I'm kinda disappointed in this album, to be frank. Given where it comes in Bowie's timeline; right between his "weird" albums and his dancey pop albums, it should have been something much more interesting. Instead, I feel like Scary Monsters is sort of like his Ziggy material if it was filtered through Heroes and Lodger. This results in an album that halfway reaches back to a time in Bowie's career that I'm not fond of, while retaining some of his stylistic evolution present by way of some really odd (sometimes offputting) vocal deliveries.
A few tracks are quite good. Ashes to Ashes is downright fantastic! But there's a surplus of nearly god damn annyoing tracks this time around and I can't help but feel like this album is the worst since Bowie started being more appealing to me with the release of Station to Station.
I like Bowie when he sounds more mature. A lot of this album reprises his idiotic, oversung histrionics that especially characterized his Ziggy persona. Bowie can be a truly appealing vocalist, but he often seems more interested in goofing around.
Scary Monsters has some highlights, but also several lows and I feel like it's his weakest album in quite a while. Ashes to Ashes is an easy 5/5, but he just never seems able to make a whole album where the tracks are generally this good.
3/5, due to how radically I find the quality of the songs to jump up and down.
_Previous ratings:__________________
(Rated on a scale relative to only Bowie's own discography, where 1 means the worst he's done and 5 means the best he's done.)
David Bowie: 1/5
Space Oddity: 2/5
The Man Who Sold The World 4/5
Hunky Dory 3/5
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust 3/5
Aladdin Sane 3/5
PinUps 2/5
Diamond Dogs 2/5
Young Americans 1/5
Station to Station 4/5
Low 5/5
Heroes 4/5
Lodger 3.5/5
Scary Monsters 3/5
Let's Dance
Tonight
Never Let Me Down
Black Tie White Noise
1. Outside
Earthling
Hours
Heathen
Reality
The Next Day
Blackstar
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