i decided to dabble in a bit of Bowie again

how does this album rank amongst his bigger fans alongside his other albums?

some of his work has always been hit and miss for me

Ziggy Stardust is the only album of his i consider to be a classic

but Scary Monsters, on first listen, is pretty impresive...

and i'm not even past Scream Like a Baby yet (which i'm loving btw).

Teenage Wildlife really woke me up and Ashes to Ashes brought back some great memories
[Edited 7/11/05 20:49pm]
[Edited 7/11/05 20:50pm]

i think this was the last of his '70s "glory days" records. he's done good stuff since, of course, but that was the last of the "classic" bowie records, as far as i'm concerned. i think it's a great album - certainly up there among the faves.

sCARY mONSTErs is amazing. great cover as well.

Fucking brilliant. More later.

Modern Bowie. Completely changing for the times and both Scary Monsters and Let's Dance both usher in an age of commercialism and superficiality. Essential 80's documents and my fav Bowie era...well cause I wasn't alive for most of the 70's.
Prince was like Bowie, early on, it seemed to me as a kid.

Great album. Gotta love "Ashes to Ashes" and "It's No Game (Part 1)". Also, this was when Bowie was beginning to embrace his New Romantic side even though he was the man who practically invented it. Also, many would say that this was his last great album. I say BULLSHIT! Let's Dance, Earthling and Heathen were just as great.

NWF said:

Earthling is his last great album "god is an american"

lilgish said:

i thought "heathen" was a great album.

NWF said:

I like your True Colours avatar also, "Nobody takes me seriously anyway"

Anxiety said:

I didn't love the whole thing, I Took A Trip On A Gemini Spaceship great song

The production was like a mix of old and new, I can't hack that album.

Earthling was on some new shit

seven years in Tibet

I'm Afraid of Americans is like the best song ever, every version of it is awesome.

lilgish said:

Muchas gracias. I can't seem to get those Finn Brothers off my mind these days. Plus, the Enz are gonna reunite for some Aussie music award show this month.

Scary Monsters is well worth getting. As Anxiety says, it marks the end of Bowie's "Golden Years" and is the album many fans consider his last masterpiece. I beg to differ - both "Outside" and "Buddha of Suburbia" are every bit as good as "Scary Monsters", but don't try those until you've heard "Low", "Heroes" and Iggy Pop's "The Idiot".

Wonderful, wonderful album. Essential in any Bowie - or music - collection. As others have pointed out, this is the album that critics usually say 'Bowie's best since...'.

10/10

lilgish said:

Agreed. Some people bashed it for him not acting his age/dabbling with electronic music, but this album is in my top 5 albums that I listen to regularly.

BTW: Is Station to Station worth buying? I have Stage and own the live version of this song, but I can see what the big deal is. The song is one of a kind.

Earthling hasn't aged well at all. He was biting on Prodigy big time with that one. Instead of him leading the way, it seemed like he was chasing trends with that one. The songs are interesting but not really innovative.

COMPUTERBLUE1984 said:

station to station is a fantastic album. get it. it's a bit short, but every song on there is a winner. you gotta have it for the song 'stay', if for no other reason. in my opinion, it's the funkiest bowie song there is.

Anxiety said:

Yeah, that's a fucking great song.

Oh yeah, Scary Monsters. Fine work, and I agree that it was his last truly magnificent album. Heathen's pretty good, tho'.

Cloudbuster said:

Co-co-sign. One of my all-time favourite Bowie songs.

Cloudbuster said:

Cool. On Stage, I liked the Station to Station performance leading directly into Stay. From what I have read, was S2S really influenced by his fascination with the occult and the Kaballah?

In regards to Ashes to Ashes: I was reading somewhere that there is a 9 minute (?) version of this song exists titles The People Are Golden. IS this really in circulation?

COMPUTERBLUE1984 said:

there's a whole disc of scary monsters demos out there in circulation, but i haven't heard of any nine minute proto-version of ashes to ashes.

Anxiety said:

I'll have to double-check but I'm pretty certain I've got that version. But... I'm sure it's just a fan-made version. Hardly interesting; just a continuous loop.

Anxiety said:

I cannot find just one slight flaw in any of the songs. That's the perfect Bowie album to me. Other's are really, really close but this one's it.

And isn't it just amazing what Bowie does vocally on Scary Monsters? Sounds like he tore down the walls of the recording studio.

onenitealone said:

yeah, it could just be a fan-made remix. there are lots of those floating around. none that have ever won me over, but they're fun when i run across 'em.

Great Bowie album, carrying over his funk/rock sound from the 70's. "Ashes To Ashes" is the CUT! A lot of people couldn't fuck with Bowie, especially the rock artists, cuz Bowie could always slang the funk.

COMPUTERBLUE1984 said:

As far as I know "People Are Turning to Gold" was the original demo for Ashes to Ashes, but I don't think it's ever leaked. There was a 12" in 1980 that had a Space Oddity/Ashes to Ashes medley. I don't think it was anything particularly special, though; just the two songs segued together.

Regarding Scary Monsters... I'd consider it on par with his best work. It's almost a perfect encapsulation of his late-70's work. It's one of my favorite albums by Mr. Iman.

Ashes to Ashes is in my top 5 Bowie songs. The video was the killer and showed Bowie's mastery of meshing his visuals to his music.

Thanks for the clarification on "The People are turning to Gold". I read this somewhere a long time ago and did not know if this was Bowie myth or if there was truth to it.

Peace

Anxiety said:

It's fake. Just a fan-made extended version.

And yeah, for those of you that are interested, check out "Vampires of Human Flesh", the Scary Monsters demos.

Anxiety said:

"Low", "Ziggy" and a few others are my favorites, but song for song, Station To Station is his best album.