10 Favorite David Bowie Albums (1 Viewer)

[Bob Magaw]

Live albums can be included (not just allowed, but encouraged ).

I have to think, Station To Station #1 with a bullet for me.

Could draw from Low and Heroes, Scary Monsters, Hunky Dory, Ziggy, Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs, the live albums (Santa Monica '72, ZS Motion Picture Soundtrack, David Live, Stage, etc.). Just got Blackstar, but haven't had a chance to listen to it yet (other than the title track and Lazarus).

Hard to narrow down to only three.

 

[HellToupee]

Tough choices , Station to Station is always 1st for me but 2 & 3 are pretty much interchangeable . Maybe I" like Ziggy more because Mick Ronson is more prominent than on Hunky

1-Station to Station - love the pomp & circumstance of the title track , "its not the side-effects of the cocaine / I'm thinking that it must be love". Only knock for me is that its only 6 songs but its a hell of a trip

2-Ziggy Stardust - favorite song is Moonage Daydream but Rock 'N' Roll Suicide is close

3-Hunky Dory - Oh!You Pretty Things and Life on Mars? are my favorites

Love Blackstar but have to give it time to see if its just the my sentiments over his death making me feel this way . Dollar Days is my favorite song from this

 

[timschochet]

Ziggy Stardust and Hunky Dory are easy. No bad tunes on either album.

After that it's a tossup. I would probably go with Man Who Sold the World.

 

[Ghost Rider]

Low

Ziggy Stardust

Heroes

 

[Mister CIA]

Tough choices , Station to Station is always 1st for me but 2 & 3 are pretty much interchangeable . Maybe I" like Ziggy more because Mick Ronson is more prominent than on Hunky

1-Station to Station - love the pomp & circumstance of the title track , "its not the side-effects of the cocaine / I'm thinking that it must be love". Only knock for me is that its only 6 songs but its a hell of a trip

2-Ziggy Stardust - favorite song is Moonage Daydream but Rock 'N' Roll Suicide is close

3-Hunky Dory - Oh!You Pretty Things and Life on Mars? are my favorites

Love Blackstar but have to give it time to see if its just the my sentiments over his death making me feel this way . Dollar Days is my favorite song from this

First listen in nearly 20 years happening right now. Tremendous!

 

[Amused to Death]

Santa Monica '72

The Man Who Sold The World

Ziggy Stardust Soundtrack

 

[Bob Magaw]

Already noted in the RIP tribute, memorial thread, but the iTunes Station To Station Deluxe Edition is a lot cheaper than the physical media versions on the secondary market (OOP?), in some cases less than the cost of one CD, and includes a great concert from Nassau Coliseum in '76, which might be one of the best I've ever heard. And not just from Bowie.

Here ya go (check out the incendiary guitar work on Stay by Stacy Haydon - 25:30 mark)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj414ZrPY2U

Performance track list

00:56 Station to Station

11:52 Suffragette City

15:23 Fame

19:21 Word On A Wing

25:30 Stay

32:56 Waiting For The Man

39:16 Queen #####

42:28 Life On Mars?

44:40 Five Years

49:45 Panic In Detroit

[band 55:00]

55:50 Changes

1:00:00 TVC15

1:04:55 Diamond Dogs

1:11:35 Rebel Rebel

1:15:40 The Jean Genie

 

[KarmaPolice]

Was just thinking about this today. Not sure I have ever listened to a full album of Bowie's. That will change tomorrow.

 

[Bob Magaw]

Santa Monica '72

The Man Who Sold The World

Ziggy Stardust Soundtrack

SM72 (an FM broadcast-based concert bootleg for decades before receiving an official, cleaned up release in the mid-'90s) & the 2 CD ZSS are the two live albums included in the Five Years Box Set released in 2015 - Space Oddity through Pinups, plus an alternate '03 mix of Ziggy Stardust and a 2 CD rarities collection, stops right before Diamond Dogs and David Live. Can't wait to check them out (one or both re-mastered sound?).

* David Live has the great Mike Garson on keys (piano/synths). Stage was recorded between Heroes and Lodger (second and third Berlin Trilogy installments) and featured Zappa alumni and future Talking Heads/King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew augmenting rhythm guitarist Carlos Alomar, plus Hawkwind's Simon House on violin.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

To avoid the usual suspects... Oddly enough I like Heathen. That's an album that I listened to a lot while driving and flying across the South maybe 10 years ago. Sunday is a song that sticks with me as does Afraid. Also caught him at the Saenger on a tour that featured arenas.

 

[Jefferson the Caregiver]

Ziggy

Station to Station

Alladin Sane

 

[Dr. Octopus]

1. Hunky Dory

2. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

3. Station to Station

Honorable Mentions: Aladan Sane, Scary Monsters

 

[Eephus]

I'll go with the conventional wisdom and pick Ziggy Stardust and Hunky Dory.

But I'm going off the board with my third choice. I've always thought Lodger was the most consistent and accessible of Bowie's three Berlin albums. It may not reach the high points of Low or "Heroes" but I like that it's more song-based without the droning instrumentals of the earlier albums. Lodger has obvious world music influences and still sounds fresh 35 years later. Here's a good retrospective look at the album with some interesting stories of how it was made.

 

[Apple Jack]

To avoid the usual suspects... Oddly enough I like Heathen. That's an album that I listened to a lot while driving and flying across the South maybe 10 years ago. Sunday is a song that sticks with me as does Afraid. Also caught him at the Saenger on a tour that featured arenas.

5:15 is one of my favorite Bowie songs.

 

[Godsbrother]

Bowie's 2002 LP "Heathen" is really good and worth a listen.

 

[Amused to Death]

Santa Monica '72

The Man Who Sold The World

Ziggy Stardust Soundtrack

SM72 (an FM broadcast-based concert bootleg for decades before receiving an official, cleaned up release in the mid-'90s) & the 2 CD ZSS are the two live albums included in the Five Years Box Set released in 2015 - Space Oddity through Pinups, plus an alternate '03 mix of Ziggy Stardust and a 2 CD rarities collection, stops right before Diamond Dogs and David Live. Can't wait to check them out (one or both re-mastered sound?).

* David Live has the great Mike Garson on keys (piano/synths). Stage was recorded between Heroes and Lodger (second and third Berlin Trilogy installments) and featured Zappa alumni and future Talking Heads/King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew augmenting rhythm guitarist Carlos Alomar, plus Hawkwind's Simon House on violin.

The bootleg was still circulating a few years ago. That's how I found out the release even existed - people commenting it was an official release. So yes, I did the right thing and bought it (as opposed to just downloading the boot). I've never been more than a casual Bowie fan, but that live album is what got me listening to Bowie again.

This thread got me digging deeper into his catalog via Spotify.

 

[Bob Magaw]

I'll go with the conventional wisdom and pick Ziggy Stardust and Hunky Dory.

But I'm going off the board with my third choice. I've always thought Lodger was the most consistent and accessible of Bowie's three Berlin albums. It may not reach the high points of Low or "Heroes" but I like that it's more song-based without the droning instrumentals of the earlier albums. Lodger has obvious world music influences and still sounds fresh 35 years later. Here's a good retrospective look at the album with some interesting stories of how it was made.

Listened to the Berlin trilogy last night to refresh my memory. I'll probably be adding Low or Heroes to Station To Station for the second of three choices (for now), trying to decide which one. Third will probably be either ZSATSFM or HD. BUT, possibly a wild card like Scary Monsters, or one of the live albums. I'm leaning towards cheating with the Deluxe Station To Station, to sneak an extra pick, and a live show (and a great live show) with the appended '76 Nassau Coliseum concert, which frees up the third spot - no fair picking the Five Years 69-73 box set as one pick!

A New Career In A New Town from Low '77 (AUDIO 2:54), the song before the brooding Warszawa, illustrates both the Eno influence, as well as the range of textures and atmospheres the Bowie/Eno collaboration was capable of at the height of their powers. Most people assume Eno co-produced and was the recording engineer on Low (he did so much great work with David Byrne on My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts and the Talking Heads on Remain In Light, U2, with Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby, etc.), but in this case his contribution was more as an instrumentalist on synths, as well as oblique strategies-type creativity consulting in the studio. Frequent co-producer and collaborator Tony Visconti was at the console, and deserves massive props for the synthesizer equivalent to the Phil Spector "Wall Of Sound" on tracks like this and Heroes on the next album (Robert Fripp also played an integral role in shaping the overall sound of Heroes).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhZqsYkl1zI

Live with Ashes To Ashes, Tokyo '04 (VIDEO 9:30)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7KSM5j4-Zg

Speaking of Eno influences and ranges of textures and atmospheres, three straight instrumentals from "side 2" of Heroes '77 (reminded of how brave it was at the time to so drastically cut ties with his musical past and leave it behind, and pioneer and trail blaze new sonic pathways, portals and worlds - Bowie and Eno didn't just innovate new sounds, they opened up whole new musical syntaxes and vistas for others to explore in the future*):

Sense Of Doubt (MUSIC VIDEO rare 4:30 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CFQgwJrCdM

Moss Garden (AUDIO 5 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eTvCiMjJWc

Neukoln (AUDIO 4:45 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0BgFC3R3-A

* The Berlin Trilogy is SO different from what preceded it (adding ambient, world, trance, motoric/Krautrock influences), to me it is like a pop/rock equivalent to when Miles was changing from album to album from approx. the late '60s to mid-70s - In A Silent Way, Bit ches Brew, Tribute To Jack Johnson, Get Up With It, On The Corner, by the end of which he had an African, Indian, funk, rock, jazz fusion band. They may also be alike in that they were so far ahead of their time, they are in some ways STILL ahead of their time around four decades later.

** Speaking of Lodger, there are times listening to it (not surprising as by that time Adrian Belew had replaced Fripp on lead guitar) when it sounds like Bowie and Eno got to the world/funk/electronica soundscape first, that Byrne/Talking Heads and Eno would in a few years, with MLITBOG and RIL - perhaps with greater attention and recognition?

Which Eno collaboration was in your opinion more *INFLUENTIAL* with the most enduring legacy, the former (Bowie) or latter (Byrne/Talking Heads)?

 

[jamny]

Ziggy

Hunky Dory

Low

 

[Bob Magaw]

Have to have at least one (and probably only one, but not certain yet) representative work from the Berlin Trilogy and his Eno collaboration, for my second choice, in addition to the Deluxe Station To Station that includes the '76 Nassau Coliseum show. I'm also a big Fripp fan, so:

Station To Station (Deluxe)

Heroes

Leaning to ZSATSFM or HD for the third, but Scary Monsters (another Fripp collaboration) or one of the other live albums possible, probably the 2 CD ZS Soundtrack. But just like having one from his Eno/Berlin period, I want to have one representative album from the Mick Ronson era. Because he was also a phenomenal talent in his own right, and that is when Bowie became Bowie. Which probably will rule out Diamond Dogs, on those grounds, but that is another one I want to re-listen to. The intro where he sets the stage is one of my favorites of any Bowie work. Bowie could be a powerful narrator and really sell a story by force of his charisma and stage presence.

A few things stood out yesterday in listening to Space Oddity, The Man Who Sold The World and Hunky Dory. They are fantastically recorded, pristine, immaculate sound.* Also, the sense of dynamics. Some songs have a backing symphony orchestra. Others sound like early metal.

* HD co-producer Ken Scott was one of five main recording engineers for the Beatles, also worked with them solo (Harrison's All Things Must Pass), Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, fusion classics like Mahavishnu Orchestra's Birds Of Fire and Billy Cobham's Spectrum.

** As pointed out by Eephus, long time collaborator Tony Visconti also worth noting, for his co-production on Space Oddity and TMWSTW, as well as the Berlin Trilogy (and his last albums, including Blackstar).

After looking at the musician credits on these early albums, I didn't realize how many future Yes synth wizard Rick Wakeman played on. As pointed out in one of the other threads (RIP?), Bowie also worked with pre-stardom Luther Vandross and Stevie Ray Vaughn on Young Americans and Let's Dance, respectively, a few of his most commercial outings from that period. Not sure if he just had great instincts (I think Wakeman came to the Space Oddity session at the behest of Visconti, Vandross may have been a Carlos Alomar recommendation, and Bowie himself heard SRV, who made a powerful, deep and immediate impression on him), other musicians rose in stature through their association with him or a combination. Maybe like Miles, his fame enabled him to get just about any musician he wanted when he was at the top.

Listened to Blackstar yesterday for the first time, without the accompanying ritualistic "death magick" video, and could focus just on the music. It is an amazing last work, and way to go out. Looking forward to hearing the rest of it (though I doubt it makes the final three cut, but still impressive and a lot to recommend it).

*** Obviously Bowie was a big influence on many musicians. One that came to mind when listening to his first few albums, in that his style could be very CINEMATIC (conjuring up images in the mind of the listener almost reflexively and unbidden) was Elton John. And his look is unimaginable without Bowie as a sartorial precursor.

 

[Eephus]

A few things stood out yesterday in listening to Space Oddity, The Man Who Sold The World and Hunky Dory. They are fantastically recorded, pristine, immaculate sound. Also, the sense of dynamics. Some songs have a backing symphony orchestra. Others sound like early metal.

Bowie's early RCA-era albums (Hunky Dory through Pin-Ups) were produced by Ken Scott who had a long and distinguished career as a producer and engineer. He worked with everyone from the Beatles to Duran Duran including notable recordings by the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Supertramp.

Bowie's on-and-off 40 year collaboration with Tony Visconti is also worthy of discussion. Visconti produced Bowie's first two albums after working with Marc Bolan. They got back together for Young Americans and had a great run up through Scary Monsters. While Eno's contributions for the Berlin albums always get mentioned, Visconti and Bowie got the production credit for all of those albums. After two decades working with other producers, Bowie and Visconti reunited for his four final albums (Heathen through Blackstar).

Visconti doesn't seem like an auteur. His work outside of Bowie and T. Rex has some hits (Thin Lizzy, Morrissey) but there's no obvious overarching style like someone like Eno. Visconti's background was as an arranger rather than an engineer like Ken Scott. It's hard to quantify his contributions to the work because Bowie is such a unique artist. Clearly, Visconti had Bowie's trust and they worked well together. This is something that Bowie seemed to value a lot as an artist. He mixed and matched his backing musicians but more often than not, he returned to long-standing relationships with Carlos Alomar, Dennis Davis, Gail Ann Dorsey, Fripp, Earl Slick, the Sales brothers, Mike Garson, etc. when it came time to record or tour.

 

[Dave Baker]

Not exactly straying far from other responses here...

1) Ziggy Stardust - Arguably a mixed bag at times, it remains my favorite...at least today.

2) Hunky Dory - Queen B and Changes. Nuff said

3) Low - Sound and Vision remains one of my favorite songs ever.

Special Note - Heathen - Slip Away and 5:15 The Angels Have Gone are very underrated.

His albums are better than just the songs, but naming a couple of my favs for each of the above was easier than a full-on review.

 

[Fiddles]

Hunky Dory, Man Who Sold, Ziggy

I like the Ronson stuff

AGree with Bob on that metal sound.

 

[Bob Magaw]

In trying to decide between Hunky Dory, Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars and the 2 CD Ziggy Stardust Motion Picture Soundtrack as the third and final choice (for now ) added to:

1) Station To Station (deluxe edition)

2) Heroes

3) Ziggy Stardust Motion Picture Soundtrack (provisionally)

There are pros and cons for each album, but leaning towards the Soundtrack.

They all have the Mick Ronson band (as does Aladdin Sane, which I don't think I'm considering here). Loses the brilliant studio engineering and overdub recording genius of the first two titles, which likely have the definitive respective renditions. On the plus side, with the soundtrack you get as much music as the other two studio albums combined, with most of the biggest hits from those titles, plus deeper, so it is a more inclusive selection as a double album, just on a volume basis. More isn't necessarily better, but there are other pluses. It rocks harder in some ways than the studio versions and counterparts. Mike Garson is a gifted keys artist, with both instrumental versatility to play acoustic piano (Aladdin Sane* title track) and synths (Ashes To Ashes), the playing chops, omniscient stylistic historical knowledge and cutting edge avant garde sensibility to take Bowie's music in creative and unexpected directions. He doesn't play on the above two studio albums (in fairness, Rick Wakeman does, though only one song on ZS?). Garson is on both the single disc live album Santa Monica '72 and Ziggy Stardust Soundtrack, as well as studio Aladdin Sane, Pinups and beyond (10 albums through Reality in '03 - missed The Berlin Trilogy, Scary Monsters and Let's Dance). It was also a historically important gig, as Ziggy Stardust was his biggest *STAR*-making character and creation (before or after), and that was when he assassinated the persona.

Before it took courage to make a clean break with his past in entering his Berlin phase, it took courage to kill off the super star identity that had first propelled him to mega-stardom, trusting in his instincts to find new musical directions and talent to propel him to even greater heights, succeeding on his own terms, and for his own accomplishments (not those of Ziggy Stardust). Not unlike Miles Davis throughout much of his career, the need, compulsion and imperative to change could be a curse or a blessing, depending on how you looked at it. Sometimes they left old fans behind, but made new ones in the process, and along the way, always made things more interesting for the longest and most die hard fans. They were true artists, creatively guided by their own internal compass, refusing to pander to the dictates of popularity or the market place (generally speaking, Bowie admitted to losing his way for a few albums after Let's Dance, which he had tasked Nile Rodgers with producing hitS - mission accomplished, but ultimately he found it dissatisfying to play what he thought others wanted, instead of what HE wanted to play).

Just want to listen to HD, ZS and the soundtrack again a few times (listening to Low and Heroes again just to confirm the initial latter choice, ain't no bout adoubt it with Station To Station.

I have a feeling the first two, as well as Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs, Low and Scary Monsters are all going to make honorable mention status (half a dozen albums, if counting at home)!

* Has a pop/rock song ever had such an *OUT* outro on piano as Aladdin Sane? Crazed but beautiful and perfect for the song.

Studio - AUDIO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2y9inP4CqE

Live - VIDEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpba4WCBOC0

 

[Bob Magaw]

Changed from three to five (thread title changed accordingly), too hard to narrow down with so many great albums.

Tentatively

1) Station To Station Deluxe Edition (w/ '76 Nassau Coliseum show)

2) Heroes

3) Ziggy Stardust Motion Picture Soundtrack (2 CD)

4) Hunky Dory

5) Diamond Dogs 30th Anniversary Edition (2 CD)

Wanted to have one of his two masterpieces between Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust (lot of this material on the Soundtrack, which is why I chose it). Having a new found appreciation for DD. It seems to be situated in the middle of his Ziggy Stardust period and the coming interest in soul, funk and Krautrock/electronica/ambient to come. Ronson didn't play on it, but he had already worked out some of the arrangements they played live, prior to the studio album. Bowie played lead guitar (in addition to sax, synths and vocals), which gave it a raw, edgy, harsh quality, less polished than the classically trained Ronson, which suited the dark material. In some ways, this anticipated aspects of the punk rock movement. He was at his most vividly cinematic with Future Legend (like in 3D Technicolor). The Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (Reprise) trio was as good a vocal performance as he has ever delivered, with phenomenal range and feeling, as noted above by Simey. 1984 pointed the way to the looming soul/funk of Young Americans and Station To Station, and future hits such as Fame and Golden Years, with the clearly Shaft-inspired guitar work, where there is some serious chicken pickin' going on!

It is an album in which Bowie himself has characterized as being the most "him" (possibly in part due to his taking over lead guitar and production responsibilities - Tony Visconti contributed string arrangements and helped mix the album for the first time since Space Oddity, but he would be a regular co-producer from then on for most of the rest of Bowie's career). It was the first time he produced an album on his own after the brilliant run of albums produced by Ken Scott from The Man Who Sold The World ('70)through Pinups ('73).

Quietus review of DD

http://thequietus.com/articles/16797-the-hideous-ecstasy-of-fear-diamond-dogs-40-years-on

Honorable mention:

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

Low (see above)

Aladdin Sane

Scary Monsters

* Too early for me to call on Blackstar, I need to listen to it some more, but so far, amazing last testament. He did not go quietly into that good night.

 

[Bob Magaw]

Now 10 favorite (reflected in thread title change), even five was too tough (three impossible).

Though, if I had to pick five, I'd take out the Ziggy Stardust double live album and Diamond Dogs, much as I like them, and include the studio Ziggy Stardust (arguably the pinnacle of his career) and Aladdin Sane (which the more I listen to it, find an OVERALL stronger album and superior to DD, which does have great moments).

Top 5 Albums

1) Station To Station (first with the Alomar/Murray/Davis funk rhythm section trio, personal favorite because of the masterful blend of rock and funk, title track his longest studio track [[?]], shows range with one of his greatest soul/funk/rock/pop hits in Golden Years)

2) The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (greatest album?)

3) Hunky Dory (first great album?)

4) Heroes (my favorite of the Eno co-written Berlin Trilogy, arguably his greatest collaboration and, as a whole [[linked larger work nested inside of his total body of work]], one of his greatest and most influential overall achievements)

5) Aladdin Sane (the avant garde piano on the title song OUTro imo one of the greatest in rock history, also stacked with classics such as Jean Genie, Panic In Detroit and maybe his best song, Cracked Actor)

Top 10 Albums (cont.)

6) Low (the first in the critically acclaimed Berlin Trilogy, and neck and neck with Heroes for best, one of the most courageous breaks with his past in a career full of them)

7) Diamond Dogs (break from the Ronson era, the Shaft-like guitar [[skip Pitts influence]] of 1984 prefigures the soul and funk of Young Americans and Station To Station, first self produced album, in addition to lead and dubbed background vocals, most of the lead guitar, synths and even sax)

8) Scary Monsters (revisits the brilliant Fripp collaboration, in his own estimation and self-appraisal, some of his best guitar work, last great album [[?]], 35+ years ago, also the last album with the Alomar/Murray/Davis rhythm section - though Alomar would continue through until Reality in '03, so nearly three decades)

9) Young Americans (even more so than DD, a key transitional album in a career that was almost a continuous series of transitions , nearly pure soul with his unique funk/rock inflections, Fame one of his greatest and my favorite SONG collaborations, with Lennon - Eno would be for multiple album collaborations, Fripp would rank pretty high up for Heroes and Scary Monsters)

10) The Man Who Sold The World (if not his first great album, his first really good one, tends to be overshadowed in general by a body of work chock full of classic albums, and specifically by his first great work immediately following this, Hunky Dory)

Honorable Mention: David Live (DD/YA), Stage (Low/Heroes) and the Ziggy Stardust Motion Picture Soundtrack (HD/ZS/AS)