Black Cat Bone

Ashes to Ashes is a thing of wonder - all those little moments “one flash of light but no smoking pistol...I never did anything out of the blue, woah oh”, the coda of “my mother said...”. It magical, really.

After that, I’m agreeing with the love for the title track, it’s a ragged, thrilling stomper. Next it’s the whirling, circular strafe of Fashion and very much last it’s Up The Hill.., the only one I’m not hugely fussed by.

It’s a weak album only in context of what came before, maybe. On its own, it’s more than worthy.

Ashes to Ashes for me. Like others have said, just so many great moments and it really manages to expertly combine the FUCKING WEIRD with the YET TOTALLY POP thing Bowie did so well

I can remember reading a Song That Changed Your Life type thing in Q years ago and some poor fella who had dreams of being a new romantic pop star and was actively pursuing a musical career chose this one....his reason? It made him GIVE UP his dreams of being a musician because he knew there was no way in hell he could ever match something like that so what was the point? It has a large dose of that superhuman Starman quality the great man had at his best.

I love Fashion too. Great groove and Fripps guitar is so fierce. Like a chainsaw cutting through metal. Fabulous

Scary Monsters basically invented Marilyn Manson but we won't hold that against it.

The album would have been improved by including Crystal Japan instead of It's No Game (no 2) but maybe an instrumental was seen as being too much of a nod to the past but it's cracking wee nugget.

Yes, I have to go for A2A, as it's got the most amazing arrangement, all gentle synths and beautiful falsetto vocals. Bowie's clearly using Major Tom as a metaphor for his own descent into drugs. Brilliant song. But Scary Monsters is remarkable too for the reasons Moddie gives.

My favourite track(s) from the album is the two versions of 'It's No Game', perhaps his most extreme vocal performance. This song meant something to him...

No one's pointed out the single version of "Ashes to Ashes" is different from the album version. It's shorter, but I like it more, probably because I'm used to it.

And to address the matter about the video, I finally saw it years after first hearing the song.

The thing that struck me about the song was how it was able to take tired chord changes (I-vi-IV-V) that usually signaled 50s parodies and make something interesting out of them and something that doesn't refer to the 1950s at all except in a very abstract, formal way.

OMD's "Enola Gay" uses the same chord changes, but it's not as good a track.

Goat Boy wrote:The album would have been improved by including Crystal Japan instead of It's No Game (no 2) but maybe an instrumental was seen as being too much of a nod to the past but it's cracking wee nugget.

And/or the best thing he ever recorded.

“Ashes to Ashes” hands down. I still sing along to that hook today. Love that track.

the masked man wrote:

My favourite track(s) from the album is the two versions of 'It's No Game', perhaps his most extreme vocal performance. This song meant something to him...

Mine too.

As for the album, the first side is superb. however the second side trails off badly with the very underwhelming 'Kingdom Come' and 'Because You're Young'.

Almost as bad as the second side of ”Heroes”

“ooh but Asian percussion! exotic themes!”

Unward Brank wrote:“ooh but Asian percussion! exotic themes!”

know what I mean...

The Bowie record that 8 out of 10 Cat owners prefer.

yomptepi wrote:yodeling cod camp

Has to be better than Butlins.

Unward Brank wrote:Almost as bad as the second side of ”Heroes”

The second side of Heroes is a tour de force

The Modernist wrote:

Unward Brank wrote:Almost as bad as the second side of ”Heroes”

The second side of Heroes is a tour de force

that's why I picked it. I think RF gooses every track he's on.

The Modernist wrote:

Unward Brank wrote:Almost as bad as the second side of ”Heroes”

The second side of Heroes is a tour de force

Word.

jimboo wrote:

The Modernist wrote:

Unward Brank wrote:Almost as bad as the second side of ”Heroes”

The second side of Heroes is a tour de force

Word.

Indeed!

The Modernist wrote:

Unward Brank wrote:Almost as bad as the second side of ”Heroes”

The second side of Heroes is a tour de force

Of course G. One of his finest moments. It is clearly too rich for the kind of person who thinks Tesco's cafe the height of sophistication.

It's great. Just great.