Frownland

I don't remember that one. Might return to it right after drinking a bunch of coffee. Bowie makes me crash.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

MicShazam

So you're not a Bowie fan? I somehow assumed you would definitely be.

Cuthbert

He is put off because of how legendary Bowie is (seriously).

Stephen

This is top 5 Bowie for me. Probably second to Low. He makes some odd vocal choices on this album but somehow manages to pull it off. One of the things I appreciate about his work is he isn’t afraid to take a risk with a new direction instead of repeating himself artistically. I like the flow and energy of the album as a whole.

Frownland

I like some of his stuff but a good deal of his discography just bores me. I'd vote on the albums that I don't like in this series, but I'd rather revisit albums when I feel like I'm in the mood for them to give them a fairer shot.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Trollheart

I bet you're a fan of Tin Machine, right?

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

MicShazam

I'm not really a huge fan either overall, so I wonder how much our opinions on which albums are hit and which ones are miss would intersect.

MicShazam

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

Cuthbert

Na this is a 5.

I'd listen to it again.

MicShazam

What is it that you love so much about it?

I did spin it twice in a row at a solid volume.