david bowie thread [your favorite bowie album(s)?]

Started by japanesebaby, October 17, 2008, 13:40:46

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

japanesebaby

once again i've been trying to decide what's my favorite david bowie album.
it's something about which i've never been able to agree with myself... and once again i'm having hard time even trying to pick the top three, let alone the favorite one.
at the moment i've ended up with the final battle between

'scary monsters and super creeps'
'aladdin sane'
and ...
'heroes'(?) or 'hunky dory'? or 'low'? or...
aaarghh...

in the meantime, what's your pick?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie#Studio_albums


(like with everything else it depends on whether you try to pick your favorite ones or try to pick the best - it's not always the same...)

Ay, in the very temple of Delight
Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine

revolt

Quote from: japanesebaby on October 17, 2008, 13:40:46
once again i've been trying to decide what's my favorite david bowie album.
it's something about which i've never been able to agree with myself... and once again i'm having hard time even trying to pick the top three, let alone the favorite one.
at the moment i've ended up with the final battle between

'scary monsters and super creeps'
'aladdin sane'
and ...
'heroes'(?) or 'hunky dory'? or 'low'? or...
aaarghh...

in the meantime, what's your pick?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie#Studio_albums


(like with everything else it depends on whether you try to pick your favorite ones or try to pick the best - it's not always the same...)



I'm afraid I'm not really a Bowie fan. I mean, I definitely like some of his stuff and some things I even like a lot, but in general... I won't say he's all-image-and-no-substance, because it would be unfair, but on the whole I tend to think he's a bit overrated. And then, I'm not familiar with most of his albums, so maybe I am not in the best position to chose.

Anyway, my favourite is probably "Outside", from 1995, because I find it mostly very good from start to finish. It also sounds different from 90's rock in general (even though you can spot a clear NIN influence at least in one song). "Ziggy stardust" is also strong from beginning to end but it is glam-rock, a style I've never liked in general. Both "Low" and "Heroes" are original and have very good songs in them (and some instrumentals are particularly original and inspired) but I also think they are far from the masterpieces they are sometimes advertised as.

By the way, one thing Bowie has almost always been strong at is singles... Even at his most uninspired days he usually would come up with worthwile songs for singles. As such I admit I'm a fan of 80's stuff like "Let's dance", "Blue Jean" or "This is not America".

japanesebaby

Quote from: revolt on October 17, 2008, 14:07:34
By the way, one thing Bowie has almost always been strong at is singles...

that's exactly the reason why i find it so hard to rate the albums. it's actually the silent reason why i started this topic: because i find "bowie the album artist" a bit confusing and never really got the real grip of his albums as wholes, whereas "bowie the single artist" i seem to get very well.
it's a bit like with depeche mode, i think. i don't think they ever made one decent album but they've done some great singles - and quite a lot of them. so i suppose at least for me, both with bowie and DM, when i'm asked for their best albums i am always tempted to name some singles collection instead...
anyway, bowie keeps puzzling me much more than DM. i think DM is a lot "easier to classify" and a lot more "black and white" in this respect. i am still not quite convinced that bowie is really a wek-ish "album artist", i'm still considering the possibility that i just haven't quite gotten a real grasp of his output after all, despite regular listening. and so i don't want to jump into conclusions - because it just might not be bowie's fault, but mine... 

i still wouldn't think he's an overrated artist - perhaps some of his albums are overrated "as albums", but that's a bit different thing.


by the way "let's dance" era is perhaps the era i like least. to me he turned quit uninteretsing there, for a long while.
yet luckily he's started to do much better stuff in more recent years, for instance 'reality' is a good album imo.
Ay, in the very temple of Delight
Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine

revolt

Quote from: japanesebaby on October 19, 2008, 19:15:11
Quote from: revolt on October 17, 2008, 14:07:34
By the way, one thing Bowie has almost always been strong at is singles...

that's exactly the reason why i find it so hard to rate the albums. it's actually the silent reason why i started this topic: because i find "bowie the album artist" a bit confusing and never really got the real grip of his albums as wholes, whereas "bowie the single artist" i seem to get very well.

i am still not quite convinced that bowie is really a wek-ish "album artist", i'm still considering the possibility that i just haven't quite gotten a real grasp of his output after all, despite regular listening. and so i don't want to jump into conclusions - because it just might not be bowie's fault, but mine... 


The "Outside" album I mentined is actually a concept - it evolves around some "artistic ritual" murders and their investigation by a private detective... That's probably one of the reasons that helps the album work so well as whole (apart from some great songs it has these "segue" short pieces that help linking the different songs and making the story move forward). This was supposed to be the first part of a trilogy, if I remember well, which was meant to be Bowie's great project for the 90's (done in collaboration with Brian Eno, whose input as "artistic director" essential to album's success). Alas, this project seems to have been abandoned indefinitely...




Quote from: japanesebaby on October 19, 2008, 19:15:11

it's a bit like with depeche mode, i think. i don't think they ever made one decent album but they've done some great singles - and quite a lot of them. so i suppose at least for me, both with bowie and DM, when i'm asked for their best albums i am always tempted to name some singles collection instead...

DM have at least 2 really good albums, imo: "Construction Time Again" (from their "techno-pop" days, but surprisingly "serious" in such a context) and "Songs of Faith and Devotion" (which is probably their most intense album ever). These are not just collections of songs, but albums that work as a whole (although not concept albums, as far as I understand).


Quote from: japanesebaby on October 19, 2008, 19:15:11
by the way "let's dance" era is perhaps the era i like least. to me he turned quit uninteretsing there, for a long while.
yet luckily he's started to do much better stuff in more recent years, for instance 'reality' is a good album imo.

Well, you know, it was through "Let's Dance" that I first heard Bowie. Didn't like it much at first, but when the year after that "Blue Jean" came out, I liked it right away. Perhaps the albums of that era are the most commercial and unchallenging of them all, but there's quite a bunch of really good songs (mostly singles, I guess) from those times: apart from those I mentioned, there's still "China Girl", "Tonight" (with Tina Turner - 100% mainstream and a duet, but it's good), "Absolute Beginners"... Probably a couple more that I'm forgetting.

mint car

my favourite album from David Bowie is legendary Ziggy Stardust. It is masterpiece and after cure my all-time fav album on the world :smth038
[i]...sleep sweet child the moon will change your mind...[/i]

japanesebaby

Quote from: mint car on October 23, 2008, 21:35:24
my favourite album from David Bowie is legendary Ziggy Stardust. It is masterpiece and after cure my all-time fav album on the world :smth038

i have to admit that i never really got to know that album as well as i probably should have.  :oops:
hmm perhaps i should fix this sometime? ;)

right now i'm quite convinced that 'scary monsters' is the top choice. but it might change tomorrow...
Ay, in the very temple of Delight
Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine

scatcat

Quote from: mint car on October 23, 2008, 21:35:24
my favourite album from David Bowie is legendary Ziggy Stardust. It is masterpiece and after cure my all-time fav album on the world :smth038

:smth045   my vote here too.. mintcar 

one of the best albums of all-time. Love IT !
Seventeen seconds
A measure of life

mint car

Quote from: scatcat on October 24, 2008, 19:09:47
Quote from: mint car on October 23, 2008, 21:35:24
my favourite album from David Bowie is legendary Ziggy Stardust. It is masterpiece and after cure my all-time fav album on the world :smth038

:smth045   my vote here too.. mintcar 

one of the best albums of all-time. Love IT !
;)
[i]...sleep sweet child the moon will change your mind...[/i]