan
3.Wow
4.Don’t Push Your Foot on the Heartbrake
5.Oh England My Lionheart
Side B:
1.Fullhouse
2.In the Warm Room
3.Kashka from Baghdad
4.Coffee Homeground
5.Hammer Horror
Best songs: “Wow”, “Oh England My Lionheart”, “Coffee Homeground”
Bowie had a few themes he often returned to such as the outsider alien, mortality and insanity. In 1974 he took it one step further and released a concept album - "Diamond Dogs". Recorded less than a year after Pink Floyd's masterpiece "The Dark Side of the Moon" it is not hard to imagine that he might have been influenced by Floyd.
Bowie was at the time interested in doing a musical piece on George Orwell's novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" but he was denied the rights by Orwell's widow. Instead "Diamond Dogs" became a story in a dystopian post-apocalyptic setting loosely based on "Nineteen Eighty-Four" as well as the writings of William S. Burroughs.
I like to listen to the album as a self contained unit, from start to finish. It holds fewer songs that pop up as stand alone pieces. Instead there are two powerful musical suites. The obvious is on side A with "Sweet Thing"/"Candidate"/"Sweet Thing (Reprise)". The second is the whole side B except for the first song: "We Are the Dead"/"1984"/"Big Brother"/"Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal family".
The "Sweet Thing" suite is presented as one long song on the 2008 release "iSelect", a rare best of album curated by David himself .
The album is to me the bridge between his glam rock days to the soul music of "Young Americans" and the lurking Thin White Duke in the shadows. The powerful ballad "Rock 'n' Roll With Me" could have easily found a place on "Young Americans".
The intro with the short "Future Legend" mimics many conceptual albums. After the ouverture the album launches into the first of two rockers on the first side. "Diamond Dogs" and "Rebel Rebel" are up-tempo rockers and the latter is still a fan favourite at live shows. They are great as rockers, but to me I do like the more complex and slower songs on the album as much if not more.
Deep in the suite on the second side we find the song "1984". I guess Orwell's wife couldn't stop David to call his song a general number! It is crazy! Just like a theme song to a cheezy seventies tv show about bandits and detectives.
So how good is it? Everything is super subjective of course, but to me it's a step down from the terrific "Aladdin Sane" from the year before. This album feels better produced but the best songs don't stand out to me as much.
I really can't stand this album. I don't want to bring you down, but there it is.
Bowie at the height of his powers and he wastes it on a covers-album? I fins it boring that he puts his time with second hand songs, in the peak of his creative flow. Maybe he needed to blow off steam? Maybe that could be an answer to the state of his mind.
Bowie apparently wanted to celebrate the bands he listened to in the sixties. I can relate, but put those song on b-sides of singles! Who is this album for? Older guys that experienced the sixties? I am not one of those.
I am not a big fan of British pop music of the sixties in general. I love The Beatles and Pink Floyd but no more. The Who is utterly boring, all too simplistic for my taste, but then again, I always loved a complex song like “Time” more than the simple rocker as “Rebel Rebel”, to reflect over two Bowie songs. This album is in the very bottom of my ranking of Bowie albums, I am sorry to say.
There were apparently some plans to do a similar covers album with American artists from the sixties, a “Pin Ups 2”. That I would have been much more interested in. I can easily find many more interesting American bands from that decade, with Neil Young first in line. Yes, I know he is Canadian, but anyway. I like the California rock scene, outlaw country and mellow yacht rock from the era. Bowie didn’t follow thru on this idea, not the first or last time he didn’t complete a project, but he added songs on later albums that could have easily ended up on “Pin Ups 2”. One example is Neil Youngs “I’ve Been Waiting For You” from his debut album “Neil Young” from 1969 that we get on the 2002 album “Heathen”.
Back to the record we actually got. The only two songs I really can stand are Pink Floyd’s “See Emily Play” and The Mersey’s “Sorrow”. Both are quite nice. But the best cover from the era is the b-side of the “Sorrow” single, “Port of Amsterdam” by Jacques Brel. The first time I heard it was on the “cash grab” album “Rare” released in 1983, as a follow up to the immensely popular “Let’s Dance”. I love the port, the fish heads and the rotten teeth.
As a complete album on its own this is rubbish. I can’t imagine I will play it all through many times in my life again. Maybe never.
My rating: 4/10
Side A: 1.Rosalyn (The Pretty Things cover) 2.Here Comes the Night (Them cover) 3.I Wish You Would (The Yardbirds cover) 4.See Emily Play (Pink Floyd cover) 5.Everything’s Alright (The Mojos cover) 6.I Can’t Explain (The who cover)
Side B: 1.Friday on My Mind (The Easybeats cover) 2.Sorrow (The Merseys cover) 3.Don’t Bring Me Down (The Pretty Things cover) 4.Shapes of Things (The Yardbirds cover) 5.Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere (The who cover) 6.Where Have All the Good Times Gone (The Kinks cover)
Best songs: “See Emily Play” and “Sorrow”. But really "Port of Amsterdam".
Listen to the album is such a treat. A few seconds into the first song “Watch That Man” and I get goose bumps running up my arms. I am flung back through time to my childhood’s summers out on the island Tjörn on the West Coast of Sweden. I am walking on the narrow sloping path through the gnarly pine trees towards the warm cliffs down at the waterline for yet another dip in the salty ocean. My friends close behind. In the trees the air is still and hot, like the inside of a sauna. Down at the ocean the air is fresh.
It was the best of times. “Aladdin Sane” was played over and over again on the TDK AD cassette tape. On the flip side I had “Diamond Dogs” but we loved “Aladdin Sane” the most…
I love this album and it feels cemented in my mind. It’s such a treat to sit down and listen to it from start to beginning. Time slows down when I hold the large foldout cover of the LP and stare into Ziggy’s face. Truly one of his top 3 album covers.
“Watch That Man” is a straight forward rocker, not the most interesting song on the album but a great lead off track. It also, apparently, unlocks all that nostalgia. “Aladdin Sane” is a little bit of a challenge. It took me many years to love this complex song, the jarring experimental melody, the jazz piano almost progressive in nature. Nowadays, I really love it. The rest of side A is as good, borderline superb.
“Drive-In Saturday” may be the second-best song on the album but damned me if it is not my personal favourite. Again the strong memories from my childhood. It is somewhat melancholic but it packs a great melody. “Panic In Detroit”, the slow burning rocker with unrelenting drums. David almost sounds bored when he sings. “Cracked Actor” may be the ultimate Bowie song from the seventies with the edgy lyrics, the melody, the instruments, the singing. It’s a blast.
The second side is great but a little more uneven. “Time” must be the best song from the album. It’s dramatic and theatrical. David’s singing is among his best all time. It is getting better and better the more you listen to it. The song is of course brutally good live. A song that heavily influenced Swedish singer Magnus Uggla I would think. “Livets teater”!
“The Prettiest Star” is somewhat of a filler, but what a fantastic filler that is! But you can never go wrong with hand claps! And you must love the bap-bap by the backing singers. The only real miss on the album is the never to be missed cover song. This time it’s Stones’ “Let’s Spend the Night Together” that gives me the hives. No value at all to me. Why? How? Why?
“The Jean Genie” is a great slow rocker, a staple for live shows. Also a favourite of mine. One of many songs on the album with interesting lyrics. The last song “Lady Grinning Soul” is like a companion to “Aladdin sane” and “Time” with the flowing piano, the mysterious atmosphere and more advanced musical theme. A great ending to the album.
Song for song it may not be the best bunch of Bowie songs, stand alone, but collectively as an album it is up there among my top 3. Of course, it gets a bonus by force of nostalgia, but that is how it should be with music you have loved your whole life.
My rating: 10/10
Side A: 1.Watch That Man 2.Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?) 3.Drive-In Saturday 4.Panic In Detroit 5.Cracked Actor
Side B: 1.Time 2.The Prettiest Star 3.Let’s Spend the Night Together (cover of the Rolling Stones song) 4.The Jean Genie 5.Lady Grinning Soul
Best songs: “Drive-In Saturday”, “Time”, "Aladdin Sane", "The Prettiest Star", “Cracked Actor” and “The Jean Genie”
"Ziggy played guitar, jamming good…" “Ziggy Stardust” is an iconic album. It’s one of the best glam-rock albums ever and it’s on the short list for my albums that I have listened to the most in my life. It is filled with great songs, almost no weak points all through. All that said, I am still a little bit conflicted over exactly how great it is…
Maybe I have listened to it too much, but I feel it may have faded a little. When I rate albums the sense of how much I urge to put it on the turntable is important. But then again, the other side of it is all the nostalgia. Ziggy has faded a little when it comes to eagerness, but it still rates high on the nostalgia. It was one of the first albums by Bowie I got, and it seems like it has always been there in my life. Now it is like a worn-out old friend.
As an album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars” is a rather big step forward compared to “Hunky Dory” when it comes to production and ambition. It has a fuller sound and feels overall more cohesive. It feels like they were a band. Bowie in a band? Unfortunately, that’s something we later learned was a very bad idea…
Another change that comes with the band and the fuller sound is that there is much less focus on the piano. Rick Wakeman is almost gone, he may have played only on a song or two, and Mike Garson hasn’t joined the band yet. This, I feel, is on the not so positive side.
The album is said to be a concept album, but very loosely if so. It would be about an androgynous rock star who acts as a messenger for an alien being, at the time of the doom of our world. It is about space, aliens, apocalypse and insanity. All the usual subjects Bowie was interested in. Ziggy as a kind of Messiah? Yes, I am on board.
The first side is kicked off with “Five Years”. It is faded in, a great intro like “Space Oddity”, it feels earnest and David has a desperate tone in his voice. It’s a very good lead off song. “Soul Love” is the perfect companion to the sombre “Five Years”. A love song, it’s a little lighter and give us a slightly happier David.
The third song “Moonage Daydream” is the first of my favourites. "I’m a space invader." The song was used to great effect in a spacey scene in “Guardians of the Galaxy, vol 1”. I love the guitar in the intro. Now and then Mick Ronson got it right!
“Starman” is another classic. Do you see how impossibly dense this album is? Again with the sci-fi theme. Maybe we can see it as Ziggy’s “Life On Mars?”? It is one of my favs. The last song on the first side is the only filler on the album, the cover of the Ron Davies song “It Ain’t Easy”. Random curiosity to my ears.
What a stellar first side! But nevertheless, the second side is stronger! “Lady Stardust” is a softer melancholic song, “Star” the up-tempo rocker that was so fun live and “Hang on to yourself” is another fan favourite, this time with the fun lyrics and hand clapping. The typical proto-punk rock song.
“Ziggy Stardust” must be the most well-known song from the album. The guitar is classic, again well-done Mick Ronson. David’s singing is with clear eyes and a full heart. One of the best songs in David’s whole career. And it is almost equalled by the penultimate song “Suffragette City”. This is one of my favourites now when I am getting older. It was always a blast on the live stage.
The album is finished off with David’s early career magnum opus “Rock’n’Roll Suicide”, a song about depression and the fall from grace. It meant the end of the Ziggy era when he played it at Hammersmith Odeon on the last show of the Ziggy tours. It is a perfect ending, starting slow with an acoustic guitar and building up to a crescendo. Album ended.
The Ziggy album is like a box of chocolates. The pieces might all be wonderful, but you won't eat a whole box in one go. You want to savor a few pieces at a time. It may be the same with this album. How can it not be a 10/10? Maybe I feel full, and sometimes only a song here and there at the time is perfect… And the obligatory internal time travel to my youth. I still ranked “Ziggy Stardust” at number six in my latest Bowie albums ranking.
In the “Five Years” box it’s the Ziggy album that has got the “special treatment” with a second mix added. We get the 2003 mix by original producer Ken Scott. I have listened very hard to find the changes, the improvements. It is actually quite hard to hear any clear differences. I have even searched the Internets to read up on the changes, but most reviewers seem to say that there are very small differences between the mixes. If anything, David’s singing is a little clearer and pushed to the front, the drums are a little dryer and there’s maybe a fatter bass. I don’t even know if it is for real or only in my head! I can say though that the different mix doesn’t give me a different feeling from the album. It seems like the Bowie team will treat us with one album getting the "special treatment" per super deluxe box. This one might be one of the least necessary updates.
“Ziggy Stardust” will always be there. It is a part of the soundtrack to my life. But nowadays maybe I don’t put it on as often as I should?
My rating: 9/10
Side A: 1.Five Years 2.Soul Love 3.Moonage Daydream 4.Starman 5.It Ain’t Easy (cover of the Ron Davies song)
Side B: 1.Lady Stardust 2.Star 3.Hang On to Yourself 4.Ziggy Stardust 5.Suffragette City 6.Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide
Best songs: “Moonage Daydream”, “Starman”, “Ziggy Stardust”, “Suffragette City” and “Rock’n’Roll Suicide”.
My 2nd media: the Ken Scott 2003 mix, included in the Five Years (1969-1973) box.
Encore:
A wonderful live version of "Rock 'n' roll suicide" live i Philadelphia in 1974. Video is a fan made montage. One of the best versions of this song out there.
My relationship with “Honky Dory” is made up of different stages of longing. Back when I started collecting vinyl records, the first time around, I couldn't buy all albums at once. A big part of record collecting was "the chase". Sometimes it was really hard to find them! Me and my friends went to the one record shop there was in Skövde. Then we went to record fairs in Gothenburg and Hova. Collecting records could be very frustrating indeed. But browsing bins of vinyls and finding that one you had been looking for could give feelings of true satisfaction. But the album I always seemed to miss out on was “Hunky Dory”.
It is funny how the impressions you get when you’re young stick around. Even though I now have multiple copies of the album in multiple formats, I still feel in the back of my mind that it is scarce, and that I need it. Funny thing.
Let’s see what we have on this LP then. Hmm, the first four songs… Yes. It is so similar to Neil’s 1972 LP “Harvest”. Two very, very good tracks followed by a weaker one and followed by the fourth song, the most iconic songs on both albums. The same structure! Two great albums released within two months. One on each side of the pond. How does “Hunky Dory” rate compare to “Harvest”? Well, that is for another review, isn’t it? Ok, ok, ok, I give in. Of course, “Harvest” is better. But some of the songs from “Hunky dory” may be more known, especially over here in Europe.
“Hunky Dory” is the start of Bowie’s exceptional run in the seventies. It would be ranked in the top half in the list of 26 studio albums. In my last ranking of Bowie studio albums I had it in at eleventh. That means it’s a very good album! The album art is also iconic. Bowie in long golden hair and blue eyes in a Garbo-esque pose. A great album cover can be a part of my feelings about it.
And so it begins, the curse of the cover songs… Another thing I come to think about is the trend of David using at least one cover song. That all started with “Hunky Dory”. I famously stated on my Swedish podcast Shinypodden that Bowie didn’t do covers often (except for the covers album Pin ups). How utterly incorrect I was. Embarrassing.
The first song on the album is “Changes”, a song I think readers of any music review blogs already know of. It’s such a great song for the youth in all of us. The second “Oh! You Pretty Things” can’t disappoint anyone. As on all the songs on this album Rick Wakeman’s piano is the most important instrument accompanying David’s singing. You also must not miss the hand clapping! Catchy!
Now to the mega hit, one of the best songs ever by Mr. Bowie, “Life on Mars?”. What can be said of the song that is not already said? Well I don't know, heck, I even don't know what actually has been said. I love it because it has always been there. Listening to the song feels like time travel to me, for a moment I am myself as a youngling again.
Bowie was the first major artist I discovered and he filled me with joy for music. I love Rick’s piano, Bowies melancholic lyrics and his singing. Some lines from the song pop up now and then when I am totally unprepared. Is there life on Mars?
The remaining songs on the first side of the LP are nice enough, they are enjoyable, but still they’re kind of fillers. Except for “Quicksand”. That one is really nice.
The second side of the LP is not as good as the first side. The first song is a cover and it’s at its best a fun and quirky filler. Often the covers just seem to be less worthy to me, I want his true material. It’s like documentaries in the movies, often interesting but they seldom feel like a “real, full” movies.
After a bridge of curious studio banter we are thrust into the glorious “Andy Warhol”. The acoustic guitars are great, David’s singing top notch and the melody is slightly jarring. It’s clearly one of the two best songs on the second side.
“A Song for Bob Dylan” is calm and seems earnest enough, but I find it a little boring. “Queen Bitch” is a fun song that would have been a perfect fit on the next album also. It was often great when played live.
The last song “The Bewlay Brothers” seems to have been a mystery to the audience back in the seventies. Nowadays we think it’s about David and his schizophrenic brother Terry. It is a haunting slow song written by David one night in the studio. Later on he would more frequently write songs on site in the recording studio. His creative mind blows my mind.
This is a very nice album. High floor with some spectacular peaks.
My rating: 8/10
Side A: 1.Changes 2.Oh! You Pretty Things 3.Eight Line Poem 4.Life on Mars? 5.Kooks 6.Quicksand
Side B: 1.Fill Your Heart (cover of the Biff Rose song) 2.Andy Warhol 3.Song for Bob Dylan 4.Queen Bitch 5.The Bewlay Brothers
Best songs: “Life on Mars?”, “Changes” and “Oh! You Pretty Things”
Today I give you David's last ever live performance of "Life on Mars?". Together with old friend Mike Garson they graciously present to us a stripped down and very heartfelt version of the classic song. Live at Radio Music Hall, New York City, September 8th, 2005.
The width of a circle can be very long indeed. David had some success with the folky dreamy "Space Oddity" and sure enough - right away he changed his style completely! David Bowie, the chameleon ever for ever. And the change from folk songs was significant. “The Man Who Sold the World” is like a very early grunge album. It must have been David’s spider senses that picked up the trend of guitar-based rock à la Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. This could be his forte, but alas it was only to be for one lone album.
This is a rock album with a lot of guitars. It is the hardest of David’s seventies albums, not until the late eighties would he return to this kind of music. The band that soon would be the Spiders from Mars assembled. The Micks, guitarist Ronson and drummer Woodmansey, joined David. On this album producer Tony Visconti slapped the bass and a random keyboard player was added. Who was he, was he ever significant?
To be honest I never did like Mick Ronson's sound. It is something I have to live with. As a guitarist in such a famous band he is iconic, sure, but the sound is too thin and sharp to me. Some of the guitar riffs are very nice nevertheless. This is an album I used to love, but the feelings have grown a little cooler by now. I may have listened to it too much back then in the early nineties. I think it may better suit folk who listen to the Stones and The Who.
I usually don’t focus that much on the lyrics when listening to David’s albums. It may have to do with the fact that I was too young with little to no knowledge of the English language when I started to listen to his music. Lyrically, the theme is about insanity, a subject David seemed to come back to often. Insanity and sci-fi were the things he was thinking about. It suits me perfectly.
The album cover of David in long hair, in a dress on the divan is a classic shot. I may be bold enough and say it must be in the top 10 of his album covers…
“The Width of a Circle” is one of the longest Bowie songs on a studio album. It’s a progressive rock track, flowing up and down, like the tide. Parts of it are quite nice, others not so much. The song was a staple in his early live shows though and the live versions can be thrilling.
The insanity... “All the Madmen” and “Black Country Rock” are great, highlights of the first side of the album. "After All" is a beautiful softer song. The first side of the album is strong.
The second side is dominated by the title song. “Running Gun Blues” has that young and high pitched voice of David’s. It’s crazy to my ears. “She Shook Me Cold” is the weakest track on the album, it is almost hard to think David wrote it. Tony Visconti has said that the band developed some of the songs while David sat on the sofa with his new bride Angie. Sometimes that trivia could be easy to believe
“The Man Who Sold the World” has always been a favourite. It got a new life when Kurt Cobain did a cover of it on their “Unplugged” album. Even David began to play the song more after that. I think the boys in Nirvana did great with the song also. Good job, well done.
This is an album that I loved 30 years ago. Now, I may have played it too much. I find other albums in the collection more interesting. Still it is very cool as it stands out in the collection, and every time he revisited one of the songs from this album at live shows it was usually very interesting. It is precious and should not be forgotten.
Rating: 7/10
Side A:
1.The Width of a Circle
2.All the Madmen
3.Black Country Rock
4.After All
Side B:
1.Running Gun Blues
2.Saviour Machine
3.She Shook Me Cold
4.The Man Who Sold the World
5.The Supermen
Best songs: “The Man Who Sold the World”, “All the Madmen”, "Black Country Rock"
I am fairly sure that “Heroes” was the first album by Bowie I ever owned. It must have been around 1981 when I was working in a record shop two weeks as part of an assignment for school. All kids got to work as interns at real work places. I choose a record store in my small home town Skövde. My friend worked at a bakery and got home every day with a bag full of still warm sweet pastries. I got to pick one record “for free” after my two weeks of work. The decision felt monumental… it was “Heroes”…
At that time I didn’t like it that much, I might have been too young. I had “Alladin Sane” and “Diamond Dogs” on a TDK audio tape and those records were much easier to fall in love with. A couple of years later when “Let’s Dance” came out, the album “Heroes” almost was forgotten. But not so much anymore. This is a sneaky good record.
Just as “Low” we get one side of the album with songs with singing and a second side with mostly instrumental songs. The album is a piece best listened to as a whole entity. It is mature music, not easy listening. The album opens with the pulsating and almost frantic “Beauty and the Beast”. You really can’t say no to the beauty and the beast. Liebling… It is a great first song.
“Joe the Lion” is not my favourite. The inspiration to the song was the performance artist Chris Burden who got his 15 minutes of fame by having himself nailed to the top of a Volkswagen in 1974. Bowie’s vocals are impressive enough though.
“Heroes” is the third song. Is it too famous? How can you even start to assess a song that you have heard so many times? Is it boring? Is it great? As a part of the experience listening to the album it is great! Bowie may have written it about the stolen kisses his producer Tony Visconti and Antonia Maas got beneath the Berlin Wall during the recording sessions. Legend has it that produced Tony Visconti put three microphones with different distances to Bowie in the room. They got activated at different sound levels and due to their respective distance to the singer a slight delay was introduced for each mic. When Bowie puts in more and more power he sings in chorus with himself.
“Sons of the Silent Age” is a slow song with a heavy saxophone and a showcase for David singing. What is he thinking of here? In “Blackout” he is either signing of an actual blackout in New York City or his mental breakdown before he moved to Berlin.
Now we come to the very exciting second side of the album. It’s an atmospheric ambient music that is all about feelings. The songs are written by Bowie with a lot of help by Brian Eno who also introduced the oblique strategies where he would distribute random “obscure strategies” cards to the band to follow. Eno said nein to rehearsals, to induce a creative environment built on chaos and uncertainties.
“V-2 Schneider” is an almost instrumental powerful song with military undertones. Funny note, Bowie’s sax is played in the wrong key, but it works anyway.
The subsequent three instrumental songs make up a mighty section. “Sense of Doubt” feels like a space ship taking off and travelling to unseen places, “Moss Garden” takes us to Japan. “Neuköln” is a melancholic lament for the Turkish immigrants in the Berlin district Neukölln (Bowie may intentionally have named the song misspelled). The lonely saxophone is crying! The song could easily been used in the classic movie Blade Runner.
The album is rounded off with an almost disco-esque dance romp, “The Secret Life of Arabia”. It’s one of the hidden treasures of the album, even though one could argue that it’s actually misplaced on the album. It should not have been the last song. But, hand claps! Catchy!
My rating: 8/10
Side A: 1.Beauty and the Beast 2.Joe the Lion 3.“Heroes” 4.Sons of the Silent Age 5.Blackout
Side B: 1.V-2 Schneider 2.Sense of Doubt 3.Moss Garden 4.Neuköln 5.The Secret Life of Arabia
Kate Bush is one of the most impressive artists out there. Her voice is her most magnificent instrument, there is talk about four-octave range which would be very impressive indeed. She may not be able to go all the way with her voice anymore, and yet I love it more and more the older she gets. But singing aside, it’s her personality I really love, or is it maybe her artist persona? To me I see a powerful will with a strong individual self. She’s like a witch, but the good kind. I get the feeling that she will only have it her way, and I admire that. Her story started in the seventies…
Legend has it that David Gilmour discovered Kate Bush at a very young age, around fourteen years old. It was around 1973 and her first album was still to be released five years later. In 1975 Gilmour produced two songs that also ended up on the debut, “The Man with the Child in His Eyes” and “The Saxophone Song”.
The debut album is great. It’s unique and Kate can’t be compared to anyone. The music is theatrical and complex, true art pop with influences from baroque music as well as progressive rock from the seventies. Even though she has released several singles from each album I don’t see her music as focused on hit singles. The music is part of a bigger unit – the album, and it should be enjoyed in that format.
The remastered vinyl from 2018 is quite nice. I hear some background noise in a few places, most notably between songs on the second side. But the overall quality is great, and the music is clear and separated.
The artwork, an excellent replica of the original LP cover from the seventies, is glossy and colourful. It is more interesting than beautiful. It’s like a picture from a dream.
“Moving” is a perfect first song with focus on Kates quite soft voice with clear drums and some interesting turns musically. It gets you in the mood for the album, one of many songs that are very theatrical. The album starts with sounds of whales similar to what Crosby, Stills & Nash used to use.
The second song “The Saxophone Song” is the first one Gilmour produced and sure enough it starts off with pigs grunting. Also, the forceful saxophone gets us Pink Floyd fans to feel at home. Thinking about Us and them or why not Shine on?
“Strange Phenomena” is straight forward but very nice. The production is really good where you hear the voice, drums, piano and bass clearly.
“The Man with the Child in His Eyes” is beautiful. It starts out simple, Kate’s voice and an orchestra with piano and flutes in the forefront. Very, very nice indeed.
The albums magnus opus is of course “Wuthering Heights”. It is sung in a high tone, a youngster’s voice. It starts with the iconic first lines, but when the drums kick in I got goose bumps running up my arms. Clearly influenced by the book or the movies, the song is about what you would expect. It is nearly perfect, even though the guitar solo in the end doesn’t do that much for me. Kate, privately called Cathy, has stated that she identifies with Cathy in the song. I think that feeling is clearly communicated.
“Them Heavy People” is quite fun with the male backing vocals. The song makes me think about “circus music” or maybe it’s a little vaudeville. “James and the Cold Gun” is a wonderful up-tempo song. “Feel It” seems very sincere. Well, all songs on the second side is fun to listen to.
As a first album this is great. It may not be my favourite of hers, but it has such an unique identity that makes it not only beautiful but also important… Yes!
My rating: 9/10
Side A:
1.Moving 2.The Saxophone Song 3.Strange Phenomena 4.Kite 5.The Man with the Child in His Eyes 6.Wuthering Heights
Side B:
1.James and the Cold Gun 2.Feel It 3.Oh to Be in love 4.L’Amour Looks Something Like You 5.Them Heavy People 6.Room for the Life 7.The Kick Inside
Highlights: “Wuthering Heights”, “Moving”
Produced by: Andrew Powell and David Gilmour (two songs)
