Bowie's best album?

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bangles
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Heathen. For me it kicks off with one of the greatest openers on a Bowie album 'Sunday'. I remember some reviews when it was released complaining about it dragginf on for ages and ended just before it got interesting, which was as good a bit of point missing as i'd read in a long time... Conversely, there's a great piece in the Complete Bowie book which discusses how the shadow of 9/11 appears to hover over the album and likens the stuttering guitar intro to firemens recollections of mobile phones ringing in the doomed towers... The rest of the album packs quite an emotional punch too. Oh, and ace artwork too...
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markfiend
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Votes so far:

Station to Station: 1
Ziggy: 4
Low: 1
Hunky Dory: 3
Diamond Dogs: 3
Outside: 1
Lodger: 1
Heathen: 1
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6FeetOver
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abridged wrote:Ahem. I liked the singles album. Tried to listen to a few albums but got bored quite quickly am afraid. Even with Ziggy. Grabs his coat and runs... :innocent:
Same here...sort of. It's not that I get bored, necessarily, it's that each album mentioned contains both all-time favorites *and* songs that I simply can't stand. For me, though, this is pretty much par for the course (even re: TSoM - shhh! :eek: :oops: :innocent:).

My first real, consistent exposure to Bowie was via MTV in its infancy, so I'm rather biased in favor of the selections on "Changesbowie" (particularly those off of "Scary Monsters"). Yeah, it's a cop-out, I know... :|
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Pista
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Hunk Dory for me.

TR&FOZS&TSFM was a close runner up, along with Aladdin Sane, but Hunky Dory just gets me every time
:D
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Bahamas
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Easy for me Hunky Dory by a mile. If you are Bowie fans Toy is worth looking out for which is flaoting around on the web. Cross over with Heathen songs but best material post Scary Monsters.
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Randall Flagg
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Bahamas wrote:Easy for me Hunky Dory by a mile. If you are Bowie fans Toy is worth looking out for which is flaoting around on the web. Cross over with Heathen songs but best material post Scary Monsters.
yep - another vote for HD - it gets better as each year passes, as does LOW, though I do need to be in the right frame of mind!

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markfiend wrote:Votes so far:

Station to Station: 1
Ziggy: 4
Low: 1
Hunky Dory: Is the bestist
Diamond Dogs: 3
Outside: 1
Lodger: 1
Heathen: 1
*AHEM* :innocent:
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Debaser wrote:
markfiend wrote:Votes so far:

Station to Station: 1
Ziggy: 4
Low: 1
Hunky Dory: Is the bestist
Diamond Dogs: 3
Outside: 1
Lodger: 1
Heathen: 1
*AHEM* :innocent:
:lol:
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markfiend
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Votes so far:

Station to Station: 1
Ziggy: 4
Low: 1
Hunky Dory: 6
Diamond Dogs: 3
Outside: 1
Lodger: 1
Heathen: 1
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Hunslet Ramone
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Hard choice as he has done so many good albums.
But I would pick David Live. Fantastic Album , with electrifying guitar from Earl Slick. Just listen to Width of a Circle for one. Think I better go dig out the CD as I now fancy listening to it.

Just wish I could have gone to Philadelphia Tower Theatre, in the USA in 74 to have seen this.

Did see all his tours in Britain though
Ziggy Stardust
Let's Dance
Serious Moonlight
Station to Station.

Then fell out with him when the Silly Tin Machine rubbish came out.
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Hunslet Ramone
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Votes so far :

Hunky Dory : 6
Ziggy : 4
Diamond Dogs : 3
David Live : 1
Station to Station : 1
Low : 1
Lodger : 1
Heathen : 1
Outside : 1
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I'm torn between Diamond Dogs and "Heroes". Side two of "Heroes" (oh, for the days when albums had "sides"!) is the best stuff ever to come out of Bowie's Berlin period and something I never tire of listening to. Possibly my favourite Bowie stuff of all, which makes me wanted to vote for it. It's just that, title track aside, the songs on side one aren't really much cop.

Diamond Dogs, on the other hand, contains some of the best songs he ever wrote - Rock'n'Roll With Me is just sublime - and it sounds like a record that was conceived as a whole as opposed to just a collection of songs.

Basically, I do love a good concept album :oops:

So I'm going with Diamond Dogs.

I've never understood the appeal of Hunky Dory to be honest. It's not an album I can even say I like particularly much, but it does seem to be his most popular.
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Hunky Dory : 6
Ziggy : 4
Diamond Dogs : 4
David Live : 1
Station to Station : 1
Low : 1
Lodger : 1
Heathen : 1
Outside : 1
metal on metal wrote:Basically, I do love a good concept album :oops:
Damn right. Why the small type and embarrassed face?
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Debaser
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Hunslet Ramone wrote:
Did see all his tours in Britain though
Ziggy Stardust
Is that coz you is dead oooold :kiss: :kiss: :kiss:
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Nikolas Vitus Lagartija
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"Good concept album" ?? Surely an oxymoron. It's all a bit Spinal Tap.
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markfiend
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Nikolas Vitus Lagartija wrote:"Good concept album" ?? Surely an oxymoron. It's all a bit Spinal Tap.
An argument could be made that Floodland is a concept album...
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Being645
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Recently, I've been listening a lot to this one, a wonderful compilation!

Image

Makes me dream of Lodger, though. For sure one of my favourites ... but also Outside, Hours, Heathen (above all for Sunday) and Reality ... oh, and Scary Monsters and The Man Who Sold The World and Space Oddity, Aladdin Sane, Pin Ups, Ziggy Stardust, Diamond Dogs, Young Americans, Station To Station, Low, Heroes, even Let's Dance, Tonight, Never Let Me Down and Black Tie White Noise and the Tin Machine stuff, and this collection of very early songs called Images.

Funny, that I've never managed to find a copy of Hunky Dory ... :lol: ...
And why Earthling never made its way into my mind, I don't know. Perhaps, I was too busy with The Sisters of Mercy at the time of its release.

So my favourite Bowie album? Always the one I'm just listening to ... for a few days. Then I need change, urgently. But there's enough to chose from ... ;D ...
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markfiend
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I really like Earthling. It often gets ignored, but IMO it's a great example of the kind of genre-mixing that Bowie does best.
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Being645 wrote:Makes me dream of Lodger, though. For sure one of my favourites ... but also Outside, Hours, Heathen (above all for Sunday) and Reality ... oh, and Scary Monsters and The Man Who Sold The World and Space Oddity, Aladdin Sane, Pin Ups, Ziggy Stardust, Diamond Dogs, Young Americans, Station To Station, Low, Heroes, even Let's Dance, Tonight, Never Let Me Down and Black Tie White Noise and the Tin Machine stuff, and this collection of very early songs called Images.

...

So my favourite Bowie album? Always the one I'm just listening to ... for a few days. Then I need change, urgently. But there's enough to chose from ... ;D ...
you've just described my bowie listening habits/patterns too :lol: :notworthy:
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markfiend wrote:I really like Earthling. It often gets ignored, but IMO it's a great example of the kind of genre-mixing that Bowie does best.
Oh god yes, me too! In my world Little Wonder was a most perfect single and Earthling might just be the Bowie album I have listened to most...
I remember quite well when it came out and although I was very familiar with his work (how can you not?!) Eartling was the first Bowie album I ever bought...
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Hunslet Ramone
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Debaser wrote:
Hunslet Ramone wrote:
Did see all his tours in Britain though
Ziggy Stardust
Is that coz you is dead oooold :kiss: :kiss: :kiss:
Err.... not as old as Bowie is, at least I have seen a lot of good gigs in the past. Still don't feel that old. :kiss:
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markfiend wrote:
Nikolas Vitus Lagartija wrote:"Good concept album" ?? Surely an oxymoron. It's all a bit Spinal Tap.
An argument could be made that Floodland is a concept album...
...and is this supposed to advance your argument ??
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bangles
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Being645 wrote:Recently, I've been listening a lot to this one, a wonderful compilation!

Image
As a compilation - that & the i-select one that was given away with the Mail a few years ago are among the best. Oh & All Saints for the instrumentals...
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1. Hunky Dory
2. Space Oddity

I love that period.
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Being645
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Last night I've found this wonderful blog with plenty great photos of Bowie, The Sisters and many other bands ... wow ... ;D :notworthy:

http://overlooking-the-ocean.tumblr.com/

Also very, very pretty ... ;D ;D ;D ...
http://thesistersofmercy.tumblr.com/

There seems to be a lot going on at tumblr ... :eek: ...
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