Hunky Dory (1971)
Notes: From what I can see, this was the first album on which Bowie produced, albeit as a co-producer. Weirdly, though the mega-classic “Life on Mars” was released from this as a single, it didn't chart until 1973, a full year after
Ziggy, when it hit the number three slot. It's now of course recognised as not only one of his best and most well-known songs, but one of the greatest songs of at least the seventies, if not the century. (
Certification needed? Suck it pal. Everyone knows this song! Oh look! Someone over there is using an uncited source! Quick!)
In retrospect, this should have been the album to break Bowie as far as I can see, with future classics such as “Oh! You Pretty Things”, “Life on Mars” and of course the opener, “Changes”, which pretty much describes his attitude towards trends and convention. With a lovely opener piano line from Rick Wakeman, it alternates between a slow, almost melancholy, soul style and a more uptempo, poppy chorus with that famous “Ch-ch-ch-changes” prefacing each lines of same. It's a great opening track, and of course was a single. You can hear here how Bowie's voice is developing, becoming stronger, more self-assured and confident, and the low sax break at the end (delivered by the Thin White Duke himself) just underlines this. Another piano line, almost honky-tonk this time, brings in “Oh! You Pretty Things”, with a definite sense of gospel in it, again a slow verse with a fast, joyful chorus, kind of marching along in a Beatles vein, though it's probably debatable that John, Paul, George and Ringo would have been singing about the “Homo Superior”...
The first flash we get of Ronson's brilliance on this album is in the opening to “Eight Line Poem”, where he delivers a soft bluesy intro, low-key and understated but really powerful, joined by Bowie on piano and a really soft vocal, almost inaudible at times, at others rising to a height of passion in a few words. Sounding a little like something Roger Waters would later produce, both on his own solo work and with the latter years of Pink Floyd, it sashays along gracefully, only the barest riffs from Ronson touching the edges and taking the short song out as it began. A masterclass of minimalism, that still manages to grab your heartstrings and pull them till it hurts.
If there's anyone who needs a description of “Life on Mars”, please go back to your home planet. There can't be a person on this Earth who has not heard the sublime opening piano line from Wakeman, leading into the soft, cultured vocal from Bowie, the big crescendo for the chorus as he unleashes his powerful passionate voice, and the stabbing, staccato piano that dots the borders as the song goes along. Vocal harmonies with Mick Ronson, the explosive yet gentle percussion piling in - to say nothing of the abstract lyric and Ronson's fine solo - all go to make this song the deserved classic it is, and it's a mystery to me, writing in the twenty-first century of course, when it's easy to be wise with hindsight, how this was not a hit on its first release. I particularly love the descending piano at the end which runs into a faraway ringing telephone. I do have an issue with the sublime strings used here, which add another dimension to the song: who plays them? There is no credit that I can find for them, and I think that's criminal and a real oversight, as they are very much an integral part of this classic slice of seventies rock.
After that amazing song, “Kooks” comes across as a pretty ordinary pop song, somewhat in the mould of Syd Barrett or The Kinks. There seems to be violin here too, but again I can't find any credit for it anywhere. The song is a midpaced, bouncy one with some very sprightly piano, and it's okay, but it's no followup to “Life on Mars”, but then, what could be? “Quicksand” comes in very low and gentle, acoustic guitar impelling it forward, then some nice piano and those mysterious strings come back to whip up the tune into something of a fervour. Bowie's voice, originally soft and gentle rises in concert with the music, and again there are some great vocal harmonies here. Excellent work by Wakeman, and whoever is playing the violins should definitely be given credit, I don't know why they're not.
“Fill Your Heart” sounds like something out of a Broadway musical, and I see it's a cover of an old song, so maybe it was. In a musical that is. It sounds very old and kind of out of place here though. Not crazy about, have to admit. Even Bowie's vocal on it sounds strained. Less crazy about “Andy Warhol”, at least the beginning, with a lot of weird phone sounds and voices. It does develop though into a nice uptempo acoustic number but I feel it's a bit basic and maybe not worthy of him. Much better is “Song for Bob Dylan”, with a lovely slow southern boogie-style guitar from Ronson and fine piano from Wakeman, Bowie emulating Dylan's vocal style and Ronson adding some sweet blues and slide guitar too. “Queen Bitch” returns somewhat to the rawer hard rock of
The Man Who Sold the World and gives Ronson his head; he doesn't waste the opportunity. There's a touch of the Mariachi to the closer, “The Bewlay Brothers”, with a nice slow acoustic guitar. Goes through some ch-ch-ch-changes (sorry), and it's overall a pretty satisfying final track.
TRACK LISTING
Changes
Oh! You Pretty Things
Eight Line Poem
Life on Mars
Kooks
Quicksand
Fill Your Heart
Andy Warhol
Song for Bob Dylan
Queen Bitch
The Bewlay Brothers
This, then, is where the hits start to come through, and again I can't really understand why it was
Ziggy and not this album that was his commercial breakthrough. There are certainly some duff tracks on this (and few if any on
Ziggy) but they're outweighed by the truly great songs, with an instant classic into the bargain. It's not a perfect album, to be sure, but it certainly shows Bowie coming on in leaps and bounds from the previous albums, however good they may have been. It's the start of something truly special, which would culminate in the release of probably his most famous album, and the creation of his most famous persona, a year later.
Rating: 8.8/10