MB Bowie Classics: "Hunky Dory"
 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Hunky_Dory.jpg

Getting to the good stuff now!

Nothing is unassailable. I've said that before, but only because I mean it.
Call it unassailable and I will immediately be tempted to assail it.
Looking at the Bowie Album Trajectory (BAT) so far, I'll probably like Hunky Dory, but it's the principle, damn it!

Very strong album.

Really developed his sound on this one. There were a couple moments on previous albums where you could hear a bit but this one I think he nailed it.

Songwriting massively improved as well.

Giving it a 5.

I don't like the artwork for it though.

Haven't you heard it??

Not yet. I'm more familiar with a bit of later era Bowie.

I think you will like it a lot.

No, I wouldn't even grade like that on a normal 10 scale. Normally, I just consider albums that I like a hell of a lot 10's.

And in this thread, I'm just grading on a scale where 1 is Bowie's worst material and 5 is his best.

If I had to grade these albums after what I like in music in general, there would probably be very few top scores, if any. I'm not a huge Bowie fan - at least not yet.

His first truly classic album. Damn right it's a 5.

Incredible discography.

I would say he had a minimum of four classic albums, and could understand arguing for up to eight. Nine if you count The Idiot.

Here's where it all begins to come together. Excellent songwriting but in a proper direction now, focussed, and some great work from Ronson. The Spiders From Mars have been formed. Now we start building the greatest hits - "Life on Mars?", "Oh! You Pretty Things", "Changes" - though there are a few tracks I'm not mad about - "Andy Warhol" (I know!) and "Fill Your Heart". But these aren't even low points on the album, cos it really doesn't have any. Even the slightly whimsical "Kooks" gets my vote. Definitely the start of something big, and it kind of only gets better from here (with the exception, for me, of Pin-Ups). A solid 5, easily.

I've only listened to Pin Ups a handful of times. A couple of the tracks are nice but overall I'm not a fan. Covers in general don't appeal to me and especially with Dave his ideas and his own songs are just so much better than anyone else I'd rather hear that.

I do like hearing Prince cover other people's work though, Whole Lotta Love/Creep/WMGGW are so good but that's cos I enjoy Prince's take on it and his skill with instruments and the guitar work he puts in. I feel like he is more suited to this. Hopefully this makes sense.

So what I'm saying is I agree with this post about Pin Ups.

Yeah, I just feel that maybe his fans might have considered themselves cheated. New Bowie album coming out! Great! Oh. It's a covers album. Great. :(

Of course it probably was very successful, but personally, like you, I'm not really a fan of covers. I'll listen to them, sure, but if it's an artist I like then usually I'd prefer new material to spend my money/waste my bandwidth on.

This is far and away my favourite Bowie album and is the only one I still occassionally play from start to finish. It's full of great songs and fresh ideas; unusual lyrics, fabulous guitar riffs, but some delicate piano bits too. Even the rather light "Kooks" has it's little golden moment; "And if the homework brings you down we'll throw it on the fire and take the car downtown" What a seductive -no, not in that way- what a seductive line for students everywhere! Also, afaik, Bowie was one of the very first artists who openly encouraged the interpretation that he was gay in his songwriting and presentation. Finally, when Hunky Dory first came out, Bowie was still something of a cult secret, which added to the lure of this album; Were you in yet on how good his songs were? Were you sufficiently tolerant to enjoy an artist who was apparently gay?

:D

I've always liked that line about punching people's dads.

Cute song.

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'

The album has several good songs - some of them excellent. Life On Mars is one of my favorite Bowie vocal performances so far. But I've gotta be honest. The mid section of this album (Kooks, Quicksand, Fill Your Heart) doesn't register as very good to me. Kinda sounds like something any middling artist could have done.

The album starts really strong though.

3/5, because I really like several things about this album, but I've got to imagine he's got several albums that are more consistently good. Doesn't really live up to The Man Who Sold the World in my book.

_Previous ratings:__________________
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
Aladdin Sane
PinUps
Diamond Dogs
Young Americans
Station to Station
Low
Heroes
Lodger
Scary Monsters
Let's Dance
Tonight
Never Let Me Down
Black Tie White Noise
1. Outside
Earthling
Hours
Heathen
Reality
The Next Day
Blackstar

Dude. Quicksand is soulcrushingly beautiful. Actually made me cry a few times.

"Quicksand" is amazing. And the idea behind "Kooks" is similarly pulling at the heartstrings. Imagine growing up and telling people "my dad wrote that for me"??

:D

Great song.

Sorry. I really find the musical arrangement to be sort of bland. Those strings do nothing for me and neither does the piano. Would probably like it better if there was a much newer live version where bowie sang it just with an acoustic guitar or something.

Aside from his unique voice. I just think some songs on his earliest few albums aren't really anything special, aside from being performed by Bowie.

Surely, it must be acceptable to suggest that not everything he did was gold?

No, not everything he did was gold.

Hunky Dory
Ziggy
Aladdin Sane
Station to Station
Low
Heroes
Scary Monsters
Blackstar

Is the gold. And there is no 'filler' on those records.

I'm just not really feeling it. I feel like some of the early songs practically scream "classic", but there's also a fair amount of pretty standard genre workouts and some questionable sound quality on some of the earliest albums as well.

Again - I'm not a classic rock guy, so it's unavoidable that I'll disagree with people about early Bowie. I think my reactions will start to become less predictable when we get to Young Americans and beyond.

I fear you'll finally block my profile when we get to Low :laughing:
Don't remember much about it, except that I didn't click with it at all.

I wouldn't say I was a classic rock guy either really. If I remember correctly it might have taken me a couple of listens to albums all the way through before I really loved them but I can't remember.

& I'm not gonna block you we're m8s m8.

4sho, bro.

I don't have the same familiarity you guys have with these albums, so I'm coming at them from a perspective where I'm mostly trying to appreciate them for the first time, knowing maybe 1 or 2 songs in advance. I listen to these album mostly just once as well, since going through his entire discography is quite the challenge and there's already the album club and more.

It's definetely possible that I'd click better with some of these albums after repeat listens.

Well, I'm certainly not alone here. This happens not only to be my favorite Bowie album, but one my five favorite records overall. Is it a perfect album? Well, no. I join with the consensus that Fill Your Heart (which is a cover by Biff Rose and also recorded by Tiny Tim- nuff said) isn't so great and I didnt like Changes that much as it was overplayed on my radio station around 1975 for some reason. But everything else is absolutely classic. Favorite tracks are Life On Mars, Kooks, and Andy Warhol (sorry, Trolls :D). Also check out Bewlay Brothers, his best ending track so far.

10/10 (The Word has spoken :D)