Although critics seem to go on and on about the greatness of Ziggy, I find Aladdin Sane a more enjoyable listen.

From the Watch that Man until Lady Grinning Soul, the album rocks. It only misses on Let's Spend the Night Together, which is truly the worst cover of a Stones song I ever heard. OVerall, it seems more glam to me than Ziggy.

Which album is your fave and why?

for me, it's like comparing sgt. pepper and abbey road.

i think sgt. pepper deserves every bit of praise it's gotten, but i think abbey road is a far more interesting album.

same with ziggy and aladdin sane. i think aladdin sane is a far more fun pop album with some phenomenal songs, but i think overall, ziggy is an essential example of great songwriting. it's hard to choose between two favorites, but i'll always think of ziggy as bowie's "purple rain"...the one album that kinda defines him as an icon, and which was also an artistic breakthrough.

Anx said:

Ditto.

he really will have to end every show with ziggy, won't he?

my preference is aladdin but i realize ziggy stardust will always be his most defining moment.

I guess Aladdin Sane is more interesting to me b/c it was the first Bowie album I bought.

They both kick ass though

Ziggy for me.

But they both rock.

I appreciate Aladdin Sane more as I get older but the Stones cover is the tiebreaker. Ziggy doesn't have one misstep, just about a perfect record.

Hi
Ziggy vs Aladdin Sane
that's a tough one, cuz the Ziggy album is such a top record and Aladdin Sane is the perfect follow up to the Ziggy story, why not take them both as a complete story?

as good as aladdin sane is, i see its existence as being reliant or dependant on the ziggy album, whereas the ziggy album was a breakthrough that was informed by his previous work, sure, but was also a sharp turn into new ways of going about things.

Not familiar with the album, so I'm cuing it up now for a first listen!

Aladdin Sane. Although, I do love me some "Starman" and "Suffragette City".
[Edited 6/12/06 7:54am]

Still think Hunky Dory tops them both.

Cloudbuster said:

it's really hard to play favorites with bowie's 70s albums. most all of them are my absolute favorite, for completely different reasons.

Anx said:

Yeah, I know what you're saying, yet HD and Low are just that little bit more special to me as they're the two I can play no matter the mood I happen to be suffering.

And, perhaps strangely, I hear more similarities between Ziggy and Hunky than with Ziggy and Aladdin.

Aladdin Sane is a huge leap from Ziggy Stardust production-wise. When they made Ziggy they were still rooted to the English tradition of producing folk /rock -msuic and it hadn't even properly mutated into proper glam just yet. Maybe you can hear rather the process of transformation on Ziggy than a finished end-product of what become of the Ziggy Stardust phenomenon. Aladdin Sane is actually the "real" Ziggy, as Bowie performed a vast portion of those songs already live during the Ziggy tours. It's really simple: he actually wrote those songs while being immersed in his own Ziggy persona. Furthermore if you just compare the guitar sounds on the two records, the difference is staggering. Of course tey had more money to produce the Aladdin Sane record, but I also think David had a clearer idea by that time and really wanted to go forward with the rock approach. The Ziggy Stardust project started out more as a cabaret-style thing and I'd figure many of the earlier songs on the album itself weren't written even with the same concept in mind.

Anx said:

Completely. It's Ziggy leftovers. It's like comparing Magical Mystery Tour to Sgt. Pepper. Sgt. Pepper defined the style and MMT continued it, maybe even surpassing it in spots. Pepper & Ziggy are the originals, but preferences are just opinions, so nobody's wrong for preferring Alladisane.

I prefer Ziggy, myself.

NDRU said:

Pepper & Ziggy, coming to a theater near you!

Both are great albums, no doubt. I LOVE the song "Time" from "Aladdin". BUT, Ziggy is the album that none of Bowie's other albums can fuck with. All the planets lined up completely for that album. Bowie's vision was so ON for those songs that it actually took over Bowie, the man himself. His image, the songs, the CONCEPT was at the right place at the right time.

Ziggy.