On this album, Bowie backs off the heavy, hard rock and starts to become the David Bowie that most people probably think of him as. Rick Wakeman joins the band for the recording sessions and Mick Ronson's guitar is more subdued than in the previous album. A bit more variety than the previous album, Bowie is hitting his stride as a songwriter and front man and is starting to get noticed. Stardom is now coming within his reach.
David Bowie's 'Hunky Dory'
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The album was recorded in just two weeks, with the group averaging one song per day. The band shacked up in Bowie's London apartment, crashing in sleeping bags on the balcony. "Dave would drive us and all the gear into central London in the morning," said Bolder. "Afterward, we'd all go down to the pub and drink. Nobody really knew who David was at that point."
Hunky Dory wasn't a commercial success at first, but it paved the way for Ziggy Stardust and everything that would come after it. "It provided me, for the first time, with an actual audience," Bowie later said. "I mean, people actually coming up to me and saying, 'Good album, good songs.' That hadn't happened to me before."
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