David Bowie Hunky Dory released

Hunky Dory David Bowie

Released: December 17, 1971 Peak: 57 US, 3 UK, 43 CN, 39 AU, 12 DW Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.3 UK, 3.5 world (includes US and UK), 10.83 EAS Genre: glam rock/classic rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. Changes [3:33] (1/7/72, 41 BB, 38 CB, 26 GR, 28 HR, 1 CL, 2 CO, 49 UK, 32 CN, 80 AU, 1 DF) Oh! You Pretty Things [3:12] (34 CO, 11 DF) Eight Line Poem [2:53] Life on Mars? [3:48] (6/22/73, 2 CL, 2 CO, 3 UK, 67 AU, 5 DF) Kooks [2:49] (35 CO, 23 DF) Quicksand [5:03] (4/11/74, 43 CL, 33 CO, 20 DF) Fill Your Heart (Rose/ Williams) [3:07] Andy Warhol [3:53] (32 CO, 23 DF) Song for Bob Dylan [4:12] (37 DF) Queen Bitch [3:13] (2/15/74, 34 CL, 32 CO, 21 DF) The Bewlay Brothers [5:21] (38 DF) Songs written by David Bowie unless indicated otherwise. Total Running Time: 41:50 The Players: David Bowie (vocals, guitar, saxophone, piano) Mick Ronson (guitar, backing vocals, Mellotron, arrangements) Trevor Bolder (bass, trumpet) Mick Woodmansey (drums) Rick Wakeman (piano)

Rating: 4.504 out of 5.00 (average of 29 ratings) Quotable: “The beginning of the classic Bowie period” – Adrian Denning Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

The Beginning of the Classic Bowie Era “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars made David Bowie a superstar but, before that, Hunky Dory made him an artist.” CM It is a “quantum leap from his previous material.” AD It “is artistically the album that made the breakthrough for Bowie” AD and “the beginning of the classic Bowie period.” AD He said, “The record provided me, for the first time in my life, with an actual audience.” CM Rolling Stone called it “his first great album.” 500 The Seeds for Ziggy Stardust This album was notable for being “the first to feature the line-up that would become the Spiders from Mars.” CQ That included guitarist Mick Ronson, bassist Trevor Bolder, and drummer Woody Woodmansey. This is “suggestive of a dress rehearsal with Ziggy waiting impatiently in the wings for his understudy to vacate the stage.” PR Hunky Dory “is not a concept album, but the concepts within would eventually solidify and manifest in the character of Bowie’s spaceman and perhaps even in his personal philosophies.” CQ “The themes and ideas scattered throughout the songs’ lyrics and arrangements set the stage for not only Ziggy Stardust, but for much of Bowie’s output in the ’70s.” CQ The Bowie Identity “At a moment when no one knew whether David Bowie was a transvestite, provocateur, folk singer or space alien,” TL “the then 24-year-old released an album that slyly capitalized on the confusion.” TL Up to this point in his career he’d showcased an ability to tackle “a kaleidoscopic array of pop styles” AM and experiment “with a number of personas” PR including guises as “a mod, a folk singer, [and] a jazz buff.” CM His previous album, The Man Who Sold the World, had an “almost heavy-metal sound;” TB Hunky Dory saw Bowie return to “the acoustic guitar-based singer-songwriter sound of his earlier work.” TB “What elevated the album…was Bowie’s newly developed and highly ambitious capacity for bridging the gap between highbrow and lowbrow art forms.” TB He “blends pop, dancehall, art-rock and folk for his most varied effort.” RV It “was a visionary blend of gay camp, flashy rock guitar and saloon-piano balladry.” 500 “On the surface, such a wide range of styles and sounds would make an album incoherent, but Bowie’s improved songwriting and determined sense of style” AM give Bowie the distinction of “inventing – and perfecting – a new style of rock & roll glamour.” 500 He created “a touchstone for reinterpreting pop’s traditions into fresh, postmodern pop music.” AM As Bowie said, “I wasn’t an R&B artist, I wasn’t a folk artist, and I didn’t see the point in trying to be that purise about it. What my true style was is that I loved the idea of putting Little Richard with Jacques Brel and the Velvet Underground backing them. What would that sound like? Nobody was doing that.” CM The Players “The playing and production and arrangements were all assured and professional.” AD “Mick Ronson came into his own…proving himself an adept arranger for strings as well as a fine guitar player. Keyboard superstar and then top session man Rick Wakeman provided fine piano and keyboard flourishes.” AD The latter’s “cabaret piano…dominate[s] the sound of the album.” AM The Songs Here’s thoughts on individual songs. “Changes” “The revamped Tin Pan Alley of Changes,” AM which “proved he could write a great pop song about who he really (maybe) was.” TL It became “a manifesto that Bowie has carried ever since.” CM “Life on Mars?” Bowie also crafted “the soaring Life on Mars?” AM in which he is “flexing his muscles as a songwriter.” CM It recalls “the theme of Bowie’s signature tune ‘Space Oddity,’ but here it tells the story of a girl in suburbia hoping that there is life elsewhere because it sure isn’t here.” CM “Song for Bob Dylan” and “The Bewlay Brothers” On Song for Bob Dylan, Bowie delivers “a powerful examination of the use of an alter ego to create art.” RV That song and The Bewlay Brothers were amongst Bowie’s “more folky songs.” AM Bowie wrote the latter about his brother Terry, who was bipolar and Bowie’s first idol. CM “Oh! You Pretty Things” and “Queen Bitch” He also “inflects his words with a Lou Reed sensibility, as on Oh! You Pretty Things, a rallying cry for homosexuality.” RV It was also “a nod to the British ‘60s beat group and was originally given to Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits. Here Bowie reclaims it.” CM Bowie also makes “a direct sound connection to the Velvet Underground with Queen Bitch.” CQ Such songs “clarified his earthbound ambition to be a boho poet with prodigal style.” TL That song and “Song for Bob Dylan” have been described as “unabashed fan letters.” CM “Andy Warhol” There’s also “the dark acoustic rocker Andy Warhol,” AM a tribute to the New York artist who’d championed the Velvet Underground. Bowie said of Warhol’s reaction to the song” “he hated it. Loathed it.” CM “Quicksand” In addition to songs that celebrated Bowie’s contemporaries like Dylan, Reed, and Warhol, Bowie also serves up his “Neil Young homage Quicksand.” AM “Kooks” and “Fill Your Heart” Bowie also “again flirted with Anthony Newley-esque dancehall music (Kooks, Fill Your Heart).” AM The former “was a letter welcoming the arrival of his newborn son and Bowie’s attempt to explain to the boy about his kooky parents. It’s probably the happiest Bowie has ever been on record.” CM Notes: The 1990 Rykodisc reissue added the unreleased 1971 recording “Bombers,” and alternate versions of “The Bewlay Brothers,” “Quicksand,” and “The Supermen” (the latter originally on The Man Who Sold the World).

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for David Bowie AM AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine CQ Consequence of Sound (9/15/2010). “Top 100 Albums Ever” CM Toby Creswell & Craig Mathieson (2012). 100 Best Albums of All Time. Hardie Grant Books. Page 106. AD Adrian Denning RV The Review (Oct./Nov. 2001). “The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time” by Clarke Speicher PR Paul Roland (2001). CD Guide to Pop & Rock. B.T. Batsford LTD: London. Page 34. 500 Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time TB Thunder Bay (2005). Albums: The Stories Behind 50 Years of Great Recordings. Thunder Bay Press; San Diego, CA. Page 147. TL Time Magazine (11/13/2006). “All-TIME 100 Albums” by Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 2/20/2008; last updated 10/1/2024.

David Bowie The Man Who Sold the World charted

The Man Who Sold the World David Bowie

Charted: November 4, 1970 Peak: 105 US, 24 UK, 62 CN, 44 AU Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.1 UK, 2.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: glam rock/folk rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. The Width of a Circle [8:05] All the Madmen [5:38] Black Country Rock [3:34] (1/15/71 B-side of “Holy Holy,” 43 CL, 33 CO) After All [3:53] Running Gun Blues [3:12] Saviour Machine [4:26] She Shook Me Cold [4:13] The Man Who Sold the World [3:57] (6/22/73, 25 CL, 14 CO, 39 UK) The Supermen [3:39] All songs written by David Bowie. Total Running Time: 40:29 The Players: David Bowie (vocals, guitar, saxophone, stylophone, organ) Mick Ronson (guitar, backing vocals) Tony Visconti (bass, piano, guitar, recorder, backing vocals, producer) Mick Woodmansey (drums) Ralph Mace (Moog synthesizer) Ken Scott (engineer)

Rating: 3.715 out of 5.00 (average of 25 ratings)

About the Album: “The Man Who Sold the World, for most intents and purposes, is the beginning of David Bowie's classic period.” AMG It marked his move away from the folkier sound of his previous album and toward “a tight, twisted heavy guitar rock that appears simple on the surface but sounds more gnarled upon each listen.” AMG In addition, “the lyrics are darker than his previous releases, exploring themes of insanity, religion, technology and war.” WK Bowie decided to form a band. He enlisted Tony Visconti, who’d produced the Space Oddity album as his bassist, and John Cambridge as the drummer. As the new guitarist, he brought on Mick Ronson. The two met after a performance at London’s Marquee Club on February 2, 1970 and the two hit it off immediately. After Cambridge was replaced by Mick “Woody” Woodmansey, the quartet began recording The Man Who Sold the World in April 1970. While Bowie received sole songwriting credit, biographer Peter Doggett quoted Visconti saying “the songs were written by all four of us.” WK The arranging was predominantly done by Ronson and Visconti. “The mix is off-center, with the fuzz-bass dominating the compressed, razor-thin guitars and Bowie’s strangled, affected voice. The sound of The Man Who Sold the World is odd, but the music is bizarre itself, with Bowie’s bizarre, paranoid futuristic tales melded to Ronson’s riffing and the band's relentless attack. Musically, there isn't much innovation on The Man Who Sold the World — it is almost all hard blues-rock or psychedelic folk-rock — but there's an unsettling edge to the band’s performance, which makes the record one of Bowie's best albums.” AMG Width of a Circle “is an eight-minute epic that delves into progressive rock.” WK Guitar feedback from Ronson is prominent and lyrics reference Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran and a sexual encounter in the devil’s lair with God. WK All the Madmen reflects on the theme of institutionalized madness. It was inspired by Bowie’s half-brother Terry Burns. WK On Black Country Rock, Bowie impersonates Marc Bolan with his vocal performance while the music is a mix of blues rock and hard rock. Meanwhile, After All has some resemblance to the folk rock and music hall numbers of Bowie’s earlier work. The lyrics deal with innocent children who have not been corrupted yet by adulthood. WK Running Gun Blues deals with the Vietnam War and gun-toting assassins. That song and Saviour Machine are once again rooted in blues rock and hard rock. The latter explores the idea that computers could overtake the human race. There is a suggestion that She Shook Me, created largely without Bowie’s input, was written to emulate Cream’s Jack Bruce and bears some similarity to Led Zeppelin. Lyriccally, it explores a sexual conquest similar to Robert Johnson’s “Love in Vain” and Muddy Waters’ “You Shook Me.” WK The “haunting” WK title track has cryptic and evocative lyrics wrapped around a “circular” guitar riff from Ronson. WK The Supermen reflects the themes of Nietzsche. Bowie described it as a “pre-fascist” “period piece.” WK The album was originally to be called Metrobolist but the record company retitled it without Bowie’s consultation. Mercury executives reportedly disliked the album and there were no singles released at the time to promote it. However, “Black Country Rock” and the title cut would eventually surface as B-sides to future singles. Notes: The 1990 Rykodisc reissue added bonus tracks “Lightning Frightening,” 1970 single “Holy Holy,” and the songs “Moonage Daydream” and “Hang on to Yourself.” The latter two were originally released as a 1971 single under the Bowie alias of Arnold Corns. The songs later resurfaced on the 1972 Ziggy Stardust album.

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for David Bowie AMG All Music Guide by Stephen Thomas Erlewine WK Wikipedia First posted 2/20/2008; last updated 7/29/2021.