Bowie in Total 2: The Return of the Thin White Duke or It's Not the Side-effects of the Cocaine

We are now moving into the beginning of Bowie's full-on cocaine phase as well as its aftermath. Some of his boldest and most misunderstood music came from this period. The centrepiece is the so-called "Berlin Trilogy", only one of which was recorded in Berlin after Bowie went clean. Most of these albums have Bowie's longest lasting backing band of rhythm guitarist Carlos Alomar, bassist George Murray and drummer Dennis Davis, who followed Bowie into funkier, more rhythmically complex territory.

Diamond Dogs (1974)

This was Bowie's first album after firing his Spiders from Mars backing band as only keyboardist Mike Garson remained. As such, Bowie played most of the instruments himself, giving the record a rougher, slightly unfinished sound. Bowie did deliver some of the best guitar playing of his career, from the incredible riff of the immortal "Rebel Rebel" to the thrashing outtro of "Sweet Thing (Reprise)". The album was originally intended as a full-length reenactment of George Orwell's 1984 but due to issues with Orwell's estate, the concept ended up being shifted into something more Bowie-esque, which I think was for the benefit of the album. This is the Bowie album I remember hearing most when I was young. The spoken-word intro "Future Legend" outlines his unique dystopian concept using a heavily processed vocal technique that reappears throughout the album. Overall, this album used more electronics and post-production techniques than its predecessors. The songs are almost uniformly excellent, with the sole exception of the questionable "Rock 'n' Roll with Me", the only song on the album not solely written by Bowie. The album has the same dystopian, futuristic darkness that is common to The Man Who Sold the World, Scary Monsters, and Outside, which are some of my favorite Bowie albums. My favorite tracks are the title track, a strong rocker with intense cowbell and the great opening line of "This ain't rock and roll, this is genocide", as well as "Big Brother", one of the few 1984-specific songs on the album, which has a very powerful chorus and outtro and hints at some of the experiments of future albums.

Young Americans (1975)

Bowie's attempt at what he called "plastic soul" is an album that was new to me until recently. It is not one of my favorites but I can definitely see its merits, particularly in terms of lyrics and songwriting. With only eight songs, one of which is a cover and two of which are co-written, this album has the least original Bowie content of any of his proper albums up to this point. Bowie's vocals show major development here but also shows a move away from the high-pitched yelp of the Ziggy albums to a deeper croon that is closer to Bryan Ferry or Scott Walker. A young Luther Vandross contributed backing vocals and arrangements to the album while John Lennon co-wrote and played on the album's hit "Fame". Bowie also covers the Beatles' song "Across the Universe" with very limited success on this album. Overall, the album is an interesting one-off experiment but certainly not an essential part of Bowie's catalogue. This album can also be seen as a precursor to some of Bowie's worst material from the 1980s. My favorite tracks are the title track, which has an excellent, complex arrangement, a great melody and solid lyrics, as well as "Somebody Up There Likes Me" which is a powerful and affecting ballad.

Station to Station (1976)

One of my absolute favorite Bowie albums and a massive leap forward creatively for him and his band as he entered his "Thin White Duke" phase. This album sees the late 70s band firmly in place along with some excellent guitar work from Earl Slick, who is still working with Bowie today. Bowie and his band were deep into the cocaine at this point and Bowie claims to remember nothing of the album's recording sessions, contributing to the often vague and obtuse lyrics. Despite this, Station to Station has some of the best musicianship and songwriting of Bowie's career. "Golden Years" and "TVC 15" from this album are two of Bowie's catchiest songs (I think I first heard "Golden Years" in an American Express commercial). My picks for this album are the title track, which is ten minutes of pure greatness, as well as "Stay", which fuses hard rock and funk to great effect and has one of Bowie's best vocals.

Low (1977)

The beginning of Bowie's so-called Berlin Trilogy as well as his first collaboration with Brian Eno, Low sees Bowie diving in head first into electronic and experimental music. In addition, the influence of German artists like Can and Neu! is evident when listening to this record. This album has a completely unique sound and deserves a listen in the highest-quality form possible. Guitarist Ricky Gardner, who only played on the one Bowie album, produces an amazing phasing, driving guitar tone that gives momentum to the fractured pop songs of the album's first side. The lyrics on this album have a dark and somewhat empty feeling, reflecting Bowie's mood after giving up cocaine. Despite the challenging nature of the material, Bowie still managed a hit with "Sound and Vision", a song whose pop structure disguises one of the most intricate and progressive arrangements ever heard. This album is known for being hugely influential and the influence of "Subterraneans" on Nine Inch Nails is obvious. The instrumental tracks of the second side are more challenging than the first side but no less enthralling. Brian Eno's contributions to this album are often overstated but "Art Decade" sounds very much like one of the instrumentals on Eno's "Another Green World." My favorites from this album are "Breaking Glass" for its insane rhythm and great guitar riff and "Warszawa" for its mournful sound and plaintive vocal.

"Heroes" (1977)

A continuation of the ideas from Low, this album in nonetheless very different from its predecessor. Both more uplifting and crazier, there is huge variation from one song to another on this album. The iconic cover image was reappropriated for 2013s The Next Day cover. Robert Fripp of King Crimson played much of the guitar on the album and his work heavily contributes to the general wildness, especially on the track "Blackout" which sounds like it's about to fall apart completely at any moment. Bowie's vocals are wilder and listening to the album now, I can see how his vocals were a huge influence on The Cure's mid-80s material. To me, the instrumentals that make up this album are not quite as strong as those on Low but the vocal songs are more fully formed and memorable. The title track is one of Bowie's most enduring and best loved songs and anchors much of the record with its huge vocal and melody. My picks are the title track, of course, as well as "Joe the Lion", which fuses all the best elements of Bowie's divergent styles at the time.

Lodger (1979)

A shorter and more song-oriented album compared to its predecessors, this album is often neglected by Bowie enthusiasts despite its many excellent songs and particularly great artwork. While this album is considered the last album of the "Berlin Trilogy", it is not recorded in Germany, nor does it have the instrumentals that figured prominently in the previous two albums. Guitar on this album is provided by Adrian Belew, who previously toured with Bowie and would go on to play with the Talking Heads as well as becoming the frontman for King Crimson. An excellent player, he holds much of the album together with his unique style. At times, especially with songs like "Yassassin", this record is very similar to what the Talking Heads were doing around the same time. Despite the great songwriting, this album didn't manage to spawn any real hits. One issue with the album is that most of the best songs are on the second side. My two favorites, both from the second side, are "Look Back in Anger" which is powerful and anthemic with a strong groove and "Repetition" which joins a strange and unsettling rhythm to disturbingly real lyrics about male privilege and domestic abuse.

Stay tuned for my next installment where things start well but get very ugly!

Bowie in Total: Before and After Ziggy

I recently saw the David Bowie exhibit at the AGO, which was very illuminating and inspired me to start this project. I listened to every Bowie album produced and tracked his progress from one album to another. What I found was the greatest discography of any musician I have ever heard and reinforced my opinion that Bowie is the greatest artist of any kind of the last hundred years. His catalogue is startlingly original and fairly consistent, save for a ten year period of awfulness from 1983 until 1993. Even this awfulness is illuminating as it is some of the worst music ever produced by a talented artist. For sake of readability, I will break this analysis up into sections.

David Bowie (1967)

This is an interesting debut, largely indebted to English folk with little of the daring or edgyness that would characterize his later work. It is miles away from the daring English rock from the time that he would end up covering on Pinups. Still, the songwriting is fairly strong and it is quite polished for a debut, not surprising since he had been in music for years prior to this album. Overall, a good but not especially memorable debut. The song "Uncle Arthur" is excellent, but the best songs are on the bonus disc such as "The London Boys" and the sublimely ridiculous "The Laughing Gnome".

Space Oddity aka David Bowie (1969)

The impact of the title track diminishes the importance of the rest of the album. Bowie is beginning to make a transition both away from folk to more ornate arrangements as well as a move towards the themes of science fiction and mental illness that become prominent in his work soon after. Generally a solid album but somewhat inessential except for a few tracks. The title track and "The Cygnet Committee" are both excellent, while the rerecording of "Memory of a Free Festival" on the bonus disc featuring the early incarnation of the Spiders from Mars stands out as one of his best songs.

The Man Who Sold the World (1970)

This album represents his biggest leap forward and still stands up as one of the best albums amongst many other great albums. Bowie's trademark piercing wail is fairly well developed by this point. Bowie and his backing band of guitarist Mick Ronson, producer/bassist Tony Visconti and drummer Mick Woodmansey create a daring hybrid of cutting-edge hard rock and freakish folk. The twin themes of dystopian futurism and insanity come to the forefront of this album, both musically and lyrically. "Saviour Machine" tells a Terminator-esque story of a sentient computer tasked with running the world who, in it's boredom, contemplates annihilating humanity. "All the Madmen" looks at the treatment of mental illness from an ambivalent and disoriented perspective. "Running Gun Blues" is the first of Bowie's aggressive anti-war statements that have continued to 2013s "I'd Rather Be High". "She Shook Me Cold" is a surprisingly effective evocation of Jimi Hendrix's style that highlights Ronson's guitar mastery. While I can't say if it's one of Bowie's very best albums, it is definitely close to being my favorite. The standout tracks of this record are hard to pick but the hard rock epic "The Width of a Circle" and the psychedelic madness of "After All" particularly stand out.

Hunky Dory (1971)

The precursor to Ziggy Stardust has many of the folk and psychedelic elements of Bowie's earlier work but adds a large element of cabaret to the mix. While Mick Ronson also plays on this album, his distinctive than on its predecessor and successor. Instead, the most prominent instrument is the piano, played by Rick Wakeman from Yes. Wakeman's work on this album is not nearly as showy as with Yes but is the driving force of songs like "Life on Mars". This album also has Bowie temporarily (for four albums) suspending his long relationship with producer Tony Visconti. The cabaret elements can be overpowering at times but the songwriting is excellent, perhaps Bowie's best up to this point save for "Kooks" and "Song for Bob Dylan" which are too derivative and simplistic to make much of an impression. My favorite songs from this album are, of course, "Life on Mars" which has largess and drama to spare as well as "Queen Bitch" which is the clearest antecedent to Ziggy Stardust and is a generally appealing rocker and finally "The Bewlay Brothers", a powerful though inscrutable epic with a distinctive and very cool string sound.

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)

This is one of Bowie's most loved albums as well as his most famous alter-ego. This album defined the glam rock movement both in concept and execution. The concept of an alien rock star on a pre-apocalyptic Earth is interesting though not particularly well-developed, especially compared to later concept album Outside. The songs are uniformly thrilling though. Sonically, the album is a mix of acoustic wanderings and electric intensity. "Hang on to Yourself" and "Suffragette City" are particularly driving. The impending doom of "Five Years" is reminiscent of the menace of The Man Who Sold the World with a new, more polished sound. "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" is the ultimate breaking up the band, while emphasizing the optimism before the end with the chant of "you're not alone!" Starman, with its striking arrangement and catchy chorus, became one of Bowie's biggest hits up to this point. My only complaint about the record is that it doesn't rock nearly as hard as the live albums Live in Santa Monica and Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture. My favorites on this album are "Moonage Daydream" for its excellent progression and awesome coda as well as "Hang on to Yourself" for its sheer speed and intensity.

Aladdin Sane (1973)

The final proper album of the Spiders from Mars line-up sees Bowie and company fusing the cabaret elements of Hunky Dory with hard-driving rock of Ziggy's more intense songs. We also find Bowie's saxophone playing becoming more prominent, an element that is increasingly important to later albums. Piano wizard Mike Garson joins the band at this point, adding his virtuosic skills to songs like "Time" and "Lady Grinning Soul". Garson adds a new sense of fullness to the band's sound that makes this one of Bowie's most sonically-pleasing albums. Bowie's vocals rise to the occasion, showing a previously undeveloped strength. Songs like "Time" and "Cracked Actor" (which would make a great theme song for Toronto's mayor) add a level of sexual explicitness to his lyrics that must have been unheard of at the time. My favorite songs on this album are "Aladdin Sane" which sees him revisiting the theme of mental illness with one of his most complex arrangements, getting close to the free jazz sound of Outside, as well as "Panic in Detroit" which matches one of the best intros of all time with an equally awesome song and lyric.

Pin Ups (1973)

Bowie, in typically idiosyncratic fashion, caps off the Ziggy era with a covers album of songs from 1964-1967 Britain that influenced him. This album was the only one from this era that was new to me and it was a very pleasant surprise. The remaining Spiders put in some of their strongest performances while the songs range from the very familiar to fairly obscure. Bowie's respect for Ray Davies is made clear by having Davies' lyrics to the Kinks song "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" as the only printed lyrics on the package. Both the Yardbirds and the Who are represented twice on the album. The strongest tracks are a slowed-down version of the Who's "I Can't Explain" and a soulful version of the Mersey's "Sorrow".