DomLennox

The cover is more iconic than the music. The story behind the photo shoot is recounted in various websites and books, so you can read about it without me telling it again. The photographer is Brian Duffy, famous for his photos of Swinging London, alongside colleagues David Bailey and Terence Donovan (the most in Vogue trio of the '60s).

The pieces on the album, however, are quirky and of uneven quality. "Aladdin Sane" expresses Bowie’s fears about war and madness, "Panic in Detroit," "Cracked Actor," and "Drive-in Saturday" are descriptions of life of "Ziggy in the States," as someone wrote. On a trip to the New World, Ziggy is overwhelmed by all the novelties and becomes cynical and arrogant. The album also includes a cover of a Rolling Stones song.

At the time, it caused a stir for its "Plastic soul" sound. But back then, I wasn’t following Bowie. Listening to it in retrospect, it’s a solid soul album, but not groundbreaking, with a version of "Across the Universe" that sounds very much like a filler. The rest of the tracks also come off as the product of a musician who didn’t know which direction to take. After leaving Ziggy and Aladdin behind, Bowie was drifting aimlessly. Already produced by Visconti, but still in search of the right path that would eventually come with the SF twist of "The Man Who Fell to Earth" and thanks to the influence of the punk revolution. Best tracks: "Young Americans," though burdened by an incredibly dense lyricism - which Bowie would shed in "Low" and "Fame," for which we also have to thank Lennon.

Great. Pieces that start and end without any introduction, hysteria, experimentation. Everything is there.

Difficult to love a vinyl more than this. I know every track by heart:
Side A
"Beauty and the Beast" pulls us into the musical experience without frills and preambles; "Joe the Lion," my second favorite song, with screeching punk guitars; "Heroes," upon which rivers of ink, bits and bytes, have already been spilled; "Sons of the Silent Age," the soundtrack for a science fiction film; "Blackout," about losing consciousness from drug and alcohol use.
Side B
"V-2 Schneider," "Sense of Doubt," "Moss Garden," and "Neukoln" follow each other harmoniously, ending with the absurd "The Secret Life of Arabia," a foreboding sound of the forthcoming "Lodger." But it wouldn't be a perfect album without this imperfection.

For me, this marks the beginning of the Berlin Trilogy, even though I know very well that it was composed and recorded in the US, with Bowie in paranoia over his cocaine addiction. But those are his own issues. I'm interested in the six magnificent pieces that make up this sublime work. The most famous are "TVC 15" and "Golden Years," which are obviously sublime. But what about the train of "Station to Station"? And "Stay" is a magnificent love song from an artist who has never been particularly romantic. It closes magnificently with an extraordinary version of "Wild is the Wind." Bowie the crooner.