Why?: Over the years I've aimed to buy all of Bowie's albums, even the bad ones. This one isn't one of the bad ones, and it was one of the first I bought, based on the advice of recent Bowie biography "Starman" by Paul Trynka.
Tell me more!:
I came into this listen with recent memories of this being my favourite of Bowie's 70s albums.
Certainly I adore the jamming freakouts of the title track, the fantastic guitar riffs in Panic In Detroit. I'm in love with Time, I could hear it Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I enjoy The Jean Genie but wonder if it is more familiarity than quality.
But I hate the boogie woogie of the piano in Watch That Man, the Drive-In Saturday's doo-wop gets old quickly, the scatting in the fade out seems forced, and there is more 50s nostalgia in The Prettiest Star.
The Stones cover Let's Spend The Night Together is fun, the song is improved with a good speed up and some weird space sounds.
I think Cracked Actor feels like Bowie covering a much heavier song, I suspect it might have more crunch played live.
Much of the guitar seems really rough actually. Overly distorted to the point of sounding under-produced and badly played, even though I recognise it isn't.
Lady Grinning Soul is a beautiful album ending ballad, with lovely acoustic guitars and pianos, Bowie's voice is incredible. Wikipedia tells me it contains his highest studio recorded note. The guitar solos are almost Brian May-esque.
So Aladdin Sane has a number of songs I absolutely love, and a number that bug me for personal reasons I don't really understand. I'm usually pretty happy at the end of each listen though.
7/10
