Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story
Rod the Mod finds his solo footing, headed for stardom, with the Faces in his wake.
6:00 AM GMT 22/06/2011
Features Disc of the day
David Bowie
Aladdin Sane
(RCA, 1973)
Bowie = Marmite, and never more so than on Ziggy's bonkers follow-up...
Bowie is one of those acts, like Guided By Voices and Orchestral Manouevres In The Dark, that divide the MOJO office down the middle. There are those profess to like only the Pye singles, others who won't have him in the house. Then there's me, who can find something to like in most Bowie records, even this one.
But even Bowie's firmest fans tend to underrate Aladdin Sane. Oft described as Ziggy Stardust's runty sibling, it is certainly cast from the same mould ("Ziggy Stardust in America", reckoned Bowie at the time). But life in Ziggy's shadow has kept it fresh and there are aspects in which it is even an improvement. There's its thicker, stronger sound - exemplified by Watch That Man's rich boogie stew and the tightly-wound sex-rock of Cracked Actor - and its weirder, wider palette: from the sci-fi doo-wop of Drive In Saturday and The Prettiest Star to the title track's discordant avant-cocktail jazz (pianist Mike Garson to the fore). Then there's the cover's face-flash, such an iconic upgrade on Ziggy's gold forehead spot that it's easy to forget that Ziggy didn't have the flash to begin with.
Notwithstanding Ziggy's alien rock star theme, Aladdin Sane is also more bonkers, in a more human, disturbing way ("The sniper in the brain, regurgitating drain / Incestuous and vain" goes the astonishing Time), a slight return of Bowie's preoccupation with psychic collapse. The Dame's core talent - surprising melodies framing a fragmented, hyperreal worldview - is here in spades, most of all in the closing Lady Grinning Soul. A sweeping ballad with sensuous contours (reputedly about ex-Ikette Claudia Linnear) that prefigure Station To Station's Wild Is The Wind, it's a Bond theme from another dimension.
Danny Eccleston
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 18/02/2010
Further Listening
David Bowie - The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (RCA, 1972)
Lou Reed - Berlin (RCA, 1973)
New York Dolls - New York Dolls (Mercury, 1973)
Previous Disc of the day
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Earl Brutus - Larky
Last salvo of Ginsters Pasty-Warholism from Britpop ramraiders.
12:04 PM GMT 08/06/2011
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Loudon Wainwright - T-Shirt
An overlooked small wonder from an unpredictable career.
6:00 AM GMT 03/06/2011
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Landscape - From The Tea-rooms Of Mars… To The Hell-holes Of Uranus
Dry computer club Futurists, upon hitting implausible chart paydirt.
6:00 AM GMT 17/05/2011
-
-
Causa Sui - Summer Sessions Vol 1-3
Epic Danish jams, for when the neighbours get you down.
6:00 AM GMT 12/05/2011
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Comments
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Great album! Like the other first six LPs. I think, we can't say the same about Pin Ups, the following record. Well, but how can anyone compare Bowie with Guided By Voices or Orchestral Manouevres In The Dark? Anyway, do your colleagues like music?
Posted by Josef Michael at 10:25 AM GMT 18/02/2010 Report Abuse
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Great album! Like the other first five LPs. I think, we can't say the same about Pin Ups, the following record. Well, but how can anyone compare Bowie with Guided By Voices or Orchestral Manouevres In The Dark? Anyway, do your colleagues like music?
Posted by Josef Michael at 10:28 AM GMT 18/02/2010 Report Abuse
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Yeah, Orchestral Manouevres In the Dark? I think it would be hard to find an album of their's worth putting in this column. Just a humble opinion
Posted by Bewlay at 9:23 PM GMT 18/02/2010 Report Abuse
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Bowie = Marmite? And this is written by music journalists?
Posted by NigelB at 12:22 AM GMT 20/02/2010 Report Abuse
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Danny - to your colleagues at MOJO who profess to only like the Pye singles, or worse still won't have any Bowie in the house, I say, either get yourselves some taste in music, or another job.
Posted by Peter Haywood at 10:44 PM GMT 20/02/2010 Report Abuse
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I couldn't believe what I was reading here, is this Mojo? and was he talking about the Mojo office? what the ...., terribly written and so uninformed and...well undignified. Baaaad job.
Posted by Chris at 7:16 PM GMT 23/02/2010 Report Abuse
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Oi, Bowie freaks! he's not comparing OMB or GBV to Bowie. read it again. He's saying that all three acts divide the MOJO office down the middle. Of course Bowie can't be compared to OMD or GBV. Are you crazy? Bowie never made an album as good as Dazzle Ships or Bee Thousand.
Posted by Cropwell Bishop at 10:02 AM GMT 25/02/2010 Report Abuse
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